A PLEASURE TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
You wouldn't know it, but a front came through overnight, headed east and south... and as it clears the region high pressure's going to settle in for a while. The weather folks are downright giddy: we're due "an extended period of outstanding late summer weather," they say. Sunny, highs in the mid-80s today, winds from the northwest, down to around 60 or even the high 50s tonight.That Jim Block guy sure gets around. The photographer's latest blog post is a collection of photos he took in July as he meandered all through towns on the east side of the river (with a quick dip into Quechee). Cooper's hawks in Bradford (NH), a finely etched spider web and a Blue Dasher in New London, yoga on the dock in Newbury, a return to that heron nest in Springfield, some unbelievable sunsets in Sunapee (along with a loon coming in for a landing), Russell Pond in Sutton... Plus lots more.Hummingbirds are loading up for the long trek south. Cardinal Flowers, writes Mary Holland, "are to Ruby-throated Hummingbirds what Goldenrod is to Honey Bees in the fall—an important source of nutrients just when it’s needed most." That is, as the birds are getting ready to fly down across the US and then over the Gulf of Mexico. As she points out, the flight's not the only awe-inspiring part of all this—the Cardinal Flower's pretty amazing, too.Meanwhile, here in human land...
NH added 21 new positive test results yesterday, bringing its official total to 6,861. It reported no new deaths, which remain at 419. There are now 6,126 official recoveries (89%), and 316 current cases. Grafton County has 1 new case, for a cumulative total of 104; Sullivan also gained 1, and now stands at 41. Merrimack remains at 466. As a result, Grafton and Sullivan counties now have 5 current cases each, and Merrimack has 12 (down 1). Lebanon, Grantham, Claremont, and Charlestown still have between 1 and 4 active cases each.
VT added 11 cases yesterday, bringing its total to 1,472. There were no new deaths, which remain at 58 total, and one person is now hospitalized. Windsor County remains at 72 cumulative cases; Orange County has one of those new cases, and now stands at 15 overall.
Scott, Zuckerman to face off for VT governor. Phil Scott easily won the GOP nomination and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman took the Democratic spot with about 45 percent of the vote to former Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe's 35 percent yesterday. In the races for lieutenant governor, Republican Scott Milne and Democratic newcomer Molly Gray, an assistant attorney general from Burlington, came out on top, with Gray defeating state Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe with 44 percent of the vote. Holcombe reflective in wake of loss. The first-time candidate from Norwich led the field in fundraising, but in a campaign hampered by the pandemic was unable to overcome Zuckerman's greater name recognition and strong Chittenden County base. Nonetheless, she told VTDigger's Xander Landen last night, "I actually feel really good about the campaign. We told it like we see it, and I think good politics is served by that.” Asked whether she might run for office again, she said, "I’m not a politician, I want to just go make the world a better place...I’ll keep working on all those issues I care about. I don’t know the best way to do it — talk to me in a week.”
As overall turnout sets records, Upper Valley voting goes smoothly. VT's secretary of state tweeted last night that "it appears Vermont voters have shattered the previous primary turnout record”—but that was thanks largely to absentee ballots. The VN's Alex Hanson checked in on the polls in Royalton, Pomfret, and Norwich yesterday and found slow, steady, and smooth balloting "thanks mainly to the hard work of town clerks." Voting in Norwich was drive-through at the dump, where poll workers and voters battled yesterday's heat in good spirits; Royalton and Pomfret were both inside. Woodstock housing trust readies second affordable property for market. Despite a surge of interest from would-be short-term-rental landlords, the Woodstock Community Trust last year snagged a duplex that it's fixed up to sell to middle-income buyers. “We had to outbid 11 people because it’s a perfect property to turn into an Airbnb,” says Jill Davies, who helped found the Trust. “A lot of people were thinking they’d live upstairs and rent downstairs.” Buyers will have to live in town at least 11 months, and can't earn more than $150K. SPONSORED: Do you have a family member who needs help with health or financial matters? Or a child going off to college or leaving home? Join Everything In Order, the Upper Valley business that helps people create essential legal documents, for this week's free webinar on the documents you'll need to participate in your loved ones' health and financial matters. It's tomorrow, Thursday, August 13th, at noon. RSVP at the link. Sponsored by Everything In Order.
