GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Fog and clouds this morning, but be patient.... Yesterday's front has traipsed off to the east, leaving behind dense fog in spots and some cloud cover. But high pressure's moving in, and it should be dry and getting sunny by mid-morning. Once that happens, it's just clear skies and a fine fall day, temps climbing toward the mid-60s in the afternoon. Just a head's up: There'll be no Daybreak tomorrow. But back first thing Thursday morning!Midwives to open birthing center in Lebanon. The trend has been in the opposite direction, with birthing options closing at Valley Regional, Cottage Hospital in Woodsville, and finally APD last year. Now Katie Bramhall and Meghan Sperry are setting up Gentle Landing Midwifery and Birth Center in downtown Leb, NHPR reports. They still need to raise $250,000 to finish, but are already seeing patients for pre-natal visits.How to win friends and influence people. Keith Hanson, who lives in Grantham and chairs the Sullivan County GOP, got into it last week on Twitter with critics of his Friday fundraiser with anti-Islamist author Robert Spencer (not to be confused with white nationalist Richard Spencer). He referred to one as a “dickhead troll basement-dweller” and told another she had a "vile hag-like persona." His comments have drawn a rebuke from GOP Gov. Chris Sununu, who told the VN's John Gregg they were "disgusting and inappropriate."Serious traffic jam on Union Village Road in Norwich yesterday morning. The Norwich PD sha-a-a-red the pic."I am a professional short-story writer and novelist.... For more than thirty years, I have lived and done my work in rural New Hampshire." That's JD Salinger, Cornish's most elusive former resident, in a 1982 legal document that's part of an exhibit opening at the New York Public Library on Oct. 18. The exhibit features manuscripts, letters, photographs, and personal effects that have never been made public before. "It is my hope that lifting the veil a bit with this exhibition will throw some light on the man I knew and loved that will be welcomed by many," says Salinger's son, Matt, who helped organize it.Meet Finn Webster. He's 3, lives in Hanover, and is this year's CHaD Kid Hero. The children's hospital's half marathon, 5K run and walk, and full-on fundraiser is on Sunday, and Finn's likely to be a prominent presence on the Dartmouth Green. He was born with Down's Syndrome, and will be having surgery for congenital heart issues next year. The Union Leader profiles him and his parents, Luke and Maeghan Webster.Springfield's downtown rebirth gets boost. The Vermont Community Foundation is investing $250K into rehabbing the empty Woolson Block into street-level retail and upstairs low-income and transitional housing. The money makes it possible for Housing Vermont and the Springfield Housing Authority to move forward with the project. Large chunks of metal from the Ottauquechee, 650 tires from the Deerfield River. And 50 tons of trash. It was all pulled from the Connecticut and its tributaries during last month's Source to Sea Cleanup, organized by the Connecticut River Conservancy. Now CRC is challenging Dunkin' and Cumberland Farms — who provided a lot of that trash — to cut single-use plastic and move toward compostable, recyclable options. The busiest travel days on VT's highways? Coming up this weekend. That's just one of the nuggets in Nina Keck's story on VPR on leaf peepers and the roughly $40 million they'll pump into the state's coffers this month. She spent a lot of time talking to visitors around Quechee Gorge. Sure there are traffic jams, which are likely to peak on Indigenous People's Day on Monday (remember, the state's officially made the switch from Columbus Day). But as one Gorge store owner says, "“Fall foliage is our Christmas.”Consider Bardwell Farm issues Vermont's first listeria contamination report in 35 years. The West Pawlet cheesemaker is recalling all Dorset, Slyboro and Experience cheeses aged in the farm’s washed rind cave.NH on pace to see more homicides this year than any on record, AG hiring more prosecutors. There have been 28 homicides so far, seven more than in 2018 and just four shy of 1991's record of 32. So AG Gordon MacDonald is hiring four more prosecutors to handle the increased caseload.People were living in NH for at least 12,000 years before Europeans arrived, but they didn't leave burial mounds or stone structures behind. So if you're an archeologist trying to understand how they lived, where do you look? “Basically, anywhere you would imagine would be nice to camp," one archeologist tells the Monitor's David Brooks — especially next to rapids on major rivers, where fish gather. Brooks looks deep into what NH's ground reveals. Condé Nast Traveler readers rank Barnard's Twin Farms among best resorts in world. It's 48th among 50 worldwide, 4th among the top ten in the US, and tops in New England. It's joined on the New England list by the Woodstock Inn.
If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
Oct. 7, Oct. 8, what's a day here or there? But my mistake works to your benefit, because it gave several people a chance to write in saying that it's a wonderful film and get the date
right
for pete's sake. Once again: Evicted LA couple decide to set up a farm on 200 acres in Ventura County, learn a lot of lessons about biodiversity and living with nature. At the Hop/Loew at 7:30.
John de Graaf will be at AVA Gallery in Leb with his latest film, Redefining Prosperity: The Gold Rushes of Nevada City.
You may know him from his PBS special,
AFFLUENZA
. His latest film looks at the rebirth of a town in the Sierra foothills that was built and pretty much destroyed by extractive industries, then discovered and remade by back-to-the-landers. Film and discussion, starts at 6 pm.
Or you could head to Woodstock to hear Glenn Suokko talk about his new book, Marsh, Billings, Rockefeller in Woodstock
. Suokko's an author, photographer, and artist who lives in Woodstock. The book's not just about the park, farm, and mansion that bear the families' names, but about the families themselves and the role they played in shaping the way we preserve natural history and natural landscapes. Organized by The Yankee Bookshop but held at the Norman Williams Public Library at 6 pm.
His actual name's Michael Edser — Grayson refers to the street he grew up on in Kotara, Australia. Now he lives in Nashville, produces and plays Americana and Country, and is touring the US. Starts at 6.
Have a lovely day and make the most of today's sunshine. See you Thursday.
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