TOP O' THE MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
And warmer... Thankfully, we get a break on the humidity for another day, so let's all just bask in mid-80s temps under a cloudless sky today. Still no wind worth mentioning. Low 50s overnight.
Numbers...
NH notched 27 new positive test results yesterday, bringing its official total to 5,364 (though 27 on top of the previous 5,345 mark should be 5,372). There are now 4,067 (76%) recovered cases and 326 deaths (up 6), yielding a total current caseload of 971. The state added 1,022 tests. Grafton County seems to have lost a case, and now stands at 75 cumulative cases; Sullivan, too, dropped one, and is now at 24. Merrimack County remains at 392. Claremont has dropped to between 1 and 4 active cases, joining Lebanon, Plainfield, Charlestown, and Newbury in that category.
VT reported 3 new cases yesterday(all in Chittenden County but none from the Winooski spike), bringing its total to 1,131 with 914 people recovered (up 2). Two cases remain hospitalized, and deaths remain steady at 55. Windsor and Orange counties, too, are steady, at 55 and 9. The state added only 333 tests; it's now done 52,890 altogether.
Least Bitterns in the most unlikely spot. Did you know there are wetlands behind the 12A Price Chopper? Nor did I, but photographer Jim Block knows everything, so the other day after he was done at Home Depot, he grabbed his camera and headed across the road. Least Bitterns are tough to find—the Cornell Ornithology Lab calls them "furtive"—and Jim had tried last year with no luck. This year: Eureka! In broad daylight, no less. That luna moth photo the other day brought in this striking one, taken by Corlan Johnson last week, of two luna moths ensuring that the species flourishes. Here's an Outside Story article from last summer on just what led to this moment.Isabell's Cafe in E. Thetford to close. Owners Bev and Don Hodgdon broke the news to the community on the Thetford List yesterday. Their café on Route 5 has been a hub, refuge, and gathering spot for 17 years. "We have been so blessed...to love and serve our community," they wrote. "Thank you all for your love and support and being a part of our Isabell's family. We are humbled and overflowing with gratitude." The property is on the market, they add, and "we hope it could continue on with such a mission." Link takes you to their FB photos page for a chance to reminisce.Hanover Improvement Society launching ice cream shop on former Morano site. Nugget Scoops opens in two weeks and will serve hard ice cream made by Kingdom Creamery, a family farm in the Northeast Kingdom, reports The Dartmouth's Lorraine Liu. There will be 10 flavors including, and this is crucial, maple. The Improvement Society decided to launch the new venture after Morano Gelato announced its closing in May. “I think the one comment somebody made to me is that ice cream makes people smile, and right now we need to smile,” says general manager Jeff Graham.CHaD camp, Hartford concerts, Canaan fireworks... The VN's Liz Sauchelli rounds up things going on as summer gets under way. CHaD has created a free, virtual summer camp starting July 6, with participants getting an email each weekday with ideas from ArtisTree, the NH Fisher Cats, Finding Our Stride, VINS, the Montshire, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, and others. Also, Hartford's summer concert series in Lyman Point Park will happen, starting a week from today, with "pods" marked out for families. And Canaan's going to go for it: live fireworks July 3.Local orgs create online hub for people having trouble getting food. The new Neighborhood Provisions effort was created by D-H, the Haven, the UV Business Alliance, Granite United Way and others to help people who shouldn't be going out to pick up groceries because of coronavirus concerns, people facing food insecurity, and people who need a central resource to find food that can be picked up or delivered. It lists many businesses and restaurants that deliver—and offers volunteer help to deliver orders from places that don't. River Road in Norwich will be closed next week. For five days starting next Monday, VTrans will be reconstructing the rail crossing. "Detour routes and appropriate signage will be put in place during the closure period," the Norwich PD says (via Demo Sofronas' About Norwich newsletter).Leb-Lyme faceoff in NH Senate race, 9 candidates in Hanover/Lyme House race. Looks like Lebanon City Council member and former mayor Sue Prentiss will square off with former state Rep. Beatriz Pastor of Lyme for the state senate seat being vacated by Martha Hennessy. Both are Democrats. In the district to the north, State Sen. Bob Giuda faces a challenge from Belknap County Commissioner Dave DeVoy for the GOP nomination. Meanwhile, with three of the four state reps for the Hanover/Lyme seat stepping down, nine people have filed, including incumbent Sharon Nordgren. (VN, sub reqd)Former Quechee/W. Leb payroll processor gets 4 years for embezzlement. Ryan Wall, who lived in Quechee, ran his payroll processing business, TSBS Payroll, in West Leb, and now lives in Florida, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for using his clients' money to buy drugs. The federal judge overseeing the case in Rutland ordered Wall to two years supervised release after his prison term and to pay 18 victims a total of $470,000.AT may reopen to thru-hikers in a few weeks. In a trail update yesterday, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy said that as of July 1, the final five miles of the trail (at Katahdin) are expected to reopen to hiking. "Within the next few weeks, we believe it likely the ATC will recommend hikers, including thru-hikers, return to the Trail," they write. However, they note that overnight camping remains banned in NJ and MA, and that designated overnight sites remain closed in VT and NH. And, of course, coronavirus conditions could change at any moment.NH Senate reconvenes, votes to cap insulin prices