GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, low or mid 30s. Not that you can really tell the difference, since we're only climbing (slowly) from around 30. Otherwise, it's a dry day out there with more clouds than sun, but at least there'll be some of both. Tonight, an area of low pressure begins passing by to the south; there's a faint chance of snow showers in some spots, but they're unlikely to amount to much. Lows tonight in the lower 20s.Is preening as contagious as a yawn? That's the question this series of photos of a mallard raised—since, out of the frame, several nearby ducks were doing exactly the same thing, writes Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast in this week's "This Week in the Woods." The Preening Series is a reprise—but fun anytime. Elise explains what's going on at the link.Plea agreement, delay in six-year-old Wells River truck stop death case angers family. In 2017, David Elder was cleaning storage tanks at the P&H Truck Stop when he was fatally struck by a vehicle driven by David Gilbo. Last week, writes John Lippman in the Valley News, Gilbo was convicted of a single misdemeanor count of negligent operation, thanks in part to a finding by a state agency that P&H had been negligent on safety, making a felony conviction hard to obtain. The family was both indignant at the court and angry at Gilbo. “Six long years of no accountability is beyond unfair,” Elder's step-daughter said.Power mostly restored, a couple hundred still out in Tunbridge, Corinth. At one point yesterday, some 12,000 VT households were without power, after Orleans and parts of Washington and Orange counties got 10 inches or more of heavy, wet snow. As of this morning, GMP customers in Windsor and Orange counties are back online; some Washington Electric Coop customers remain without power. The costs of line crews' 18-hour days in back-to-back weeks are adding up, WEC's Louis Porter tells Adam Sullivan of WCAX. "It pushes up electric rates. And that puts pressure on Vermonters’ budget at home."With proposed church on Greensboro Road, Hanover planning board limited by new state law. The site plan for the two-story building that Christ Redeemer Church wants to build at the corner of Greensboro and Velvet Rocks Drive "lacks numerous details typical of such proposals," writes Patrick Adrian in the VN—including parking spaces, outdoor lighting design, stormwater management, and the like. But a law created last year "results in a new imbalance where religious land use is subject to fewer restrictions than non-religious counterparts," Adrian writes, and planning staff say the board cannot weigh many of the concerns neighbors have expressed. The board meets tonight on the church, and is considering asking legislators to replace the law.SPONSORED: Bah, Humbug! A "masterful" CHRISTMAS CAROL at Northern Stage through December 31! This holiday season, follow Scrooge on his transformative journey in this newly reimagined Dickens classic. Filled with music and laughter, A Christmas Carol reminds us that it is never too late for kindness and compassion. "Giving yourselves and your loved ones this particular experience is one of the best Christmas gifts I can imagine"—Charlie McMeekin, The White River Valley Herald. Through 12/31 in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts. Sponsored by Northern Stage.Not so fast on short-term rentals in Thetford, bub! In yesterday's Daybreak, I misunderstood a passage in Nick Clark's Sidenote piece about proposed "Pocket Neighborhoods" in Thetford to mean that the planning board is considering barring short-term rentals townwide. The proposed ban would apply only to the new Pocket Neighborhoods (if they come into being). In a letter to Daybreak, board chair David Forbes explains that "STRs" would be excluded since Pocket Neighborhoods "are designed to be an affordable alternative" for a variety of home buyers "craving community." Letter at the link.How to tell if a muskrat lodge is occupied in winter. If steep banks and slow-moving water are present, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, they'll build bank burrows; if not, it's time for a lodge—smaller than a beaver lodge and made of mud and cattails, reeds, and phragmites rather than sticks and downed saplings. How to tell if a lodge is active? Look for "long lines of bubbles that collect under the ice as the muskrats travel to and from their lodge," Mary writes.SPONSORED: Come to the Hanover Garden Club's Holiday Greenhouse Sale on Saturday! You'll find everything from cookie gift boxes to boxwood trees and handcrafted table centerpieces, plus lots more. Some items are available by pre-order ending today, others only at the Greenhouse Holiday Sale on Saturday, Dec. 9 from 9 am to 2 pm at 41 Grasse Road in Hanover. All have been made or made possible by our members. Proceeds support the Hanover Garden Club's mission to provide service, beauty and conservation education to the Upper Valley. Sponsored by the Hanover Garden Club.