Daybreak Thursday, 10/29/26

Sunny, warm. No, seriously: We’re talking mid to high 60s. It’s just a day’s spike, after winds from the south hightailed it into the region, but heck, we’ll take it. Plus blue skies. Down into the upper 40s tonight.

And speaking of sun… It’s a presence hovering in the background just after it’s topped the mountains in Crawford Notch, but front and center in Lynn Sheldon’s striking early-morning photo is the frosty meadow below.

Embattled Dartmouth provost resigns. Santiago Schnell’s move, announced yesterday in an email to campus by President Sian Beilock, came after a faculty committee “determined that Schnell may have violated Dartmouth policies when he used AI in his public writing without proper disclosure to the publishing publications,” report Iris WeaverBell, Alex Klee, and Vidushi Sharma in The Dartmouth. Klee was one of the reporters who led the paper’s investigation last month into Schnell’s reliance on AI. In their piece, the trio of reporters detail the committee’s findings. History prof Matthew Delmont will take over as interim provost until June, 2028.

A look back at when the region had its own silent film studio. As you may remember, two films by the vaudevillian and filmmaker Billy B. Van will hit the screen at the Newport NH Opera House this weekend. Nicola Smith, making her Daybreak debut, writes that Van moved to the Lake Sunapee area sometime around 1900, after a diagnosis of tuberculosis. He stayed there until his death in 1950, dubbed Newport “the sunshine town” (his suggestion that Georges Mills be renamed “Van Harbor” wasn’t as popular), but his films were lost—until film archivist John Tariot discovered one and a Japanese film student found a second. Nicola gives the background of it all.

VT State Police seek information on W. Fairlee hit-and-run. Tuesday night, they say in a press release, they “received numerous 911 calls regarding a vehicle versus pedestrian crash on VT Route 113 in West Fairlee near the elementary school.” Fairlee’s Cody Hardy was walking along the road when he was hit by the vehicle, suffering moderate to severe injuries; the vehicle itself—let alone its driver—was nowhere to be found when first responders arrived. Anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Gorman at the St. Johnsbury Barracks at 802-748-3111, or submit an anonymous tip (details at the link).

SPONSORED: Experience the beauty and emotional power of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, Op. 9, one of the most beloved choral works. Join St. Thomas Episcopal Church this Sunday, November 1 at the 10:30am service for this glorious musical offering, performed by the St. Thomas choir with soloists, guest conductor, organ, and string quartet. Be with us for an unforgettable music performance that blends music, prayer, and reflection, as we remember all the saints. Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

“This is a disagreement among people who all want the best for Fairlee.” In the Valley News, cousins and Chapman’s Store co-owners Travis Noyes and Barrett Brown write in about last week’s story on the fissure in town over their move—along with fellow developers Jonah Richard and Deecie Denison—to build an apartment building on the site of the old Colby Block, which burned down in 2007. That fire, they write, “came close enough to Chapman’s General, in our family for more than 150 years, that we feared we would lose it too. Chapman’s survived. Seven businesses and three apartments did not.” They argue the block is “the missing piece” in Fairlee’s downtown redevelopment, and lay out what they’re trying to do.

SPONSORED: Lúnasa, Windborne, Le Vent Du Nord concerts announced! Three celebrated folk acts are coming to Chandler Music Hall in Randolph. Irish folk supergroup Lúnasa brings a festive holiday concert celebrating the winter solstice December 11. Windborne fills the hall with rich, powerful a cappella harmonies and traditional instrumentation December 17. Le Vent du Nord delivers hard-driving soulful music, rooted in the Celtic diaspora, with a broad range of global influences on February 6. Tickets are on sale now. Reserve your seats at the burgundy link or here, or call the box office 802-728-9878. Sponsored by the Chandler Music Hall.

Upper Valley girding for higher winter fuel costs. Two looks at the issue: In The Dartmouth, Maggie Wu and Teddy Cacy write LISTEN has already seen a 61.6 percent increase in fuel delivery spending since July—and is serving more middle-class families: “When there is not enough income to cover basic expenses, families must decide which bills to pay and which to postpone,” program director Heather Griffin tells them. And while Hanover locked in fuel prices early, costs for everything else—like sand for what’s expected to be an icy winter—are rising sharply. Dartmouth Coach, meanwhile, is seeing a small increase in ridership, as travelers forgo driving.

In NH, voters get to weigh in on the “best job in New Hampshire government.” NHPR’s Todd Bookman is being only a little tongue in cheek: The countywide post of Register of Probate earns $100 a year and has to do, basically, nothing. “They don't have any function. They don't have an office. They don't have a phone,” former House speaker—and register of probate—Donna Styek tells him. That’s because while the job, which is in the state constitution, used to carry responsibility, that ended with a judicial overhaul in 2011. So voters are being asked to eliminate the post from the constitution; a similar measure in 2022 fell just short of the two-thirds majority needed.

