Ken Kennedy stood in the driveway of his vacation home on a hillside in Shaftsbury, dodging questions about the solar development planned for his sprawling property. It was a frigid afternoon in February, a few hours before the start of a public hearing on the much-disputed power project, and the retired Connecticut finance manager wasn’t…
A celebration of life for Bruce will be at Unitarian Church – Top of Church Street, 152 Pearl St., Burlington, Vt on Sunday, May 7, at 3 p.m. Bruce was born April 25, 1951 and died November 29, 2022. Read his full obituary here. Related Stories
Students who obtain a bachelor’s degree this spring from a Vermont college could receive $5,000 to help pay off their student loans if they stay in the state for at least two years. The payments flow from a new collaboration between the state, the University of Vermont and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation that is…
State Should Step Up [Re “No Return,” March 22]: Chelsea Edgar’s recent article on motel owners failing to return security deposits to people already facing unpredictable shelter illustrates that the Vermont legislature and Gov. Phil Scott’s administration urgently need to provide adequate funding for emergency shelter until housing is actually available. As of January 2023,…
Outside Chittenden County, many small Vermont towns are struggling. Low birth rates and an aging population are forcing schools to consolidate. As local retailers and manufacturers close, more residents find work farther afield, and commuters don’t volunteer as often for the groups that keep these towns vital. Local newspapers have taken a hit, too. The…
Things weren’t going well for Valerie Woodhouse in spring 2021. Woodhouse, then 30, was in her second year as a full-time organic vegetable farmer in Norwich. There was a drought. She was managing a farm team for the first time. To make matters worse, her partner, Eli Hersh — who co-owns the 35-acre farm —…
This weekend, the combined forces of the Burlington Choral Society and Montpelier’s Onion River Chorus — 100 singers strong — will perform music in solidarity with Ukraine. Richard Riley, the artistic director of both choruses, drew up a program called “Deep in Song: Music From and to Ukraine” that features more than a dozen songs…
It’s the busiest time of year for Chester and Kathleen Parsons: Lambing season is in full swing. Known to most as Chet and Kate, the couple own the Parsons’ Farm in Richford. They run their small-scale sheep and beef operation mainly by themselves, with limited help from family and farmhands. Now both 77 years old,…
Dear Reverend, I have a housemate who moved into my apartment four months ago. He pays his rent on time. He’s quiet. He doesn’t leave a mess in the kitchen. He’s great. Except for one thing: He flosses his teeth while we’re watching TV in the living room! It grosses me out so much; I…
I have a handy Google alert set up to inform me about news stories involving Vermont and film. For the past eight months or so, I’ve been getting nonstop pings about this comedy in which Owen Wilson stars as “Vermont’s No. 1 public television painter.” Was Paint shot in Vermont? No. (Saratoga Springs, N.Y., got…
April 17, 2023 6:35 PM Proposed Fiscal Year 2024 – 2028 Capital Budget and Five-Year Plan The Town of Essex Selectboard hereby gives notice that public hearings on the FY2024 – 2028 Capital Budget and Five-Year Plan will be held in person and online via Zoom: • Monday, April 17, 2023, 6:35 PM at the…
Cassandra Johnston is hoping chemotherapy helps her beat breast cancer and live a long, fulfilling life. The 38-year-old emergency planning manager from Clifton Park, N.Y., said the treatments she’s been receiving for three months are “rough” but represent her best shot at getting healthy. “With stage III, you don’t know which way it’s going to go,”…
Comic book heroes are all about second acts. Tony Stark turned away from the life of an arms dealer to don the Iron Man armor and protect the innocent. Stephen Strange was a surgeon before becoming Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. Bruce Wayne was a nepo baby before becoming Batman, the scariest orphan/vigilante…
Four years of playing college basketball at the University of Vermont taught Ben Crenca all sorts of lessons. From 2009 to 2013, the six-foot-nine man helped lead the Catamounts to two appearances in the NCAA tournament and two America East Conference titles. But one part of the experience that Crenca will never forget is the…
new in theaters HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE: Environmental activists plot to disrupt the flow of oil in this thriller from Daniel Goldhaber (Cam), starring Ariela Barer and Kristine Froseth. (103 min, R. Savoy) MAFIA MAMMA: A soccer mom (Toni Collette) discovers that she’s the heir to an Italian mafia family in this fish-out-of-water…
The first time I saw Barishi play live, I dumped an entire whiskey down a young man’s shirt, lost a $20 bet with the woman working the door and lied to a bartender about being in an Electric Light Orchestra cover band just to explain why I was wearing sunglasses at night at an indoor…
