GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Feels like we're just waiting... That low pressure system is still headed our way, though it's unlikely to get here until tonight or tomorrow. Ahead of it, there's moisture flowing in, and we're in for another mostly cloudy day, though there may be some sky at times. Chance of rain for a good bit of the day, steady winds from the southeast with gusts this afternoon. Mid-60s tonight.It's definitely fungus season out there. And they're eye-catching, as Lynn Sheldon writes: "My walk in the woods has become more of a crawl."
Here's a coral fungus she found in Lyme.
And here's a type of chalice fungus Polly Giantonio spied on a walk in Tunbridge.
Trial in 2018 Hanover shooting moving ahead. The trial of 25-year-old Gage Young, who is accused in the drive-by shooting of a Providence College student who was walking on School Street in November that year, is slated to open next month, reports John Gregg in the Valley News. Still to be resolved: Prosecutors have moved to consolidate Young's trial with that of Hector Correa, his companion in the car at the time. Young's attorney has objected, and the judge overseeing the case has yet to rule. The victim recovered.Shoeshine Guy lands his Leb spot at last. Last fall, the retired attorney known as the Shoeshine Guy had been hoping to set up on the Lebanon Mall, only to be displaced by construction; he did pickup service instead. This fall, though, he's got a regular Wednesday spot, ready and chatting at the Upper Valley Senior Center. He does it at no charge—“It’s a way to connect with people, help them feel comfortable, and end up with new friends who have beautifully shined shoes," he says. Any donations will go to the Senior Center. SPONSORED: Massage Therapy, Cupping, and Acupuncture at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital (APD). Integrative Medicine options have expanded at APD! Integrative medicine is an approach to health that puts you at the center of your care and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, and environmental influences that affect your overall well-being. Call (603) 442-5660 to book your massage or naturopathic consultation or learn more here. Sponsored by APD.Hood acquisition expands its collection of work by Black artists from the South. The 10 pieces include painting, sculpture, quilt, and mixed-media works from eight different artists, reports Madeline Sawyer in The Dartmouth. The artworks come from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, which is working with major museums to build the presence of Black southern artists in their holdings. The new works display "a really deep tradition of African American artists in the U.S. South making art that has been erased from a lot of modern art history,” says the Hood's Alexandra Thomas."I do see a history of relishing controversy, which she can use to justify making buckets of money." That's writer Jim Schley, talking about Margo Baldwin, co-founder of WRJ's Chelsea Green Publishing—where Schley worked as editor in chief until the early 2000s. In Seven Days, Chelsea Edgar takes on the publishing company's penchant for hot-selling anti-vax and medical conspiracy books—most recently, The Truth About COVID-19—while striving to keep the audience "that shows up for books on beekeeping and no-till farming" happy. Several of its writers are appalled with the company, Edgar writes, as are now-former employees. Retired NH police officer killed by hit-and-run driver while training for fallen-officers bike ride. Donna Briggs, who served for 20 years on the Hudson police department and became its first woman sergeant, was out for a ride Tuesday morning prepping for the Police Tour Unit, an October ride from NJ to DC to raise awareness for officers killed in the line of duty. Her body was found down an embankment that evening, reports WMUR. Video from a nearby business recorded a vehicle striking her from behind earlier in the day.Most unvaccinated Granite Staters would quit if their employer mandated a vaccine, survey says. And while 80 percent of respondents to a new UNH Granite State Poll say they've been fully or partially vaccinated, only 1 percent say they intend to do so in the future. Of those who remain unvaccinated, only 7 percent would do so if their employer required it. The poll also found that the vast majority of Democrats and people over 65 have gotten at least one shot, and that a majority of respondents support vaccines for health care workers.NH House Finance Committee chair: "Is there something in the shot that's going to control us?" Rep. Ken Weyler spoke to NHPR's Josh Rogers in the wake of his comments last week that the majority of Covid hospitalizations are of vaccinated people; in response, health commissioner Lori Shibinette accused him of peddling misinformation. Weyler, who helped lead a successful move to put on hold $27 million in federal aid to boost the vaccination effort is "unapologetic," Rogers reports. “They want everybody to get the shot. Why? Are they getting paid off by Big Pharma?" Weyler asked.Of the 550-600 people hospitalized in NH with Covid since January, 35 were fully vaccinated. That's according to state epidemiologist Benjamin Chan, who along with DHMC infectious disease expert Margaret Talbot spoke to NHPR's Rick Ganley about the state of play in NH. Health care facilities are instituting rapid training programs and recruiting traveling nurses and others who have "stepped away from their skill sets" to address staffing shortages, Talbot said. And "increasing resistance to having people wear masks as a control measure for this pandemic," adds Chan, "is a struggle for us."