GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, breezy, chance of snow showers this afternoon. We'll see a mix of sun and clouds today, and with the cold air that moved into the region yesterday, won't be getting above freezing—which, with a blustery day, will feel colder. There's a chance of scattered snow this afternoon, though it's more likely to the north and in the mountains. Lows tonight in the mid or upper teens.That was one heck of a start to the week! Yesterday morning's weather may have played havoc with the roads, but it offered up some stunning scenery, didn't it?
Here's dawn in S. Royalton, from Katrina Wagner;
And the sun breaking through the mist in Hartland, from Janis Murcic.
And as it turned out, sunset wasn't too shabby, either. Here's the view from Lyndonville, VT, by Herb Swanson.
Oxbow High grad cited for field damage. Remember the unknown guy who careened around the school's soccer field in a pickup about 10 nights ago? The Valley News reports he's been identified and issued a criminal citation after members of the public with indirect knowledge of the incident got in touch with police. Trevor Kingsbury, 23, of Newbury, VT, and a 2018 Oxbow graduate, has been issued a criminal citation. Though a final cost hasn't been determined, "it will likely be in the tens of thousands of dollars," the paper reports.When her son's Halloween candy disappeared, Kate Brown turned to the random Upper Valley strangers on I Got You-UV. And the Facebook group delivered, literally: Within an hour, writes Matt Golec in a Daybreak profile, someone had dropped off an "overflowing" bucket of candy. The idea behind the group is simple: Sometimes we all just need a little help from our friends. Founded two years ago by Carly Jennings, Chelsea Felicia, and Nicole Harlow (who were joined a bit later by Ashlyn Kidder), it's now got 1,800 members who—with the foursome's guidance—help with everything from car repairs to a desperately needed cash infusion. Matt visits at the link.Mid Vermont Christian School, two families file lawsuit challenging VT rules on transgender athletes and publicly funded tuition. The federal suit, steered by the conservative Christian group the Alliance Defending Freedom, is rooted in a decision by the VT Principals Assn back in February to bar MVCS from high school games after its girls' basketball team forfeited a game rather than play a team with a transgender player. That decision, the suit says, caused the families “irreparable harm." As the VN's John Lippman reports, the suit also seeks to overturn state policies on tuition payments to religious schools.Out on muddy trails, cast your eyes downward for needle ice. It's the fifth week of November and Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast writes that as water near the soil’s surface freezes, "more water moves up from deeper in the soil. This also freezes and attaches to the ice layer"—producing artistic little bouquets of frozen water. Also out there this week: golden-crowned kinglets, which have "bumpy, furrowed foot pads [for] extra traction as they hop among trees’ icy twigs and stems"; and the dried fruit of hop hornbeam trees.And how to tell the bittersweets apart. There is an American Bittersweet that's native to this country. But far more common, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, is Oriental Bittersweet, which was introduced in the 1860s and is still sold—despite the fact that it "is extremely aggressive and chokes out desirable native plants by smothering them with its dense foliage and strangling stems and trunks." The native variety's leaves are more football-shaped than round, and its fruit is covered in red, not yellow.As land posting rises, tradition of openness in VT, NH faces challenges. It especially affects hunters, writes Frances Mize in the VN, though mountain bikers and others can run afoul of newly posted land, too. The trend is clear: In 1971, Mize reports, VT had 100K acres posted; last year, it was 240,600. Both Norwich and Hartland have seen jumps, with about 13 percent of the land in both towns now posted. Some landowners give permission to hunters who ask, others—often out of concern for safety—don't. Either way, wildlife officials say, it's becoming harder to keep deer's destruction of forest habitat in check.Sometimes it's the hole that speaks loudest. The energy news site Canary Media last week put together a map showing the sites of ground-mounted solar installations across the US with a capacity of at least 1 megawatt, which is the size the Solar Energy Industries Association considers to be "grid scale"—enough to power up to 900 homes annually. There's a large hole east of the Connecticut River, as David Brooks points out on his Granite Geek blog: "New Hampshire might as well be the Adirondack National Forest," he writes. I know, I know: He meant the Adirondack Park, which is state and private land.Town of Pawlet, VT finally gets a look at Slate Ridge. After months of legal wrangling, reports the Bennington Banner's Michael Albans, three town officials—escorted by state police and under a protective court order—yesterday visited Daniel Banyai's gun training facility to check his claims that he'd taken down some 20 unpermitted buildings he'd been directed to dismantle by a state environmental court. For about an hour, they roamed the property—making their way through cows, chickens, pigs, goats, and rabbits who also roamed the property. The town will issue its conclusions later. Albans describes the scene.More information emerges on accused Burlington shooter. Jason J. Eaton, who was arraigned yesterday on charges that he shot three college students of Palestinian descent on Saturday night, was a full-time sales assistant for CUSO Financial Services in Williston until earlier this month; he'd worked there less than a year before losing his job, reports the Boston Globe's John Hilliard (via MSN, no paywall). He'd also spent several years as a Cub Scout leader in upstate New York. In court yesterday, Eaton pleaded not guilty; the three men remained in the intensive care unit at UVM Med Center, reports VTDigger.In all, some 30,000 Vermonters lost power in Sunday night's snowfall. The outages—caused by heavy, wet snow that downed trees and power lines—were most extensive in Washington and Lamoille counties, which each received over 8 inches of snow. More than 25,000 people were still affected by midday yesterday, but crews were working quickly: The number had dwindled to 10,000 by yesterday evening, and is down to XXXX as of this morning.And while we're thinking about snow... Cody LaPlant is a filmmaker from Milwaukee who, along with his wife, has developed a thing for Iceland over the past few years. So he just made a two-minute film, Gusts from the Highlands, and if you've ever wondered what it looks like there both from the ground and by drone (and with a soaring soundtrack, no less), he's got you covered. You'll want this on the biggest screen you've got.The Tuesday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,any thing can be made, any sentence begun.On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp, praise song for walking forward in that light.
— Excerpted from
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See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
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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