5 Things: Beer Tax Shot Down By NH House Panel

[Your Song of the Day]

1. Weather Report: Today will be cloudy and windy with rain in the morning before things become partly cloudy. Morning high of 50 degrees with temps falling to near 35 degrees. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tonight will continue to be partly cloudy and windy with a low of 24 degrees.

2. Beer Tax Wounded. A proposed tax increase to beer was voted down by the House Ways and Means Committee. The overwhelming rejection was due to concerns of having a much higher tax on the bubble beverages than surrounding states. The vote makes it MUCH harder to make into law.

3. Handy insects. Did you know: Crickets make good thermometers -- to get a rough estimate of the temperature, count the number of times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds and add 40.

4. Cold drinks. The Bedford Village Inn has had their Svedka Ice Bar open nightly, from 5:30-10 p.m. until Saturday, Feb. 2. Visitors can have ice cold drinks and hot food while surrounding by beautiful ice sculptures. More information on the festivities here.

5. Congrats! Nicole Durivage, a resident of Milford, has been named to the Fall 2012 Champlain College's Dean's List for achieving a semester grade point average of 3.5 or higher and is majoring in Business. Durivage is the daughter of Edward Durivage of Milford and Jennifer Morales of Milford.