GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
It's cold out there this morning! But that high pressure's still hanging out overhead, which means another brilliantly sunny day, at least to start. There's a quick-moving little trough of low pressure dipping down from Quebec and bringing some clouds with it later in the day, but otherwise things look a lot like yesterday: Temps rising into the high teens or low 20s, winds from the northwest. Lows tonight not as low as last night, as things start to warm up over the next few days.Tired of waiting for governor, David Cahill names his own successor, will step down tomorrow. Cahill, the Windsor County State's Attorney, announced back in October that he intended to step down Jan. 12 to become a full-time dad. “Here we are on January 19, 2020, and no appointment decision has been made," he wrote Gov. Phil Scott on Sunday. "There is no orderly transition plan. Serious cases are about to fall through the cracks." So he named victims' advocate Meghan Place, a non-lawyer, to take his place until Scott acts. (VN)GW Plastics finishes expansion project. The new $10 million, 30,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space mark the company's fifth expansion in Royalton, and will let it build on its thermoplastic molding business. DHMC to invest $3 million in Colby-Sawyer health-ed programs as it grapples with vacancies. The hospital has over 1,000 jobs it needs to fill, including nurses and techs. It's been working with Colby-Sawyer, whose nursing program is a D-H pipeline, to design a new set of programs, including an associates degree for entry-level DHMC workers to build their careers; expanding its health sciences program to include addiction studies and other disciplines; and adding nursing leadership and nursing education tracks to its MS in nursing program. (VN)Gifford to build women's health center. The project will bring the Randolph-based community hospital's current OB-GYN and midwifery services, which currently are housed in a separate clinic, into the main medical center, along with space for patient education and social services. Gifford plans to open the new center in September.Awww... A pup pauses in the fresh snow by a lean-to in W. Fairlee.Dartmouth profs argue that despite controversies, college students generally favor affirmative action. In a new book, Campus Diversity: The Hidden Consensus, political scientists John Carey and Yusaku Horiuchi, along with Stanford PhD candidate Katherine Clayton, report on research at four institutions that found students prefer diversity among both the student bodies and among faculty. They also found, Carey says, that race doesn't matter to students "as much as academic achievement or professional achievement."While presidential primary attention's focused on the Iowa caucuses, Joe Biden's headed for Claremont. He'll be at the Common Man on Friday, doors open at 11:15. Sign-up info at the link.And while we're on Claremont, the plant that manufactured parts for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement has been acquired by a Québec investment group. The plant, owned by bridge and structural steel manufacturer Canam, is part of a US$644 million deal under which Canam is selling plants and engineering offfices in Canada, the US, Romania and India to a group of investors including the Marcel Dutil family, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.NH father strangles possibly rabid coyote that bit his child. The coyote had already attacked a vehicle and bitten a woman and her dogs in Kensington, NH, when it attacked a family walking on a trail in Exeter. The father, Ian O'Reilly of Kensington, was able to get it to the ground, hold its snout down, and then choke it. The child's snowsuit protected him from the bite, but O'Reilly is getting rabies shots. NH Fish & Game is testing the coyote for rabies.If you're a Vermonter and you just can't wait any more, you can now cast your presidential primary ballot. The early voting period ahead of the March 3 presidential primary in the state began on Friday. You can request a ballot from your town clerk by phone, email, online or in person; they have to be returned by March 3.VPIRG decides to hop off the sidelines, forms PAC. The consumer and environmental advocacy group — its full name is the Vermont Public Interest Research Group — is known for its lobbying and door-to-door canvassing, but it's never taken a stand on candidates in elections. With VT lagging neighboring states in greenhouse gas reductions, “many of our career politicians have shown they simply aren’t up to this challenge,” says Kate Lapp, a VPIRG staffer, in a launch video. The PAC will put money behind state candidates it believes "share its members' concerns" about the climate crisis.Peak Airbnb? Fall foliage and ski season. I know, you're stunned. Airbnb has just reported the five busiest weekends last year for hosts in Vermont. They were the weekend between Christmas and New Year's, Columbus/Indigenous People's Day and the weekend just before it, Valentine's Day, and President's Day. “What we’re seeing here is the top weekends for Airbnb guest arrivals are generally top travel weekends, and what that means [is] we are supplementing the tourism market, not replacing it,” a spokesperson tells the Times Argus.
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SO, ABOUT TONIGHT...
Heginbotham, choreographer of 2019 Tony winner
Oklahoma
and director of the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble, is kicking off a talk show called "Hop to Broadway!" His first guest is writer and director Chavkin, who has deep experience working in houses big and small in both New York and London, as well as a Tony herself for directing Anaïs Mitchell’s remarkable hit
Hadestown.
Starts at 5:30 and it's free, but you'll need to reserve a ticket.
Ossmann, who lives in Thetford, is the author of the poetry collections
Anxious Music
and
Event Boundaries,
as well as a teacher of poetry. She'll be joined by Idaho-based poets Kimberly Burwick and Kevin Goodan. 6 pm at the Norman Williams Public Library.
Steve Hagenbuch and Margaret Fowle of Audubon Vermont will be tackling how we can be better stewards for the astonishing variety of bird life that shows up in the Upper Valley, from the peregrines that nest in the Fairlee Palisades to the warblers that make the round trip between here and South America every year. 6:30 pm, Fairlee Town Hall.
Have a fine day out there. See you tomorrow.
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