GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Daybreak is brought to you this week with help from Thyme Restaurant in WRJ. You’ll find inspired menus, fresh ingredients and the perfect setting for unforgettable moments. And you can host a customized event in our own private dining room, a unique event space for business or family gatherings. Learn more here.
Partly to mostly sunny, chance of showers. The cold air that’s arriving from the north (like, way north) won’t fully be felt until tomorrow and Saturday, but even so, we may get scattered showers today, along with gusty winds this afternoon and highs in the mid 60s. Lows tonight into the upper 40s.
A sky sandwich. Three photos…
We start at dawn yesterday, with the day’s early reds and yellows reflected in a pond in E. Thetford, from Robin Osborne;
And move on to a midday iridescent cloud above Messer Pond in New London, from Charlene Baxter;
And then close with twilight in Norwich the other evening, from Barbara Mason.
Wait. No hall pass? Yesterday morning around 10… well, let’s just quote the Lebanon Police Department… “a deer entered Mount Lebanon Elementary School after breaking through the glass window of a door. School staff acted quickly to ensure the safety of students and personnel while the animal moved through part of the building. The deer was eventually confined to a staff room inside the school. Officers from the Lebanon Police Department, working alongside a member of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, were able to safely remove the deer from the building. The deer was subsequently released back into the wild.” WCAX has security cam video.
Newport NH school board puts supt on leave. Forrest Ransdell doesn’t have much time left on his one-year contract, which expires June 30, but he’ll be on paid leave between now and then, reports Patrick O’Grady in the Valley News. The board made the decision in a non-public session last week, and though its reasons are unclear, O’Grady writes that the move came not long after Ransdell emailed school board chair Nikki Murphy to criticize her for pointed questions her husband had asked at a public forum on a new principal for the Richard School. An interim superintendent has begun work in Newport; Ransdell starts as Unity’s new superintendent July 1.
Dartmouth lands $25 million to pursue Dartmouth Dialogues. The dialogue effort, a priority of President Sian Beilock, is aimed at creating “a national model for facilitating challenging conversations across campus and giving students the skills to build bridges across personal and political divides,” the Office of Communications wrote yesterday. The gift—”one of the largest ever made at an American university to support programming and education around civil discourse and the free exchange of ideas”—comes from board of trustees member Jim Frank, his wife Karen, and their son Daniel (‘92). Lots more at the link.
SPONSORED: It's time to Jumble! The St. Thomas Jumble Sale is this Saturday, May 30th, 8am-2pm, at 9 West Wheelock Street in Hanover. Join us for bargain hunting, live music, adorable donkeys from Road to Independence, and FREE ice cream! Return on Sunday, May 31, at 11:45 am for a $1 Bag Sale and on Monday, June 1, at 10 am for the Free-For-All. All proceeds go to local & international non-profits. Thank you for supporting the 2026 Jumble! Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
Correction: At Good Neighbor Health Clinic, the new medical director and associate medical director will be part-time. Based on a VN story, yesterday’s item about the DH-funded positions mistakenly said the jobs are full-time. DH is funding the two positions, which have yet to be filled, as demand for the nonprofit clinic’s services continue to grow.
Facing intense backlash, NH data center proposal withdrawn for now. Just hours before a public meeting on the question, a Seacoast developer withdrew his bid to build a data center in Nottingham, which sits about midway between Concord and Rye. The town’s planning board was scheduled to hold its first hearing on the idea last night; in the days leading up to it, the town saw a vehement public response. “It’s been statewide,” town administrator Ellen White said early this week. “Everything has been in opposition to it.” Yesterday, developer Tom Moulton told NHPR’s Kate Dario that he wants more time to look at issues related to water use, “air concerns,” and noise.
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Tens of thousands of NH households could be missing out on property tax relief. In all, reports the Globe’s Steven Porter (no paywall), the state had about 42,000 households with incomes below $35K in 2024 that owned their homes and paid property taxes on them—the requirement to participate in the state’s low and moderate income property tax relief program. But only 5,300 claims were approved—suggesting that lots of people are missing out. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s Phil Sletten speculates that many people may not realize they’re eligible, so tax officials are trying to boost awareness of the program ahead of this year’s June 30 application deadline.
A new education scorecard finds NH is “kind of middle of the pack.” That’s Dartmouth economist Doug Staiger, one of the researchers on a Stanford/Harvard/Dartmouth project tracking academic growth nationwide. The study found that from 2022-25, high- and low-income districts have improved the most since 2022, while middle-income districts have lagged. Staiger tells NHPR’s Julia Barnett this may be because of infusions of federal funds for low-income districts and the self-contained resources wealthier districts can muster. The report also found signs of a turnaround in reading scores in districts using “science of reading” approaches. District results here.
“Wetlands rarely call attention to themselves. But these quiet places do an enormous amount of work.” And they’ve been crucial to the health of the Connecticut River and its watersheds, writes Antioch prof Michael Simpson for the Connecticut River Conservancy. His wide-ranging report takes in both their ecological role and how federal legislation and judicial decisions have affected them. But he also focuses close to home: on how Vermont and New Hampshire treat wetlands, and the extent to which towns in both states are becoming key to whether “threatened wetland ecosystems persist or are altered.”