and create medication import program with Canada. The moves came in a unanimous vote on a bundle of prescription drug measures, packaged over weeks of work by committees looking to streamline the first session since the pandemic shut down the State House. The vote was definitely not unanimous on a measure to raise the state's minimum wage, though it carried, as did an election reform package instituting "no excuse needed" absentee voting.NH Senate votes to bar choke holds, Sununu creates commission on law enforcement accountability. The Senate measure also would require police to report misconduct by fellow officers; it drew only a single nay vote, and now goes to the House for a vote on June 30. Meanwhile, the 13-member panel announced by the governor yesterday will be led by the attorney general’s office and include representation from police departments, a circuit court judge, the NAACP, members of human rights, diversity, and mental health groups, and the public, the AP's Holly Ramer reports. VT sends mixed messages on coronavirus monitoring app. SARA Alert allows visitors to register with health authorities and would help with contact tracing, VPR reports; using it is mandatory for visitors to the state from areas with high infection rates. But that message hasn't been made clear to inn and B&B owners, and information on the state's websites is contradictory.Montpelier gets new police chief, believed to be first black chief in VT. Brian Peete started work on Monday—the day after someone vandalized the new Black Lives Matter sign on the street in front of the statehouse. He grew up in Chicago, served in the Air Force, and comes from being chief in Alamagordo, NM, a position he resigned after he was suspended for writing a whistleblower letter calling the city's administration "dysfunctional." Peete will spend the next two weeks working with outgoing chief Tony Facos, then be sworn in July 1.Racial disparities in imprisonment and in traffic-stop searches, Carnegie fellowship for Emily Bernard, black-owned farms in Vermont. UVM's Center for Research on Vermont has a special issue of its monthly research roundup, with plenty of links to the studies on imprisonment and on traffic stops, on history prof Harvey Amani Whitfield's research into slavery's continuation in the state even after it was outlawed in 1777, and other work. Those black-owned farms include, locally, Strafford Organic and Zafa Wines.Magic Hat spurns Vermont. “We could no longer keep multiple breweries open,” the iconic Burlington-based brewer tweeted out yesterday, announcing that it's moving production to Rochester, NY, where its parent company has a brewery. Zero Gravity is taking over the lease on the building, buying the equipment, and may offer Magic Hat's now-laid-off workers new jobs. Looking for destination pizza dining? Red Hen Baking sits on a 1.4-acre "creative collaboration" known as Camp Meade, in Middlesex, VT. It recently launched a pandemic-era Friday-night outdoor pizza gathering—"Your MASK is your admission ticket" reads a sign by the outdoor oven—where Red Hen co-owner Randy George bakes wood-fired pizza with chef Rob Booz. One key, Camp Meade co-owner Russ Bennett tells Seven Days' Sally Pollak: People need to be safe and feel safe. "I counted 15 paces between our table and the closest one," Pollak writes. People are sure getting creative with their back yards. Remember last week's video of the backyard hoops swish machine? So these guys, Dalton and Kanaan Dern, are skateboarding brothers who live in Florida. They responded to a contest by beverage company Liquid Death and the LA skateboarding park The Berrics for the best in/on/through/around the house skateboarding frenzy. Holy cow! But they won. (Thanks, AS!)
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#UVTogether
At 12:30 today, Hood Museum director John Stomberg and Kimball Art Museum (Ft. Worth) deputy director George Shackleford will hold a virtual conversation on "Impressionist Paintings Everyone Should Know." In a pre-recorded segment, they'll talk about works by a variety of impressionist painters, then do a live Q&A with the audience. Register at the link.
NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last week launched online, 360-degree dives (literally for them, virtually for you) into the protected waters off the coast of southern California, Hawaii, the Florida Keys and Michigan. If you happen to have a VR headset it's even better, but even without, you can control the view to get a look at the surroundings.
And the National Museum of African American History and Culture recently launched Talking About Race, an online portal designed to "help individuals, families, and communities talk about racism, racial identity and the way these forces shape every aspect of society, from the economy and politics to the broader American culture." It offers a variety of digital tools, videos, exercises, and articles to help users "become more comfortable about engaging in honest dialogue and self-reflection,” in the words of museum director Spencer Crew.
Finally, you may know that actor Josh Gad (Olaf in Frozen) has been doing a series of quarantine reunions, "Reunited Apart," bringing the actors and creative teams of various films back together to yack, comment on scenes, reminisce, and just kind of hang out. His latest? The crew from the original Ghostbusters: Ivan Reitman (and Jason Reitman, who's working on a sequel), Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and super-fan (and actor) Kumail Nanjiani, who quizzes the cast on the film's best-known quotes.
The other day, I had a conversation with a local librarian about some patrons' resistance to curbside pickup. They
like
browsing in the library, she said, and they just want it to reopen. But now
, making curbside cool.
How
could you resist after this?
(Thanks, AS & RG!)
See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson. About Rob About Tom About Michael
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