GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Well now... that was a day yesterday, eh? Today's looking pretty good, too: partly sunny, temps in the 70s. There's a system passing to our south and it may produce some "weak instability" in the afternoon -- read "showers" -- but, and I'm quoting the National Weather Service here: "If anything does form it will likely die in place after a short lifespan." Pulp weather!VLS sanctioned by American Association of University Professors. Delegates to the AAUP's annual meeting in DC voted to add VT Law School to its list of sanctioned institutions for failing to involve faculty adequately in decisions that led to lowered salaries, fewer full-time positions, and effectively eliminating the tenured status for most of the institution’s highest-paid faculty members. The school says it is "disappointed" by "the process by which the AAUP reached its conclusions."Norwich sets up bag "bank." As you probably remember, the town's selectboard voted earlier this year to ban plastic bags and require retailers to charge for paper bags; this goes into effect Sept. 1. In anticipation, the SB has set up a reusable bag "bank" at Tracy Hall, with 100 bags donated by Mascoma Bank. You'll find them in a gray bin at the back of the multi-purpose room, past the town clerk's office.Things still slow at The Village at WRJ. It's getting a new director, but in an article about the shift the VN's Nora Doyle-Burr also notes that the much-ballyhooed 80-unit assisted living facility will have only 24 residents by the end of June. It has 30 employees. The outgoing director, Sandy Conrad, has said it needs to fill 49 units in order to break even. (VN, subscription reqd)Remember yesterday's item about Mascoma Valley Preservation buying the Grafton Center Meetinghouse? Here's the actual press release. MVP is trying to raise the funds to buy and stabilize the building, which was damaged in a 2016 fire and allowed to deteriorate ever since. “Usually something’s happened, but the reason that something’s happened is because of something else altogether." That's Marion Cross Principal Bill Hammond, reflecting on kids finding their way to the principal's office. Hammond, Windsor teachers Louise Wall and Deb White, Lebanon High teachers Mary Maxfield and Deborah Nelson, and educators in Hartford and Woodstock are all retiring this year. The VN's Sarah Earle is up with a profile. “Teaching has gotten so much more stressful," says Wall. "It’s like being on a high-speed treadmill." The sordid tale of Mary Rogers, who killed her husband for his life insurance policy and, in 1905, became the last woman to be hanged in Vermont. Kerry Clifford, whose blog about living with cancer has a strong following, was at Windsor Station one night when she noticed a blurb about Rogers on the cocktail menu--the hanging took place at the state prison in Windsor. She got curious. NH legislature approves plan to create statewide online energy-use data platform. The idea is that data from individual customers' meters and from the utilities would give ratepayers information about their power use in context, and help them figure out how to save money. The measure was backed by Don Kreis, the Public Utilities Commission's ratepayer advocate. “In a perfect world, the utilities would simply develop a platform like this on their own,” he says. “But in the real world, they need encouragement."
The move-to-Vermont thing gets a new wrinkle. According to Fast Company, tomorrow Gov. Phil Scott's expected to sign a measure, passed by the legislature in May, to reimburse workers who move to the state to take a job -- up to $5,000 in places like Burlington and $7,500 in smaller communities. As you'll remember, people can get $10K for moving but working remotely. After Jan. 1, someone hired by a VT employer will get their moving expenses paid by the state.
Vermont's also now got the most restrictive plastic-bag ban in the country. Yesterday, Scott signed a measure barring retailers from providing plastic bags at checkout starting next July. Plastic stirrers are banned, too. For good measure, he also signed into law a measure curbing the use of hydrofluorocarbons in home and business refrigeration systems, building chillers, insulating foams and aerosols. But he vetoed a bill letting Vermonters affected by the release of toxic chemicals recoup medical monitoring expenses from polluters.Seriously: 80 New England summer events. If you're in the mood to hit the road this summer, NBC-Boston has a loooong list of fairs, festivals, and other events all over the region. There's the usuals (Tanglewood, Newport Folk Festival) but also a few things that might not have been on your radar, like the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival, the Boston Pickle Fair, the Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic, and the Killington Wine Festival. And let's not forget Phish at Fenway. Housekeeping again... Several people got in touch yesterday to say that, for the first time, Daybreak wound up in their junk folder. Email services' algorithms are shifty, and I'm looking into what I can do on my end. But in the meantime, you can take steps on your end by putting [email protected] into your "contacts" list. Here's how for the browser versions of:
As a thank-you for making you read that, here's Galway Kinnell, standing on his porch in Sheffield, VT, reciting his poem "Daybreak." Next week we'll do Longfellow reciting his poem "Daybreak." Thanks for the tip, LQ!TONIGHT'S A GOOD NIGHT TO LEARN SOMETHINGFor instance, let's say you want to up your audio recording game. Claremont Makerspace has a free audio mixing workshop tonight from 6-8 pm. You'll get the basics on cleaning up live audio tracks, mixing audio levels and using a Digital Audio Workstation (think GarageBand). You'll need to sign up; only a few spots left.Or maybe you're a little freaked out about how to survive whatever the markets throw at us over the next few years. The Upper Valley Investment Club, which both educates members and pools investments, has been going strong for three decades. It usually meets the second Tuesday of each month at the Norwich Library, but is running a week late this month. Starts at 6.Or you watched Swing Kids and thought, "Yeah, I want to do that!" East Coast Swing class at the Thetford Center Community Building on Rte. 113 in Thetford Center. Beginners at 6:30, intermediates at 7:30. Link is to an email for more information.All at once they stopped,and, as if they had simplyincreased their receptivityto gravity, they sank downinto the mud; they faded downinto it and lay still; and by the timepink of sunset broke across themthey were as invisibleas the true stars at daybreak.See you tomorrow.
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