GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
One more day (though not night) of relative calm. The second storm system in a week is making its way east and we'll be hit, too, but not until tonight. While the country's mid-section freezes, temps here will start warming today into the upper 30s or maybe lower 40s amid partly to mostly cloudy skies. They drop a bit this evening, but overnight start a steady climb into unspeakable-for-December territory. Chance of snow this evening, changing to rain a few hours later. The big issue is winds: very strong gusts overnight, outages likely.So yes, things could get messy. The high winds may knock out power and there could be flooding, followed late Friday afternoon by a sudden deep freeze. Vermont Public's got tips, including generator info, links to resources including a list of warming shelters and the statewide outage map, and a National Weather Service graphic showing snow depth on Christmas Day for the last 70 years. And Norwich Fire Chief Alex Northern notes you should have enough food, water, and medication on hand to get you through 72 hours, flashlights and batteries, and an emergency heat source if possible.Two new businesses for Enfield. They're both owned by Sean and Kirby Bonnell, reports the Valley News's Liz Sauchelli: Energizing Edge will be a tea and shake shop, the third of its kind owned by the Bonnell's (the others are in Lebanon and New London), and Athletic Edge will be a 24-hour gym. They'll be located on Route 4 where the Miracle Thrift Store and Pellegrino’s used to be. They join a string of new Route 4 businesses in Enfield, Sauchelli writes, including a car wash, a woodworking business in the old roller rink, and a planned car wash and storage facility.As three NH school districts prep for electric buses, some questions. Like, for starters, how to charge them. Rumney, Plymouth, and Henniker have all gotten federal EPA grants for electric school buses, and on his Granite Geek blog, David Brooks writes that Level 2 chargers will take all night (those are big batteries), which is fine most of the time but not on a long route. Then there's the question of whether the local grid can handle the load. And how to take advantage of those big batteries' ability to feed power back into the grid.
SPONSORED: Looking for the Light in the darkness? St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hanover invites you to experience faith, hope, love and light this Christmastime. We have two special Christmas Eve services at 4 and 10 PM to lead you deeper into the joy and mysteries of this season. Find out more at www.saintthomashanover.org. Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church.NH Exec Council votes 3-2 to okay controversial sale of Laconia State School. The sale of the 220-acre site to a group led by Manchester real estate developer Robynne Alexander had come in for criticism ever since NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins raised questions about Alexander's financial and professional background, leading Laconia officials to voice concerns. But yesterday, Timmins reports, a council majority—including Democrat Cinde Warmington—gave the go-ahead to Alexander's plan for a $500 million mixed-use development with 1,300 units, retail, and a hotel and conference center.
NH moose hunters first in state to be found with rare tapeworm. Over the last few years, DHMC infectious disease expert Elizabeth Talbot told WMUR last week, the state has been tracking instances of echinococcus granulosus in North Country moose. It's usually transferred between animals with hooves, such as moose or sheep, and dogs, wolves or coyotes, but now it's been found in two Granite State moose hunters whose dogs had fed on the dead animals. Among other things, reports WMUR's Kelly O'Brien, officials say hunters should never let dogs consume raw meat."SPONSORED: Ring in the New Year with music and dance! Join us on New Year's Eve for a contra dance in Tracy Hall in Norwich. Beginners and singles are welcome, and all dances will be taught by our caller and local contra dance expert, David Millstone. In between dances we'll share pot-luck refreshments and sing in the new year. Live music is provided by the band Calliope for us to swing, promenade, and do-si-do our way into 2023. Masks are required. Sponsored by Norwich Dance Committee/Muskeg Music.
As for Covid...
In NH, the state yesterday reported 304 new cases, a big jump from the 133 the day before, with an average now of 210 cases per day for the week between Dec. 15 and Dec. 21, up 14 percent from the week before. Meanwhile, the state hospital association reported 111 people hospitalized with Covid yesterday, compared to 99 last Wednesday (but down from 124 on Monday and Tuesday this week).
And in VT, writes VTDigger's Erin Petenko, the state continues to report "low" community levels of Covid. Hospitalizations have held pretty much steady for December, ranging from 30 to 50 a day—there were 39 yesterday—compared to 20-35 in late November. Overall, the state reported 437 Covid cases in the past week, a slight drop from the 448 the week before. The CDC last week raised the Covid level in several counties to "Medium": There are now five (Rutland, Orleans, Lamoille, Caledonia and Bennington) with that rating, while the rest of the state remains "Low."
NECN closes Vermont bureau. The Massachusetts-based New England cable news network will shutter the bureau at the end of the year, reports VTDigger's Juliet Schulman-Hall, and lay off reporter Jack Thurston and photographer/cameraperson Kika Bronger, who ran the bureau for 11 years—after meeting at WCAX, where Thurston was Bronger's intern. Bronger tells Schulman-Hall that the news "was not a complete surprise," but that they'd hoped the move wouldn't come until next year. NECN, owned by NBCUniversal, did not respond to Schulman-Hall's request for comment.Regulators cut OneCare Vermont budget. Though not by a lot, mind you. Meeting yesterday, the Green Mountain Care Board approved a trim of $300,000 to the accountable care organization's administrative funding, reducing it to $14.9 million. Members of the board differed in their reasoning, reports VTDigger's Kristen Fountain. "I do not find that fiscal responsibility has been achieved," board chair Owen Foster explained. Other members argued that OneCare's administrative costs are likely to drop anyway, given Blue Cross Blue Shield's decision to withdraw from OneCare for next year.Remember in My Cousin Vinny how Vinny’s girlfriend, Mona Lisa Vito, frees two wrongly accused young men with her encyclopedic knowledge of the specs for every American-made car? Well, Jim Grey, who writes the Down the Road blog, is kind of like that. At home in Indiana—and around the world—he photographs vintage gems he sees on the street. There's that rare 1949 Buick Super, a preening hot red '66 Bonneville, a lustworthy early '70s Jag... In fact, this year’s Carspotting roundup has a record 66 vehicles. With notes. “Nobody can do an unmitigated disaster as well as Ford,” Grey writes.Now, that's a road trip. Alex Lavoie and Jodi Young live on Quadra Island, B.C. They'd just spent six months working in the Yukon and were headed home along a desolate—but stunning, as you'll see in the video—stretch of road called the Dempster Highway, when a raven swooped in front. And then rode the air wave created by their truck for 45 minutes. At one point, they pulled over for a pit stop and to feed their cat, and the raven joined them (enjoying some cat treats, too) before heading out with them as they resumed the trip. You don't have to watch the whole 23-minute video, but it's pretty fun. Here's the CBC.The Thursday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
And to set us up for the day...
We're going to turn to singer Allison Young, who hangs out with Postmodern Jukebox, and wildly versatile multi-instrumentalist Joshua Lee Turner, who's usually one-half of folk and bluegrass duo The Other Favorites. Young and Turner have been touring together,
—from, of course, 1965's
A Charlie Brown Christmas
.
See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!