RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
Talk about changeable weather.... We started yesterday with patchy frost. Today highs get into the low 70s (slightly cooler the farther east you go) with lows tonight in the high 50s to low 60s (warmer the farther east you go). And oh right, as you may have noticed: showery this morning, then a respite, then a slight chance again in the afternoon and odds rising tonight. Proposed WRJ building faces scrutiny over parking. You may remember that back in the summer, developer Mike Davidson laid out plans for a new five-story apartment and commercial building for the empty lot next to COVER on S. Main Street. Back then plans called for 52 apartments; the number's now 69. According to the VN's Tim Camerato, the big question Hartford's planning commission is going to want answered: Where are all the cars going to go?Blesk gets a vest. Lebanon's police dog, a Belgian Malinois from Slovakia named Blesk, is the country's latest K9 to land a bullet and stab protective vest from a Massachusetts charity called Vested Interest. Each vest costs between $1,744 and $2,283. And yeah, I'm totally putting this in here for the pics. New barbershop opens in Hanover. For years, Sean Taylor's skills with scissors have made him the go-to guy for black students at Dartmouth, where he would set up shop once a month in the basement of Cutter Shabazz Hall. After a stint at the River Valley Club, he's now got his own space alongside Roberts Flowers on Lebanon Street in Hanover, where he opened his doors a week ago. Though he mostly cuts men's hair, he says, "My shears do not discriminate." (Thanks for the tip, GF!)Nearly New Sale goes high-tech. If you've been on Main Street in Norwich recently, you may have noticed the signs announcing that consignment for the semi-annual Norwich Women's Club event is now online. The VN's Liz Sauchelli explains that younger consigners found "the old system of manually writing a list of items and the accompanying tags cumbersome." The NWC has embraced the change. Not only is it quicker, but it's allowed them to boost the number of items each person can consign.If you missed Bernie's rally at Dartmouth on Sunday evening... Here's The Dartmouth's writeup. It includes words that you probably won't find in any campaign-event recap anywhere else: "Sanders, stationed amongst statuesque pines..." Planning to go to the women's World Cup races at Killington in November? Now you know what you'll be listening to. Organizers have just announced the music lineup, which includes Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the Vermont jam band Twiddle, DJ Logic, and Recycled Percussion. This WCAX piece also includes the somewhat sobering news that Killington plans to start testing its snow guns within the week.GMP's Mary Powell to step down. After a dozen years as CEO of the Vermont utility, she'll leave at the end of this year. During her tenure, GMP built a national profile for its move toward using renewable power sources. Powell will be replaced by Mari McClure, currently a senior VP at the company. Her own plans? To help her husband run their company selling reflective collars and vests for dogs. But she also tells Seven Days, "I'm not ruling out that public office could be something that I might come to feel is a good place for my energy and my commitment to serving society."And while we're on GMP, it's divesting its pension fund from fossil fuels. Powell made that announcement in NYC last week, alongside author/activist Bill McKibben. "Divestment began with colleges and churches — it’s truly a watershed moment when a utility firmly turns its financial back on the fossil fuel era,” McKibben said.Nighthawks, chimney swifts, and swallows are vanishing from New Hampshire. That's according to Doug Bechtel, president of N.H. Audubon, writing in the Concord Monitor. He notes that 78 out of 187 species of native nesting birds in New Hampshire are in decline. What can you do? Keep cats indoors, do what you can to reduce risk of birds striking your window, buy low-pesticide products and bird-friendly coffee brands, and plant native tree and shrub species.And finally, things look different around here when the sun's shining. Given today's weather, here's a reminder of what we get to take for granted on pretty much any sunny fall day. It's a view along a shade-dappled Hogback Road in Norwich, taken by Karin Bonnett.If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
SO WHAT'S UP TONIGHT?
Back in 2018, the Vermont legislature created an Artificial Intelligence Task Force to look into benefits and risks and make recommendations on state policy. The task force is holding a hearing tonight for the public to weigh in on "perspectives, concerns, hopes, and suggestions for how the task force should direct its work." 5:45-8:00 pm in the Montshire's community room.
The Enfield Shaker Museum's holding a workshop, using herbs and vegetables from its own gardens. Just a small handful of spots left. Starts at 6 pm.
Meanwhile, ArtisTree is putting on a cabaret spotlighting actors from spotlight its productions of Forever Plaid and
The cast, who have performed across the country in theaters, concert halls and opera houses, will sing from the musical theater repertoire all on behalf of Woodstocks Norman Williams Public Library and its efforts to replace its struggling HVAC systems. Wine & cheese at 5, cabaret at 6 sharp, at ArtisTree's Grange Theater in S. Pomfret.
Colby-Sawyer prof Patrick Anderson will be at the Dunbar Free Library in Grantham talking about contemporary film directors and screenwriters whose free-wheeling, unconventional approaches pushed the industry in new directions. Starts at 7 pm.
Have a fine day out there. See you tomorrow.
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