Daybreak Thursday, 4/9/26

Sunny, warmer. Today, we get another brilliantly sunny day, with temps rising into the mid or upper 50s as high pressure starts shifting to the east, bringing up air from the south. Though there’s some moisture arriving with that air, dewpoints will remain low thanks to an exceptionally dry airmass sitting over us—and things will be made all the drier by gusty winds expected this afternoon. Lows tonight in the low 30s.

Is it spring yet? Well, no.

Time for Dear Daybreak! In this week’s collection of dispatches from Daybreak readers, Robin Osborne leads off with both a photo of a beautiful ice pattern that appeared yesterday morning (all gone now) and a story about what losing her hat told her about small-town life; Kelly Stettner follows up with video (sound up!) of ravens and their fledglings nesting in the Paddock Road bridge in Springfield, VT; and Barbara Woodard writes in about getting to watch the last bits of a patch of remaining snow along the Ompompanoosuc vaporize. Literally.

Lebanon police crack down on 12A retail theft. In a press release yesterday, the LPD detailed a series of arrests over the last ten days for thefts from Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Best Buy, and Kohl’s. The men involved are from Claremont, WRJ, Chelsea, and St. J, with another two suspects possessing no fixed address. They’re variously alleged to have been seen removing security tags or have been in possession of stolen goods. “The Lebanon Police Department will continue to aggressively pursue, apprehend, and hold accountable individuals who come into the City of Lebanon to commit these crimes,” the release declares.

New café planned for former Aubuchon Hardware spot in Bradford, VT. Honey Bee Coffee and Tea won’t take up the whole Main Street space, which is being subdivided, writes Marion Umpleby in the Valley News. But Julie Porter hopes it’ll fill the hole left after Vittles closed last year. A Johnson & Wales grad who’s now a food safety and quality specialist at King Arthur, Porter’s planning hot drinks, sandwiches, and “a slew” of house-made baked goods, including cinnamon rolls and bagels. The cinnamon rolls use her great-grandmother’s recipe, “and that’s all the information I can give,” Porter tells Umpleby. Opening date isn’t set yet.

SPONSORED: It’s time to get your tickets for The Spitfire Grill. A heartfelt story set in a small town not unlike our own. Something in this town is about to change. April 30–May 17. Get tickets today! Sponsored by We the People Theatre.

Best breakfast sandwich in Hanover? Hannah Lapides knows she can do better than Collis, so in The Dartmouth, she rounds up her experiences in town. Top honors go to Still North Books & Bar with its bacon, sunnyside-up egg and cheese sandwich, with a touch of maple syrup inside it. Next was a version from The Works that was “greasy on the outside, and the egg looked like it came from a sheetpan”—but still managed a 7/10 from Lapides. The foil-wrapped Lou’s version got mixed reviews: “clearly more gourmet and authentic than some of the other ones” but with points deducted for sogginess. Umpleby’s didn’t have the bread she wanted.

For a long time, land in the Upper Valley wasn’t so much measured as agreed upon. Early deeds used landmarks and local knowledge, writes Steve Taylor in the VN, citing a Sullivan County boundary set at “the oak tree where the cow had the calf.” For generations, Taylor reports, property lines often rested on handshakes, with vast tracts never formally surveyed. That began to change in the 1960s, as banks, buyers and subdivision laws demanded precision. Today, there’s GPS and digital mapping, but gaps remain, costs are rising sharply, and a graying workforce raises questions about who will map the region next. All that and more at the link.

SPONSORED: Join fiddler Bruce Molsky and baker Martin Philip for an afternoon of artist and artisan workshops at Upper Valley Music Center on Saturday, April 18! Participants are welcome to sign up for a single part or to stay for the afternoon. Fiddle workshop participants can look forward to diving into a few old-time fiddle tunes with Molsky. Philip’s bread workshop will include a bread talk and live demo designed to inspire confidence in home bakers. Afterward, they’ll hold a public conversation and Q&A, followed by an old-time jam session. Registration and more information at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by UVMC.

Most people in NH are “exhausted with the divisiveness. The extreme voices on both sides, they may be the loudest, but they’re not the majority.” That’s former GOP US Senate candidate Kevin Smith, who is now the co-chair, along with former Democratic state Sen. Donna Soucy, of a new effort to turn ordinary Granite Staters’ areas of agreement into legislative action. The New Hampshire Forum, reports the Monitor’s Charlotte Matherly, is the brainchild of former Melrose Place actor (and Dartmouth alum) Andrew Shue. First step: an online survey to gather ideas then move those with over 70 percent support on to regional, in-person events.

VT’s sole representative town meeting to be retired. Once seen as the future of town-meeting democracy, it’s been in place in Brattleboro for 65 years, but last month, reports VTDigger’s Kevin O’Connor, voters narrowly opted to scrap it after some residents grew frustrated that only elected representatives could vote on budgets and big decisions. The town will shift, for now, to an open meeting while it considers a move to Australian ballot. It’s an increasingly familiar debate around VT, O’Connor writes, as towns favor accessibility and turnout over floor debate.

