Daybreak Wednesday, 5/20/26

Chance of showers, still warm. Though not as hot as yesterday, as a cold front makes its way through the region. Highs today in the low 80s—markedly lower than yesterday, but still above normal—with some parts of the region seeing a slight chance of rain and thunder today. As the cold front comes through, winds from the northwest will get gusty this afternoon. Tonight’s low will be in the mid 40s as the air behind the front arrives, setting the stage for a cooler end to the week.

That red-headed woodpecker. You’ll remember that the Upper Valley’s birding world was abuzz recently after a rare visitor wound up in Norwich. They’ve been in decline over the past half-century, so photographer Jim Block made it over, too. “I rarely ‘chase’ rare birds,” he writes on his blog, “but this one was so close and such a dramatically beautiful bird, I could not resist.” Lucky for us.

Route 5 reopens in Fairlee. The message on the Fairlee PD’s Facebook page yesterday was brief, but welcome to all the motorists whose way has been blocked since a March 10 rock slide shut the roadway down. “Route 5 update: Thanks to the hard work of the JA McDonald crew Route 5 will be reopened to traffic by 3pm today.”

Rebecca Holcombe announces she won’t run for re-election as VT state rep. In a post last night to the listservs in Norwich, Thetford, Strafford, and Sharon—the four towns she represents—the Norwich Democrat writes that she had hoped to wait until the end of the legislative session to unveil her plans, “but it is unclear when the session will conclude. Out of respect for those who may be considering a run and need time to prepare, I wanted to share this now.” The former VT education secretary first won her House seat in 2022, and has been deeply involved in school, housing, and affordability issues. She shares the district with Thetford Democrat Jim Masland.

VSP on Norwich woman’s death: “Additional details are not yet available to ensure the investigation can proceed in an uncompromised manner.” That was VT State Police spokesman Adam Silverman in an email to the Valley News’s Alex Ebrahimi on Monday. Noel Neely’s body was discovered May 9, and since then, as Ebrahimi notes, there’s been little public news. A former VT state legislator, Neely, who was 82, was honored in the state House last Friday. Ebrahimi stopped by her husband’s orthodontics practice in Hanover, where Donald Neely declined to comment: “I’m too close to the event,” he said, though he added that his practice remains open.

SPONSORED: Launching VINS' Eagle Cam felt like a magic trick, but it was worth it to hear how it is changing lives in the Upper Valley! Teachers stream it in classrooms every morning. Parents tell us their kids have ditched TV for it. One viewer with mobility challenges shared how it's reconnected him with the natural world after years away from it. This project, and so much of our work at VINS, is powered by community support. Help us keep the magic going: Support our Spring Appeal today. Sponsored by VINS.

“Does it ever feel like you’re working inside a volcano?” You get why WCAX’s Kiana Burks would ask Bob Wright that question. A former Vermont Castings general manager, Wright now runs Custom Castings of VT out of a converted sugarhouse in Randolph Center—a business he started after VT Castings shut down. “I was 59 years old. And I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s too early to retire,’” he tells Burks. So in 2017, he started his own business casting metal for artists, businesses, and others, who bring him “stuff to make,” as he puts it. “Keeps me off the streets, I guess.” Burks and the camera watch closely as Wright—in an aluminized suit—does his work.

Elsewhere in Norwich, visible progress on the Grange. The remake of the old hall under the auspices of a local community group is forging ahead, with new sheetrock, windows, and beadboard (and a lucky break when a neighboring tree came down but not on the building). Most dramatically, though, yesterday morning the rear of the building got torn down to make way for a new addition. On his About Norwich blog on Substack, Demo Sofronas runs a series of photos from Emily Myers of the demolition and the interior work, along with an update from the committee on what’s happening.

SPONSORED: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park opens this Saturday. The summer season kicks off Saturday at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park—the only National Park Service site in New Hampshire and a gem of the Upper Valley. Tour Augustus Saint-Gaudens' historic home, Aspet, wander the grounds, and enjoy free Sunday concerts, workshops, and two new art exhibitions this season. Admission is $10, or $40 for an annual pass covering you and up to three guests. Plan your visit at the burgundy link. Sponsored by the Saint-Gaudens Memorial.

New café opens in WRJ. Anna Magoon grew up in Thetford watching cooking videos with her dad, went to cooking school, worked in restaurants, and then in 2018, launched her dumpling catering business, Dumps-A-Go-Go. More recently, she was managing the Cappadocia Café when, reports Marion Umpleby in the VN, Briggs block owner David Briggs told her the café space next to his Coolidge Hotel was up for grabs. “With only a month and a half to prepare the cafe, Magoon scrambled to find affordable furniture and equipment, scouring auctions and area thrift stores,” Umpleby writes. Her new Chameleon Café opened May 4, and Umpleby paid a visit to check it out.

Warblers-A-Go-Go. It’s the third week of May, and this week in the woods, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul, warblers abound. “The small, needle-billed, bug-eating neotropical migrants tend to reach us later than our other spring-migrating birds,” Jack notes, but yellow-rumped warblers arrived a few weeks ago, black-and-white warblers can be seen creeping up tree trunks and along branches as they look for insects in or under the bark, overnbirds—more heard than seen—are checking out the forest floor, while male yellowthroats “perform an arching song flight over their territory, giving a sputtering of notes at the apex before dropping in silence to a low perch.”

