WELL HEY, UPPER VALLEY!
Maybe some fog and clouds first thing, but they'll all give way to sunshine. Again. Well, yeah, it did get cloudy later in the day yesterday. That was due, and I'm quoting, to "some pesky stratocumulus hanging around northern and eastern Vermont," which kept temps from getting quite as high as they might have. Today that moisture's been flicked away, which means clearer skies and higher highs. Warm air to our west will move in later in the day, but that's for tomorrow: Tonight, mid-to-low 30s, patchy frost to the north.How do you get 50 people out to a board of assessors meeting? Tick them off. You may remember that a group of Hanover property owners, angered by suddenly higher tax bills, last month asked NH to force the town to redo assessments. At a public meeting Monday night held by the town's Advisory Board of Assessors, a lot of other people weighed in as well. "We are being priced out of our own town,” said Dartmouth prof Sylvia Spitta. Board members acknowledge problems with the process and with new assessment software. (VN, sub reqd)Dartmouth endowment hits $5.7 billion. Overall, the endowment grew 7.5 percent over the last fiscal year, somewhat less than in previous years. Over the last decade, the endowment has seen an overall return rate of 10.7 percent.UVAC to get new executive director. The Upper Valley Aquatic Center's long-time director, Rich Synnott, announced his retirement at the end of the month yesterday. He'll be replaced by Joe Major, who's been the assistant executive director since 2018. Major, who'd been in Maryland before this, is also on the board of the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. (VN, sub still reqd)“The day I landed was July 1st, 20 years ago. You know July 4th is the National Day of the United States. The firecrackers were everywhere. I hid in my bed and cried.” That's Jessica Li, who manages Oriental Wok Express, the Chinese takeout counter in the Mobil station in old West Leb. Fang Du, a grad student at Dartmouth, went out in search of "the soul of Chinese food" in the UV, and though she found plenty to write about the food itself, her real story is about the people behind it. (VN again: If you're only going to click on one today, make it this one.)NH Dems say they have a budget compromise, but guv hasn't signed off. Among other things, they propose pushing off planned increases to Medicaid reimbursement rates, cut human services spending, and allow business tax cuts — which Gov. Chris Sununu has been adamant about maintaining — to continue only if they bring in a target amount of revenue.Supremes ask NH to respond to appeal by three women busted for going topless at Weirs Beach. The women, part of the "Free the Nipple" movement, were arrested for violating a Laconia ordinance, and the state supreme court upheld that move. They appealed to the US Supreme Court, which has now directed the state to file a response by Oct. 15. This suggests, says the women's lawyer, that "someone on the court has taken [an] interest in the case.”REI establishes foothold in NH. Its first store in the state is over in North Conway, and it's focusing both on outdoor gear and serving as "a launching pad for outdoor activities – a place where people of all levels of expertise can gather to plan their trip, pick up rentals or a new piece of gear, or enjoy a guided outdoor experience."Just in case you're a Hadestown or Anaïs Mitchell fan... She'll be on VPR's Vermont Edition today at noon and again at 7 talking about her music and her folk opera's evolution through its years in VT. Just sayin': How many state office workers around the country get a view like this? Sunset over cornfields near the state office buildings in Waterbury, VT. Some good economic news for VT for a change. It tops the country in small business revenue growth. Kabbage, an online finance company that provides loans to small businesses, uses its data connections to measure revenue trends. Overall, small businesses around the country have seen a 57 percent increase in revenue growth since December, 2016. Its VT figure stands at 118 percent. You can play around at the link, comparing figures for up to four states.And heck, maybe climate change is good news for VT (and by inference, NH). In the next of a series of articles on the impact of climate change on Vermont, VTDigger looks at the prospects for "climigration," as refugees from rising sea levels, wildfires and drought out west, and sweltering cities in the Northeast and elsewhere seek places with more temperate weather and surer water. Entire VT Supreme Court recuses itself. This doesn't happen very often. All four sitting justices will sit out a civil case involving Vermont court administrator Patricia Gabel and her former partner. Five retired superior court judges will form a "rump court" to hear the case tomorrow.How Waze has brought LA neighborhoods to a standstill. Right, I know: West coast, big city, nothing to do with us. But this is a great piece about how the imperatives of big tech collide with life on the ground. By turning users into map editors, Waze is sending drivers down residential streets that were never meant for traffic, ruining life for everyone. "By promoting the myth that their apps would get you there faster, the tech firms were effectively and collectively creating a perfect traffic storm," writes Jonathan Littman in Los Angeles Magazine. Bonus: You'll understand a Nash equilibrium thru real life. IRL, y'all.
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SO, WEDNESDAY...
The company's new season kicks off with Lucas Hnath's "smart, funny, and utterly engrossing" play (Ben Brantley in the
NYT
). It's been 15 years since Nora stormed out of the house at the end of Ibsen's original, and now she's back — and she wants something. "Ibsen left his unlikely maverick of a heroine on the threshold of a dark and undefined future," Brantley wrote when the play premiered on Broadway two years ago. "Haven’t you found yourself pondering not only Nora’s fate but also that of her abandoned husband and children?" Not to mention the servants? You can find out tonight at 7:30, and through Oct. 6.
Nora [taking her bag]. Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen.Helmer. Tell me what that would be!Nora. Both you and I would have to be so changed that--. Oh, Torvald, I don't believe any longer in wonderful things happening.Helmer. But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that--?Nora. That our life together would be a real wedlock. Goodbye. [She goes out through the hall.]Helmer [sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his hands]. Nora! Nora! [Looks round, and rises.] Empty. She is gone. [A hope flashes across his mind.] The most wonderful thing of all--?[The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.]
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