GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly sunny, warm. Not as hot as the Midwest (which is seeing its hottest temps of the summer), but once the fog clears this morning we're looking at highs in the mid 80s under sunny skies. Lows tonight around 60. There's a front coming through that may bring us rain before dawn, but it's more likely during the day tomorrow.Check out the tail feathers! On this goldfinch in Hanover drying off after a soaking, by Geoff Semenuk.In Haverhill and Piermont, three Republicans face off in primary for two House seats. Incumbent GOP Rep. Matthew Coulon is stepping down in the two-seat Grafton 5 district, reports Patrick Adrian in the Valley News. That leaves his fellow incumbent, longtime Republican Rick Ladd, going into the September 10 primary facing two fellow Haverhill residents, physical therapist Mary Louise Bjelobrk and photojournalist Greg Mathieson. Adrian talks to them about education funding, property taxes, infrastructure, and more. The winners will face Democrats Landaff's Rachael Booth and Haverhill's Dustin Vigneault.In Claremont and Croydon, five Republicans chase three House seats. The competition in the Sullivan 6 district is the only contested primary in the county, reports Patrick O'Grady in the VN. It features five legislative newcomers, all from Claremont: City Council member Wayne Hemingway; retired engineer (and regional planning commission member) Tom Luther; retired software developer Luke Diamond; retired physicist Emily Sandblade; and Robert Merrill, who didn't respond to questions. O'Grady checks in with the four about their stances. Democratic incumbents John Cloutier and Gary Merchant, and Claremont Mayor Dale Girard, face no primary.And in a gerrymandered Exec Council district, two Democrats face off. It's the district represented by Cinde Warmington, who's leaving it to run for governor. Lebanon City Council member Karen Liot Hill and New London businessman Mike Liberty are running to replace her—and in a district stretched to take in five colleges, including Dartmouth, Colby-Sawyer, Plymouth State, New England College, and Keene State—the Democratic primary is the one to watch. The Keene Sentinel's Rick Green talks to Hill and Liberty about their stances on public education, reproductive rights, and affordable housing.SPONSORED: "I am the FOMO Queen!" In 1982, Barbara Jones injured her knee her first time on skis and underwent her first knee surgery. After working to recover from another this year, she is looking back on all that’s changed between then and now and sharing advice for others. One thing that hasn’t changed? A true joy for saying Yes and living life to the fullest! Read her story via the link above. Sponsored by Cioffredi & Associates Physical Therapy.“Everybody's going to get through it, or it's going to totally go up in flames." That's rising Thetford Academy senior Ulysses Junker, talking to VT Public's Lola Duffort about the school's new policy of requiring students to put their cellphones in locked pouches made by the company Yondr during the school day. He tells Duffort he already knows students who are buying magnets for unlocking the pouches. But he spent a semester at a school where cellphones were banned, and liked it. “Academically and socially, I just felt a boost,” he says. Duffort looks at the research behind the trend.Nighthawks migrating down the river. Common nighthawks, writes Elise Tillinghast in Northern Woodlands' "This Week in the Woods", "fit the classic body type for birds that hunt insects in the air." With pointed wings that are large for their body size, theyre highly maneuverable, can make abrupt turns without stalling, and are fast. If you're looking for them, twilight's your time. Also out there this fourth week of August: porcupines going to town on apples and pears, and an abundance of anglewing (Polygonia) butterflies—with a lesson on how to tell a question mark butterfly from others of the species.SPONSORED: Interested in the arts? The Hop is hiring creative, collaborative individuals to fill the positions of Front of House Manager, Box Office Manager, and Administrative Coordinator. Join a fun team with great benefits! Learn more and apply through the link or here. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth.17 NH beaches on notice for cyanobacteria, fecal bacteria. None are in the Upper Valley, but they include several areas of Lake Winnipesaukee, a couple of spots along the Seacoast (for fecal bacteria), and ponds and lakes from Rindge in the south to Waterville Valley in the north. NH Bulletin's Claire Sullivan has the latest.
And in case you want to check for yourself, here's NH's Healthy Swimming Mapper.
Meanwhile, VT's alerts are clustered around Lake Champlain, where heavy rains have washed all kinds of stuff into the water. Around here, Barnard's Silver Lake was put on low alert Aug. 16, but there have been no reports since. Here's VT's Cyanobacteria Tracker.
And as David Brooks writes in the
Monitor
(possible paywall),
taking that step is "likely to generate pushback from the fly-fishing community: Opening a pond to fishing with live bait usually draws more anglers and, because bait fishing is generally more successful, can have more of an effect on the fish population." The proposal would keep five ponds in the North Country as fly-fishing only and open eight to all kinds of fishing.
“You’ve got to start somewhere." Tomorrow morning—maybe—the SpaceX mission Polaris Dawn will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There are four civilians on board, including pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a retired Air Force fighter pilot, who went to UNH and lives in Stratham, NH. Poteet talked to the Globe's Steven Porter (newsletter, no paywall) about the 2 1/2 years of preparation that have gone into this five-day stint in orbit—including a space walk (Poteet will remain in the capsule) designed to test the space suits and other technologies. CNN has profiles of all four astronauts here.VT maps out downtown areas, town centers exempt from Act 250 review until 2027. As VTDigger's Emma Malinak explains, the new map from the state's Dept. of Housing and Community Development is a placeholder until the specific provisions in a bill passed over Gov. Phil Scott's veto this summer can be finalized. It creates Act 250 "exemption areas" designed to boost housing development where schools, jobs, and other amenities are already concentrated—with no limits on housing in downtowns like WRJ and Randolph, and housing limits in town and village centers. Interactive map here.In central VT, a cop and a community health worker team up to help homeless people. Berlin Sgt. Chad Bassette—a near three-decade police veteran—and Barre resident and four-year staffer at Good Samaritan Haven Osa Busch "have forged a partnership that is as remarkable as it is unlikely," writes Juan Vega de Soto in VTDigger. On a stormy night earlier this month, with sheets of rain pelting down, he spent the night with the two of them as they crisscrossed Barre distributing food, dry clothing, and supplies—and talking about homelessness, addiction, and the challenges. “You know their mothers, their kids," Bassette says. "Why should you not help them?” “Making crayons is messy, noisy work.” But boy, will it bring a grin to your face! Bloomberg’s Lily Meier and Brian Delk take us through the main Crayola factory in Easton, PA, which runs full tilt from July 4 to Labor Day. All that back-to-school shopping has the company churning out 13 million crayons every day. The original box, introduced in 1903, had eight colors; things have gotten much brighter. Meier and Belk walk us through the manufacturing process, with photos and some very cool videos explaining step by step how, every five days, 450,000 pounds of wax are transformed into vivid tools for the imagination.
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We may be the middle of nowhere to everyone else in VT and NH, but
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The high-energy Motown-to-modern pop/dance band starts rolling at 6:30 pm.
And the Tuesday poem.
Last night the talkwas of the relationship of the selfto God, tonight of Godto the self. The centuriesyawn. Alone in the cornerone sits whose silence persuadesof the pointlessnessof the discourse. He drinksat another fountain that buildsitself equally from the dust of ruffiansand saints. Outside the windhowls... The universeis a large place with more ofdarkness than light, But slowlya web is spun there as minds likehis swing themselves to and fro.
— From "The Listener in the Corner" by the Welsh poet (and Anglican priest)
.
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, writers, and librarians who think you should 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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