VT regulators race to toughen wake boat rules. Ever since the first rules were enacted in 2024, the state’s environmental conservation department has been inundated with requests to change them, and especially to narrow the number of lakes on which the boats are allowed. Now, reports Seven Days’ Kevin McCallum, they’re considering cutting that number from 30 to 18 (Lake Fairlee would be off limits under the new rules) and weighing a requirement that boats with ballast tanks be decontaminated before moving between lakes in a bid to halt the spread of zebra mussels. There’s a tentative legislative hearing set for May 7.

“Even -54˚C hauls worse than -50˚C.” Arctic explorer Jerry Kobalenko has pulled a sled laden with supplies at both temperatures, and can attest that below about -20˚C (-4˚F), friction gets worse with every degree. According to one theory about glide, the friction of pulling the sled creates a very thin layer of water, and when it’s too cold, this film doesn’t form. But glide isn’t the only factor to contend with when lugging a sled for weeks across an expanse of snow in one of the most remote places on earth, as Kobalenko writes in his tips on Explorersweb: Skis vs. snowshoes? Which tune to listen to as you trudge along? And why “sidewalk snow” is the best.

The Thursday Crossword. Puzzle constructor Laura Braunstein’s “midi” is a bit longer and harder than her Tuesday minis, but perfect with breakfast. If you’d like to catch up on past puzzles, you can do that here.

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

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THERE'S SOME GREAT DAYBREAK SWAG! Like Daybreak tote bags, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!

HEADS UP
Choreographer Bill T. Jones talks mortality and resilience at DHMC. It’s a Hop “Big Move” panel and workshop with the famed choreographer, who’s in town this week. Jones will sit down with two physicians—Ellen Flaherty, VP of DH’s Geriatric Center of Excellence and Kathy Kirkland, director of DHMC’s Palliative Medicine Programs—to talk about “confronting mortality, celebrating resilience, telling our stories and facing the unknown. The discussion will be followed by personal reflection exercises.” 2 pm in DHMC Auditorium E/F and online.

At River Roost Brewery in WRJ, King Arthur Baking and the Norwich Bookstore celebrate The Book of Pizza. Authors Martin Philip and David Tamarkin talk crust, sauce, cheese, toppings, and baking—with samples from Brownsville Butcher & Pantry. It’s a ticketed event, which gets you the book as well. 5 pm.

Common Man for Ukraine panel at Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center. The nonprofit, a project of the Plymouth (NH) Rotary Foundation (and co-founded by the owner of The Common Man restaurants), delivers humanitarian aid and trauma counseling to Ukrainian orphans, displaced children, and families. Three of its leaders will hold a panel discussion about its activities at 6 pm in Rocky 003, hosted by the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact and the student alliance for Ukraine.

At the Norwich Public Library, a “Spotlight on Housing” with Elizabeth Carpenter-Song. This is the first of two talks about housing in the Upper Valley sponsored by the NPL and Homes for Norwich. Carpenter-Song, who teaches anthropology at Dartmouth, will talk about her book Families on the Edge: Experiences of Homelessness and Care in Rural New England. Her study followed five Upper Valley families and highlights the problem of housing insecurity here. 6:30 pm in the Community Room.

Still North and the Howe host Blackout Poetry Night. What is it? “It is a form of found poetry where you take an existing text (like a book page, newspaper, or letter) and ‘black out’ or scribble over most of the words, leaving only a selection of words visible to create a poem.” All materials provided, drop-ins welcome. 6:30 pm at Still North Books & Bar in Hanover.

Nidia Góngora at Lebanon Opera House. The Colombian Pacific singer, traditional music researcher, and Latin Grammy nominee has been artist-in-residence at LOH the last few days, and tonight anchors what LOH bills as “a family-friendly Latin dance party with one of Colombia’s most treasured singers.” This is your chance to catch her before she heads to New Orleans for Jazzfest. 6:30 pm, general seating, room to dance.

Line dancing at Sawtooth Kitchen. Led by 603 Line Dancing (motto: “Live Free or Die Dancin’.” No cover. 7 pm.

And anytime, JAM’s got some weekly highlights to check out: the 38th episode of Mike Purvis’ “The Dad Project,” an ongoing series detailing his father’s story through the 38 planes he flew from 1957 to 1998, in which Mike explores the background and history of General Aviation; a Dickey Center talk on tariffs and tariff policy with Davin Chor (Globalization Chair at Tuck) and Frank Lavin (former U.S. Under Secretary for Int'l Trade); and Chico Eastridge’s interview with Owen Dybvig, “a musician, screenwriter, entrepreneur, political candidate, and non-verbal disabled man with cerebral palsy. His life has been drastically reshaped with generative AI, which allows him to communicate like never before.”

And for today...

Nidia Góngora, who’s at LOH tonight.

See you tomorrow.

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