This comes at the same time that the VT Legislature and Gov. Phil Scott “are mired in a fight over how easy it should be to build housing near wetlands,” reports VTDigger/VT Public’s Carly Berlin. Scott, along with homebuilders and state housing advocates, wants to loosen rules on construction near wetlands; last week, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules formally rebuked the administration for overstepping its bounds and ignoring legislative intent. Berlin traces the clash between competing interests and interest groups.
The Thursday Crossword. Ace puzzle constructor Laura Braunstein’s “midi,” with a couple of only-in-the-Upper-Valley clues.
And the winner is … the vampire snail! Go on, guess the contest. Not even close. It’s the International Mollusc of the Year 2026, and lest you think no one pays attention to a popularity contest among creepy underwater creatures, know that the vampire snail racked up 5,506 votes of more than 15,000 cast, beating out four other finalists (see them all here). Senckenberg, the research institute in Germany that runs the competition, says the vampire snail “feeds on the fish’s blood while secreting a cocktail of blood thinners and anesthetics to keep its prey calm” then “retreats to its hiding place, leaving behind a stunned but otherwise healthy fish.”
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.
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HEADS UP
Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center hosts Dan Gilbert for “The Pursuit of Happiness: The Science of Happiness.” The Harvard psychology prof has long argued that we have the ability to create our own happiness, even when things don’t go as we want. He’ll be talking about the science of happiness and decision-making that leads to a happy life, with Dartmouth historian Darrin McMahon. 5 pm in Rocky 003 and online.
At the Hood Museum, “From Orozco to Lee Qoede: How Mexican Murals Inspired Korean Art.” Stony Brook U’s Jinyoung A. Jin delivers the annual Orozco lecture, in this case talking about the influence of Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco and the Mexican mural movement on Korean artists, and in particular on modern artist Lee Qoede. 5 pm.
Feast and Field kicks off its season with the Krishna Guthrie Band. The summertime music series at Barnard’s Fable Farm gets going tonight with the foursome of Guthrie on guitar, Josh Cote on bass, drummer Nicky Fitzgerald, and fiddler Bobby Maguire, taking his family’s musical lineage and, as the writeup goes, “turn[ing] it up a notch” with rock, blues and modern influences. Gates, food, and drinks at 5:30 pm, music starts up at 6.
Montshire After Dark’s “friend-making mixer.” As the museum writes, “It’s not a date night! It’s a night to meet new folks! We will help you find some “Good Chemistry” with other Upper Valley adults at this interactive chemistry-themed “Mixer”! Try hands-on science and engineering activities that encourage conversation and collaboration, and even a little competition! You’ll be making slime, building dinosaurs, and meeting new people, all while checking out the brand new exhibition, Creatividad Silvestre/Wild Creativity.” Food and drinks by Brownsville Butcher & Pantry. 6 pm, 21+ only.
At Hanover’s Howe Library, Russell Muirhead and “The Spirit of '76: Can the People Rule?” The Dartmouth political scientist and Hanover-area state rep will talk about the country’s founding principles and where representative democracy is headed, addressing questions like: “Can the Constitution still work? What does the Constitution ask for from citizens and officials? In a politics where each side fears and loathes the other, can we make the Constitution work?” 6:30 pm in the Mayer Room and online.
At the Norwich Bookstore, Anthony D'Amato and Paul Catanzaro with Tending Your Forest. The bookstore, along with Northern Woodlands and Vermont Coverts, present the two forest ecologists (one at UVM, the other at UMass), whose new guide to forest management “empowers landowners with the knowledge to manage a family forest to capture more carbon, encourage wildlife and biodiversity, and build a more resilient future.” 7 pm.
The Dartmouth College Gospel Choir’s spring concert at the Hop. Under charismatic director Knoelle Higginson, the ever-popular choir delivers a high-energy performance of spirituals and contemporary gospel, with soul-stirring vocals and rhythms that make it impossible to sit still. 7:30 pm in Spaulding.
Molly Tuttle at Lebanon Opera House. There are just a handful of tickets left for the Americana and bluegrass singer, songwriter, guitarist, multiple Grammy nominee, and back-to-back winner for Best Bluegrass Album with her band, Golden Highway. Grab whatever’s left now. 7:30 pm.
Hop Film screens The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher (Navalny) “approaches this personal, visually inventive documentary as a father-to-be trying to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity. Produced by Daniel Kwan (Everything Everywhere All at Once), co-directed by genius animator Charlie Tyrell…, this eye-opening film brings together the leading voices shaping and challenging the rise of AI.” 7:30 pm in the Loew.
And anytime, JAM’s weekly highlights. Starting with Monday’s dedication of the monument in WRJ’s Veterans Park honoring veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars and the history of veterans in town; the 10th Annual Hartland Poetry Festival back in April, on the theme of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration’s signing; and Steve Taylor’s presentation (also in April) to the Hartford Historical Society on WRJ and West Leb from 1943 to 1970—including plenty of stories.
And for today...
Well, yes. Of course. Molly Tuttle, last summer on the other side of Vermont, with “Story of My So-Called Life.”
See you tomorrow.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt
