GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Cloudy today, snow on its way. After a cold start, we'll warm up in to the mid-20s, though it'll be mostly cloudy all day. A series of upper level systems will bring light snow to the region likely starting tonight—it will last off and on through tomorrow and beyond, but it doesn't look like it will amount to all that much, though at least right now the prediction is that it'll be powdery. Down into the high teens overnight.Let's start with what daybreak looks like from...
The top of Gove Hill Road in Thetford, from Christine Coyle;
And Mangona, Barberino di Mugello in northern Tuscany, Italy, by Anne Zimmerman.
NH towns postpone floor meetings. Though most will go ahead with balloting on March 9, the Valley News's John Gregg rounds up plans by a number of towns to hold off or adjust their floor meetings to make it possible for people to attend in person. Plainfield, for instance, will hold its town and school meeting in June in a tent on the elementary school grounds; Enfield will move the meeting to Huse Park in May; Cornish is going for the school gym in June. Gregg gives a rundown."As of today, our planning is for an operational, in-residence, normal fall term." During yesterday's weekly online "Community Conversation," Dartmouth Provost Joe Helble said that if the college is able to sustain its low test-positivity rate and much of the campus community is able to be vaccinated by end of summer, Dartmouth may return to full operations this fall. "There are a lot of caveats," he noted, "and it may turn out that we are able to increase the number of students on campus substantially but not get to 100 percent." Trail advocates try to figure out a way to link Leb, West Leb without Twin State Sand & Gravel site. The idea that you could get from the Mascoma River Greenway in Lebanon out to Route 10 north and Boston Lot is an old one, but it's been stymied for years by lack of progress on redevelopment that would have made it possible. Now, reports the VN's Tim Camerato, a coalition led by Lyme Properties president Chet Clem has formed to build support for a biking and walking route from Glen Road to the new trails at River Park.Got a Harris Hill story to tell? That's the 90-meter ski jump in Brattleboro—the only one in New England and one of just six that height in the country—built in 1922 by Fred Harris, founder of the Dartmouth Outing Club. The hill's annual February competition was cancelled this year, but the volunteers who help run it—including E. Thetford's Peter Graves, the veteran sportscaster and World Cup xc ski announcer—will mark its centennial by collecting stories about the hill. They'll “be looking beyond the jumpers to people who’ve attended, wedding proposals, the whole nine yards,” says co-announcer Peter "Fish" Case.One is awesome. Two's... a trend? Turns out that NH Fish & Wildlife has its own photo of the imprint of an owl strike in the snow. It's not as clear or eloquent as Jesse Casana's from Norwich the other day, but they, at least, think they have an identification: "Based on the wingspan (~20 inches) plus absence of ear tufts, we surmise it was made by a northern sawhet owl," they write.Absentee voting drove record turnout in 2020, but its future in NH is up for debate. That's the headline on a review by NHPR's Casey McDermott of efforts in the legislature either to expand or restrict mail-in voting beyond the pandemic. In general, Democrats are backing moves to make it easier to vote absentee; Republicans are pressing for heightened ID verification. McDermott notes that absentee voting in NH went off "without any major interruptions or other problems" last year. One move with bipartisan support is to allow election officials to start processing ballots before Election Day.A school-funding explainer for NH. This is going to be a tough budget season for school districts in the state as enrollments drop, federal relief aid is in the offing, and the legislature wrangles over whether or not even to tackle school funding formulas. NHPR's Sarah Gibson lays out why there are bills in the legislature to base state aid on 2019 school population numbers; school spending on Covid-related expenses and a chart showing how much each district has gotten in federal relief; and the latest on the school funding debate.Meanwhile, in NH's House Education Cte yesterday... things got heated on a measure to create “education freedom accounts” that would let parents pull their kids from public school and take state funding with them. There was a lot of to-and-fro between backers who argue it would help low-income families who think public schools aren't working and opponents worried it would strip public schools of funding. An updated version places an income