At issue are the internal checkpoints federal officers have set up within 100 miles of the border, which ACLU-NH legal director Gilles Bissonnette says are "a ruse to unlawfully search and seize people for the purpose of general crime control.” The suit was filed in NH on behalf of a resident stopped at at 2017 checkpoint in Woodstock, NH, that netted 16 arrests on charges of possessing drugs, charges that were later dismissed by prosecutors.
The state remains the only one in New England without a general requirement to wear face coverings in public spaces, but Gov. Chris Sununu yesterday issued an executive order mandating them at gatherings of more than 100 people. The move comes 10 days ahead of Laconia's Motorcycle Week, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. “Sturgis was a clear warning sign to us,” Sununu said of the South Dakota motorcycle rally taking place right now. “I don’t think anyone saw the photos out of Sturgis and thought, ‘That looks safe.’”
VT yesterday changed its health guidelines for school reopening, as Gov. Phil Scott continues to push for in-person schooling—and admits "we’re likely to see some cases and clusters connected to schools" as a result. The new guidelines drop physical distance requirements from 6 feet to 3 feet for students 10 and younger, and no longer require school personnel to interview students or parents before students enter a school building.
The Census Bureau yesterday began following up in person with households that haven't yet responded to the 2020 Census. So far, the national "self-response" rate is 63.4 percent. In VT it's 56.9 percent (and barely 50 percent in Windsor County); NH tracks the national average, at 63.2 percent, though Grafton County, too, is barely above 50 percent. Census takers will be carrying a government badge with photo... but also wearing masks.
There's a definite travel pipeline between the Upper Valley and Craftsbury, VT, what with the outdoor center there. So you might want to know about the Craftsbury General Store's "Globe Trotting Dinners" on Wednesdays. They started seven years ago, and have ramped up during the pandemic—prepping some 250 meals these days, writes
Seven Days
' Sally Pollak. The kitchen's had to pull back on its ambitions, though—like hand-making injera, the flatbread used for Ethiopian meals. Needless to say, takeout only.
What happens when you live in Point Roberts, WA, at the tip of a peninsula where the only road anywhere else passes through Canada? Residents can leave by car only to work, pick up prescriptions, or go to a doctor’s appointment on the mainland—and they can't stop in Canada along the way. The isolation “starts to wear on people,” the town's fire chief tells
Atlas Obscura
's Jane C. Hu. On the other hand, the lack of contact's not
all
bad: No one there has tested positive.
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At noon today, you could drop in on "Why is My Flight Late, and Who Can I Blame?"—a talk for the general public by Thayer prof Vikrant Vaze, who specializes in transportation logistics, among other things. He'll "look under the hood at the inner workings of the interconnected networks of flight operations to identify the sources and causes of flight disruptions. In this quest, we will also stumble across some surprising facts such as the number of atoms in the universe and how to make elections more efficient and fair." Register to get the Zoom link.
And at 6:30 this evening, the Norwich Public Library is doing a virtual "art history social hour" looking at the life and career of Paul Sample, the Kentucky-born painter and longtime artist-in-residence at Dartmouth known in these parts for his evocative regionalist paintings of the Upper Valley. Via Zoom, link at the link.
Meanwhile, the Howe takes on comics. Comic artist and educator Marek Bennett surveys comics from around the world and throughout history, "with special attention to what these vibrant narratives tell (and show) us about the people and periods that created them." Email [email protected] for a Zoom invite.
And if you need to get out of the house, you could go check out the Boston-based Americana/blues/funk duo Cold Chocolate in Bethel, thanks to the Bethel Arts Council. They'll be at the bandshell starting at 7.
Or, at 8:30, Pentangle Arts is showing John Lewis: Good Trouble on the back lawn at the North Chapel in Woodstock. Filmmaker Dawn Porter weaves footage of the late civil rights icon campaigning for fellow Democrats in the 2018 elections together with interviews and archival film of his storied career, all the while making a case that new voter-suppression efforts threaten the progress made during Lewis's lifetime.
Also on film... At 8 pm, the Hop is hosting LA-based animator, designer and performer Miwa Matreyek in conversation with Dartmouth film prof Jodie Mack. Matreyek will be showing excerpts from two of her latest works, This World Made Itself and Infinitely Yours, and she and Mack will talk over her layered, interdisciplinary approach to animation and how she uses it to explore climate change and other issues.
Let's go out today with Curt Smith, of Tears for Fears, and his daughter Diva
. No surprise this thing went viral about two seconds after they uploaded it.
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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