RABBIT RABBIT
You know the saying, April showers bring May showers...? It's going to be a cloudy, chilly day, highs just skimming 50. There's another front headed our way from the west, and rain will gradually overspread us at some point this afternoon or evening, then kick back and enjoy the view for a bit. Looks like it'll rain most of the night. But hey, it's good for the water table. Or something.College's investigation removes Elliott Fisher as head of The Dartmouth Institute. Fisher, who had been director of the internationally known health policy institute since 2013, will return to teaching at the medical school. Adam Keller, the institute's chief of strategy, who was also the subject of the investigation, has resigned. The college is tight-lipped. The contents of the investigation are a “confidential personnel matter,” spokesperson Diana Lawrence told The Dartmouth. She also refused to talk about what she described as “possible related legal issues.” Plainfield farmers worry about 12A closing. The NH DOT says that plans to repair the 150-foot stretch of roadway washed out in heavy rains last week may mean closing the road entirely. Edgewater Farm, McNamara Dairy, Riverview Farm... they'd all take it in the chin just as spring's arriving. "It would close our farmstand,” Anne Sprague, co-owner of Edgewater Farm, told the VN. “I mean, there would be no traffic.” If the state does close the road, it would probably mean a 25-mile detour on I-89 and Route 120. (VN, subscription reqd)Remember that "suspicious death" at DHMC in January? Authorities say "Never mind..." The NH Attorney General's office announced yesterday that the state's chief medical examiner has concluded that an E. Corinth woman died of complications of disease. She'd been getting treatment at the hospital when she died Jan. 27, and both the Lebanon PD and the state police were initially told there were "concerns" about what had happened, leading to the investigation.There are a lot of perch in the Connecticut. That's one thing that the owners of the Wilder Dam have learned after $12 million worth of fish studies. Great River Hydro runs the dams at Wilder, Bellows Falls, and Vernon, and as part of its federal relicensing process it's required to conduct a set of studies of fish habitats, migration, and the like. Talking things over at a public meeting in Walpole, GRH's John Ragonese also said the company's counting mechanisms are getting confused between eels and other fish going back and forth on the fish ladders. "We’re going to capture some eels and put an electronic ID tag on them,” he said.In case you missed Jack Fraser's memorial service on Monday, Jim Kenyon's got the writeup. Fraser, who for decades ran Dan & Whit's in Norwich with his brother, George, died April 22. He served two tours in Vietnam, and was a mainstay of the volunteer fire department for half a century, including 11 years as chief. He "found ways to serve his country, his community and his family. It’s hard to imagine doing any better than that," Kenyon writes. (VN, etc)GMP partners with Tesla on battery pilot program. The VT power company announced yesterday that it'll install two Tesla Powerwall batteries in each of 250 homes -- at $30 a month -- for both storage and metering. The idea is to provide backup power during outages and, since the batteries would measure electricity use, get rid of meters altogether. “We have a vision of a battery system in every single home," the utility's CEO, Mary Powell, said in yesterday's announcement.Meanwhile, NH lawmakers move toward letting towns and businesses generate more of their own power and sell it back to the grid. A House committee yesterday moved forward on a set of bills including the "net metering" proposal and a measure to steer funding from the Regional Greenhouse Initiative away from customer rebates and into energy efficiency programs. Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a net metering bill last year, but this time it appears to have enough support that the legislature might be able to override a veto.Legislators in NH are also debating whether to require schools to provide free tampons and menstrual pads in bathrooms. The move came about after a high school student in Rochester realized classmates were skipping school when they were menstruating. There are no figures on what the measure would cost school districts, and some legislators oppose it as an unfunded mandate. Nonetheless, it's expected to pass the House.Meanwhile, over in Vermont, legislators are even more stuck than they were on Act 46 merger delays. The Senate and the House have been scrapping over their different approaches to letting school districts delay mergers. Yesterday, Senate Ed chair Phil Baruth asked the Senate to form a new conference committee, since the current one has been unable to reach an agreement. "I am frankly at a loss," he said. The House, however, doesn't appear inclined to go along. “The Senate’s action today does not affect the House," said the speaker's chief of staff.As VT legislative session dies down, Dem majority faces division within the ranks. On several key priorities, including raising the state minimum wage to $15 and mandating paid family leave, Democrats may struggle to get the votes they need to override vetoes by GOP Gov. Phil Scott. "For Democratic party leaders," VTDigger writes in an analysis of the issues ahead, "opposition within the caucus means they can’t win on numbers alone. Instead they will have to win over moderate members, or find compromise with the governor if they want to see their priorities become law this year."Founder of Providence's Seven Stars Bakery moves to VT, gets down to work. If you've been to Providence, RI any time in the last two decades and happened to stop in at one of the three Seven Stars bakeries there, you know why this is excellent news for the state. Jim and Lynn Williams sold the business in 2018 and decided to light out for the country with their teen daughters. They wound up in Charlotte, and Jim is launching Backdoor Bread next week. He'll focus on whole-grain loaves using as much locally grown grain as possible. And heck, if we're going far afield for food, tomorrow is the annual "taco tour" in Manchester, NH. It's grown into a thing... like, 30,000 people wandering around downtown, stopping by 70 places serving their takes on tacos at 2 bucks apiece. And "taco" is kind of a state of mind. Fish tacos, beef tacos... but also chicken-and-waffle tacos, a Banh Xeo Taco (crispy rice taco, chicken, turmeric, egg, hoisin), and a cinnamon-sugar-and-s’mores-stuffed chimichanga pretzel. Runs from 4 to 9. If you do go, the Union Leader says to bring plenty of singles: "Don’t be that person holding up the line."IT WOULD BE HARD TO GO WRONG TONIGHTIf you're in the mood to think about big problems, Emily Bazelon's going to be talking about ending mass incarceration. She lectures at Yale Law School, writes for the NYT, and used to be an editor at Slate. She likes to write about tough issues: abortion, bullying, women's place in society. For the last little while she's been digging into criminal justice reform, and just published Charged, which is about the history of tough-on-crime politics and a burgeoning movement among prosecutors to reform the system their predecessors helped create. That'll be her topic tonight for the First Wednesdays lecture at Norwich Congregational Church. Starts at 7. Or you could just give yourself up to pleasure and be entertained by a circus pioneer. Patrick Léonard is one of the co-founders of Les Sept Doigts de la Main, known on this side of the border as Seven Fingers. It's one of the pillars of the Quebecois circus world, bending and playing with the art in unexpected and surprisingly intimate ways. Léonard, a juggler, acrobat, wire walker, and slyly reflective spirit, is doing a solo show at the HOP tonight and tomorrow, called "Patinoire" (skating rink). There are still tix both nights, though not a lot.Whatever you do, have a lovely day. See you tomorrow.
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