GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Rain, gusty, warm. Low pressure is migrating from the Great Lakes today, with "copious amounts of moisture" out ahead of it. Early today more sheltered valleys in these parts could still be near freezing, so keep an eye on the roads, though freezing rain will turn to rain quickly. There'll also be sporadic gusts this afternoon as the system moves through, and rain could be heavy at times. The big issue is streams and rivers: a half-inch to an inch is expected to fall all told, so streams might start rising today, while the snowpack and rivers could see some effects starting tonight; there will probably be some ice pack breakup and possible jams overnight or tomorrow... before things freeze again tomorrow night. Highs today in the upper 40s, lows in the mid 40s.
A snow leaf. That's how Tracey Sherry describes her photo of snow on the roof of the Crossroad Farmstand in Post Mills. It's hard to picture until you see it, and then you have to agree: It's the perfect description. Though if you bleed green, "lone pine" might come to mind, too.Lebanon city manager hired away by Londonderry, NH. In a press release yesterday, the town announced that the town council on Monday "voted to offer the position of Londonderry Town Manager to Shaun Mulholland effective June 1." Mulholland, who's run the Leb city administration since 2018, had announced last week that he was a finalist for the Londonderry job. The southeastern NH town has a population of about 27,000, compared to Lebanon's 15,000.VT Town Meeting results start coming in. Though many towns haven't yet posted results from yesterday's Australian balloting, there are enough results from floor meetings and yesterday's voting to divert us this morning.
In Hartford, voters unseated incumbent selectboard member Lannie Collins in a three-way race for two seats: Erik Krauss drew 1,068 votes and Miranda Dupre got 807 to Collins's 721 in unofficial results. In a two-way contest for a two-year seat, Ashley Andreas prevailed over Patrick Danaher, 922-535. Voters in the town also passed a 1 percent local option sales tax, 848-699.
Royalton, on the other hand, wound up rejecting a proposed 1 percent tax on lodging, alcohol, and meals, voting 51-51 in its floor meeting on the question, reports Christina Dolan in the Valley News—the deadlock meant the article did not pass. Australian ballot results of a contested selectboard race and on new flood hazard regulations aren't available yet.
W. Windsor rejected a repeal of its short-term rental ordinance, with 99 against the repeal and just 15 in favor. The VN's Liz Sauchelli has more.
Norwich soundly rejected a move originating from the selectboard to allow non-residents to be elected or appointed to boards and committees, voting 765 against to 184 for. Complete election results here.
In a 49-minute floor meeting, Fairlee voters opted to switch the town treasurer from an elected position to one appointed by the selectboard. All other articles passed, the VN reports.
Bridgewater's voters, on the other hand, rejected a move to replace the town's listers with a professional assessor. They also unseated current selectboard chair William Young, replacing him with former selectboard member Norman “Nope” Martin. The VN reports.
More on local results tomorrow—though you can keep track today as the Valley News fills in its town-by-town results page.
Finally, VT Public has been keeping track around the state—noting, among other things, that infrastructure measures are finding success, including in Killington, where voters approved an $11.2 million bond that would help build the community’s first municipal water system.
SPONSORED: Help someone right now! At Hearts You Hold, the locally based nonprofit that supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees across the US by asking them what they need, we're flooded with requests for sweaters, jackets, gloves, and other cold-weather clothing. At the burgundy link or here, you'll find a Dominican immigrant in Lebanon caring for a sick son who needs sneakers, and people from all over the world who need things as simple as toothpaste, children's jackets, or just a hand getting set up. Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.Stuff I've Been Reading. That's the title of a series of book-forward columns the English novelist (and lyricist) Nick Hornby has been running in the quarterly magazine The Believer for years. He's got a new collection of them out, Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas, and in this week's Enthusiasms, the Norwich Bookstore's Emma Kaas—who doesn't count herself a fan of either Hornby's novels or of book reviews in general—writes that she's a big fan of the column: for its idiosyncrasies, its openness to everything, "the sheer joy and pleasure he finds in reading." Also, she adds, "he's very funny."An Our Town that is "more personal, immediate, more our town." Susan Apel was at Friday's opening night performance at the Chandler of director Ben Rapson's vision of the Thornton Wilder classic—with Randolph up on a big screen at the start to set the scene and, opening each act, the assembled cast and a band belting out Noah Kahan's work. "Maybe we should all see Our Town at least once at the beginning of each decade of our lives, to remind ourselves that simple pleasures—“clocks ticking . . . and food and coffee . . . and sleeping”—are too often underrated," Susan writes.SPONSORED: Help Good Neighbor Health Clinic better serve you, our community. Everyone deserves access to the care they need! That's why Good Neighbor and the Red Logan Dental Clinic exist. We're here to help you. But we need your help, too. As part of our strategic plan, we want to hear from you, our community, on how we can best serve you! The survey is short and your answers will remain confidential. The community survey can be