WHAT A PLEASURE TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, but cooler. Yesterday's low pressure system has come and gone, bringing colder air in its wake. The mountains may get some snow, but for most of us it'll be a dry and — as you can already tell — gusty day. Winds blowing from the west, gusts as high as 37 mph, temps tonight down into the high 20s. Oh, yeah, and in case you were wondering: There were some records yesterday. 61 in Portland, ME; 62 in Concord (tied with 1874).2nd D-H employee tests positive. First one attended Engine Room event despite having been told to "self-isolate." The new case involves a man who had "close contact" with the first patient. Who, it turns out, on Friday went to an invitation-only Tuck event at the Engine Room in WRJ after having been asked to isolate himself. NH has now officially ordered him to remain isolated, and is following up with people who might have come in contact to recommend 14 days of self-isolation. VT has asked any residents who were there to get in touch with the state health department. (VN)Dartmouth creates website for coronavirus updates, bulletins, info. The site, which will be updated daily, links to updates focused not only on campus matters (travel advisories, etc) but to any messages sent out to the broader community. Oh, and just in case you hit the stores and everyone else snagged hand sanitizer first... David Brooks has a simple recipe on his Granite Geek blog: 2/3 alcohol, 1/3 aloe vera gel or its equivalent. You can play around with ingredients, "but alcohol needs to make up at least two-thirds of the material by volume for the mix to be effective," he notes. And no, it's not a substitute for soap and water.Hartford passes "welcoming ordinance," pool bond, elects two newcomers to selectboard. The ordinance passed comfortably, as did the $3.3 million bond measure to replace the Sherman Mannning pools. In the meantime, newcomer Alicia Barrow narrowly unseated longtime selectboard incumbent Dick Grassi, while UVAC director Joe Major also won a seat. Incumbent Kim Souza was re-elected. (VN)Norwich also approves "fair and impartial policing" measure, narrowly backs Tracy Hall energy retrofit. The town's new policy will bar police from asking about a person’s immigration status or sharing immigration-related info with federal authorities. The energy measure, which will install a geothermal heating and cooling system, passed by only 48 votes, 849-801. Meanwhile, newcomer Rob Gere won the open SB seat, defeating Doug Wilberding 997-514. (VN) Meanwhile... Royalton turned down Australian ballot voting on public measures, Bradford opted not to buy a tractor to plow sidewalks, Hartland backed budget increases for town roads, Pomfret decided not to pay for its share of a proposed regional energy coordinator... You can find links to each town on the VN's local government page. WCAX has a page devoted to town meeting results around Vermont, but most UV towns aren't on it yet.Looks like SNAX, the new restaurant sibling for Jesse's and Molly's, is going to replace Margarita's. A reader notes that SNAX's business listing with the NH Secretary of State's office gives its address as 18 Centerra Parkway in Lebanon, which happens to be where Margarita's is now. In John Lippman's Sunday VN column, SNAX's owners said they didn't want to reveal the location "because the restaurant it will take over has not yet told the public it is closing." Lippman will no doubt be checking in soon. (Thanks for the tip, Wheels!)Most illegally manufactured opioids in the Upper Valley coming in from Mexico, China. That's just one of many interesting points in a long look at the opioid epidemic in these parts in The Dartmouth. Writer Pierce Wilson starts by noting that the DHMC pharmacy dispensed 5,146,260 opioid pills from 2006-2014, more than any other in Grafton County, goes on to trace the shift from prescription drugs to heroin and fentanyl, and then looks at recovery and addiction programs in the region.Ever wonder what it's like to fly along the ice pulled by two dogs? Well, this pic won't tell you what it feels like, but it sure shows you what it looks like. That there on the left is Charlie, and on the right, Raelyn. They were out on Lake Morey on Sunday, with John Nolan taking up the rear. Both are rescue dogs from Louisiana. "This was their first winter and they really took to the ice," John writes. "If I had a parachute on I bet I might get airborne."Okay, equal time: Cat rescued by Nashua sanitation workers. Last week, as Carla Thibodeau and Jeff Currier were making the trash rounds, Currier noticed a tied black trash bag moving and heard crying sounds. "At first he thought it was a child crying,” Thibodeau says. “He waved for me to get out of the truck and when I walked over I could see claws coming through the bag.” When they ripped a hole in the bag, a cat poked her head through. Police say they located the owner, “an elderly individual," who is "pretty distraught by it.” Here's an economic development idea: parkrun. It's a worldwide thing, a free, weekly, 5K timed run, jog, or walk. Woodstock's got going last year, fueled by Geraldine Fowler and Dominic Lord. Woodstock's website is up with a Q&A, and the two note that people from Wales, England, Australia, Scotland, Switzerland, and all over the US have joined in. Some tourists plan their trips for parkrun (always lower-case) destinations. So why not, Geraldine muses, get the whole community -- inns and B&Bs, bookstores, clothing and sporting goods stores... -- involved in drawing visiting parkrunners?It's sugaring season! And as the climate changes, technology steps in. On his Granite Geek blog (I know, the guy's been busy), David Brooks takes a look at Windswept Maples farm in Loudon. It accounted for 2 1/2 percent of NH's total syrup production last year. But erratic winter weather has made things more difficult, and the farm's turned to two key technologies. It creates a vacuum in its tubing, which lets it pull more sap when things are running and collect even when weather conditions inhibit natural flow; and solar-powered remote sensing, which lets them identify problems quickly.News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
SO... TONIGHT...
Two-time Newbery Medal winner, two-time National Book Award winner, and Living Legend (per the Library of Congress), Paterson will be this month's First Wednesdays speaker. You may remember her from
The Bridge to Terabithia
or
The Great Gilly Hopkins
. Her talk, "Read to Live," focuses on the importance of literacy and developing a love for reading. 7 pm at the Norwich Congregational Church.
This Bethel U class will be about giving full voice to poetry on the page. "We will read to lift the poetry of ourselves up to the face of the world and visualize the nature of the poet within," the instructor writes. "This will not be a totally serious class except in the service of the ideals of the poems being considered, nor will it be a meek poetry-reading workshop. We will be bold. It will be fun!" Bring some poems you want to learn to orate. 6:30 pm at Bethel Middle School, you'll need to sign up at the link.
Have a fine day, wherever you choose to spend it. See you tomorrow.
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