“There is nothing more poisonous than a pregnant woman.” Clearly, that sentence requires some explanation, and in a new book excerpt in Slate on visiting the only timber rattlesnake population in NH, Whitney Barlow Robles—who herself was pregnant at the time—does just that. Robles was a postdoc at Dartmouth when, wearing snake gaiters and joined by her husband (along to "help a substantially pregnant woman scale a cliffside") she was allowed by state biologists to visit the highly secret site. Snake lore, snake natural history, motherhood: Robles is thoroughly engaging on an arresting slice of NH life.What last week's NH Supreme Court decision on gerrymandering means. You may remember that in a 3-2 vote, the justices decided that state courts don't have the authority to review political maps drawn to favor one party or another at the polls. “The courthouse doors are shut,” the director of the Rudman Center at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law tells NH Bulletin's Ethan DeWitt. The result, another law prof says, is that the courts won't place limits on what legislators can do when it comes to political gerrymandering. This gives legislators three options: act fairly on their own, hand line-drawing off to a neutral third party, or explicitly allow state courts to intervene.In northern VT, propane truck slides off bridge over Black River, catches fire; nearby schools, homes evacuated. The accident happened in snowy conditions yesterday morning along Route 14 in Irasburg, and the propane was still burning off last night, reports WCAX's Hailey Morgan. Local fire departments yesterday morning evacuated residents living within a one-mile radius, as well as students and teachers at two schools, and shut down roads. Those measures remained in place overnight, the VSP said in a press release, as crews continued to monitor the blaze.After inspection, Pawlet finds Slate Ridge still violating zoning regs; judge reissues Banyai arrest warrant. The inspection was last Monday, and in a report Friday, town officials contended that structures for which Slate Ridge owner Daniel Banyai never received permits had been "moved, repainted, and modified" rather than dismantled as a state environmental court had ordered. In a decision yesterday, Judge Thomas Durkin wrote that he'd "hoped to avoid directing that (Banyai) be Incarcerated, but has been convinced by (Banyai’s) continued obstinance.” VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein reports.VT foresters experiment with making a young forest look old. In essence, reports VT Public's Abagael Giles, they're trying to use tools and targeted cutting to mimic the effects of decades of natural disturbance—creating a diversity of tree species, ages, and dead wood that would improve water quality and biodiversity, and make forests more resilient more quickly. Still, the question whether and how best to intervene remains unanswered, one Columbia U professor tells Giles. “What’s the best way to be a responsible steward of the land? It’s an open question, I think.”
VT's antiquated IT system "puts kids [in foster care] at risk." The systems, reports VTDigger's Lola Duffort, date back to the 1980s and '90s, and not only do they sometimes carry the wrong information about a child being overseen by the family services division or about their families, but even if the information is correct, it can be near impossible to find. “We don’t know what medications a kid is allergic to,” says the state's child, youth, and family advocate. "That information is not at our fingertips. And that can obviously be catastrophic.” Duffort details the problems and what it'll take to upgrade."We can’t help but help. We’re Canadians after all." Our ever-so-polite neighbors to the north are distressed that we Americans must pay extra to get pure maple syrup at a restaurant instead of the fake sticky stuff. So distressed, in fact, that in a full-page ad in the NYT, the Québec maple producers cartel...er, trade group has offered to reimburse us for the additional cost on our tab. How sweet it is! Just go here if you care to submit your receipt and personal info (one per person and there's a cap of $10,000, so it's not that generous.) But even if you don't, watch the video, because it’s a legit hoot.Parrots can make friends over video chat. That's just one of this year's "52 things I learned," the annual compendium by consultant and former journalist Tom Whitwell. It's Daybreak on steroids, and it's been a feature in this spot every December for Daybreak's whole life. The 2023 version is out, and among the things Whitwell learned (and you can, too): the US DoD makes $100 million a year off slot machines on military bases; some corrupt police officers in Mexico now use ATM card readers to take bribes; washboard sales rose 57 percent during the pandemic; steering a bike is complicated! Links to all.The Tuesday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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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.
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