GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly sunny, hot. Like, a high reaching toward (and maybe just plain reaching) 90. Fortunately, it's looking like dry air up high will reach the surface, keeping humidity levels from getting out of hand. Winds from the south today—and if you're in a valley that runs north-south, they could get gusty. Also, we'll no doubt see haze from Canadian wildfires again. Low tonight in the low 60s.Evening. Primrose. People with a long Daybreak memory may recall Rich Cohen's exquisite nighttime flower photography. Last week, he was out in the garden to capture the last of the primroses. "I wanted to capture them before the blossoms disappeared," he writes. It was so worth it.Closed for renovations since April, historic WRJ dive bar to reopen within days as... a dive bar. The Filling Station has new owners: Anna Guenther and Jesse Pollard, who "bonded over their shared love of playing pool and spending Friday evenings" at the watering hole on Gates Street, writes Daybreak reporting intern Duncan Green. The bar has been a way station for locals since the 1930s, and more recently host to fiddler Jakob Breitbach's Wednesday jam. After the renovations, Guenther and Pollard aim to safeguard the "historic, niche community" they found there, Duncan writes.At Dartmouth, an end and a beginning.
After two weeks on strike, the Student Worker Collective announced on Monday that it's ending the walkout of undergrad dining workers and advisors and sitting down to mediation with the college. The union is pushing for higher pay and better benefits, along with greater restrictions on when ICE agents can enter campus. The college offered mediation last week, reports The Dartmouth's Elizabeth Ray, and SWCD members will return to work while it takes place.
Then, yesterday, six pro-Palestinian student activists began a hunger strike, setting up on a couch in the lobby of Baker Library, report Kelsey Wang, Vidushi Sharma and Elizabeth Ray in The Dartmouth. They're pressing the college's trustees to approve a divestment proposal and the college to rescind its suspension of fellow activist Roan Wade.
In wake of feds' about-face on "sanctuary" list, Hanover and Lebanon don't quite know what to think.
You'll remember that they were the only two NH communities (along with several in VT) to appear last week on the Dept. of Homeland Security's list of "lawless" jurisdictions due to receive notice of their non-compliance with federal immigration policies. Then, over the weekend, DHS deleted the list, apparently after getting pushback from the National Sheriffs' Association. Now, Hanover and Lebanon are looking for clarification about where this leaves them. The
Globe
's Steven Porter (no paywall) reports.
Norwich selectboard hopes waterproof membrane will do the trick with chemical-oozing bridge. As you probably remember, the bridge on Moore Lane has been an issue for years, ever since writer Peter Orner—who lives by it—first noticed a chemical smell and discharge into Blood Brook. That turned out to be a petroleum-based asphalt emulsion, writes Emma Roth-Wells in the Valley News. After three years of debating what to do, including replacing the bridge, the board voted last week for a containment membrane. Says Orner, "It’s a cute, beautiful bridge, but it’s full of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals.”SPONSORED: Help someone who needs a hand right now! Hearts You Hold is a locally based nonprofit that supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees across the US by asking them what they need. Right now, we've got requests from a Haitian mom who moved to Lebanon to escape gang violence, a central VT migrant worker who needs baby gear, clothing or gear like gloves and boots, and young and expectant mothers in Vermont who need diapers and other basics. At the burgundy link or here, you'll find people to help from all over the world. Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.Locals, state at loggerheads over Mt. Sunapee Resort wastewater. At a meeting of the Mount Sunapee Advisory Commission yesterday, representatives from the Newbury Conservation Commission said they're worried the resort’s 50-year old system "might be leaking, contaminating local water bodies including Lake Sunapee," report NHPR's Julia Vaz and Mara Hoplamazian. While state officials countered that there's no evidence of contamination, conservation commission members argue that not enough testing has been done. Vaz and Hoplamazian detail the issues.Barnard goat farmer: “If I had had more business savvy, I may not have undertaken it.” Running her small goat farm her way is not easy—or profitable—Lauren Gitlin says. The former Rolling Stone reporter started Villa Villekulla five years ago, writes Seven Days' Melissa Pasanen, determined to let her goats live out their natural lives even if they don't contribute to the bottom line. Her fortitude for 14-hour days comes from her love of goats and from that other determined redhead, Pippi Longstocking, whose home’s name Gitlin borrowed. "I saw Pippi as a beacon of strength: playful, kind and extremely strong."SPONSORED: Quality Barn Sale Returns! Antiques/Equestrian/Garden from the collections of three antique dealers and retiring equestrians. This Friday, 9am-6pm, and Saturday, 9am-4pm, at 123 Jenney Road in Plainfield NH. Vast inventory including: 19th-c. Inlaid Mahogany Secretary; Windsor, Hitchcock chairs; tavern, tea, dropleaf tables; ochre sled; display cases; textiles; Canton; Staffordshire; copper/brass, extensive silver plate; lamps; art; garden urns, statuary; dressage/jumping saddles; Micklem bridle, Cloud boots; horse/pony blankets & sheets; and lots more. Cash/Check. Sponsored by Heidi Lang."We've all been 11." But not all of us had as much to deal with as Maple, the