GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy today, but at least it'll be (relatively) warm. It didn't get very cold last night, so temps won't have that far to go to climb into the high 50s or low 60s for a few hours, even if we don't get a glimpse of sun, which we might or might not. However, there's a front moving in from the west, which we'll talk more about tomorrow. Mild winds from the southwest, chance of rain starting tonight, lows in the 50s.Three suspects driving car with stolen Hartford plate in VT fraud spree. They've broken into at least four cars over the past week, and have used the credit cards and cashed the checks they stole in Bradford, Hartford, WRJ, St. J, Barre, Berlin and Williston. They've been driving a white Dodge caravan with VT plate 286A155. Eric Francis has the police pics and request for help."That tree's not dead and it's going to outlive all of us." Last night's public meeting in Ascutney was supposed to be about how to memorialize farmer Romaine Tenney and his 1964 resistance to I-91. Instead, it became a set-to over VTrans' plans to cut down the sole remaining maple tree from his farm. The tree's in bad shape, but a lot of area residents, including some of Tenney's descendants, weighed in against cutting it down just yet. The state's current plan is to cut it down before the end of November.Falling concrete closes part of Hanover garage, ramping up downtown parking woes. The 290-space garage has become "a public safety hazard," ways town manager Julia Griffin. A $525,000 project to repair the top two decks and part of a third started last week, and Griffin hopes it'll be done by the time the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush starts. It all highlights Hanover's already "fraught" parking problems, says the VN's Anna Merriman.“Let’s really understand how burning wood from the forest for heat is going to impact climate change." That's Dartmouth's Rosi Kerr explaining the college's decision to reconsider biomass, in a thoroughgoing NHPR look at the issue. It starts with Leb's Matt Patch as he converts his land into a maple bush, dives into the declining market for wood chips, explores the fine points of wood-harvesting's impact on climate change... If you want to get yourself up to speed on all the complexities, this is the piece.Sullivan Co. GOP chair forced out. You may remember that in the midst of the brouhaha over his decision to bring controversial anti-Muslim commentator Robert Spencer to a party fundraiser earlier this month, Keith Hanson insulted locals who spoke against the move and called one Grantham Navy vet a "traitor." He was replaced last week by state Rep. Steven Smith, who has apologized for the incident. (VN)Dare you to get more seasonal than this! Photographer Herb Swanson was on his way home from an assignment way up north on Monday when he passed this tricked-out mobile pumpkin stand. Thanks, Herb!It's not like your heart leaps when you see the words "propane tank training." But the Hanover, Norwich, and Hartland fire departments got some the other day, and Demo Sofronas has the pics. At first it's a bunch of people standing around with their hands in their pockets, but scroll down and as you get to the sheer variety of propane tanks firefighters might encounter — the kinds on trains, and in backyards, and underground, and on trucks — you realize how grateful you are they've taken the time to learn...NC jury recommends death penalty for Royalton man. In 2013, Mikel Brady escaped furlough in Vermont — where he'd faced charges over the years for home invasion, assault and being part of an Upper Valley burglary ring — and fled to NC. There, he shot a police officer, and was in prison. He and three others tried to escape and killed four corrections officers. Yesterday, a jury found him guilty of that crime, and recommended death.Bernie Sanders will be in Claremont tomorrow. He'll be at a Rights & Democracy Forum at Monarch Farms running from 2-3:30.Let's Grow Kids names Bradford's Meri Carpenter-Saladino its Early Educator of the Year. The nonprofit focuses on boosting high-quality child care in Vermont; Carpenter-Saladino has been running a child-care program from her home for three decades. “We in Vermont offer the early learners in our programs so much more than ‘day care,’" she says. "Many of us work with children and families 50 plus hours a week. We wake up in the night strategizing ways to help our children and families,” Under new NH law, students should be able to register to vote; it's what happens afterward that remains unclear. That's the upshot of a piece in The Dartmouth outlining the impact of the 2018 law that Democrats failed to overturn in the last legislative session. The question, says Hanover town clerk Betsy McClain, is "what further action must a registered voter take if they decide to register to vote in New Hampshire?" The state has not "adequately answered" that question, she says.NH has nothing to brag about on energy efficiency. In a light-hearted but pointed commentary, the state's consumer advocate, Don Kreis, scores the consortium of utilities behind the state's energy efficiency programs for touting its 20th-place ranking in a national scorecard on efficiency programs. That puts it last in New England, he points out. "In fact, you have to go all the way to Delaware before you come to another state with a worse ranking for energy efficiency than ours."VT cop rescues deer trapped in soccer net. It was outside a school in Manchester, VT, vocally unhappy. The officer captured the whole thing on his body cam. The deer? Dashes off at the end without so much as a "thank you."Vermont has a new poet laureate. Mary Ruefle, who lives in Bennington, was appointed Monday, replacing Chard Deniord. "I am honored to join the ranks of those who served before me -- two of those are in this room -- and humbled and scared," Ruefle said. "But I am used to that. That is how I feel in the face of poetry, it is how I feel as a member of that tribe."Possible candidates wait on Dem poll before deciding if they'll run for VT guv. Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and Atty. Genl. TJ Donovan have been mulling whether they'll join former education secretary Rebecca Holcombe in the race. The state party's launching a poll this week that will gauge how they'd fare head-to-head against incumbent Phil Scott. The two dodged VTDigger's questions about the poll yesterday.VT, NH among top ten states for outdoor enthusiasts. A UK travel company, Rickshaw Travel, compared air quality, biodiversity, natural beauty, the number of national parks per state, and a variety of other factors to come up with its list. Number 1? California. Then Hawaii and Washington. Vermont ranks fourth, followed by Oregon, Alaska, South Dakota, and New Hampshire. Oh, VT did rank first for environmental friendliness.
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SO... TONIGHT?
You've heard of it because presidential candidate Andrew Yang's been touting it, but it's actually been a thing in academic and economic circles for a while. So Dartmouth's holding a debate: Oren Cass, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute vs. longtime basic income proponent Karl Widerquist of Georgetown U-Qatar. 4:30 pm in Filene Auditorium.
Put together by the VT Folklife Center and the VT International Film Foundation, it features two recently preserved '70s "folk horror" films:
Transformations
, created by a VT women's collective, which celebrates neo-pagan spirituality within the women's movement of that era; and Walter Ungerer's
The Animal
, in which a man and woman meet at a deserted railroad station in winter, drive to a remote farmhouse... Town Hall Theater at 6, Ungerer will be there.
You may remember her bestselling memoir,
The Dirty Life
, about moving from NYC to a farm upstate with the man she would eventually marry — a guy whose "inner radio has been tuned to WFRM, all farming, all the time.” Her new book, Good Husbandry, is about what happens next: creating a farm that "did more good than harm,” creating a home, and a family... At 7, and you should reserve: [email protected] or 802.649.1114.
An "environmental energy soundscape" dj'ed by Diallo Riddle (writer, comedy writer and DJ, you may know him from "Sherman's Showcase" or "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"), DJ Spooky, and T. Tauri. Riddle, who snagged an Emmy nomination for his work with Fallon, may just bring his impersonation of Sun Ra, his Arkestra "and cosmo-energy to call forth black radical energy horizons ." Or, this being Riddle, maybe not. Starts at 8.
Purple is the color of talking about the pastand the future as if they were the same thing.Gold is the color of mirth and shambles.You loved and were lovedsaid the bee to the lily before buzzing off.
-- From "A New Dawn" by Mary Ruefle
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