Private equity discovers the VT funeral home market. Remember that Brave Little State story about private equity firms buying veterinary practices? Well now, Seven Days’ Ken Picard reports that while it was once “common practice for a mortician to leave their funeral home to one of their children or sell it to a younger associate,” that’s pretty much ended. These days, retiring funeral directors sell to national firms. Consumer advocates worry about higher costs for the bereaved; morticians see better retirement options and pay for their workers. Picard explores why it’s happening, and what it’s meant at specific funeral homes that got bought out.

“We feel trapped.” That’s a Barre homeowner who’s been blocked from taking a buyout for his twice-flooded home. But it could be town officials all over Vermont as the Trump administration slashes disaster support. As VTDigger’s Emma Cotton writes for a joint series with PBS’s Frontline on whether the state can even help disaster-struck towns, “Vermont does not have a disaster reserve, or traditional county governments that can help with recovery.” Or as Tropical Storm Irene recovery head Sue Minter puts it, without federal aid the state is “so, so facing crisis.” Cotton details the numbers, talks to town and state officials and ordinary Vermonters, and gets ignored by the feds on why the President denied a 2025 request for disaster aid.

The Pano Awards—the width and breadth of photography. Panoramic photos in the competition can be stitched together from many frames or cropped from a single one. Daniel Viñé Garcia, from Spain, just won Open Photographer of the Year for the “almost perfect symmetry” of the Parinacota Volcano in Chile. Xuecheng Liu’s image of Times Square snagged an award for a photo that holds “countless points of light resembling stars surrounding the centre of a galaxy.” And Mikel Iraeta, of Spain, won in a landscape category for “an almost impossible photo” of Milford Sound in New Zealand. Technically challenging and visually gorgeous, the astrolandscape night sky was captured in multiple frames, and “the sunset felt like a farewell."

The Thursday Crossword. Well, this will keep you busy for a few minutes, thanks to Laura Braunstein.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.

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HEADS UP
Dartmouth’s big AI at 70 conference, “What Must Remain Human?”, starts up. In-person tickets are all gone, but the talks and discussions will be livestreamed, so you can catch most of it. Things get going in earnest at 9:15 this morning with Mira Murati, a Dartmouth grad, key figure in the rise of OpenAI, and founder of startup Thinking Machines. After that, a packed schedule today and tomorrow that is far too wide-ranging to describe. Links at the link will take you to the livestreams.

At Billings Farm & Museum, “Built to Last: A Fireside Chat with Carhartt’s Archive Dave.” Dave Moore, the workwear company’s archive and digital asset manager, will talk “all about history, fashion, and, of course, Carhartt. Dave will bring original, rarely seen historical items from the Carhartt archive.” Things get going at 5 pm, when you can bring your own vintage or long-worn Carhartt garments and he’ll tell you its history and background. Then an interview and Q&A from 6-8 pm. In conjunction with the museum’s “Farm Fashion” exhibit.

“Small Towns, Big Ideas”: The Center on Rural Innovation pitch competition. The Hartland-based national nonprofit every year hosts five founders from rural communities around the country pitching their startups, with judges awarding the big prize and audience members voting for their own favorite. No locals this year, but a slate-full of interesting ideas. 5:30 pm in person at the Hanover Inn or livestreamed, you’re encouraged to register for either.

At Fable Farm Fermentory’s Rumney Sessions in Barnard, Hot Pickin' Party. The VT-based bluegrass trio features guitarist Doug Perkins, bassist Mike Santosusso, and dobro player Adam Frehm, who got their start together in the newgrass jamband Smokin' Grass. The food, drinks, and conviviality start up at 5:30 pm.

Ben Kogan at River Roost Brewery in WRJ, along with “Brats & Sausage & Beers.” The Upper Valley-based musician, who blends “Ben Kogan Americana, roots rock, and “singer-songwriter soul,” holds down the musical end of an evening that also features food from Big Fatty’s across the way. 5:30 pm.

At the Norwich Bookstore, Cindy Ellen Hill reads from and talks about Leeds Point. Hill’s new historical gothic novel-in-verse centers on an Englishwoman in 1702-era New Jersey who “battles loneliness, deadly snakes, the Royal Navy, and a horrible husband,” as Kirkus puts it. “Hill presents an atmospheric panorama of the colonial frontier, its natural abundance both awesome and squalid,” they go on. 7 pm.

Garnet Rogers at the Flying Goose in New London. The indie Canadian folk musician with the remarkable voice—who came to renown performing with his late brother, Stan—is still plying the continent’s byways, and makes it to these parts tonight at 7:30. You’ll need to call (603) 526-6899 for reservations.

And anytime, check out JAM’s highlights for the week: A student-run town hall at Dartmouth about AI’s place on campus; choreographer Rachel Bernsen’s “You Are Here, Change, Change, Change…”; and Dartmouth prof Roopika Risam at the Norwich Bookstore discussing her book, Data Empire, and data systems from ancient days to today.

And for today...

In the mood for a hit of Garnet Rogers (tonight at the Flying Goose)? Here’s “Small Victory.”

See you tomorrow.

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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt      Poetry editor: Michael Lipson    Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt

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