SPONSORED: NEW! Montshire After Dark: Good Chemistry & Wild Creativity. On Thursday, May 28, start summer off right with Montshire After Dark’s friend-making mixer! Find "good chemistry" at this evening for adults. Meet and mingle with new friends while tackling special STEM activities and challenges. Purchase drinks and bites from Brownsville Butcher & Pantry. While here, check out Creatividad Silvestre/Wild Creativity, a brand-new, limited-time exhibition about engineering solutions inspired by nature. Get creative with hands-on science that encourages connection...only at the Montshire! Sponsored by the Montshire Museum of Science.

In NH, “higher fuel costs have created immediate financial pressure.” In a report published yesterday, the NH Fiscal Policy Institute’s Ben Reynolds takes a look at the impact of rising gasoline prices on Granite Staters. For one thing, nearly 600,000 of them commute, meaning even modest increases hit household budgets hard—especially as costs for child care, health care, and food have already made it tough for people earning even the state’s median to make it each month. Moreover, Reynolds writes, earnings from the state’s Motor Fuels Tax, which underpins road spending, also look set to decline if motorists cut back.

As VT’s legislature struggles to finish up its work—or even get close—”It is anyone's guess how long this goes.” If the ins and outs of legislating intrigue you, then following “Boots on the Ground,” a weekly legislative recap by lobbyists Maggie Lenz and Gwynn Zakov, is kinda like watching Netflix. This week, they catch us up on what’s going on with education reform—right now, the House-passed version is in the Senate, where the maneuvering has been intriguing and the prospect of a veto by Gov. Phil Scott awaits—and the big budget bills and dozens of policy bills. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, they write, “it will not be a clean or quiet ending.”

Local parents on family day trips: bike rides, a statehouse visit, and a Swedish cardamom bun (or two). Seven Days has three itineraries for pretty-perfect summer forays, all created by parents. They’re a bit of a drive from the Upper Valley, but worth it. In the Lake Champlain Islands, visit a tool museum, take a bike tour of mini stone castles, and stop at a boatload of fun eateries. The Shelburne to Middlebury route includes hikes and a tour of a wooden-toy maker. And on the Montpelier to Stowe trip, stop at Red Hen Baking before you climb Hubbard Park’s stone tower for “an amazing view of the capital city.”

Snowmobile 1, Drone -1. So, this professional snowmobiler from Sweden, Andreas Bergmark, sets up a drone to catch the big-air tricks he likes to show off. Then he launches off a ramp and… well, the drone caught it all faithfully until its very end. “Mission failed successfully,” Bergmark posts along with the footage.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.

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HEADS UP

Dartmouth’s Social Justice Awards ceremony, with Maria Ressa. The renowned Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran investigative journalist will give the keynote speech for the annual event honoring alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. Honorees include Geisel radiation oncologist Charles R. Thomas Jr., environmental studies prof Bala Chaudhary, Martha Tecca—who chairs the board of the local group Supporting and Helping Asylees and Refugees—and others. 3:30 pm in the Hanover Inn’s Grand Ballroom and livestreamed.

At the Hood Museum, “Window and Mirror: Distinctions between Artists and Their Subjects”. The museum’s Mellon Intern, Jamylle Gomes Santos Oliveira ’26, talks over her student-curated exhibition featuring “artwork pairings from 19th- and 20th-century artists, highlighting self-portraits alongside the artists’ other works. The exhibition invites us to discover how artists explore their identity and relationships with their creations.” 4 pm.

Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center hosts Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith for “The Presidency, Executive Power, Donald Trump, and American Democracy”. Bauer was White House counsel under Barack Obama and a co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration; Goldsmith is once headed the Office of Legal Counsel and was Assistant Attorney General. They’ll be talking presidential power and democracy over with Dartmouth political scientist Benjamin Valentino and US News & World Report editorial director Dafna Linzer. 5 pm Rocky 003 and livestreamed.

Sunapee’s Abbott Library hosts “Becoming Wolf: The Eastern Coyote in New England”. The presentation will look at the natural history and behavior of the eastern coyote—and about the eastern wolf, which “may be trying to return.” 5 pm.

Book release party at Trail Break in Quechee for Rebecca Didier’s The Greatest Horse Trainer on Earth: The Sylvia Zerbini Story. The NH-based writer about all things horses has a new biography of Zerbini, a ninth-generation circus performer who was one of the first to mix aerial and equestrian acts, working for Ringling and serving as lead trainer for the unforgettable Cavalia, the spectacular equestrian-themed show. A casual gathering running 6-9 pm, with book signing and remarks by Didier.

Pentangle Arts in Woodstock screens Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light. Part of Pentangle’s Art and Film series, Paul and Ellen Wagner’s 2024 documentary is narrated by Hugh Dancy and features Claire Danes as the voice of O’Keeffe; it traces artist’s life and legacy from her time in NYC’s art world to her later life in the New Mexican desert, along with interviews with scholars and her friends. 6 pm.

Baker Bell Tower concert. Part of the Dartmouth Libraries’ celebration of the Baker Bells: “The Baker Bells will play alongside live musicians on the Baker Lawn. These world-premiere compositions will be performed by Dartmouth students and staff members.” Bring a blanket! 6 pm.

At the Norwich Bookstore, C. Ayla Joyce Matheson and My Time, My Truth. “Raised in a missionary family during the sex, drugs, rock and roll era of the 70's,” the bookstore’s description reads, "Ayla always questioned the world around her. A near-death experience ignited a spiritual journey that led her away from tradition and toward her own indigenous heritage.” Her memoir explores that and more. 7 pm.

And for today...

Dutch guitarist Laszlo Buring channels Mark Knopfler channeling Dolly Parton…

See you tomorrow.

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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt      Poetry editor: Michael Lipson    Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt