Help us pay for in-depth stories like this one by becoming a Seven Days Super Reader. There’s a startling perception circulating in Burlington that’s proving hard to shake: that public disorder has made the city’s downtown unsafe for visitors and residents alike. Whether or not that fear is justified, it’s no surprise that public safety dominates residents’…
A group of lawmakers has set out to make Juneteenth, the day commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S., a legal holiday in Vermont. Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to let enslaved people there know that they had been freed — nearly two years after…
It’s quite a feat keeping the Vermont Statehouse running smoothly. During the legislative session, lawmakers, lobbyists, activists and the public cram into a warren of meeting rooms to craft public policy. Over the summer and fall, throngs of tourists traipse across the grounds and through its art-lined halls, making the marble edifice one of the…
This story was updated on February 28, 2024 to include figures on the cost of the logo. The University of Vermont is doing away with its primary logo — an image of the tower on its landmark Old Mill building — in favor of a simple V on a shield. The university will roll out…
Sky watchers in Québec will catch a lucky break on April 8, when a total solar eclipse will sweep across the southern edge of the province. The 115-mile-wide “path of totality” — the zone where viewers will see the moon block the sun entirely — nicks the city of Montréal, then passes over Magog, Sherbrooke…
Vermont professor and author mentored the next generation of students and teachers
After launching his first Punk Rock Flea Market in 2022, Nick Grandchamp is bringing back the event on Saturday, February 24, at Merchants Hall in Rutland. The event, which runs from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., will feature more than 20 vendors selling vinyl, books, clothes, video games and art. Local record shops like Rutland’s…
South Burlington woman loved spending time on Joe’s Pond, and the source of her greatest pride was her two children
Shelburne woman was a fierce advocate for reproductive rights and an engaged citizen who modeled lifelong learning and devoted volunteering
Founder of VT Dog Rescue loved being self-employed so she could be fully present for the best part of her life — being a mom
If Mister Rogers’ neighborhood had included a hardware store, David Corey could have been its clerk. In his customary outfit of pressed navy shirt, neat slacks and brown lace-up Oxfords, the Burlington native greets everyone who enters City Hardware at 156 College Street with a cheery, “Looking for something special?” Then Corey focuses on them…
Dear Reverend, I have a friend who uses the word “literally” all the time — literally. Every conversation, be it a text message, on the phone or in person, she says it multiple times. It really grates on my nerves, and I don’t know how to make her stop. Help! Ward Smith (man, 32) Dear…
Even if you’re not plugged into politics, you’re probably aware that 2024 is a big election year. In Vermont, the action starts on the first Tuesday of March. If you’ve never voted here, or never voted at all, here are a few things you need to know. What gets decided in the March election? Local…
On many a Town Meeting Day, Fairfax resident Alice Scannell would look at her ballot in bewilderment. While she knew about some of the offices and the candidates hoping to fill them, many were a mystery to her. “I’d be like, ‘What in the world does a cemetery commissioner even do?'” Scannell recalled. She figured…
We lost a real one last week. Reuben Jackson, a poet, jazz historian, music critic and DJ, died at the age of 67. Vermonters know Jackson for hosting the Vermont Public show “Friday Night Jazz”; during his run there, his dulcet tones on the mic and encyclopedic knowledge of jazz made the program essential listening.…
Town Meeting Day ballots will be shorter in some Vermont communities this year, thanks to unexpected spikes in school taxes. State lawmakers have given towns permission to postpone school budget votes until school boards have a chance to reconsider, and perhaps reduce, spending to hold down tax increases. In communities that go this route, residents…
Only two of the 35 hangars at the Franklin County State Airport in Swanton have bright pink doors. One belongs to Beth White, an educator, breast cancer survivor and pilot. The other is home to Habitat for Aviation, the nonprofit that White launched in 2022 to train the next generation of airplane mechanics and pilots,…
Visitors might expect an exhibit titled “In the Garden” to be a visual harbinger of spring, filled with lush flora. The works on view at the Current in Stowe do feature flowers, greenery and garden-attendant creatures. But the show’s seven artists employ nature more as metaphor — “setting the stage for connection and cultivation,” as…
(self-released, digital) On paper, the combination of these two artists makes good business sense. Rhode Island rapper ToadStool had a big year in 2023, delivering a slew of head-turning projects and establishing himself as a regional force of nature. Vermonter Rico James has been on a similar arc, leveraging his years of local success into…
