GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A nice, warm day, clouds diminishing. Temps from down here to on high are cooler today, but the air's dry and there should be decent sunshine, so it looks like we'll be getting back into the mid 80s—but with less humidity. Light winds from the west, down into the low 60s overnight.The birds and the bees. Both, as it happens, in Norwich.
First up, this photo by Ed Felstead of young barn swallows "fledging just far enough to sit on the deck and let mom/dad bring them food," writes Madeleine Bothe. "It's been really fun watching them spread their wings and bask in the sun, too."
And then this, from Peter French, who puts it perfectly: "Bluebirds in Norwich are on-board with encouraging Accessory Dwelling Units!"
It's the Springfield 3 Cinema
in downtown Springfield, VT, and it's the singular vision of Chad Free, who in 2013 rescued it after a fire and has resolutely nursed it back to health. Daybreak's Duncan Green profiles both Free and the theater—which, with its cut-rate ticket prices, lovingly curated displays, and "mom & pop" vibe, has proven an unlikely anchor for a downtown striving to come back. "Watching a film is a borderline religious experience for Free," Duncan writes. "There’s no talking, cell phone use, or distractions of any kind. You wouldn't do any of this in
your
place of worship, so don’t in
his."
Grafton County commissioner changes parties. In an op-ed in the Union Leader yesterday titled "Why I'm leaving the Democratic Party", Wendy Piper—who represents Hanover, Lebanon, and Enfield, and has held the post for four terms—writes, "Despite calls by national leaders to return to 'kitchen table' issues, state Democrats remain focused on such issues as gender identity and support for undocumented immigrants." She goes on to cite NH's "robust state of health and wealth" after a decade of GOP leadership in the governor's office and pronounces herself "eager to join in." Her two colleagues are Democrats.NH agency says Mt. Sunapee Resort needs to upgrade its wastewater system. As Clare Shanahan writes in the Valley News, the Newbury resort's current septic system relies on three unlined sewage “lagoons," which has drawn warnings from environmental groups and residents about contamination. And while the state's environment services department says the system's okay, on Monday Natural and Cultural Resources Commissioner Sarah Stewart wrote the resort to say, in effect, it's not. "Modernizing the wastewater system is not simply a regulatory obligation—it is a moral one," she wrote. Full letter here.SPONSORED: Help someone who needs a hand right now! Based right here in the Upper Valley, Hearts You Hold supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees across the US by asking them what they need. Right now, there are requests from Haitian and Dominican immigrants in Lebanon, and people in VT from Argentina, Afghanistan, Congo, and elsewhere hoping for everything from strollers to an engineering laptop. At the burgundy link or here, you'll find people to help all over the country and from all over the world. Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.Silence "is really that period between hearing and listening." There are books about silence, Peter Money writes in this week's Enthusiasms: John Cage's Silence, Tillie Olsen’s Silences, Adrienne Rich’s On Lies, Secrets, and Silence. There's Shakespeare and James Baldwin, and in one way or another, all make the point: "Silence is not nothing. Notice: the silences say more, now, than all the past’s worshiping words." In fact, Peter writes, "If we’re not hearing silence, we’re not living."In Bridgewater, “art that's designed to be used and built to last.” Almost four decades ago, writes Mary Ann Lickteig in Seven Days, designer-artisan couple Charlie Shackleton and Miranda Thomas launched their furniture and pottery company in their basement—after Shackleton did an apprenticeship with Simon Pearce. Now, visitors to the old mill that houses shop, showroom, and offices can watch expert craftspeople hand-plane furniture or repair mortise-and-tenon joints on a chair the company sold 30 years ago (no charge). Lickteig profiles the company, its ups and downs, and its steadfast belief "in human hands creating things,” as Shackleton puts it. SPONSORED: Straight to the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival: seven specially curated short films with lasting impact. On July 12 at the Loew Auditorium, enjoy a mix of fiction, documentary and animated shorts that are funny, sad, inspiring and full of strong characters. Driven by innovation and experimentation, the Short Film Program seeks out filmmaking's most original voices from around the world. Get tickets today here or at the burgundy link. Sponsored by the Hop.NH Supreme Court rules state has been under-funding its schools. In yesterday's blockbuster ruling, a 3-2 majority of the court wrote that the $4,266 per student the state currently sends to public schools does not sustain an “adequate education” and runs counter to two key decisions by the court in the '90s. The justices endorsed a superior court finding from 2023 calling for at least $7,356.01 in per-pupil spending, reports NH Bulletin's Ethan DeWitt, but called on the legislature and governor to figure out how to implement it. Gov. Kelly Ayotte quickly denounced the ruling as "the wrong decision."NH state university system warns of "belt-tightening" with new budget. In all, notes the Globe's Steven Porter (no paywall), the public university system—which includes UNH, Keene State, and Plymouth State—will see a 15 percent cut in state support compared to the biennium just past. In a note to the UNH community, Porter writes, "President Elizabeth S. Chilton said leaders must recognize the university will almost certainly be smaller in five years than it is now." Chilton has asked UNH academic and administrative units to prepare for across-the-board spending reductions of 3 percent beginning this summer. Phil Scott signs VT's big education bill into law. Legislative leaders praise it. But the future's uncertain. One provision took hold yesterday, notes VTDigger's Corey McDonald: Out-of-state private schools can no longer receive public tuition for new students, and private schools in VT will have to meet two tests to get public tuition payments. But the measure's signature pieces—a new funding formula and new school districts—will require hard lifting to craft, starting with drawing new districts—"sure to be a contentious undertaking," McDonald writes. He includes a timeline of what's ahead.“We can’t even afford a campground": Families with children, people with medical needs exit VT motel program. All told, some 800 people—including 300 children—were due to be evicted yesterday from the motels where they've been staying, report Carly Berlin and Greta Solsaa for VT Public/VTDigger. They were covered under a March executive order signed by Gov. Scott aimed at giving the Dept. of Children and Families time to help them find alternatives; that order expired yesterday. DCF "has not provided data on how many households it has helped," the pair write. They profile the situation for families.After years of planning and millions of dollars, VT state college system gives up on dental therapy program. It was aimed at easing the state's chronic shortage of dentists, after the state created a new category of providers "with a level of training that splits the difference between a full-fledged dentist and a dental hygienist," writes Seven Days' Derek Brouwer. But the state college system found it couldn't afford to create a training program: among other things, faculty salaries are capped at $70K, while practicing dentists can make nearly four times that. VSU will instead boost its dential hygiene program.As federal prosecutors weigh whether to seek death penalty in border patrol shooting, defense wants more time. In a court filing Monday night, reports VTDigger's Alan J. Keays, the legal team for Teresa Youngblut—who's been in custody since the Jan. 20 shootout that killed border patrol agent David Maland and Youngblut's companion—said they'd been told to be ready to meet with the US AG's Capital Case Review Committee on July 28. That's not enough time, defense lawyers argue, to prepare a case on why the death penalty isn't warranted. They want until Jan. 30. No word yet from the judge.“The 21st century has been a banner century for beef.” Fear not, vegetarians, we’re talking 25 years of “delightfully petty feuds” between celebs, athletes, even sports teams. Ringer has the countdown, back stories, back stabbing, and decisions on winners. Some celebs show up more than once—Taylor Swift, notably—but there’s plenty of meow to go around: Conan O’Brien v. Jay Leno, Nicki Minaj v. Cardi B, Will Smith v. Chris Rock, J. Lo v. Mariah Carey (with a diss so “culturally essential” it has its own Wikipedia page). The writers call it “all of the excitement and none of the personal hazard.”This week's Throughlines. Go deeper into today's Daybreak! Facing a grid of 16 words, it's up to you to connect four words at a time to create "throughlines" for three of today's items. The other four words are decoys, so watch out! Today's 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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Allison Pollard, who directs Upper Valley Music Center's children's chorus, will lead a sing-along of patriotic songs geared for kids but "
open to music lovers and singers of all ages." 4 - 5 pm.Twangtown Paramours at the Enfield Shaker Museum. The museum's kick-off summer concert on the lawn of the
Stone Machine Shop
features the Nashville-based duo of
Mike T. Lewis and MaryBeth Zamer and their catalogue of Americana, folk, and blues numbers. Vending starts at 6:00 with Enfield House of Pizza, and beer, wine, hard cider, soda and other refreshments available for sale. Music at 7. Lawn chairs welcome.
. Originally from Queens, NY, the singer/songwriter is assistant director for Artistree's youth theater production of
Annie Jr
.—only tonight, he's performing for Artistree's weekly Music on the Hill series: a blend of acoustic sounds with jazz and pop influences that serves as a kind of musical diary of his late teen/early 20s relationships. 6 pm, and note: Especially tonight, you'll be parking at Artistree, because right across the way...
The VT Symphony Orchestra's on its summer tour, and they pull into the S. Pomfret venue this evening at 7:30 for a program of
music under the open skies from Carmen, West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, and Star Wars, along with Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, Sousa marches, and more. With Andrew Crust conducting and guest mezzo vocalist Nikola Printz. Gates open at 5:30 for picnicking.
For starters, "Stroll the storied streets of WRJ with [WRJ developer] Matt Bucy and [Revolution's] Kim Souza" as they wield old photos and "reminisce about buildings, restaurants and fires from the distant past." There's also House of Lewan's drag show at Dartmouth last month, and the science of dam removal—and four examples—with ecologist Karina Dailey at VCE's Suds & Science lecture. Plus, two Nighthawks pitchers talk about the season so far.
And for today...
The Cat Empire has plenty of fans in North America as well as their native Australia, but they're pretty much guaranteed to win new ones on this continent after their gig at the Montreal International Jazz Festival tonight. The band began as a pure jazz band playing late-night gigs in Melbourne bars, but over the course of multiple albums and worldwide tours, they've edged into a funk/jazz groove that's hard to define—and equally hard to sit still for.
, the title track off their latest album.
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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