GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Check outside the window. That's pretty much today. Basically all day and well into the evening, in fact. It'll be occasional, but the weather service says the "situational awareness table shows higher than normal precipitable water values," which means things could get wet out there, and possibly foggy at times. Everything will exit east at some point tonight. High today in the low or mid 50s, low tonight in the mid 40s.So this porcupine climbs into a tree... Right by Liam Coyle's house in Lebanon. And then does what porkies do: Not much. Naturalist Ted Levin adds: "Porcupines are rodents. All rodents have ever-growing incisor teeth. They do not burrow. Instead, they spend the night (life) in trees, eating, the higher up the better. Porcupines are sloppy feeders, so in winter deer often dine on the hemlock twigs that spill onto the ground."NFL quarterback Russell Wilson named Dartmouth commencement speaker. On the field a champion who led his team to a 2014 Super Bowl win, Wilson has made perhaps an even bigger impact off the field “as a philanthropist and as an entrepreneur—where his true character shines,” says President Phil Hanlon. He comes with deep Dartmouth roots: Wilson’s father was a standout athlete for the Big Green, and three of his uncles also attended. Other honorary degree recipients include Harvard economist Claudia Goldin and former UN assistant secretary general Kul Chandra Gautam (’72). Hanover in negotiations with prospective new town manager. “We’ve made a job offer,” Selectboard member Bill Geraghty tells the Valley News's Darren Marcy. “We’re in the process of finalizing the wording of the contract.” The possible replacement for Julia Griffin, who has been town manager for a quarter century, is one of two finalists who visited the town earlier this year for extensive—though closely held—conversations. "Other than referring to the pending hire as 'he' and 'him,' Geraghty and Griffin declined to offer any details," Marcy writes.Mascoma River public access on Route 4 to close into July. The access point for canoes and kayaks will shut down this coming Monday and remain closed until mid-July, NH Fish & Game says in a press release, while NHDOT completes repairs on the Route 4 bridge. "The entrance to the access site will be completely blocked during construction as part of the overall traffic-management plan to create a safe work area," they write. "During construction there will be no opportunity to use this access location for any purpose."Dartmouth gives new $100K prize to former med school prof whose work paved the way for Covid vaccines. The first McGuire Prize for members of the Dartmouth community "who have significantly benefited humankind, society, or the environment" will go to Jason McLellan, a structural biologist now at UT-Austin. He was at Geisel when he and his team figured out how to modify the gene sequence for the spike protein on coronaviruses, essentially locking the structure in place, which in turn made it possible to develop effective vaccines. Their work underlies many of the Covid vaccines now in use.SPONSORED: Jam, crayons and gift boxes await! Decorate bags and boxes full of jam this Sunday 10-5 at the Blake Hill Preserves Shop in Artisans Park, Windsor. What’s better than the gift of jam? A personal touch of artwork by the ones they love! Fill their modern pantries with sweet, savory, and spicy jams, marmalades, pie fillings, and condiments. One for you, one for them, two for you... And while you're here treat yourself to a Mother's Day brunch at Harpoon Brewery, featuring Anne’s Apple Cake made with our Heirloom Apple with Maple Syrup Jam and Shrub Cocktails! Sponsored by Blake Hill Preserves.Don't quite get California? Read this book. That's what the Norwich Bookstore's Carin Pratt says in this week's Enthusiasms of Mecca, the latest novel by Susan Straight. Starting with a Mexican-American highway patrol motorcycle cop who routinely faces the scorn of white motorists—though his family's roots in California go far deeper than theirs—Straight interweaves his story with those of a compelling and sometimes heart-breaking group of Californians who don't usually attract attention: the health care workers, ag laborers, retail clerks, and others who form the backbone of the state.Body of missing fisherman recovered from Connecticut River. You may remember that early last month, a Woodstock, NH man was presumed drowned after he dove into the river from Nine Island, in Monroe, to try to retrieve a drifting boat; two other fishermen were stranded on the island and rescued. He was identified as 31-year-old Jonathan Zukowski. Yesterday afternoon, NH Fish & Game and the state police Marine Patrol found his body in the water along the banks of the river, the NHSP says via Facebook.In wake of Concord couple's murder, police boost patrols of area trails. They'll include both Merrimack County sheriff's deputies and Concord police on mountain bikes, as well as on foot and on ATVs, reports the Monitor's Cassidy Jensen. She also writes that in an email to the Monitor yesterday, state DOJ communications director Michael Garrity wrote that "there is no evidence" that the murders of Wendy and Steve Reid are related to the shooting deaths last week of Holly Banks and Keith Labelle in Gorham or the death of a still-unidentified woman found in the Merrimack River last week.NH has a new energy efficiency plan. You may remember that last year, the Public Utilities Commission lit off a firestorm of criticism after it axed a proposed three-year plan—along with cutting funding for energy-efficiency programs. Now, reports Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin, the PUC has approved a $223.7 million plan through 2023 (including $3.9 million for cities and towns to upgrade the efficiency of schools and municipal buildings). The move comes in the wake of a law passed by the legislature this year setting funding at 2020-21 levels, and was backed by a broad array of utilities and advocates.Mini-furor about one member of NH's new voter confidence commission; Secy of State holds firm on choice. The member, Ken Eyring, has in the past blogged that China had been caught hacking into voting machines in Georgia during the 2021 Senate runoff—the kind of election misinformation the commission was put together to address, critics point out. Secy of State David Scanlan tells Gokee, "I think by including Ken and by extension the people that he represents, we are giving them a seat at the table to help us get to the bottom of why there’s an issue of declining voter confidence.” As Roe v. Wade teeters on the brink, VT and NH are in different places. Monday night's leak of a draft US Supreme Court decision striking down the landmark 1973 ruling sent reporters all over the country scrambling to parse what it might mean for their state if it actually comes to pass.
