Every day, another campus cracks. As U.S. colleges and universities barrel toward the most unpredictable semester in generations, hundreds have abandoned their hopes of bringing students back to campus during the pandemic. The University of Delaware, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania have all canceled most in-person classes. The wave of retreat reached…
Former Williston town clerk and Army National Guard member served her community and country
Young artist and environmentalist visited all but three U.S. states
Botanist left the world hoping good would triumph over evil in 2020 presidential election
Burlington man remembered for his gentle nature, good humor and love of learning
Northfield man earned national teaching awards and a Purple Heart
Alabama man always considered himself a “rebel” from Vermont
Distinguished print artist taught at UVM for 42 years
Burlington man enjoyed hunting, fishing and model cars
Beloved owner of Jess Boutique and Expressions ‘blazed her own path’
1. Hot Jazz More than 60 years before Kanye West welcomed Easter Sunday at Coachella with his Sunday Service Choir, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson rang in the Sabbath at the Newport Jazz Festival with a stirring rendition of the Lord’s Prayer. Director Bert Stern captured this and other performances from the 1958 fest for the…
Gene Richards had been looking forward to celebrating Burlington International Airport’s 100th birthday this month. The facility’s aviation director had scheduled an air show featuring World War I-era planes and the modern-day F-35 fighter jet. History buffs would take in a 90-minute documentary about the airfield’s evolution, and a national conference was expected to draw…
Katie Spotz ran across Vermont earlier this month so she could help people across the Atlantic Ocean. A long-distance runner and endurance athlete, Spotz has spent more than a decade pushing her body to the limit to fundraise for charities that spearhead clean-water efforts in impoverished areas around the world. She earned international attention in…
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible,” says Leo politician Carol Moseley Braun. I agree with her but will also suggest there’s an even higher magic: hen you devise a detailed plan for achieving success by challenging the impossible, and then actually carry out that plan. Judging from the current astrological…
(Self-released, digital) When Burlington’s Alex Vitzthum, one of the minds behind Homeboy Aurelio, emailed me earlier this year to submit the band’s new, self-titled album, I asked him whether he was a real person or some kind of AI. I was only 90 percent joking. Not only had I never met the guy, who’d regularly…
In the coronavirus era, the word “pivot” is suddenly everywhere. It smacks of Allbirds and Slack channels and free kombucha, a bland shorthand for not going out of business during a global pandemic. Moe O’Hara, owner of Thirty-odd in Burlington’s South End, hates the word. Her business model hinges upon the inefficient serendipity of browsing,…
Dear Reverend, A good friend of mine is a professional chef. Every time I go to her house, she cooks amazing food for everybody there, whether it’s just me or a bunch of our friends. She says she enjoys doing it, but I feel bad that she cooks all day and then winds up in…
The pandemic has had a profound effect on the performing arts industry. But enterprising local minds, Vermont’s warm summer and rolled-back capacity limits on public gatherings have ushered in the return of various forms of live entertainment. However, pre- or mid-pandemic, we’ve seen nothing like the upcoming event called RETRO SPEC. From the minds of…
It seems subtly symbolic that the type on the cover of Vermont author Steve Benen’s latest book is right justified. “It’s of note,” he conceded, chuckling. “It would not surprise me if the designers had that in mind, but I can’t confirm it.” Given the book’s subject matter and title — The Impostors: How Republicans…
(Equal Eyes Records, digital) Burlington rapper Mavstar, aka Marek Lorenc, has built himself up from a kid bum-rushing open mics — often with an actual backpack in hand — to a respected local hip-hop icon. Part of that growth is thanks to his generous and honest personality. Mostly, though, it’s just his sheer talent for…
Early in the morning of Tuesday, August 4, the Sharon home of musicians and educators Annemieke and Jeremiah McLane and their 7-year-old son, Luke, was destroyed in a house fire. Fortunately, the family was vacationing in Maine, so no one was injured. However, the house burned to the ground, and everything inside was lost, including…
Jason Broughton, Vermont’s state librarian, saw firsthand the importance of the U.S. Census this spring. He was anticipating federal CARES Act funding to equip public libraries with personal protective equipment. Based on the number of libraries in the state, Broughton guessed the Vermont Department of Libraries would receive $100,000. So he was surprised when $56,000…
When the Vermont House voted last year to codify abortion rights in state law, Rep. Bob Bancroft (R-Westford) led the opposition, introducing a flurry of unsuccessful amendments to restrict a woman’s right to choose. His advocacy didn’t sit well with one constituent. “I was angry,” said Alyssa Black, a 50-year-old medical billing manager from Essex.…
Map Check [Re Bite Club: “New Yorkers Bring New Indian Restaurant to Burlington,” August 10]: This news is very welcome, as I live close by. A geographic correction: While Gujarat is south of Punjab, it is not southern India. Part of it borders Pakistan, and it is north of Mumbai. Julia Curry Burlington No Stone…
The number of Vermonters who voted by mail soared to record levels in last week’s primary — but so did the number of botched ballots. Of the 174,987 votes cast on August 11 — a record for a primary — 6,055 were ruled defective and discarded. That’s 3.6 percent of ballots, nine times higher than…
The possibility of a road not taken failed to materialize last week in Middlebury, where I had intended to choose from among several walks for the centerpiece of this Vermonting excursion. One of my favorite paths in Vermont — the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail in Ripton — was knocked out of contention by trail work.…
At the Burlington Farmers Market on August 8, Orb Weaver Creamery’s cheese was all dressed up, wrapped in paper celebrating the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival. In a normal year, more than 40 of the state’s cheesemakers would have been gearing up to spend the next day at Shelburne Farms sharing samples, pairing cheeses with local food…
The good-looking intersection of East Warren and Roxbury Mountain roads in East Warren — a standout four corners in the Mad River Valley — just added a little more visual dazzle: a 1969 silver Airstream. The rig is the COVID-19-era home of Root Juice, a mobile smoothie and juice business owned and operated by Samantha…
