Turtles & mail sorting on the move/ Pretty lights, no problems from CME

by Guy Page

Seán Sheehan has been named the new Director of Elections and Campaign Finance for the Vermont Secretary of State. Having worked for the State of Vermont for twelve years, most recently as the Director of Performance Improvement in the Agency of Human Services, Sheehan will now play an important role in overseeing the critical mission of administering elections in Vermont.

“I am very excited to welcome Seán, whose arrival means that our Elections team is officially fully staffed, just in time for the 2024 election cycle,” said Copeland Hanzas. 

The Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office protects the integrity of campaigning and elections in Vermont. It administers Vermont’s elections, oversees campaign finance reporting and lobbyist disclosure laws, and encourages civic participation.

Sheehan previously served in multiple roles with the Department of Vermont Health Access, as well as Staff Director for the Vermont Tax Structure Commission.  Prior to joining state service, Sheehan directed projects at the Vermont Council on Rural Development and the Center for a New American Dream. He lives in Montpelier with his wife and two children.

Sheehan replaces Will Senning, who resigned last year. 

Vermont mail sorting leaving Vermont – The U.S. Postal Service will move forward with a plan to shift mail sorting operations from White River Junction to Hartford, Connecticut, media reports say. 

“Under the plan … outgoing mail from area post offices will now be sent from White River Junction to Hartford, Conn., for sorting.”

The plan will eliminate 23 positions in WRJ and save up to $940,000 per year.

The report came after more than two dozen Senators, including New Hampshire Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy calling on the USPS to pause similar changes across the country, pending further study.

“The nature of these changes creates concerns that local and rural service could be degraded. For example, USPS proposals to remove all outbound mail operations from local processing facilities seem to particularly harm local mail – since mail sent to a nearby locality would first have to go through a far-away processing facility, often in another state.” – Journal-Opinion

Turtles on the move – Vermont’s turtles are on the move, and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking for the public’s help in keeping them safe.  Female turtles will soon be looking for places to lay their eggs, and they sometimes choose inconvenient or dangerous locations.  For example, turtles often lay eggs in gravel parking lots and driveways and along road shoulders, which puts them at risk of being hit by motor vehicles.

“Turtles commonly cross roads as they move to nesting sites and summer foraging habitats,” said Luke Groff, biologist for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.  “Many turtles killed on roads are mature breeding females, so not only is the female taken from the population but so are her future offspring.  Turtles grow slowly and females of some species may not reproduce until 10 or even 15 years old.  So, for small, isolated populations, the loss of mature breeding females may have population-level effects.”

Turtle nesting activity peaks between late May and mid-June, and drivers are urged to keep an eye out for turtles on the road – especially when driving near ponds, rivers and wetlands.

Pretty lights, no coms problems from Severe Geomagnetic Storm – On Thursday, May 9, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch – its first since 2005. 

The result was a plethora of beautiful Northern Lights sightings and photographs, but according to Vermont State Police communications director Adam Silverman, no communications interference or breakdowns as a result of the high-intensity electro-magnetic storm.

At least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occurred midday Friday, May 10, through Sunday, May 12. Several strong flares were associated with a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster (NOAA region 3664), which is 16 times the diameter of Earth.

CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth. Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations. 

SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action. Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth. A severe geomagnetic storm includes the potential for aurora to be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California.