“Just call ahead, find out what the hours of operation are, and please don’t get upset if we’re not open until 11 o’clock at night.” That, believe it or not, is Mike Somers, president of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, noting that with a huge expected influx of fall visitors to NH, rude and abusive customer behavior is also likely to grow. State tourism officials yesterday said they expect 3.2 million visitors, and have launched a campaign urging them to respect both the landscape and the people.Sounds like Vermonters won't really get the details on the EB-5 scandal anytime soon. As you know, defrauded investors have alleged in a lawsuit that members of the Shumlin administration knew about the fraud. But, writes Mark Johnson in his "Fair Game" column in Seven Days, Gov. Phil Scott has no plans to name a special prosecutor; the AG's office's job is to represent state employees under fire, and, given the lawsuit, won't release all the records it holds to Auditor Doug Hoffer for his review of what happened. Hoffer, Johnson notes, "will have to depend on state officials to cooperate with his probe."VT labor group wants to fight fascism with firearms. At the VT AFL-CIO’s annual convention last weekend, union leaders introduced a resolution defending workers’ rights to bear arms in the face of right-wing extremism, reports Tiffany Tan in VT Digger. “We all know the dangerous, violent, extreme right is armed to the teeth,” said labor group president David Van Deusen, citing the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The measure passed with 60 percent of delegates’ support—a proverbial shot across the bow at state politicians considering gun control legislation in the near term.The Right to Bear Farms. That's the name of the LLC that in 2018 bought 47 acres atop a hillside in Stamford, VT, just across from the Massachusetts border. Turns out, writes Larry Parnass in The Berkshire Eagle, it belongs to actress Susan Sarandon, who's now building a house there. It will include a great room, a tower, and three bedrooms, according to designs on file.A seahorse tethered to the strap of a Covid mask... Among many arresting underwater images in The Guardian’s gallery of this year’s Ocean Photography Award winners, the photo is charming only so far as it reminds us how quickly human negligence can disrupt—and endanger—life in the sea. Every image here seems to express that complicated relationship: photographers holding reef sharks, sea turtles, whales, and squid in exquisitely suspended animation—if only as a way to protect them from us.
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Today at 1 pm and again tomorrow evening at 7:00, the Chandler in Randolph hosts the Catapult Entertainment Dance Company. The troupe's specialty is creating shadow puppetry using their whole bodies, and they've been in residency for the past two weeks. It all comes to a head (and torso, and limbs) today with a performance for families and school groups and tomorrow evening with another for a general audience. There are still seats available in the balcony for today's show; balcony and main floor for tomorrow's.
And at 4 pm and again at 7 this evening, Telluride at Dartmouth closes out its run at the Hop with The Real Charlie Chaplin. There's an epigraph near the beginning of James Spinney and Peter Middleton's documentary from Chaplin's friend, Max Eastman: "Enjoy any Charlie Chaplin you have the good luck to encounter. But don’t try to link them up to anything you can grasp. There are too many of them.” Spinney and Middleton don't tell a linear story—there's just too much fresh material, including for the first time the full audio of an infamous 1947 press conference in which reporters berated Chaplin for his alleged communist sympathies, and interview footage with Chaplin's second wife telling her less-than-happy story.
Finally, at 7:30 pm, the Lebanon Opera House presents the Oshima Brothers. Raised by parents who played contra dances across Maine, the brothers got their start doing the same thing, but have struck out on their own with contemporary folk and pop, looping, percussion, and more. You may have caught them as part of LOH's "On Location" series during lockdown. Now they're actually onstage. Masks required.
Growing up in the tiny Australian beach-and-surfing town of Jan Juc, Xavier Rudd got his musical start on his mom's vacuum cleaner, which he transformed into a didgeridoo. Fast forward (with a slight detour into his own home-made furniture business and stint with a band in Whistler, British Columbia) and Rudd became a singer-songwriter, worldwide festival performer and touring musician (Jack Johnson, Rodrigo y Gabriela). Oh, and surfer.
(not to be confused with the Jim & Jesse and The Virginia Boys song of the same name, which is also great).
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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