hero of local author Jo Knowles' new middle grade book, Someone’s Gonna End Up Crying, or managed it by turning to cartooning. With illustrations by Burlington artist Glynnis Fawkes, writes Kari Meutsch in this week's Enthusiasms, the "collaboration on this book is seamless, bringing Maple’s internal thoughts to life in pictures that really feel just right for the story. Jo writes the kind of books that I wish I had read as a kid." Knowles will be at both the Yankee Bookshop and the Norwich Bookstore Saturday.They didn't just deliver milk. Yesterday's item about the evolution of Upper Valley dairies, bottled milk, and milk deliveries brought this response from Ann Hargraves: "When we moved to Hanover in 1967, the milkman would enter our house, check the refrigerator and leave what we needed—milk, juice—even taking the time to line them up, oldest in the front." Steve Taylor's article about it all in the VN is at the burgundy link.NH state park bookings by Canadian visitors down 71 percent. In all, reports NHPR's Todd Bookman, there are fewer than 300 reservations by people with Canadian addresses so far this year, compared to over 1,000 last year. The drop, he notes, "is just one component of a broader decrease in cross-border economic activity that has much of New Hampshire's tourism industry anxious heading into summer." Private campgrounds have also seen a drop. On the other hand, overall booking numbers for this year are holding their own compared to 2024, with domestic and international visitors filling the gap.In the works in NH: higher fees for vanity plates, elevator inspections, maple products, and more. It's not a done deal yet, but as Ethan DeWitt writes in NH Bulletin, GOP lawmakers in charge of crafting a new budget have included a slew of higher fees to make up for an expected drop in business tax revenues. The Senate Finance Committee is weighing reducing some proposed fee increases, DeWitt reports, but as things stand now, they could go up on everything from getting a new driver's license (from $10 to $20) to a new fee of “not less than” $33 for maple producers. DeWitt details the changes.Burke Mountain's new owners hire ski industry veteran out of retirement to run it. Tom Day spent years at Waterville Valley, starting as a lift operator and winding up as general manager. He also ran Gunstock for five years during a tumultuous time, boosting skier visits by 29 percent and revenue by 60 percent, and overseeing $18 million in capital improvements "without borrowing money," the North Star Monthly notes. "Unretiring again to help Burke in this transition was an easy decision. It’s what I love to do," Day tells them. Former Pete & Gerry's CFO Keith Fortier will also join up, as Burke's CFO.When it comes to amphibian crossings in VT, “It’s not an either-or. We can have both.” Roads for drivers and safe crossings for amphibians, that is. Back in 2006, residents of Monkton counted more than 1,000 dead frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts on a short stretch of road in just two nights. Researchers and conservationists hatched a plan to build two tunnels to aid in safe crossings, writes Sarah Kuta in Smithsonian, and now a study in Journal for Nature Conservation shows how successful they were, with a whopping 80 percent drop in the number of amphibians squished by traffic.The strange, hardy plant that builds its own greenhouse. In the Himalayas—as high as 15,000 feet—the Noble Rhubarb has found a way to survive in a supremely inhospitable climate. According to RJ Evans' blog, Kuriositas.com, this cone-shaped tower is actually a set of leaves that form a translucent curtain over the stem and flowers inside. It shelters the interior from wind, cold, and UV rays, but lets in sunlight, forming a compact greenhouse. Pollinators are drawn inside to escape the cold of alpine nights. It may be the weirdest-looking plant you've ever seen. Here's more from pre-AI days (because I was skeptical, too).This week's Throughlines. A simple grid of 16 words, and it's up to you to connect four words at a time to create "throughlines" for three of today's Daybreak items—above or below. Four of the words are decoys, so watch out!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 it's not just some random word, but a word that actually appeared here yesterday.
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Mascoma Valley Regional High art show and spring concert. It all kicks off at 5 pm in the high school lobby with the art show, which includes works in multiple media by student artists from Pre K-12, and then the concert begins at 7 pm, featuring the high school band, jazz band, and chorus. No link.
This new PBS Independent Lens documentary is double-edged, as the first three words of its title suggest: both a history of public libraries in the US, with stories featuring the librarians, patrons, and others who drove their growth, and a passionate look at the issues public libraries have encountered along the way. 5:30 pm in the Mayer Room.
This NH Humanities presentation features Pinard's portrayal of one of this country's earliest magicians, born in Boston in 1811 and toured New England and beyond with ventriloquism, conjuring, mimicry, and magic. This is a presentation with demonstrations in costume and character,
not
a full magic show. 7 pm in the Draper Room.
This morning, let's get carried away...
Certainly to France, though guitarist Antoine Boyer and harmonicist Yeore Kim filmed this in S. Korea and it was composed by Korean jazz pianist Sunhang Lee. Boyer and Kim, both absolute masters, have a new album out, released a few days ago.
or a walk along the Seine or a stroll through the countryside, arm in arm.
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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