WELCOME BACK TO THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!
Chance of showers. After the pretty magical high pressure of the last few days, there's low pressure—with a warm front attached—coming through. They're bringing us mostly cloudy skies and a chance of showers all day, rising to a likelihood late this afternoon and evening, along with a slight chance of thunderstorms tonight. Mid-70s today, low 60s overnight.New England in summer. Let's brighten up the day with this field of buttercups on a sunny day — at New England Falconry in Woodstock, from Zooey Zullo.Those small states, they're all alike. NewsBreak, a well-funded app startup based in Silicon Valley, has been running a promotion for its newsletters of aggregated local news. Like, for instance, a "New Hampshire Newsletter" aimed at Grafton County readers featuring a roundup of NH laws that took effect Friday. Astute Daybreak reader Jonathan Frishtick noticed something amiss about the photo they used to illustrate it, however, and grabbed a screenshot. Bet you can spot it, too.Leb Planning Board gives go-ahead for major downtown apartment complex to exceed height limit. One of the two buildings in the 152-unit development planned for the site of the old Lebanon Village Marketplace can exceed the city's 55-foot limit on its Water Street side, a divided board decided last week. In the Valley News, Darren Marcy reports that while some members argued the building would be too high for people approaching from Mascoma Street, a 5-3 majority believed it in keeping with the city's aim of building denser housing. "It’s as downtown as you get," said board vice chair Matthew Hall.Killington hopes new tax district will help revitalize village. The town last Thursday got preliminary approval from the state to create a Tax Increment Finance district, which will allow it to capture increased property taxes from new development to pay for the infrastructure needed to support that development. Efforts to modernize the village, writes Ethan Weinstein in VTDigger, "have sputtered for decades." In particular, the TIF is aimed at building a municipal water system and at rebuilding Killington Road, which leads from Route 4 to the mountain. Next, town voters have to approve taking on the debt.SPONSORED: Dartmouth Cancer Center will hold a lung cancer screening community forum July 11. Lung cancer screening can find cancer early and save your life. Maybe you or a loved one is interested in learning more? Our experts will answer your questions during this online Lung Cancer Screening Community Forum. There will be two sessions on July 11, at noon and at 6 pm. To register for the noon session, go here. And to register for the 6 pm session, go here. Sponsored by Dartmouth Cancer Center. Fairlee wrangles over town forest. It runs over 1,500 acres and is used for everything from hiking and snowshoeing to ATVs and logging. And, write Jim Kenyon and Claire Potter in the Valley News, "therein lies the rub." Erosion, lack of trail maintenance, disputes over priorities (timber harvests support forest management), arguments over whether the town's Forest Board represents users fairly, division over the volunteer Friends of Fairlee Forest and its focus on hiking, allegations of "environmental abuse"... Even in a town of 1,000, making sure everyone feels a connection to the land can be tough.Meanwhile, over in the Thetford Town Forest, construction of AT&T telecom tower moves quietly ahead. You may remember that a couple of years ago, a proposed AT&T tower off Sawnee Bean Road ran into fierce opposition. The town proposed a site in the town forest instead, and now, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, the project is underway—after a minor relocation to avoid impinging on a vernal pool. Still, there are complications: the Upper Valley Fish & Game Club also uses the land for a firing range, and the club's agreed to stop any shooting when technicians need to maintain the tower. Li details it all.It's butterfly season, and there are some prime viewing spots right nearby. That's according to the Trust for Public Land, which lists five spots nationally, two of them in Hanover: Hudson Farm and Mink Brook, both protected by TPL with help from the Hanover Conservancy. Both spots contain open meadows, with plants from milkweed to blue-eyed grass that butterflies like—and butterflies from monarchs and viceroys (text includes some hints on how to tell them apart) to skippers, ringlets, and white admirals. A bit farther afield, there's also the Catamount Community Forest in Williston. (Thanks, KA!)Mt. Washington gets its own celestial July 4 fireworks... Just after midnight yesterday, clearing skies gave staff at the Observatory a fine view of the Northern Lights on the horizon, which they promptly posted to their FB page.NH nursing homes face "a quiet catastrophe." None has closed altogether, reports NHPR's Alli Fam, but a new survey by the state health care association shows that many—like the Grafton County Nursing Home—are leaving dozens of beds unfilled because they can't find people to staff them. As a result, they're turning away patients. This comes at the same time that costs, especially the cost of relying on travel nurses and other contract staff—often, working for a contractor pays better than working directly for a home, Fam reports—have risen exponentially.State governance of VT's child-care and early childhood ed system "fundamentally broken." That's the conclusion of an analysis looking at the state's early childhood system that was required last year by Act 45. The report by two independent analysts, which came out on Friday, maintains that the system lacks "coherence, leadership, and vision," thanks largely to a structure that "creates substantial complexity for communities, providers, and families," and proposes creating a standalone early childhood agency separate from the departments of education and human services.The highest lift-service skiing east of the Mississippi? Nope, not NH, VT, ME, or NY. It's the dead of summer, so of course, it's time to start thinking about snow. On the all-things-ski site Unofficial Networks, Matt Lorelli rounds up the highest peak elevations for states in the east that you can get to by lifts. In NH, Cannon checks in at 4,080 feet, Killington at 4,241, Sugarloaf at 4,237, Whiteface at 4,386... West Virginia's Snowshoe at 4,848 feet, and believe it or not, North Carolina's Beech Mountain at 5,506. Highest east of the Rockies? Terry Peak, SD, at 7,100'."It’s become routine for newspapers to publish their own obituaries." On average, two newspapers a week are closing in the US, writes veteran analyst Penny Abernathy in a just-released report on "The State of Local News" from Northwestern's Medill School. Overall, the twin states are in better shape than many: She notes that small states like VT and NH have lost the fewest papers, and NH is one of only five with a newspaper located in every county. Still, even as daily papers transition slowly to digital, they're cutting staff and circulation sharply, and all-digital alternatives remain concentrated in the cities."What if [whales] are just saying, 'Hey, how you doing?'" Well then, South Woodstock's Roger Payne replies to WBUR's Barbara Moran, “Just the fact that you knew it was saying something so mundane and banal as that would be fascinating. You know, ‘Oh my God, is that what they’re saying? Who knew?’" Payne, who's now 87, is the biologist who produced "Songs of the Humpback Whale," the 1970 album that galvanized the movement to protect whales. Moran sat down to talk with him about what led him to create it, and about his current work to understand and maybe communicate with whales.Sorry, no Vordle today. It'll be back tomorrow.
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This evening at 6:30, Fairlee Arts kicks off its summertime Concert on the Common series—free concerts each Tuesday night in July and August—with The Conniption Fits, the hard-working Leb-based party band of Stevens Blanchard, Jamie Hosley, and Jeff Samataro. They tour New England, but here they are in our backyard.
The Tuesday Poem
It's the start of a new month, which means it's time to talk about last month. "June's poems all involved bugs, as in June Bugs, though none contained that exact insect," poetry editor Michael Lipson writes. "July's poems have a theme too, for you to guess and enjoy." As in...
He'd have given me rolling lands, Houses of marble, and billowing farms,Pearls, to trickle between my hands, Smoldering rubies, to circle my arms.You––you’d only a lilting song, Only a melody, happy and high,You were sudden and swift and strong,–– Never a thought for another had I.He’d have given me laces rare, Dresses that glimmered with frosty sheen,Shining ribbons to wrap my hair, Horses to draw me, as fine as a queen.You––you’d only to whistle low, Gaily I followed wherever you led.I took you, and I let him go,–– Somebody ought to examine my head!
—
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 and writers who want you to 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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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