IT'S A TREAT TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
An interesting day ahead. Basically, there's an arctic front moving in, pushing a line of snow squalls across the region. If they reach us, it'll be in the late afternoon and likelier the farther north you get. The weather service is throwing around phrases like "lapse rates" and "frontogenetic forcing" to suggest they could be intense — ie, with high winds and whiteout conditions — but we'll see. In the meantime, the coldest air of the season follows behind tonight, with lows dropping into low single digits and some serious wind chills. If you want to dig deeper... Here's a Weather Service graphic on the expected timing of those squalls. Ledyard Charter School agrees to buy Shoetorium building. The school, which works intensively with "reluctant and disengaged learners," already occupies the two-story building on the Lebanon Mall that used to house Lebanon College. Preliminary plans, says John Higgins, the school's executive director, call for expanding its services to middle schoolers, who would occupy about half of the top floor, and developing retail space in the other half, which fronts the mall. (VN)Whaleback passes crowdfunding goal, readies self for season. The nonprofit-run local ski mountain announced yesterday that it raised $21,180 from 84 donors in 10 states. It's plowed that money into making the base lodge more energy- and heat-efficient, with new windows and insulation, and a revamped "air lock" on the mountain side. "Lodge is like a sauna," comments one user on FB. "Love it."Toys for Tots popup in W. Leb doing booming business. The 20-year-old program, organized by the local Marine Corps League, has already sent over 16,000 toys out the door to some 2,600 kids whose families are short on cash. Last year, says organizer Rick Maynard, it served nearly 10,000 kids around the Upper Valley.Dartmouth mourns longtime women's track coach Sandra Ford-Centonze. She died on Saturday at the Byrne palliative care center at DHMC following a six-month battle with cancer. Ford-Centonze arrived on campus in 1992, and over the years became a mentor to many of the athletes she coached. "Very few coaches have had such an inspiring impact on the lives of so many students," said men's head coach Barry Harwick, who started at Dartmouth at the same time.Officials in 12 states announce transportation emissions compact; VT and NH still mulling. Remember the letters TCI, because you'll be hearing them for a while. The Transportation and Climate Initiative, in the works for years, aims to limit carbon emissions from vehicles and raise revenue to invest in clean transportation. Guvs in both states have reacted coolly to the prospect of rising gas and diesel prices, but the VT legislature in particular may force the issue. This will be a long-running debate. Here's NHPR's coverage, and here's VPR's.NH report on overdoses at youth drug treatment center comes under fire. Back in November, five of the 10 patients at the Granite Pathways center in Manchester were taken to the hospital for overdoses — one in an apparent suicide attempt — and two others were assaulted. The state cancelled its contract with the nonprofit, and on Monday DHHS issued a five-page report. But the director of the state's Office of Child Advocate says the report doesn't answer basic questions about lack of oversight or how the kids at the center were assessed and treated.The story behind the "Vermont Eldercare Navigator." That's the database built by Seven Days data editor Andrea Suozzo to help the weekly's joint investigation with VPR into neglect, inadequate care, and premature deaths at Vermont nursing homes and assisted living facilities. VPR's Henry Epp and Suozzo talk about what went into compiling the five years of data on complaints and citations from state inspections. To check out a specific facility or town yourself, here's the database.Nude food? "The divisiveness of having a very particular stance on food...keeps people from trying something that's delicious." That's Liza Semler, who's turning out plant-based desserts from her kitchen in Moretown, VT. She uses nuts, coconut and dates for crusts and doughs, dates and maple syrup for sweeteners, and makes her own cashew and almond cream. It took five years of tweaking — she also works at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury — to get her company, Nude Food, off the ground. Dare you to read this Seven Days profile without getting hungry.Imagine what this'll do for 4000-footer bragging rights! You may have read about this over the weekend, but in case you didn't, the U.S. survey foot is about to follow the cubit into the dustbin of history. Since 1959, the country's officially used the so-called international foot, which is .0000006 meters (yep) shorter, but allowed surveyors to keep using the longer version. As of 2022, that ends. The change will add 28.3 feet to the width of the United States. Moosilauke? You can figure it out yourself. (Thanks, TH!)If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
COLD? WHAT'S A LITTLE COLD?
Reid kind of keeps to himself, but in acoustic circles he's a musician's musician. He plays guitar, autoharp, dobro and other stringed things, and Acoustic Guitar once listed one of his albums among the top 10 essential folk albums of all time. Andersen... Well, here's the publicity: "She can trade licks with the hottest bluegrass or jazz pickers, tear the house down with a blood-curdling Appalachian-voodoo fiddle & vocal duet, melt you with a Billie Holiday torch song, dash off a flawless set of Swedish fiddle tunes..." 8 pm, reservations required: 603.526.6899.
Counterpoint's the Montpelier-based professional vocal chorus, and together with the VSO Brass they'll be doing a Bach chorale, Poulenc motets, popular holiday tunes, a carol singalong, a brand-new student composition, and traditional favorites by composer, arranger, and VSO Chorus founder Robert De Cormier. Starts at 7:30 in the Grange Theater.
Well, actually, it has former Berklee College of Music prof Craig Macrae, who now lives in the area, playing oud, and Will Wright, Bobs mainstay and Rooster Records founder, on hand percussion. Starts at 6:30.
No joke. At Hartford Middle School on Wednesday nights from 8 to 9:30. Come on, you
know
you've still got that wraparound...
Whatever you do, bring out those scarves and neck warmers! See you tomorrow.
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