Daybreak Thursday 7/2/20

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

So... here we are between a low and a cold front. Definitely enjoy today. It may start out foggy and cloudy, but the sun will come out and we'll be facing the warmest day of the week, highs in the mid 80s. At some point tonight this front will show up, bringing a slight chance of rain and/or thunder, but it'll be more of an issue tomorrow. Wind from the northwest, mid-60s tonight.Least Bitterns in flight. Jim Block was over by the West Leb wetlands again the other day, and spent some time trying to get clear shots of several Least Bitterns on the wing through the reeds. What's amazing, when you look at them, is how thoroughly they blend in with the background. And last night's "smoldering" sky from on high. A still from William Daugherty's drone, above Plainfield.A quick check-in.

King Arthur Flour layoffs. The news comes via a letter to the editor of Seven Days. "A number of King Arthur Flour employees...are taking severance agreements since their positions have been eliminated, and many can't or won't work in other positions where they could be 'redeployed,'" the letter-writer notes. KAF's Carey Underwood confirms it to Daybreak, noting that with the pandemic ongoing, "we face a sustained lack of work in our café, store, and schools." Between 20 and 22 employees will be affected. "We also fully expect to rebuild our impacted businesses, and look forward to the possibility of recalling many, if not all, of those who were let go," she emails.Dartmouth commits to "urgent and overdue goal" of ending racial injustice. In a statement to the community yesterday, President Phil Hanlon, Provost Joe Helble and other senior leaders at the college announced initial steps the college intends to take, including making the next head of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity a vice president; mandating implicit bias training for all students, faculty, and staff (the board will participate, too); enhancing access to therapists of color for students; and working harder to retain faculty and staff of color. Full statement at the link.Nugget Scoops opens. Actually: opened. Yesterday at noon, the brand-new ice cream division of the Hanover Improvement Society opened its doors in the space formerly occupied by Morano Gelato, just by the Nugget Theater. They'll be open seven days a week, noon to 8 pm, serving up Kingdom Creamery ice cream. Masks required and, intriguingly for this era, cash only for the moment.Oxbow school budget voted down; Rivendell's passes narrowly. The Oxbow district—Bradford, Newbury, Oxbow Union High School, and the River Bend Technical Center—had proposed a $17.6 million budget. Voters, frustrated by rising administrative costs under VT’s school consolidation efforts and wary of spending during the pandemic, rejected it, 520-323. Meanwhile, on a re-vote of a budget rejected in May, Rivendell voters opted 583-538 to accept it. It cut $500,000 out of the earlier version, the VN's Tim Camerato reports.“We needed a miracle.” That's Mary Brown, whose husband Clyde, a Korean War vet, suffered both a broken neck and a stroke, and who couldn't return home without a wheelchair ramp and other changes to their home. The miracle arrived in the form of a crew of COVER Home Repair volunteers, just a few days before everything locked down. Image mag's Mark Aiken, along with photographer Jim Mauchly, profiles COVER and the work of its over 400 volunteers. “We work with people who have circumstances that leave them feeling isolated and helpless,” says executive director Bill Neukomm."Period Piece." You may remember a few months back, Daybreak included a link to a crossword puzzle by Dartmouth librarian Laura Braunstein. She's a puzzle constructor for the NYT, among others, but she's also one of the moving forces behind The Inkubator, which publishes puzzles by women and nonbinary people and mentors novice constructors. "The person who writes the crossword and the person who edits it become the arbiters of what is or isn't common knowledge," writes Seven Days' Margaret Grayson, in this profile of Braunstein and why her work matters. That title? Read on...Hanover High grad Emma Behrens to fill Hartford Selectboard seat. Behrens, 26, was appointed by the board to replace Dennis Brown, who stepped down after disagreements with other board members. She works as a sales and catering manager for the Quechee Inn at Marshland Farms, and told the board she's focused on seeing local businesses succeed in Hartford. “I want to make sure we’re keeping young people in this community and that they stay here,” she said. (VN)The Connecticut River Mainline's convoluted ownership. Yesterday's item about the sale of Pan Am Railways brought a little history lesson from Doug Thayer, who notes that at