GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
There's a cold front swinging through from Canada. Of course, "cold" these days is relative. It'll leave us with today: cool, clouds lessening as the day goes on, highs tiptoeing toward 60. Winds could get gusty at times. But you've gotta love these words: "High pressure building in from the west." It'll be cold tonight, in the 40s, but clear and definitely warmer tomorrow.Thanks, Nala! German Shepherd rousts family from burning Claremont home. The fire began late Sunday night on the first floor and was beginning to spread to the second, where a couple and their seven-year-old son were sleeping. The home didn't have working smoke alarms. Instead, the dog's furious barking woke them. "I think if it wasn't for her, we might be burying our kids instead of them just being in the hospital and going to be ok in a few days," says the father of the man who escaped."This employee was dishonest and was let go for not following procedures." That was Larry Stone, in a video statement posted on YouTube yesterday about the firing of Mascoma Valley HS lunchroom worker Bonnie Kimball. Stone runs the division of Cafe Services that runs the lunchroom, and says its policy is to let students get lunch whether or not there's money in their account, but to charge for extras. Kimball, he says, didn't do so. She has said that she wrote the items down. Stone also suggests she failed to charge the student in question for anything for 3 months. "Now that there is a change in staff," he says in the video, "this student’s account shows regular activity." Odds are good this is not the end of this story.The Dartmouth has the college's full 990. That's the tax form filed by nonprofits, and its latest version--through June, 2018--shows Dartmouth with $8 billion in assets, $1.4 billion in revenues (including $404 million in contributions and grants), and $1.1 billion in expenses. You can plow through it for tidbits like top salaries and the five highest-paid independent contractors: DHMC followed by... this'll stun you... four construction firms. Speaking of Dartmouth, members of the anti-harassment coalition agitating for change there are up with a Valley News op-ed accusing the college of systemic gender bias. Especially in the troubled Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, where they say "the statistics are clear: Women hired as tenure-track faculty have been and still are at a decisive disadvantage relative to their male colleagues." In particular, they say, women faculty have left the department "because they were discouraged from completing tenure review or because of the hostile climate in the department." (VN, subscription reqd)NH lawmakers moving toward subsidies for biomass plants--and hard-hit timber industry. The Senate is due to vote on Thursday on up to $75 million in ratepayer subsidies for the plants, after stripping funding for a trash incinerator in Concord. If it passes, it'll go to the House. Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a similar measure last year, but was overridden. That law is hung up in court.Scott will let VT's broad abortion protections become law. Republican Gov. Phil Scott's spokesperson confirmed last night that Scott will not veto a measure passed by the legislature that puts the right to an abortion into law. He has not decided, however, whether he'll sign it or simply let it become law without his signature. The legislation won't actually change anything, but proponents argue it might become necessary as abortion opponents maneuver to overturn Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, VT Senate maneuvers to fund clean water by diverting rooms/meals tax revenues. Finding money for cleaning up the state's bodies of water--and specifically to comply with a federal EPA cleanup order for Lake Champlain--has been tough; initially, legislators considered a "cloud tax" on software. Instead, the Senate Finance Cte voted yesterday to move general-fund money raised by the rooms and meals tax over to the clean water fund...and then count on revenues showing up later to plug that hole.Regulators looking at Canadian pipeline company's growing stake in GMP and and Vermont Gas. This is a little complicated, in the way that only corporate ownership can be... The two VT utilities are owned by parent companies that include Canadian pension funds, a Quebec natural gas company, and Enbridge, one of the continent's largest pipeline companies. Enbridge is boosting its stake in the parent company. The state wants to be sure that won't affect the direction of the two Vermont companies.VTC president says Vermont lags other states in workforce development investments. In a wide-ranging interview with VTDigger, Vermont Technical College president Pat Moulton says, "We’re smart and ahead in a lot of things, like civil liberties and environmental policy, but I’m not sure we’ve quite got it right on how we are dealing with our education and workforce development needs." In the midst of a labor market so tight that it may be suppressing economic growth, she adds that the state has been hampered by uneven elementary and secondary schooling, and by not funding its career/tech schools well enough.In case you were wondering, Killington is still open for skiing. Of course, if you're the kind of person who likes carving turns while other people are golfing nearby, you probably knew that. And speaking of mountains, there's a new exhibit on NH's grand hotels at Plymouth State's Museum of the White Mountains. The exhibit, which opened on Friday, has the museum itself decked out like one of the old luxury resorts. There are still four of them left in New Hampshire, with moves afoot to revive a fifth, The Balsams.SO, ANY PLANS FOR TONIGHT?You could put your climate change hat on and go see a free screening of From Paris to Pittsburgh. For all the national and global focus on climate change, its effects are felt where we live. The film, which began life as a National Geographic documentary, looks at communities across the country and how they're grappling with the changes they're seeing up close and personal. Co-hosted by the Tuck School's Revers Center for Energy, at the Loew Theater at 5:30 pm, followed by a panel discussion.Or, since we've been talking workforce, you might think about going to hear John Pepper. He's chairman of Boloco, co-founder of the burger/salad chain b.good, co-founder of the hourly-worker app Worthee, and Norwich SB chair. Hosted by King Arthur Flour and The Family Place, he'll be talking about workforce challenges here and elsewhere, and about the issues faced by hourly and shift workers. Pepper will be in conversation with King Arthur Co-CEO Karen Colberg, and KAF's providing both the venue and the pizza. Starts at 6 pm.Whatever you do, go have a good day first. See you tomorrow.
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