GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Well, we've basically got one more day before things get unsettled. There's a snowstorm off in the Plains and Midwest that'll get here, in some form, tomorrow. For today, though, our weather's brought to us by a weak front that will be lifting north during the day: We're looking at a chance of showers all day, maybe mixed with some snow this morning, cloudy skies, and temps into the 40s again. Lows in the low 30s overnight, chance of snow. The VN continues to look ahead at town meetings:
Windsor: a budget increase and a contested SB seat
Weathersfield: a general fund decrease, but new dump truck and grader
W. Windsor: A small budget increase
Fairlee: A budget increase
Grantham (3/10): town budget increase, school decrease, contested SB
Meanwhile, there were candidates' forums in Windsor and Hartford (along with the budget presentation) last night.
Norwich's candidates' forum is tonight at 7 pm in the Tracy Hall community room. And Plainfield's is Thursday at the Plainfield School at 6:30.
will get video of Hartford, Norwich and Hartland up "asap and will play them A LOT on cable TV until the March 3rd vote," says executive director Donna Girot.
will no doubt have the Windsor forum.
Speaking of forums... Last night, the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Commission held the first of its public looks at eight transportation corridors in the region. It's focusing right now on the Route 120 corridor, and public comments have focused so far on congestion, the speed limit, and the lack of sidewalks, reports NHPR. Next up: a Wednesday morning forum at the Howe.Teach quantum computing to HS students? Dartmouth profs, students try it out at Hanover. The discovery that elementary particles can exist in several states at the same time "requires a dramatic shift in thinking and calculating," writes Charlotte Albright. So physics and astronomy prof James Whitfield and his students are developing new teaching tools to demystify it all, and have been testing them out at HHS. "For years [quantum computing] was like this confusing dream," says associate science dean Dan Rockmore, "but now it's going to happen, and showing these high school students that they can understand it is a gift, honestly, to them."Look! It's a wave! Up in the sky! The Mt. Washington Observatory lit up the weather world when it tweeted out a pic yesterday morning of what has to be one of the most interesting-looking clouds you've ever seen. Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds form "when a large increase in winds occurs over a small vertical distance within a cloud," they explain. Is it just me, or does that look like a Magritte painting?NH 2nd-best state, VT #5 in US News rankings. The mag is out with its annual listing, which crunches a whole set of variables — from the workforce gender gap to infrastructure to public safety. NH ranks first in "opportunity" and "crime & corrections," fourth in natural environment, but a pretty dismal 31st in infrastructure. VT did well in quality of life scores, not so well on the economy. The Public Assets Institute dives into the VT numbers. Both states fared better than in the 2018 rankings, when NH was 5th and VT 9th.Despite new funding and staff, NH's child welfare caseload remains high. The national standard calls for each assessment worker to carry 12 cases at a time. At the Dept of Children, Youth and Families, however, the load was 40 per worker last summer, and it's dropped only to 38, the Concord Monitor reports. That's due in part to a surge in abuse reports last year, in part to high staff turnover, and in part, the agency says, to the time it's taken to staff up after a $6 million funding boost. Ethan DeWitt details the agency's challenges.Act 250 compromise falls apart. The measure, which has been working its way through various VT legislative committees, is a comprehensive attempt to rewrite the state's landmark planning law. It promotes energy efficiency and keeping wildlife corridors intact. It streamlines the review process. It exempts downtown development. And until Friday, it diminished the role of district citizen commissions in favor of a five-member professional board. That's when the House Ways and Means Committee stripped out fee increases to pay for the board. Unclear what happens now.VT officials decide they've been kicking the pension crisis can down the road for so long that the only solution is... to keep kicking the can down the road. Perhaps that's unfair. House Speaker Mitzi Johnson did say she'd like to "do something" a few weeks ago. Because after all, unfunded pension liabilities are projected to chew more than $200 million this year out of the budget (that's almost 12 percent of the general fund), and they're not shrinking in the out-years. But the legislature's got no appetite for it, Johnson tells VTDigger. "It’s still an uphill battle to even just get people to talk.”Looks like retail cannabis is headed for a legislative vote in VT. The House Appropriations Committee voted 6-5 yesterday in favor of moving a bill creating a retail pot market to the full floor, where it will probably be taken up tomorrow. If it passes, it needs to be reconciled with an already passed Senate version; the two differ on tax structures and local control. Seven Days' Colin Flanders details the ins and outs.Oh, hey, wanna buy a ski club? The Hermitage Club, the 838-acre ski club at Haystack Mountain that was the scene for ABC's 2018 "Bachelor Winter Games," is on the market. Despite the publicity, it shut its doors that year. Now it's up for auction. You could snag an 80,000-square-foot clubhouse, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a par-72 golf course, a pool, and four inns on the property. Oh, right. And your own private ski hill. Bids due March 16."Wait, you paid how much for a gallon of mountain lion urine?" That's the eye-catching headline on an NYT graphic: "The price of 46 random liquids by the gallon." Whole milk? $3.46. Camel's milk? $144. Chanel No. 5? $7,491.84. CBD oil? $15,872. Vermont maple syrup? No, not in the six figures. It's only $239.60.... But seriously, they pay that much in NYC?No spin, just news that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
HMM... TUESDAY EVENING...
The film starts with a Black-throated Blue Warbler flying in slow motion, "the most beautiful footage of a bird in flight I've ever seen," a reviewer wrote on the Cornell Ornithology Lab's website when the film first came out in 2015. It takes on a dire subject — the decline of songbird populations around the world — but "forgoes ominous voiceover in favor of well-spoken scientists juxtaposed with beautiful cinematography." Everything from skyscrapers to cats to pesticides come in for scrutiny. 6 pm, Woodstock Town Hall.
Liz Studer, a grad student at Dartmouth, has been studying the ecological role of white ash and how its disappearance under the pending ash-borer onslaught might change the forests around it. She's focused especially on spring ephemerals and ground-dwelling insects and invertebrates, and will also be detailing some of her colleagues' work on forest soils and their fungal networks. 7 pm in the library at The Mountain School in Vershire.
Every so often, garden writer Henry Homeyer hosts a "Moth-style" story hour centered around various themes. Tonight: "A Chance Encounter." If you've got a story you'd like to tell, you can reach him at [email protected] or at 603-543-1307. 7 pm at the Cornish Store, which as Henry points out "is not a store, but an empty store that we are using for various events."
Let me look at that one more time... Yep: $239.60... Once sugaring's done, it's
definitely
time to take a few gallons on a road trip! See you tomorrow.
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