GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Clouds and sun again, cooler. The weak low-pressure system that brought snow showers to the northern parts of the region is moving off, and a high is elbowing its way in from Ontario. Temps will be a little cooler than yesterday, with highs in the lower 30s. Cloudy to start, winds from the northwest, skies clearing throughout the afternoon and especially after dark, with lows getting down into the teens by daybreak tomorrow.“Where I want to be is Norwich. My desire is to be in Norwich." That's Norwich Town Manager Herb Durfee, in the VN's followup to Friday's 3-2 selectboard vote against starting talks to renew his contract. SB member John Pepper tells reporter Tim Camerato that "there's no current tension" with Durfee, but the board has identified several areas it would like to see improved, including regular reports and faster progress on collective bargaining. Claremont woman dies after being swiped by box truck on I-91. The accident took place yesterday morning near Hartland, after a truck driven by Bart Blonstein, of Vernon, CT swerved to avoid a car in the breakdown lane and struck the Corolla being driven by Natalia Brodeur, sending it into the median, where it rolled over. Brodeur, who police say was not wearing a seat belt, was taken to DHMC, where she died of her injuries.New VT plowing plan will lower plowing priority for routes 5 and 14. The new protocol emphasizes keeping the interstates clear during storms and "high volume" roads like Route 4 clear as soon as possible. But you should expect that "low traffic" highways like 5 and 14 won't be plowed or salted between 8 pm and 4 am, and VTrans will aim only to have bare pavement in the middle of the roadway the next regular working day. Policy at the link, statewide map of service levels on the last page.King Lear "can be downright exciting." That's the somewhat curious headline on the Times Argus's rave review of the new Northern Stage production, with Jamie Horton in the lead. Horton "took the audience with him through [his] frightening journey to the riveting finale. It was angering and it was heart wrenching, and it was Horton’s first Lear," writes Jim Lowe. "This is powerful theater."Guvs in the Northeast slow to embrace transportation pact. If you've been following the move to create a regional pact on transportation emissions, you know that NH's Chris Sununu has outright rejected it, VT's Phil Scott has pretty much rejected it, and MA's Charlie Baker is leading the charge for it. All three are Republicans. Dems voice support but most have yet to sign on, reports the AP's Michael Casey. Opponents' warnings of rising gas prices are overblown, contend supporters. "I think this is political grandstanding,” says Brown U's Timmons Roberts.XC skiing "increasingly is not going to be what it used to be. You’re not going to slap on skis and go around in the woods any more." That's NHPR's Sam Evans-Brown, who also doubles as the nordic coach at Concord High, talking to the Monitor's David Brooks. Brooks notes that as the climate changes, snowmaking has become a part of some xc courses (Gunstock's had it for years, Proctor and the Dublin School do it, and Holderness is about to add it), and frets about the future. "With this," says Evans-Brown, "it feels like track, as opposed to a lifestyle.”NH insurance department delivers warning shot on mental health coverage. The department says that an 18-month review of NH insurance carriers offering plans on healthcare.gov found that Anthem and Harvard Pilgrim "reimburse providers for mental health services at lower rates than they do for other medical treatments," according to NHPR. That would violate federal law. The companies are contesting the finding and say they'll provide documentation on how they set rates.VTDigger lands $900K grant. It's the largest in the nonprofit news org's history, and comes from the American Journalism Project, an effort by Chartbeat founder Elizabeth Green and tech investor (and Texas Tribune co-founder) John Thornton to put serious money into local news. Digger was in the initial round of recipients announced in December, but now there's a dollar figure attached. It will use the money to expand its business operations and "find new ways of supporting local media."The Brattleboro Retreat's fraught relationship with the state. Both Seven Days and VTDigger are up with long, in-depth looks at how the Retreat became Vermont's go-to psychiatric hospital after Irene forced the closure of the state hospital in Waterbury. Colin Flanders' Seven Days piece (at the maroon link) puts it in the context of a forthcoming state report expected to encourage more inpatient mental health beds in general hospitals around VT. Katie Jickling's Digger piece looks at the history of state-Retreat relations and efforts to disentangle them. If you're in the mood for a little culinary road trip... The website Eater Montreal decided to venture farther south than Burlington and wound up in the Mad River Valley, where it discovered "everything from fine dining to bustling breweries, craft cocktails, parking lot bbq pit tacos, ramen noodles, and more." Including Lawson's Finest and the Canteen Creamee Co. If you're headed to Waitsfield or Warren anytime, here's your itinerary. Feeling lucky? At $2000+ a pound, here's a fishing lottery with a serious payoff. You just have to get yourself to Maine. The state is opening up chances at nine licenses for elver fishing. Those are baby eels, and the tiny, wriggly things are worth more than their weight in gold. Eels matter to Asian cuisine, but Japanese and European eels, whose taste consumers in Asia prefer, have declined precipitously. Hence the market for American elvers, which are shipped over to Asian aquaculture companies. Last year dealers paid $20,109,248 for ME elvers.The lottery runs until Friday, Feb. 21.No navel-gazing, just news that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
HEY, GOT PLANS?
For the first time this year, the perennially sold-out adrenaline-junkie extravaganza is bringing two completely different shows, which means you have a fighting chance of seeing at least one of them. Tonight, it's base-jumping, kayaking the Himalayas, snow-kiting Antarctica, ice-climbing in Kentucky, and more. Tomorrow: more exhilarating craziness. Tix at the link, click on the PDF button there for the full schedule.
“I am not a propagandist,” the pioneering choreographer said — while on her first tour abroad sponsored by the State Department. “My dances are not political.” Phillips, a Cold War historian at Columbia, argues that through her dance, Graham was in fact a diplomat portraying American freedoms around the globe. 4:30 pm in Dartmouth's Silsby Hall 28.
The film takes off from the premise that industrial agriculture is, among other things, destroying the planet's topsoil, and asks whether we can feed humanity without that cost. It looks at three innovators: 8-year-old Alicia Serratos, who agitates for non-GMO Girl Scout cookies; urban farmer Erik Cutter; and inventor Michael Smith, who aims to create a closed-loop system for producing nutrient-rich, organic soil. 6 pm at Woodstock Town Hall.
Longtime Vermont blues maestro John Lackard, who for years ran a blues open mic in Barre, will be at Upper Pass/First Branch in South Royalton tonight. Tacos start at 5, music starts at 6, beer flows whenever.
Have a fine day out there. See you tomorrow.
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