GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Back to the good stuff! At least for today. There may be some fog and clouds around first thing, but mostly it'll be sunny, highs getting up toward 80. And a clear night, lows in the lower 50s. You can just feel autumn's breath once the sun goes down...Ely Mine cleanup will cost more than first thought... but who knows when it'll actually get underway. That's the upshot of a briefing by the federal EPA's local Superfund manager for selectboards in Vershire and W. Fairlee. With the Elizabeth Mine cleanup in Strafford almost finished, the agency will finish the Ely project design this year — and then it goes in pool with other projects around the country. “‘Several’ years would be early, from the sound of it,” Vershire Selectman Marc McKee tells the VN's David Corriveau. “This is pretty much what we heard five years ago and 10 years ago and 15 years ago.” (VN)
I Am Not Invisible photo project to be at the WRJ VA today. Gene Russell, a photographer with the Dept of Veterans Affairs, has been photographing women veterans around the country. He'll be at the VA from 11-2 to take portraits of women vets from around the region. Signup information at the link.Speaking of photos, the Mascoma River Greenway is looking for pics of wildlife you encounter along the trail. People have seen herons, cormorants, kingfishers, but so far it's only got photos of a black bear and a fox strolling across the trail (no, not together). Oh, and as of last night a beaver named Brian.Kirsten Gillibrand drops out, Bernie headed to Claremont. The NY senator and Dartmouth alum suspended her presidential campaign yesterday after failing to gain traction in the crowded field. “There is dignity and strength in knowing when it’s not your time,” her campaign manager wrote in an email announcing the move. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders will hold a town hall at the Common Man in Claremont on Monday, and will be popping up at Labor Day events around NH. (VN)Springfield Hospital CEO says it's merge or die. Testifying before the Green Mountain Care Board yesterday, Michael Halstead, interim CEO of the financially ailing hospital, said it has 10 days' worth of cash on hand and is "living pretty much on the edge." Springfield is in talks with Mt Ascutney and Valley Regional hospitals about the possibility of merging.NH Food Bank partners with Brattleboro's Food Connects to bring local produce to Upper Valley. Food Connects has been expanding its delivery infrastructure — it recently built a $200,000 cooler and freezer to help it serve organizations around here as well as in western VT and MA. Its new program with the NH Food Bank has it supplying fresh fruit and vegetables to the LISTEN Food Pantry, the Upper Valley Senior Center, and organizations in the Monadnock region.In case you're trying to get a jump on Labor Day weekend... A national traffic-tracking company says this afternoon between 4 and 6 will be a pretty awful time to travel, thanks to the combination of commuters and early birds. And the AAA surveyed drivers in MA, and not surprisingly they're headed our way: the Cape, Vineyard and Nantucket are the top in-state destinations, but if they're going out of state it'll be ME, NH, NY and VT. NH will suspend licenses of nearly 4,000 drivers. Gov. Chris Sununu announced yesterday that the state had reviewed a backlog of vehicle infraction notifications — 14,000 that should have been sent to other states and over 13,000 received by NH from other states. Some go back as far as 2016. The move comes in the wake of the June collision near Randolph NH that killed 7 motorcyclists, which involved a MA pickup driver whose license should have been suspended. Officials blame the backlog on a lack of automation.NH Exec Council approves $80 million in emergency spending. The state's headed into its third month without a budget, and the "continuing resolution" designed to help agencies keep programs running is proving inadequate. The councillors okayed money to continue social service programs for the developmentally disabled, Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), substance abuse treatment, and highway repairs. Trump administration charges UVM Medical Center with violating the civil rights of a Catholic nurse by asking her to assist with abortion. The "notice of violation" was sent yesterday by Health and Human Services' civil rights office. It had been investigating the nurse's complaint since last May, but the center didn't know the inquiry was complete until just before the civil rights office's director held a press call with reporters yesterday. “We weren’t expecting anything like this,” says a medical center spokeswoman.Lawsuit accuses VT Dept of Children and Families of violating parents' rights. The case, filed in federal court on Monday by an unidentified couple, stems from last year, when their daughter told a counselor she'd seen her mother snort a pill. A DCF caseworker separated the couple's three children for close to a year, the suit alleges, without adequately investigating the charge or following appropriate procedures. Last November, the VT Parent Representation Center published a report contending that the state too often removes children from their parents. The long arm of the law catches up with us all eventually. It took the NH DMV 15 years to figure it out, but it's now recalling a Gonic mother's vanity license plate, which reads "PB4WEGO." Vanity plates, apparently, can't refer to excretory acts. Wendy Auger has filed an appeal. "Who has a mom or dad or parental figure who hasn’t said that to kids before leaving the house?” she says. “I’m not the type to sit here with a picket, but come on.” (Thanks for the tip, ML!)If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
WHERE YOU HEADED TONIGHT?
First off, you should know that the play came along about a decade before the Meryl Streep film that made Florence Foster Jenkins famous once again. It's a two-character "memory play," set in motion by the recollections of Jenkins' accompanist. Jenkins herself, of course, was a society matron who managed to create a singing career even though, as the show notes put it, "she was unburdened by talent and deliriously tone deaf.
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7:30 pm.
The central VT band's about three years old, and plays "progressive bluegrass dipped in folk, Americana, and old time roots music." Robert Lees on guitar, Jen Freise on fiddle, Niles Franc on banjo and guitar, and Cody Williams on mandolin and guitar. They'll be starting up at 7.
Also from central VT, the five-member string band's been around since 2008 and plays what they like to call "home grown stomp grass." Eric Graham on electric bass; Rudi Ruddell on guitar, harmonica, and percussion; Peter O’Connor plays mandolin Andy Mueller on fiddle and mandolin; and Adam Smith on guitar. Starts at 5:30.
BTW, don't fret: Gonic isn't a subculture you've never heard of—it's a part of Rochester NH. If you can use it in a sentence, you have to, right? See you tomorrow.
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