one point, the line was owned by the Boston & Maine, which refused to improve the tracks, requiring both passenger and freight trains to keep to 10 miles per hour. Now there are different owners north and south of WRJ, and Pan Am has usage rights. NH consumer advocate petitions for emergency disconnection rules. Don Kreis, who represents consumers on utility issues, is asking the state's Public Utilities Commission to issue emergency rules as households that can't pay their electric bills suddenly face the imminent end of a moratorium on disconnections. On Tuesday, Gov. Chris Sununu rescinded his March emergency order barring disconnections, and after negotiations that excluded Kreis's office, replaced it with one that lasts only until July 15. Applications open for NH rental, utility assistance. The state is devoting $35 million in federal coronavirus relief money for people who are having trouble making rent money or utility payments; applications opened Monday for a one-time grant of $2,500, ongoing assistance if that isn't enough, or help finding housing for people leaving shelters. NHPR has put out a FAQ page on who qualifies and how to apply.VT small businesses can start applying for grant aid next Monday. At a press conference yesterday, economic development commissioner Joan Goldstein laid out general guidelines for businesses to apply for up to $50,000 in emergency support. Businesses that pay rooms and meals or sales and use tax will apply via the tax department. All other businesses and nonprofits should apply to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, which will be holding a webinar today at 3 pm on the application process."What COVID has done is, along with shutting us up in our homes, it has shut down any discussion of ideas." Norwich's Rebecca Holcombe, running for governor in Vermont, reflects on the difficulties of campaigning as a first-time candidate with scant name recognition during the pandemic. She's being more cautious about gathering people in person than her primary rival, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who recently held a rally at a farm in Williston, but the larger problem is that the coronavirus has sucked most of the media air out of the room—and given incumbent Phil Scott invaluable air time, Seven Days notes. UVM, VTDigger unveil town-by-town police-spending database. Overall, among the 141 towns included at the start (it will expand), it shows that police budgets grew $3 million in fiscal year 2020, compared to 2019, a 4 percent increase. Hartford and Windsor rank among the top 20 towns in the state for per-capita spending in fiscal year 2020, devoting about 19 percent of their general budgets to police.Thru-hiker finishes AT hiking at night, dodging rangers, sleeping in closed shelters. On June 17 at 6:34 am, Andrew Underwood ("Denver") "became the second person (as best he can tell) to finish the Appalachian Trail in 2020," Grayson Haver Currin writes in Outside mag. What Underwood did was illegal, of course, though "the entire trail had opened the day before [he finished]—except the last 5.2 miles up Katahdin, still closed by state mandate." Currin details what went into the experience, and the less-than-enthusiastic response from trail officials.Lightning flashes make it into the record books. One was in Brazil in 2018, another in Argentina in 2019. The World Meteorological Association has now declared the one in Brazil, which covered 440 miles (that's about the distance from Boston to DC) the longest-in-distance lightning strike ever recorded. Meanwhile, Argentina's lasted 16.73 seconds, taking the record for the longest recorded duration of a lightning strike. And hey, summer's just starting: Maybe we'll get a megaflash (yep, that's a thing) of our own."Mabel brought lots of intensity to the role she played, but I don’t think she was able to switch off when the camera did, and I think that’s where the problem started." BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter's up with a "documentary" about the backstage cost of fame and going all Hollywood on his dogs Olive and Mabel. Mabel in particular, poor thing. Though there's some hope at the end. "What’s that? You have an idea for a series? Let’s walk and talk…" Cotter says, as they amble into the distance. 

News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:

#UVTogether

Reading Deeper

Back in 2009, The Raconteurs, a Nashville-based rock band, decided to turn their song "Old Enough" into a bluegrass number. They made a few calls. And suddenly, there were Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe standing around with them in an old church-turned-recording-studio, working their way toward this. (Thanks, JA!)See you tomorrow.

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! You can subscribe at: 

Thank you!