GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
It's been a while eh? Plenty of sunshine today. First, though, we get fog and maybe some clouds. But the bulk of the day will be sunny, with temps getting into the upper 60s or low 70s. Breezes today from the northwest, low in the upper 40s.Just so much orange... Lauran Corson was out on Webster Hill Road in Pomfret the other day, and caught two scenes that are about as seasonal as you can get:
And the classic hills-and-dales view off toward Woodstock just after you turn onto it from Pomfret Road.
Strafford voters deliver clear verdict on 7th, 8th grades. Ever since 2018, the town's been debating whether it should shutter those grades at the Newton School and tuition students out to other towns. On Tuesday, reports Alex Hanson in the Valley News, voters overwhelmingly said "No dice," voting 331-126 to keep the grades at the school. “I would agree that the result is decisive,” Aaron Dotter, who chairs the Strafford School Board, tells Hanson by email.Thetford comes to terms with police. Officers in the town are represented by a union and on Monday, reports Nick Clark in Sidenote, the Selectboard (of which Clark's a member) went into executive session to approve a new collective bargaining agreement. It's been under negotiation since late last year. The negotiations also involved grievances filed by two officers and were "shrouded by attorney-client privilege," Clark writes, so details and context are scarce. But the results, at the link, include pay increases for the officers and modest drops in the town's share of health insurance.SPONSORED: We did it! Many thanks to all of our donors who helped us meet our anonymous $25,000 Harvest Match! All proceeds will help us keep our Food Pantry and Community Dining Hall cupboard stocked in the coming months, especially with fresh produce! Three cheers for the kindness and giving of the Upper Valley's residents. There’s no place like the UV! Sponsored by LISTEN.In shot across bow, Dartmouth closes Alumni Gym for the day. Yesterday's move, which applied to recreational users but not sports teams, carried through on college officials' frustration with students ignoring mask requirements. “If we can’t keep the mask-wearing going at a high rate, it may force us to try to get everybody’s attention about the fact that it’s a privilege, and close the facility, maybe for 24 hours—make some people angry,” athletic director Peter Roby had warned last week. The gym, fitness center, and squash and racquetball courts were closed for 24 hours, reports Sophie Lewis in The Dartmouth.Controversial NH legislative finance chair steps down. Rep. Ken Weyler, who drew national attention this week for circulating a report to members of the legislature's Joint Fiscal Committee that was filled with Covid misinformation—including the claim that millions have died from the vaccine—resigned his posts chairing the joint committee and the House Fiscal Committee yesterday. He will also leave the committees, but remain in the House. "I apologize for not vetting this document more thoroughly, and to those who were offended," he wrote in his resignation letter, reports Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin.No official response yet? Such a surprise. On his Granite Geek blog, David Brooks details a proposal by a Concord resident, Matthew St. Onge, who thinks NH state government ought to cash in on the latest investment craze by creating an online marketplace to sell official NFTs of the "Live Free or Die" slogan, a view of Tuckerman's Ravine, the purple finch, and other iconic New Hampshire objects and scenes. Along the way, Brooks gives a clear explanation of NFTs and why this isn't an entirely off-the-wall idea. Though St. Onge is still waiting to hear back from the guv and Exec Council.And in other interesting tech news... Facebook has been sued for damages by Hope for NH Recovery, one of the state's prime nonprofits focused on people struggling with addiction. Starting in 2018, the nonprofit says, people made some $12,000 in donations through the group's Facebook page—which Facebook didn't turn over until it was sued in superior court. In an email to the Union Leader's Mark Hayward, the social media giant says it was waiting to resolve a discrepancy in how Hope's name appeared on tax documents. "Clearly we were trapped in the Facebook bureaucracy,” says Hope's lawyer.NH offers some glimmers of hope in a tempest of partisanship. I know, I know, this is politics, but still, two heartening items. In NH Bulletin, the president of the state League of Women Voters, Liz Tentarelli, praises the way that the House committee handling redistricting has so far conducted itself. "Who knew that redistricting could be done with public input, with bipartisan commitment, and without angry demonstrations?" she writes. And in the Washington Post, Sarah Salem highlights the Windham NH vote audit as a model for a "bipartisan, 'ethical' audit," in contrast to Arizona and, now, Pennsylvania.Burnout. That, in a word, is why the NH legal system is struggling with a worse-than-usual shortage of public defenders. The nonprofit that provides public defenders to most indigent clients in the state is cutting its caseload for the first time in decades. "Most of the attorneys in the program...have more than 100 open cases. It is demoralizing," Nina Gardner, chair of the state Judicial Council, tells NHPR's Rick Ganley. Contract attorneys are picking up part of the load, but defendants are awaiting trial longer than usual.As more people hike and get into trouble, "stupid hiker" laws get attention. That's not really what they're called, but both NH and VT allow state officials to seek reimbursement for search and rescue if they decide the rescuee was negligible. “We don’t do it very often,” Col. Keith Jordan of NH Fish & Game tells the NYT's Claire Fahy. “It’s got to be something that’s pretty wild...But one thing I am pretty strict on is being unprepared, because those are literally the things that cost lives.” As unprepared hikers need rescuing more often, some rescuers feel they shouldn't have to weigh the cost before calling.One VT college is getting creative about student mental health. Anxiety and depression were a concern on campuses even before Covid. Now demand for mental health services is soaring. At Champlain College, writes Ken Picard in Seven Days, one infectiously upbeat professor is using positive psychology to help students build resilience against these “dark arts” and learn to lead happier lives. Dr. Kimberly Quinn makes it fun, applying a playful approach to techniques for overcoming adversity and developing healthy habits of the mind. Says Champlain’s director of counseling, Quinn “is our secret weapon.”Add five species to endangered or threatened list, VT committee recommends. The state's Endangered Species Committee is recommending that the legislature list the American bumblebee—which hasn't been documented in the state since 2000—and two plants (the rue anemone and the Houghton’s sedge) as endangered, reports Emma Cotton in VTDigger. The committee also wants to list the Eastern meadowlark as threatened and shift a type of mussel from threatened to endangered. Meanwhile, in good news, it says the bald eagle and Canada black snakeroot can come off the list.Standing in a grocery store parking lot with dinner in the bag. That's where Montpelier writer Kekla Magoon was when she noticed a missed call on her cellphone. It turned out to the director of the National Book Foundation telling her that her forthcoming nonfiction book, Revolution in Our Time, a history of the Black Panther Party, is one of five National Book Award finalists in young people's literature. So what did she do? Went back into the store and bought a bottle of champagne, writes Mary Ann Lickteig in Seven Days.What would be cool? If they found traces of wax. Back in 2014, atop a mountain in Norway, archeologists found a lone ski that had been trapped in the ice for 1300 years. Now, seven years later, a team has found its mate. These are now the "best preserved prehistoric skis on record," Andrew Curry writes in Science. Both have intact bindings. Intriguingly, the new find has a groove running its length, putting to rest the archeologists' theory that this ancient skier used furs to go uphill. The groove "would have no purpose if it was covered—suggesting fur wasn’t part of the design," writes Curry.For when your travel destination is "as far away from here as possible." When you just need a real change of scenery, now you can find out which place is half a world from where you are—sort of. FurthestCity is a nifty search tool that lets you select any city on the globe with at least 100,000 people, and it’ll generate a short list of cities that are the farthest distance away. In Boston, you couldn’t possibly be farther from Perth, Australia. In LA, you’re nowhere near Antananarivo, Madagascar. And the most "furthest" city in the world? Tauranga, New Zealand, farthest from 298 cities. I hear it’s gorgeous there.
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As you probably know, DHMC is trying to fill hundreds of positions around the hospital, and starting at 9 am, it's holding a day-long Interview Day. They're offering on-the-job training and are looking for everything from security officers and food service workers to sterile processing techs and phlebotomists. You need to schedule your interview ahead of time.
Today at 5 pm, renowned essayist (and former Yale and Columbia English prof) William Deresiewicz will give an in-person and online public talk, "Change Your Mind First: College and the Urge to Save the World," hosted by Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center and Government Department. He'll cover a subject he's written about extensively: the history and purpose of a college and university education.
At 7 pm, the Hopkins Center hosts clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Anna Polonsky in a concert of duets and solos from some of the greatest 20th-century classical composers, including Copland, Gaubert, and Bernstein. McGill, principal clarinet for the New York Philharmonic, is one of the orchestra's few Black members and an advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities and for addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in classical music. He'll take part in a Q&A following the performance.
What if Guns N' Roses went bluegrass? That's what the Canadian group Walk Off the Earth started wondering... so they've just given it a shot with the 1991 hit, "Don't Cry." It's not full bluegrass and it's definitely not full Guns N' Roses... but it's very much Walk Off the Earth.
See you tomorrow.
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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