cap on who's eligible. Even so, reports the Monitor's Ethan DeWitt, there was no agreement on how to proceed; the committee will continue working on it today.NH will bypass CDC guidelines on in-person schooling. Last week, the federal agency issued guidelines that call for more testing and contact tracing and ask states to tie in-person schooling to the rate of community spread of Covid. In a statement yesterday, reports InDepthNH's Damien Fisher, education commissioner Frank Edelblut and state epidemiologist Benjamin Chan said that "would place unnecessary barriers to in-person learning,” and the state will stick to its own protocols. To all the efforts to bring broadband to Vermonters, add one from the sky: SpaceX's Starlink. The company, which maintains a network of mini-satellites circling the globe, has launched beta service in Vermont, and for Vermonters tired of waiting for wires to get to them, the prospect is "thrilling," writes Seven Days' Kevin McCallum. The service isn't always reliable, he reports, and Thetford Rep. Tim Briglin isn't convinced: "It remains to be seen how well the technology performs at scale," he tells McCallum. Still, it's shaking up the scene just as the state's new communications districts get underway."Yes, President Anarumo is actually living in here." So began the typed sign on Mark Anarumo's dorm-room door at Norwich University after he moved into an unoccupied single in Wilson Hall at the end of January. Anarumo is, of course, the president of Norwich University, which made his sojourn kind of noteworthy. A few days before, he'd ordered all students to stick to their rooms. "I just wanted to show the students that I'm with them and that I don't think I'm above what we're asking them to do," he explains to Seven Days' Chelsea Edgar, who has the whole story. Vaccinating by age in Vermont may make things easier, but it doesn't make sense. In a commentary in VTDigger, Dartmouth's Anne Sosin argues that essential workers need to be moved up in line. VT has taught the country that protecting the state's most vulnerable has produced better overall outcomes for everyone during the pandemic, she argues. Essential workers are at higher risk for infection, and the state's decision to abandon its plans to give them priority and instead move to age-banded cohorts "threatens to limit the effectiveness" of its vaccination efforts, she writes. So let's say your sister's an artist, your father a woodworker, your mother a quilter, and your brother an architect. What do you do? Snowshoe art, obviously. Longtime Daybreak readers might remember John Predom, the guy in Island Pond, VT, who stomps out geometric patterns in snow. He's still at it, and the Milton Independent's Ruthie Laroche talked to him about why he does it (it started with a spirograph), how he does it, and what happens when he makes a mistake. Plenty of cool photos of this year's work, plus a drone video. (Thanks, KK!)And speaking of drone photography... I'll just apologize up front for where your morning's about to disappear to. Drone.globe is an Instagram page—a "Drone Photography Showcase"—that features striking stills and videos from an extremely big world out there. Bet you can't click on just one.
As for the numbers...
Dartmouth reports 1 active case among students and 2 among faculty and staff (down 1). There are 5 students and 4 faculty/staff in quarantine because of travel or exposure, while 4 students and 11 faculty/staff are in isolation awaiting results or because they tested positive.
NH reported 379 new cases yesterday for a cumulative total of 71,965 (which includes numbers added after a data reassessment). There were 12 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,148. Meanwhile, 126 people are hospitalized (up 7). The current active caseload stands at 3,372 (up 515—obviously more number-rejiggling going on). The state reports 167 active cases in Grafton County (up 38), 68 in Sullivan (up 7), and 239 in Merrimack (up 31). In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 39 active cases (up 8), Newport has 11 (down 2), Lebanon has 10 (down 1), Charlestown has 8 (no change), and New London has 6 (up at least 2). Warren, Wentworth, Rumney, Orford, Hanover, Canaan, Enfield, Plainfield, Grantham, Springfield, and Sunapee have 1-4 each. Haverhill, Dorchester, Cornish, Goshen, and Newbury are off the list.
VT reported 59 new cases yesterday, bringing it to a total case count of 13,996. There were no new deaths, remain at 191 all told. Meanwhile, 44 people with confirmed cases are hospitalized (up 7). Windsor County gained 5 new cases and now stands at 996 for the pandemic, with 102 over the past 14 days. Orange County had 2 additional cases and stands at 478 cumulatively, with 28 cases over the past 14 days.