found at the burgundy link or here. Thank you for helping us help you! Sponsored by Good Neighbor Health Clinic. Out there in the woods: birch polypore and a reminder of people long ago. It's the first week of March, and in "This Week in the Woods", Northern Woodlands' Jackson Saul writes that when Ötzi, the Tyrolean Iceman whose 5,300-year-old mummified body was discovered frozen in an Alpen glacier, he had pieces of this mushroom on hand, "likely for its medicinal uses." Also another tree fungus, tinder polypore, kept for exactly what it sounds like. Both of them can be found around here—and Jack's got photos. Also, a porcupine quill. Did you know a study found one female to have 44,006 of them?Federal grand jury in VT indicts 25 Canadians in US “grandparent scam." Using call centers in and around Montreal, the US Attorney's office for VT says, the suspects "falsely claimed to be an elderly victim’s relative, typically a grandchild, who had been arrested following a car crash and needed money for ‘bail,’” reports VTDigger's Alan J. Keays. All in all, they're alleged to have scammed older Americans out of more than $21 million. All but two of the 25 were arrested in Canada yesterday; two men remain at large.Hey, we need 500 pounds of cilantro now! And it's got to be locally sourced. That was the position Butterfly Bakery owner Claire Georges, based in Barre, found herself in last October, when the YouTube interview show "Hot Ones" wanted to feature one of her hot sauces and the NY company that selects the sauces ordered 36,000 five-ounce bottles. It was "probably all the rest of the cilantro that the state had," Georges tells Seven Days' Melissa Pasanen. "If they had told us a week later, we would have been screwed." Pasanen looks at Butterfly's rise to fame—and its challenges.Investors who want to buy Burke Mountain say court-appointed receiver is ignoring them. Late last month, the North Star Monthly's Lyn Bixby reported that after years of holding onto the mountain, Florida lawyer Michael Goldberg has a buyer in mind: “in my opinion a buyer that most people should be happy with," Goldberg said. But in Seven Days, Anne Wallace Allen reports that a pair of investors with local ties have also been seeking to bid on the ski area—and have been frozen out by Goldberg. "Right now I feel like I’m negotiating with a ghost," says one. They're planning a public forum Friday. "Here is my assistant, doing her thing: wood transportation." It's just turning spring where BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter lives, and he's out and about on the sodden ground: offering a little disquisition on camellias, checking out early primroses, showcasing his daffodils—and, of course, hanging out with Olive and Mabel. "It's five minutes where not much happens at all, but maybe that's what we need from time to time," he writes. Yep.This week's Throughlines. We're back!!! Last week's launch of the new Daybreak game went awry when only a few hundred of the people who wanted to try it could actually get in. So we fixed things and would love it if you'd give it a try. Again, it starts with a grid of 16 words—your job is to find three sets of four words that come from individual items in today’s Daybreak (and yes, it's fine to look). Four extra words are also in the mix, but they're decoys to fake you out. This is a test version, so please send along any feedback.The Wednesday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. If you're new to Daybreak, this is a puzzle along the lines of the NYT's Wordle—only different, we swear. Mostly because it's not just some random word snatched out of the ether, but a word that actually appeared here yesterday.
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Daybreak tote bags! Thanks to a helpful reader's suggestion. Plus, of course, the usual: sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
—despite the rain.
The last time the college hosted them was in 2003. The races will feature some of the best skiers in the country, and this time around, Dartmouth is in contention for an overall victory. Things kick off at 8:30 am at the Skiway with the first run of the women's slalom; the men's first run is at 10:15, and second runs for both are in the afternoon. Tomorrow, it's the women's and men's classic 7.5K at Oak Hill, and more downhill and Nordic on Friday and Saturday. Spectators welcome and there's no charge for entry. No parking at the venues, but there'll be shuttles. Details at the link.
A longtime teacher at the Community College of Vermont (and a former editor of
Icarus: International Journal of Solar System Science
, led at the time by Carl Sagan), Anderson saw her first collection,
Journey Into Space
, nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 7 pm.
The town has over 3600 acres that are open to the public, including the recently acquired 389-acre Sawyer Brook Headwaters. Grantham Conservation Commission chair David Wood will give "Center Presents" talk at Eastman this evening at 7 about what's out here, how the land came to be acquired, and interesting sights to check out.
This morning's brought to you by...
Ruthie Foster. The Texas blues/folk singer with the honest, take-no-prisoners voice—some day, do yourself a favor and see her live—is just 61, but she's got a life to look back on, which is no doubt why her new album is called
Mileage
. Produced at Sun Records by Texas guitarist Tyler Bryant (who's married to Larkin Poe’s Rebecca Lovell, who also helped write some of the songs and appears on the album), it's a grand tour of Foster's chops and approach: As she sings on the title song, “There ain’t a road I ain’t been up and down/I’ve been lost, I've been found and I’m proud/of my mileage...”
with Bryant on guitar... and just for kicks,
See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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