Daybreak Wednesday, 7/8/26

Sunny and warm, once the fog clears. We start the morning with patchy fog around the region, but it’ll burn off soon enough and after that we’re looking at clear skies with temps getting into the mid or high 80s. Partly cloudy overnight, lows around 60.

No fog here. Before last week’s heat, the wild irises in Rich Cohen’s field were thriving. “I went out to pick some before they all disappeared (they don’t last long) along with some buttercups, gorse and a few daisies,” he writes, and then created this crystal-clear image of the whole bouquet.

Norwich’s Noel Neely died of asphyxia “as a result of ‘nitrogen gas delivered to face mask and plastic bag over head’.” In an unbylined story, the Valley News fills in the scant details included in Monday afternoon’s VT State Police release after obtaining the state death certificate. Though Neely was pronounced dead around 12:30 pm on May 9, the VN writes, “the nitrogen gas exposure, which is noted as a ‘contributing condition’ to Neely’s death, is listed as having occurred in May 2026 at an ‘unknown time’ at Neely’s residence.” Her husband, Hanover orthodontist Donald Neely, had no comment when reached by phone. The story notes that his office closed as of June 1, and that social media posts indicate problems at the practice since last year.

Rare breed of dove shows up… right outside an Upper Valley office building filled with ornithologists. For two days last week, the VT Center for Ecostudies’ Megan Massa writes in an account on eBird, a white-winged dove settled in outside VCE’s offices in Norwich/Wilder: “With this heat wave perhaps it's feeling at home like this is Florida.” The birds live in the Caribbean and Central America, though they “often wander up the east coast, but rarely this far north or inland,” she writes in an email. “This was only the third-ever Vermont record and the first for the Upper Valley (previous records were 13 and 26 years ago in the Champlain Valley).” Photos here.

SPONSORED: Curious about the tiniest wildlife in our midst? Join VINS for the Incredible Insect Festival this Saturday, July 11th, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Visit with The Caterpillar Lab as they showcase a wide selection of native caterpillars. Meet a local beekeeper and learn about the importance of pollinators, then get up close and personal with invertebrates of all shapes and sizes, courtesy of Uncharted Wild. Through demonstrations, exhibits, games, and crafts, enjoy a fun day discovering the incredible insects we share our planet with. Sponsored by VINS.

H. Dickson Corbett “could listen to birdsong and tell when the bluebirds in the yard were fledging their young.” The Windsor Superior Court judge died last Thursday in his Thetford home at the age of 46, “after walking in the woods and making his family breakfast,” writes his wife, attorney Megan Campbell, in an obituary published yesterday. Corbett, a former town moderator in Chelsea, had been deputy prosecutor in Orange County, then became the state’s attorney there in 2021; he was appointed judge by Gov. Phil Scott in 2023. But Campbell writes that “he gave most to his family…first to his children when they were hurt and the fastest out of bed when he heard their nightmares,” as well as a lover of “forests and unkempt fields with flowers.”

The perfect book “for anyone who loves Ready Player One.” The premise of Matt Dinniman’s Operation Bounce House has nothing to do with inflatable entertainment for little kids. It’s darker than that, writes H Rooker in this week’s Enthusiasms: The young farmers on another planet are targeted for extinction in a five-day “video game” run by a mega-corporation with real bullets and guns for people on Earth to play. They fight back, with the help of Roger, an agriculture AI. Though Dinniman creates “a chilling potential future that feels just a little too feasible to be comfortable,” writes H, “I absolutely adored this book. It is topical, hilarious, and a genuine delight.”

Speaking of extinction, what’s going on with fireflies? Not that they’re going extinct, but her own Thetford observations and a dataset pulling together thousands of citizen science surveys from 2008-2016 suggest that “North American fireflies are in decline,” writes Li Shen in Sidenote. Fireflies are actually beetles, Li explains, and what we see are males “advertising their search for a mate with a species-specific code analogous to Morse code.” But a survey of firefly experts, she writes, notes the threats: loss of habitat, light pollution, pesticides, water pollution, drought and rising temperatures. Think closely mown lawns, outdoor lighting at night, bug zappers…

SPONSORED: Osher’s Summer Lecture Series gets underway! Six lectures. Six Wednesdays. Join six nationally recognized speakers as they address different sides of the topic “How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming America?” The series takes place on Wednesday mornings, today through August 12, at the Lebanon Opera House and on screens worldwide. Session Two on July 15 will review the question “Can AI Think Like a Doctor?” with Harvard’s Adam Rodman. Join us at Lebanon Opera House or YouTube Livestream. Register per session or save with the full series. Sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth.

