Daybreak Tuesday 9/8/20

WELCOME BACK, UPPER VALLEY!

Warmer, calmer. There's all sorts of unsettledness up there—a cold front that's taken up residence around the border, various weak disturbances fluttering along it—but down here, we get a fine, dry, partly-then-mostly sunny day with temps getting into the 80s and not much hint of yesterday's winds. Temps into the low 60s tonight.And speaking of yesterday's winds... Here's what it looked like at cloud level from William Daugherty's drone hanging still above Plainfield yesterday at sunrise. He writes: "Although it looks like the clouds aloft were screaming along, they actually weren't moving very quickly at all. Just a few mph really. The time lapse shots were taken 2 seconds apart, but when played back at 30 frames per second you get that high-speed effect." Yes you do.Woodstock Pharmacy to close. The VN's John Lippman reports that owner Gary Smith has decided to shutter the 167-year-old pharmacy come Oct. 4. Smith had been seeking a buyer for years, and had reached an agreement to sell to a local group, but that fell through last month. Woodstock's other pharmacy, Shire Apothecary, closed in 2013. Lippman reports that Mt. Ascutney Hospital's Ottauquechee Health Center in Woodstock "is in talks" about a potential pharmacy to open inside its building.More on The Point sale; Twice on Sundae "closed for the season." In other business news, Lippman writes that the offer by Christian music broadcaster Educational Media Foundation for WRJT-Royalton and three stations in NH was tough for its owners to turn down. However, he points out, The Point's Montpelier home (WRJT is just a transmitter) wasn't part of the sale, and local listeners can still find it online. Meanwhile, staffing issues and "the need for us to focus on Salt Hill Pub as we continue to navigate the pandemic" have forced Twice on Sundae on the Leb Mall to close, at least for now.If you don't happen to have a thermometer handy... You can count the chirps made by a male Snowy Tree Cricket in 14 seconds, writes Mary Holland. Then add 40, and you'll get the temp in degrees Fahrenheit. "The relationship between the air temperature and the rate at which crickets chirp is called Dolbear’s Law," she writes—named for Amos Dolbear, who published it in 1897, though Margaret Brooks seems to have gotten there in 1881, in a report that wasn't noticed until later.Ever wondered what all those AT thru-hikers have gone through before they get here? The long-distance backpacking site thetrek.co has just posted a state-by-state overview of the Appalachian Trail, complete with descriptions and photos of highlights, videos, tips, and "dispatches" from hikers. And it's got a shout-out to the Oliverian Brook crossing down below Moosilauke: "To the south lie some 1,800 miles of the kind of wooded, hilly terrain that any East Coast hiker will be familiar with.... North of this notch, the trail becomes something altogether different."NH finishes up one of its warmest summers on record. NHPR's Annie Ropeik notes that the average temp for June, July, and August in Manchester was the warmest on record, and the fourth warmest for Concord. "Overall," she reports, "climate change and the burning of fossil fuels have warmed New Hampshire about 3.6 degrees since the late 1800s."UNH frat party linked to Covid outbreak. The Theta Chi party on Aug. 29 drew over 100 people, and so far 11 people linked to it have tested positive for Covid-19. State health officials say anyone who visited the frat since the end of August may have been exposed. In a Sunday-night email, UNH President Jim Dean called the party “reprehensible” and said more such gatherings could send the university back to all-remote learning. The school is investigating, and is pursuing "student conduct charges" against the organizers, NHPR reports.Contact tracers "can't solve every problem," but they can help. The VN's Nora Doyle-Burr talks to Rachel Wassel, a 32-year-old social worker who lives in Royalton, about the work she's been doing since April. The bulk of it, of course, is talking to people who've tested positive, and then to the people they were in close contact with. But then come the worries and the logistics—how to get groceries, where to isolate, how to get there... "Take a deep breath," Wassel tells the people she's called. "We can get through this together.”"My daughter is getting threatened by people. Adults. I’m not OK with that." Tabitha Moore, who founded and runs the Rutland chapter of the NAACP, is leaving her home—though she's running for high bailiff in Rutland County, so she won't be moving far—because of the harassment she and her family have faced in recent months. She talks to VTDigger's Emma Cotton about her experiences and racism in Vermont in general. "There are Black and brown people who come to the state all the time, who want to stay and make it their home," she says. "Very few make it past three years."VT's emissions-reduction bill moving toward final passage, possible veto fight. The measure, the Global Warming Solutions Act, sets targets for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, more to the point, makes it possible for citizens to sue if the state misses. Gov. Phil Scott takes exception to that provision, but the legislature has rebuffed his efforts to change it. The original version passed both houses with veto-proof majorities, and the House is working on concurring with changes made in the Senate version before sending it on to Scott.Mail-in voting shakes up VT campaign strategies. For the first time, every registered voter in Vermont will be mailed a general election ballot this fall. And suddenly, the playing field of potential voters—as opposed to the likely voters campaigns used to target—is wide open. “I think this is going to really upend [the] traditional ways people engage in the elections in Vermont,” says Lauren Hierl of VT Conservation Voters. VPR's Peter Hirschfeld looks into how this is changing the game for Democrats and Republicans alike in the state.What are you going to be doing at 11 am today? That's when Vermont starts offering free, $30 coupons that you can redeem at a local business, part of its effort to help the state's businesses recover from the pandemic. It's funded by federal CARES Act dollars, and there's enough for about 14,000 Vermonters to participate... first come, first served. Once registration opens, you can go to the site (at the link), enter your name, zip, and the type of business you want, and you'll get offered coupons to two local participating businesses. Here's more info from Seven Days.Oh, the ignominy: From biggest in the nation to biggest in Cheshire County, NH. That would be the white pine in Keene that's just lost its "Big Tree" title because the Big Tree Program run by the nonprofit American Forests has changed the standards for big trees: Multiple trunks when the tree's girth is measured at 4 1/2 feet off the ground no longer count toward the total. There are 100 to 150 “multi-trunkers” on NH's official Big Trees list; looks like they, too, are destined to become merely visually awe-inspiring rather than officially awe-inspiring. 

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The Brain—is wider than the Sky—For—put them side by side—The one the other will containWith ease—and you—beside—

—From poem #632, by Emily Dickinson

Here's to slipping gracefully back into life. See you tomorrow.

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