There are a lot of new releases this week, so let’s get right into them. First up is a pretty unique track: a response to a negative review. Montpelier-based nerdcore rapper Msd3k —real name Mike Duplessis — got roughed up in our review section the other week for his debut EP, The Master Debater. Our…
The local records keep flying onto the music editor’s desk: bluegrass from the southern part of the state, metal from the Northeast Kingdom, hip-hop out of Montpelier. Vermont musicians have been churning out new music, and sometimes two reviews per week just won’t do. Here are six releases from area artists — as well as…
A rise in politically motivated censorship has thrust schools and public libraries onto the latest culture war front line. In Vermont, though, the written word has found sanctuary: Carol Wooster’s North Street home. The Burlington woman posted on Front Porch Forum last month asking neighbors to donate “banned books” for the little free library she…
ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 19): I hope that in the coming weeks, you will keep your mind bubbling with zesty mysteries. I hope you’ll exult in the thrill of riddles that are beyond your current power to solve. If you cultivate an appreciation of uncanny uncertainties, life will soon begin bringing you uncanny certainties. Do you…
The notion of “depth of field” takes on meta meanings in the current exhibition at Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield. “Reflecting on Reflections” features 30 striking images by the six photographers in a collective called f/7: Julie Parker, Annie Tiberio, Sandra Shenk, Elliot Burg, Rob Spring and Lisa Dimondstein. Over the past decade, these…
Patty Hudak doesn’t make it easy for viewers; her paintings are enigmas. The seven oil-on-panel works at Minema gallery in Johnson seem, at first glance, to be abstractions. But the content is just familiar enough to provoke the ever-seeking brain: What am I looking at here? Are those roots? Branches? Some kind of natural networking…
It’s not wrong that Tillie Walden’s accountant listed her occupation as “author” on her tax return. After all, Walden will publish her 11th book this year. But it’s not quite right, either. Walden is a cartoonist, a profession that perhaps confounded the tax pro. “I think he was like, Cartoonist. What the hell is that?”…
Burlington is known as a city with historic charm. The iconic Richardson building at Church and Pearl streets, built in 1895, catches the eye with ornate turrets and R-branded balconies. Colorful Victorian homes line South Union and South Winooski avenues. And the University of Vermont boasts dozens of structures dating as far back as the…
Heart transplant recipient fought against all odds while being guided by love, kindness and creativity
Acting Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad threatened to “cuff” a surgeon and drag him to jail during a hospital dustup last summer, according to a complaint filed by the surgeon. Seven Days broke the news about the confidential complaint last week. The paper has since obtained the 500-word document, which contains more details about the…
In 2018, Elysha and Sjon Welters received an unusual message from a staffer at TV Tokyo, the network that brought us “Pokémon.” It invited the Cabot couple on an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan to share their knowledge of traditional Japanese foods for the cameras. Originally from the Netherlands, the Welterses founded Rhapsody Natural Foods in…
When Vermont Bread abruptly closed in April 2021, I stuffed my chest freezer with packs of the Brattleboro-based bakery’s English muffins. A year later, rations depleted, I felt the local muffin void. And I wasn’t the only one. “They had become part of our routine,” Eric Hill of Jericho said. “We ate those English muffins…
After a three-year hiatus, the bar beside Mr. Mikes Pizza in Burlington will reopen in late spring. When it does, the former SideBar will be an homage to longtime Queen City hot spot Half Lounge — which, like SideBar, has been closed since March 2020. Former Half Lounge owners Boudee Luangrath and Adrian Sackheim have…
Crooked Ladle Catering and Everything Nice, a retail store that supports a pay-what-you-can meal program called the Giving Fridge, have partnered to open a restaurant, shop and event venue at 51 Main in the heart of Middlebury. Since the last week of March, married Crooked Ladle co-owners Loren and Jennifer Urban have been offering dinner…
Music was a passion for former director of the Champlain Echoes
Maximum Pride Friday 14 Burlington’s Radio Bean becomes a gay bar for the night at Queer Takeover, an evening featuring everything from a queer comedy hour to live music by acts including Catwolf and Will Keeper. There are drag performances by Miss Czechoslovakia, Virginia Thick 100 and the Moondance Twins; a DJ set by Genderdeath;…
Talented educator was a Yale University Visiting Faculty Fellow and an advocate for learning
The Vermont Book Award announced 14 finalists for its 2022 prize on Friday. Awards in four categories, each of which comes with $1,000, will be presented on Saturday, May 6, in the Alumnx Hall at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. Established in 2015 by the Vermont College of Fine Arts, the Vermont…