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At noon today, the Vermont Historical Society features historian David Work on the Buffalo Soldiers in Vermont—the Tenth United States Cavalry Regiment, one of the Black army regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers, which in 1909 began a tour of duty at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester. Their welcome was, at best, cool: The Rutland Herald editorialized about the “menace” of Black troops visiting Burlington's taverns, and there was a lively debate over whether the city should adopt Jim Crow laws. Work will talk about the soldiers' experience and how they responded.
Also at noon, the Upper Valley Land Trust launches the 2021 version of its "Lunch and Learn" series with an introduction to forestry by Erhard Frost.
At 4 pm, Vermont Law School kicks off a two-day symposium taking a deep dive into the legal questions raised by the Trump administration's approach to executive powers, environmental issues, and the constitutional separation of powers. Its panelists include lawyers and legal scholars who tackle these questions from a variety of viewpoints; the keynote tomorrow will be given by US Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. Free and open to the public.
At 5:30, Sustainable Woodstock hosts a panel on food security in the Upper Valley, the pandemic's impact on residents' ability to feed themselves, and how local organizations are responding. It includes Jill Lord, director of community health at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center; Alice Stewart, program manager for RiseVT Windsor County; and Nan Kilmer with the Windsor Food Shelf.
At 6:30 this evening, the Norwich Historical Society continues its series of presentations, this time featuring with a twist, with a program featuring Dan Fraser and historical society director Sarah Rooker talking about the history of Dan & Whit's—from its days as Norwich's town meeting venue to how the Frasers came to own the store to stories about the ins and outs you've probably never heard before. As with last week, the registration fee if you sign up now for tonight's event will go to support the Haven—but you can also order in advance for next week's event and reserve dinner from the Blue Sparrow.
This evening at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts journalist, NH farmer, and debut mystery writer Julie Carrick Dalton. Her novel, Waiting for the Night Song, takes an entomologist from the Rockies back to her hometown in NH, where pine beetles are leaving trees ripe for forest fires and the brush-clearing she launches leads to the discovery of a dead body that she and her estranged childhood best friend know something about. Dalton will be talking it all over with VT writer Robin MacArthur.
Also at 7, the Green Mountain Club hosts writer and climate activist Bill McKibben with a talk on "The Climate Fight: A Report from the Front." McKibben, a co-founder of 350.org, will detail where things stand on climate issues at this moment of political change. Tix are free, but they wouldn't mind if you kicked in $8 to support the Long Trail.
At 8 pm, the Hop hosts JAG Productions artistic director Jarvis Green and associate produce Raven Cassell talking about JAGFest and its radio plays in this pandemic year, the festival's artistic process, its artists and their creative processes, and where everything's headed.
Finally, the Hop starts its next set of "Film on Demand" offerings, available through Feb. 24. Born to Be is a documentary portrait of Dr. Jess Ting, a Juilliard-trained bass player-turned-surgeon who leads Mount Sinai Hospital's Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery; the film focuses on the human side of that transition and Ting's work with patients, not the explicitly surgical side. Then there's The Twentieth Century, Matthew Rankin's...well, the NYT called it his "loony debut feature, a feverish reimagining of turn-of-the-20th-century Canada. An exuberant feat of visual design, it’s meticulously weird and full of rambunctious humor" as it lampoons Canada and its history.
Performing artists may be starting to get the hang of this whole pandemic-enforced isolation thing. Peridance Contemporary Dance Center was founded by choreographer Igal Perry back in the '80s to link balletic and modern traditions, and
a duet choreographed by Perry and performed by two dancers and an accompanying pianist from their own spaces—but seeming to work (almost) flawlessly together. One of those dancers is Katie Currier, who grew up in Norwich and trained at Dancers' Corner in WRJ. The video includes not just the dance itself, but a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made.
(Thanks, KP!)
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