WELL MET, UPPER VALLEY!
Just a heads up that there'll be no Daybreak tomorrow or Friday. Time for the basics: pie and family. You, too, could use a break, I imagine.If you're traveling today... We're getting off light: the forecast isn't nearly as bad as people out west are facing. There's a low headed our way from the Great Lakes, and though the morning should be dry, it will be clouding up and at some point in the afternoon or around dusk rain will arrive. Highs in the mid-40s. Tomorrow, by the way, will probably start out rainy then turn to light snow before everything clears out. On the plus side, snow's likely in the mountains. Iron Horse sues Lebanon. For years, Bud Ames, the co-owner of Twin State Sand and Gravel, has been aiming to create a retail, office and industrial space off Glen Road to be known as Iron Horse Park. But in October, the planning board voted to deny him a third extension to find a developer, citing a one-extension-only rule and noting that he and his partners had completed only one of 11 conditions needed for a building permit since 2013. Ames is now challenging that ruling in Grafton Superior Court. (VN)D-H trauma surgeons warn on ski helmet use. Studying ski injuries treated at DHMC from 2010-2018, the team found that helmeted skiers and boarders were more likely to suffer severe injuries, including intracranial hemorrhage (head bleed), and more likely to suffer those injuries after hitting a stationary object. Lead author Eleah Porter, a life-long skier himself, notes, “Previous research has found that wearing a helmet may give skiers or boarders a false sense of security, leading to riskier behavior on the slopes.”"Nature...is a cultural construct that allows us to separate ourselves from the living planet, so that we can use it and abuse it." Some years back, gardener Stefan van Norden got to know the tall, white-haired, white-bearded guy he sometimes saw teaching students outside at the Dartmouth organic farm. That was Scott Stokoe, whom Norden calls "a reluctant genius." In this latest episode of van Norden's "Nature Revisited" podcast, Stokoe takes on the very idea of something separate from us that we can call "nature."Here's a view you don't often get. Yesterday's snowstorm video brought in this panorama from the top of Mt. Washington a couple of weeks ago by 15-year-old Eamon Odell of Norwich, who climbed the mountain with ice axe in hand: The summit encased in early-winter snow and ice, while the hills down below bask in the late fall sun.Vital Communities plays food matchmaker. The VN's Sarah Earle spent some time at the nonprofit's event bringing farmers and producers together with buyers and distributors. Kind of like speed dating, she writes, only "instead of nervous flirtation and awkward questions, there were matter-of-fact exchanges about shelf life and organic regulations over samples of ice cream, chèvre, sparkling cider and pickled hot peppers." One attendee: Eli Hersh, the new owner of Killdeer Farm in Norwich, which he's renamed Honey Field Farm.Can NH's towns play Big Energy? The Concord Monitor's David Brooks wonders, in the wake of the new law letting owns and cities act essentially like utilities in pushing innovative energy programs. He spends time talking to Leb's Clifton Below, who's helping spearhead the city's move to create Lebanon Community Power. But Brooks is also on his own town's sustainability committee. "As volunteers," he says, "we can barely handle things like changing our streetlights to LEDs. Once you start talking about managing an energy supply portfolio...I want to run and hide."NH wants EV charging stations along its major highways. It's put out a request for proposals to construct the charging stations for electric vehicles along about 400 miles of highway and major roads, using $2 million of its VW settlement money. It's asked for a mix of Level 2 and fast-chargers, and envisions the first of them coming online at the end of next year.Merrimack judge sides with 3M and local plaintiffs, orders NH to stop enforcing strict PFAS standards. The rules require public water systems to test and treat for levels of PFAS chemicals far lower than federal standards, and PFAS-maker 3M and its local partners argued the state didn't use proper science or obtain enough public input before implementing them. Superior Court judge Richard McNamara's injunction won't take effect until Dec. 31, however, so that either party can appeal to the state supreme court.Vermont: The Pollution State. Okay, not really, but that's kind of the upshot of a piece just up in Inside Climate News, part of a joint project with The Weather Channel. Turns out that the state leads the nation in its reliance on wood for home heating, and also, not coincidentally, leads the nation in particulate matter emissions per capita. It's a deep dive exploring lots of ins and outs.Burlington Airport lands $10 million federal grant, will expand main terminal. Seven Days' Molly Walsh reports that the project will create more waiting room for passengers and consolidate two TSA checkpoints to handle more passengers at peak times. "With the advent of larger planes flying into BTV over the past few years and many flights taking off back-to-back early in the morning, TSA has struggled to move passengers through security during rush hour," she writes. "Long lines and missed flights are a growing problem."If you're hoping for a glimpse of that reindeer at Killington this weekend, Sorry! Last weekend, Mikaela Shiffrin won her 41st slalom title in Levi, Finland. That carried... all together now!... the former Lyme resident past the record of Swedish slalom great Ingemar Stenmark. So when Shiffrin was awarded a reindeer for her achievement, she decided to name it "Ingemar." "It is simply a tribute to one of absolute greatest ski racers to ever live," she tweeted. Sadly, Ingemar won't be at the world cup races at Killington this weekend—he'll be at a reindeer farm near Levi. (Thanks, LM!)If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
LOOKING TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE FOR A BIT?
You won't be able to sit together... though it's always worth gambling on no-shows.
They're doing their second annual Green Mountain Club fundraiser, with a Burlington Beer Co. tap takeover, though they've had to cancel frozen turkey bowling (you read that right: You hurl a frozen turkey at empty beer kegs). Instead, they're pivoting to trivia all night: "cool categories that involve local ski mountains, vermont history, epic surf locals, favorite tv cartoon characters and more." Whatever, it'll be a scene. Oh, and starting Friday, the once dinner-only spot is
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Then again, maybe you just want to get hang out with family and friends, get take-out, prep for tomorrow, and let the world go away for a bit. Whatever you do, have a fine, peaceful Thanksgiving. See you Monday.
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