GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Ida drifts off to the east. We're looking at a chance or slight chance of showers first thing, but they should peter out as the skies clear. Then it gradually becomes mostly sunny, with highs getting to around 70. There's low pressure approaching, which is why clouds will gather again overnight. Winds from the north, lower 50s tonight.Red sky at morning... At least, that's what it was first thing yesterday over the barn at Gray Ledges in Grantham, sent in by Max Bryant.Lebanon to return to indoor masking. The City Council last night voted to require masks in any “business, governmental or non-profit owned premises," Tim Camerato reports in the Valley News. The measure takes effect Saturday, and includes exemptions for children under three and fully vaccinated employees who don't interact with the public. “We tried personal responsibility and we didn’t see it work,” said City Councilor Doug Whittlesey. “The mask mandate worked before. We didn’t necessarily like it, but it worked.”And Valley Regional will require vaccines for employees. The Claremont hospital joins D-H, APD, the VA, New London, Mt. Ascutney, and Gifford in insisting that all employees be vaccinated. Cottage and Springfield hospitals still have not, reports Nora Doyle-Burr in the VN. Valley Regional's directive includes its 348 employees, as well as volunteers, contract workers, students, and medical staff.SPONSORED: The 24/7/365 Emergency Department at APD has earned Geriatric Accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians. We treat patients of all ages in our ED, from infants to elderly. As of August, we’ve earned national accreditation as a Level 2 Geriatric Emergency Department. This means we are trained and equipped to provide specialized, senior-specific emergency care. We don’t want you to experience an emergency, but we are always here for you if you do. Sponsored by APD."It drinks like a soda, but fits into what folks are calling the better-for-you beverage category." Norwich's Corina Belle-Isle is the moving force behind Corina's Switchy (the Caribbean precursor to New England's switchel), and one of five Vermont makers of "drinks with spirit—but no spirits" profiled by Jordan Barry and Melissa Pasanen in Seven Days. Belle-Isle's retail sales are growing, and she's now making about 20,000 cans a month. Shrub, soda, botanicals, switchy, switchel... Barry and Pasanen cover them all.109 nests, 125 chicks hatched. Those, reports Eric Hanson on the VT Center for Ecostudies blog, are the results of the VCE team's count of loons in Vermont this summer—a new record. There were 101 nests in 2019. So far, they've counted 86 surviving chicks. Hanson notes that stats don't really tell the full story of a loon breeding season, illustrating his point with several loon-fishing tackle encounters, including a drawn-out but ultimately successful effort to free a loon on Lake Eden. It was eventually released off the Maine coast.Well, that was a kerfuffle. Yesterday morning, Gov. Chris Sununu's office notified the press that after returning from his foray to Kentucky to explore how it was dealing with Covid—and where he decidedly did not meet with US Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell—he was "not feeling well." Yesterday afternoon, after two rapid antigen tests and a PCR test, Sununu tweeted out that his symptoms were Covid-like, but that he tested negative. NHPR has the day's statements.Marilyn Manson's attorney enters not-guilty plea for him. I know you've been on tenterhooks... The singer was due to be arraigned in Laconia District Court today on misdemeanor assault charges for spitting and blowing his nose on a videographer at a Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion concert back in 2019. His attorney filed the not-guilty plea and a waiver of arraignment instead. Next up: a case status hearing on December 27.NH census reflects more diversity, but barriers remain. Notably, there's been a 50 percent increase among the state’s minority children over the past decade, and future overall growth will likely be driven by non-white populations, writes Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin. One big hurdle for minority kids is education. “It’s really difficult to be a Black student in the Manchester School District,” says Ronelle Thsiela on her experiences with discrimination and little faculty diversity. City Year is recruiting student coaches and faculty of color to better serve minority children in hopes that, once grown, they’ll want to stay.Meanwhile, Covid cases are on the rise among kids in NH. From Aug. 1 to Aug. 31, the latest date figures are available, there were 688 new cases among children 0-9, compared to 142 in July; the cumulative total is 6,435. Those 10-19, according to the state dashboard, saw 806 new cases in August, compared to 155 in July, bringing the cumulative total to 13,428. In NH Bulletin, Annmarie Timmins notes that both totals "are a fraction of the overall population for both groups: According to recent census data, there are 257,000 people in the state under age 18." Nearly 47,680 residents ages 12 to 19 have been vaccinated.After dragging its heels on energy efficiency plan, NH Public Utilities Commission delays it further. The proposal for the NHSaves rebate program was crafted last year by the state's electric and gas utilities, and would have them sell less electricity and gas between 2021 and 2023. The lost revenue, reports NHPR's Annie Ropeik, is covered by ratepayers. The PUC first delayed action over concerns about its economic impact during the pandemic, but advocates say the delay has hurt weatherization programs and cost jobs. Now the PUC says it's decided to hold new hearings.175 days for an ear specialist. A year for a neurologist. Seven months for a gastroenterologist. Long wait times to see specialists in the UVM hospital system are bedeviling patients, report Seven Days' Colin Flanders and Chelsea Edgar. Some physicians have taken to referring patients to Dartmouth-Hitchcock, or patients themselves are setting up appointments at D-H or Gifford—despite the drive. Part of the issue: inadequate staffing, with some insiders citing low morale and high turnover, though patients who do get in report excellent care. The challenge "is getting an appointment in the first place."And hours after the story above was published... the state announced it's launching an investigation into long wait times. Human Services Secretary Mike Smith tells Seven Days' Colin Flanders that the agency had been hearing troubling reports of medical appointment delays "for a while." "I thought it was time that we needed to look into this—and needed to look into it in a very substantial way," he said. The state's examination will look at wait times at institutions across Vermont, and will not just focus on specialty care.Man in bear suit in it for the long haul. As of yesterday, he was a few miles from Slapout, Oklahoma, about halfway to his destination. “He” is Bearsun, the fully realized, fully fuzzy persona of Los Angeles man Jessy Larios, walking cross-country—from California to Times Square—dressed in an anime-inspired bear suit. Why? To spread joy, he says. Also, to raise money for a handful of charities, for which he’s already raked in north of $55,000. How did he withstand the heat? How does he stay upbeat? How can you help? Read Alex Heard's story in Outside, and follow Bearsun's Instagram for views of America from inside a giant plush toy.Now this is a daybreak! Josiah Horneman (known to his TikTok followers as @joespinstheglobe) is a physician's assistant on the crew at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. After six months of darkness down there, light's juuust starting to break over the horizon and Horneman's got the video...Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. 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You know the Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper song "Shallow" from
A Star is Born
? The Ndlovu Youth Choir, which got its start in rural Limpopo, South Africa—and eventually made its way to
America's Got Talent
in 2019—
Somehow, it's even better with clicks....
See you tomorrow.
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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