In VT, report VPR's Mikaela Lefrak and and Tedra Meyer, the upshot is: not much, since the state statutorily protects the right to an abortion and voters will consider a constitutional amendment enshrining it this fall. Lefrak and Meyer work through a set of questions on the current state of play.
Abortions remain legal in NH, too, but a ban on them after 24 weeks that passed last year has withstood most efforts to loosen it—and legislators have tabled two bills and a proposed constitutional amendment that would keep the state from restricting access to abortion, writes NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins.
VT to see tenfold increase in Paxlovid doses. The state had been getting roughly 200 doses a week of the antiviral medication, but at a press conference yesterday Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced that the feds are increasing the state's allotment to 2,000 a week, reports VTDigger's Erin Petenko. In recent weeks, Vermonters had been reporting having trouble getting hold of the medication, which can reduce the impact of the virus when taken early in an infection."Go to the yellow library." That would be the Canaan, VT library, nestled in the corner where VT, NH, and Québec all meet, and it's where Francophone locals turn when they're having trouble navigating the ArriveCAN phone app, which anyone trying to get into Canada needs to use. Librarian Sharon Ellingwood White, writes Anne Wallace Allen in Seven Days, had already gotten a reputation for helping people with other types of bureaucratic paperwork; now she's become a lifeline for people who'd never really taken to this whole border thing anyway.Dahlia devotees and the restless pursuit of the perfect flower. You could spend your life growing dahlias and never feel you’ve seen the one that knocks your socks off for good. Deborah Dietz is that person. One of an elite crew that grows dahlias for San Francisco’s famed Dahlia Dell, Dietz has competed in national shows since the '80s. Thomas Cooper writes in Craftsmanship Quarterly about Dietz’s ilk and the art of a flower with 2,000 varieties. Knowing which dahlias are show-worthy, says Dietz, is like telling “between a pedigreed racehorse and the nag your grandmama keeps feeding in the back lot.”The Wednesday Vordle. Keyed, as always, to some item in yesterday's Daybreak.
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It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means that at 7 pm VT Humanities has a lineup of both livestreamed and in-person talks. One of those digital events, hosted by the Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society, features UVM historian and former National Park Service superintendent Rolf Diamant on tracing the roots of public and national parks in the US back to anti-slavery activism, the Civil War, and the remaking of the federal government in the turbulent years that followed. Other online talks include Dartmouth's policy debate team on the roles of research, rhetoric, and persuasion in a liberal education; Amherst humanities and Latino culture prof Ilan Stavans on Jewish literature and what makes it Jewish, by way of Sholem Aleichem, Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, Grace Paley, and others; Dartmouth historian Annelise Orleck on Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her legacy; and three generations of Vermonters on the challenges of growing up LGBTQ+ in Vermont.
Also at 7, the Dartmouth Political Union brings in philosopher Peter Boghossian for a "reverse Q&A" on the place of social justice questions in the classroom and whether their pursuit furthers progress or stifles speech. These are issues on which Boghossian has opinions: He rose to academic notoriety when, as a professor at Portland State University, he and a pair of colleagues pranked academe and what he later called its "moral certainty" by submitting over-the-top papers—on, for instance, how dog parks perpetuate rape culture—to academic journals, some of which were accepted for publication. He resigned his post last fall with a highly charged letter (which he made public) condemning Portland State's faculty and administrators for "abdicat[ing] the university’s truth-seeking mission and instead driv[ing] intolerance of divergent beliefs and opinions." In-person in Moore Hall B03.
At 7:30 this evening, you have a chance to see a new work just two days before it has its NYC premiere in Carnegie Hall. It's Argentina-born composer Osvaldo Golijov's Falling Out of Time, based on Israeli writer David Grossman's novel of the same name about a grieving father who sets out to reconnect with his dead child. The performance features three singers—celebrated Israeli vocalist Yoni Rechter, Venezuelan singer Biella da Costa, and Amsterdam-based soprano Nora Fischer—and an all-star chamber orchestra that includes members of the Silkroad Ensemble, which originally commissioned the work. There'll be a pre-show talk at 6:15, and Golijov will be there.
Postmodern Jukebox made its name taking contemporary hits and giving them a retro feel, but members of its rotating collective can switch things up, too. On tour with the group a couple of months ago, singer Allison Young and guitarist Luca Pino, up in the balcony overlooking the stage of the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, IL,
Seems perfect for a rainy day...
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 and writers who want you to 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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