Turns out, woodcocks aren’t just “a funky little bird.” Kylie Brunette, a wildlife biology PhD student at the U of Maine, has been studying the birds as their population shrinks—and as she tells NHPR’s Imaan Moin, “They’re internet famous and beloved because they do a funny little dance and they make a funny little sound.” But as she was reviewing trail cam footage, she discovered something else: mother woodcocks sitting on their nests (which are on the ground) will defend them fiercely. Deer eat woodcock eggs and chicks, but “no one had ever documented a showdown between a hungry deer and a mother woodcock before,” Moin reports. Until now. Video included.

AG’s report finds serious safety issues at NH youth detention facility. “The 56-page report released Tuesday found no evidence youth had been sexually or physically abused or held in illegal restraints,” reports NHPR’s Annmarie Timmins. “Instead, youth had seriously injured staff, causing one employee to take leave for a brain injury, the report said. Other staff suffered a broken nose and jaw, the report said.” The Sununu Center lacks both sufficient staff and a functional administrative team able to run it effectively, the report concludes. In response, Gov. Kelly Ayotte yesterday ordered officials to “immediately” fix staff shortages and implement body-worn cameras.

NH Exec Council to consider Bitcoin-backed $100 million municipal bond today. Its supporters, writes the Globe’s Steven Porter, say it would position NH as “a global leader in responsible crypto finance,” as the executive director of the state’s Business Finance Authority puts it. It’s structured to shield the state financially from Bitcoin’s notorious volatility, and has Ayotte’s backing. However, Porter notes, Moody’s has essentially rated the bonds as “junk,” and a Marquette finance prof argues the NH plan “is not well suited as a general-purpose public finance tool.” Final approval on whether or not to go ahead with the idea is up to the Exec Council.

Human to crow: Do you really like me, or are you just using me? Crows, ravens, and rooks—corvids—are among the world’s most intelligent animals, with excellent memories, writes Elizabeth Preston in Audubon. Some even seem to seek out human friendships by visiting us, bringing gifts, and making eye contact. Preston spoke with avian experts, evolutionary biologists, and a field philosopher who researches crow/human relationships to find out why. Crows, it turns out, share a history with humans: They moved with us from rural to urban habitats, and “they’ve evolved to watch closely what humans do,” writes Preston, because we represent both safety and danger.

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

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HEADS UP
On the Dartmouth Green, the Hop presents Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers. The youngest child of zydeco pioneer Rockin’ Dopsie, Dwayne Rubin’s been performing on accordion since he was seven and formed his own New Orleans-based band in 1999, when he was 19. The free summer Hop concert kicks off at 5:30.

Artistree’s “Music on a Hill” presents Boma Bango. What are the odds? A second Louisiana band on tap, this one from Lafayette (where Dwayne Dopsie was born) and blending Congolese rumba with the rich musical traditions of southwest Louisiana. No charge, music starts up at 6:30 pm.

The Enfield Shaker Museum presents Twangtown Paramours. The Nashville-based Americana duo of MaryBeth Zamer and Mike Lewis give a free concert outside the Stone Machine Shop. “We want people to have fun, to cheer up, to dance, and to start sporting a positive attitude, dammit,” says Mike. Food at 6, music at 7.

Spelling Bee at Still North Books & Bar. The Howe/Still North mashup known as Howe@snorth is full up for teams tonight (though you can join the wait list), but if you get an anticipatory frisson at the thought of people tackling words like “bibliopegist” and “glossopetrae”, you should definitely go cheer them on. 6:30 pm.

In Brookfield, the Vermont Suitcase Company presents “My Lady of Whims.” The eight-year-old touring troupe brings its free adaptation of Dallas M. Fitzgerald’s 1925 silent film (starring Clara Bow) to Brookfield Town Hall. As VSC writes, “Action, intrigue, romance, international affairs, and so much more! ‘My Lady of Whims’ has it all!” 7 pm.

Bluephonics at the Bethel Bandshell. The town’s free Wednesday night concert series continues with the Tunbridge-based blues, jazz, and soul trio of Timothy James (guitar), Danny Roda (bass), and Taylor Starbird (drums). 7 pm.

Northern Stage’s Jazz at the Junction with the Ray Vega Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble. Vega, trumpeter and host of VT Public’s “Friday Night Jazz”, brings his group to the Byrne Theater stage for a night of melding jazz, Latin, and more broadly Caribbean sounds. 7:30 pm, free admission (though donations are welcome).

And for today...

Just a taste of Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers (from last year’s New Orleans Jazzfest) before they hit the Dartmouth Green stage later this afternoon.

See you tomorrow.

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