(Self-released, digital) Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity states that the flow of time can change depending on one’s traveling speed. Fairlee singer-songwriter Lance Mills may not be approaching the speed of light, but there’s no debating the quantum throwback he’s created in Green Mountain Saturday Night, his solo debut. Over 12 rambling, rollicking and…
Released in theaters at Christmas, The Color Purple is not a new take on Steven Spielberg’s 1985 drama. Rather, Blitz Bazawule’s film is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical also based on Alice Walker’s best-selling novel, with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray and book by Marsha Norman.…
Two weeks ago, Seven Days hosted a debate with the four candidates who want to be the next mayor of Burlington. Voters of all ages and political persuasions filled city hall for the live event, which was simulcast on and recorded by Town Meeting TV. I found a seat in the balcony. Down below, Seven…
new in theaters DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA — TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING: Tanjiro attempts to level up in the movie series based on the popular dark fantasy anime. Haruo Sotozaki directed. (104 min, R. Essex, Majestic) DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS: Two friends (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) run straight into trouble when they encounter outlaws on…
PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): Unlike the Pope’s decrees, my proclamations are not infallible. As opposed to Nostradamus and many modern soothsayers, I never imagine I have the power to definitely decipher what’s ahead. One of my main mottoes is “The future is undecided. Our destinies are always mutable.” Please keep these caveats in mind whenever…
Prize-Worthy Piece Congratulations on this revealing and disturbing Decker Towers piece [“The Fight for Decker Towers,” February 14]. It is one of those rare reports that may even effect some kind of change. I hope you submit it for a Pulitzer or other journalism prize. Elinore Standard Burlington ‘Rigorous Reporting’ Kudos to Derek Brouwer for…
Burlington’s ONE Arts Center isn’t your average afterschool program. Other than the size of the humans, the vibe is more makerspace than childcare facility. The scratch of scissors and rustling paper fills the air as elementary school-age kids gamely trade Perler beads or compliment one another’s work. Some are lost in group arts projects while…
At the end of his life, a nearly penniless Ulysses S. Grant sat bundled in blankets in a loaned cabin in the Adirondack foothills, barely able to talk or eat due to metastatic throat cancer. His single aim was to finish his memoirs so he could leave his wife, Julia, and their children and grandchildren…
There was a time when Gen Xers were known as the “MTV generation.” As a card-carrying Xer, I’m relieved the tag didn’t stick any more than the “slacker” label that our loving baby boomer parents tried to drop on us, along with low credit scores and student loan debt. The MTV association was understandable, though.…
“Baby Carl’s Happy Apocalypse” is a podcast about fighting climate change and social injustice, but with a twist: 56-year-old Doyle Dean interviews Vermonters while embodying the persona of a happy, inquisitive toddler named Baby Carl. Baby Carl’s questions are simple yet profound. “Why does it say moo?” he asked about a cow at Bread &…
The solar eclipse will darken the Vermont skies for only a few minutes, but Julie Marks, the founder and executive director of the Vermont Short-Term Rental Alliance, sees the potential for long-term dividends in the once-in-a-lifetime event. Marks held a webinar February 12 with suggestions for Vermonters who are thinking of renting space in their…
Given how high many of us register on the stress-o-meter these days, the approach of the recently reborn Kitchen Table in Richmond seems sensible —comforting, in fact. Along with its dinner menu of classics such as poutine, mac and cheese, and grilled steak with fries, the restaurant in the historic checkered brick building stocks an…
If I’d been smarter — or at least quicker — I would’ve timed how long it took to get my Cheeseburger in Paradise on a recent Tuesday night at Four Quarters Brewing in Winooski. Then I would’ve clocked myself eating it, and I could say with certainty which was faster: cooking or eating. I can…
On a frosty Saturday in January, heading into Burlington with my sister for some postholiday bargain hunting on the Church Street Marketplace, I hung a right into the Pine Street parking lot of Great Harvest Bread. It reminded me of a joke my mom used to make when we’d visit Dunkin’: “The car pulled in…
Leave it to Beaver Thursday 22 Science and history make dam good bedfellows in award-winning writer Leila Philip’s Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America, which launches in paperback at Norwich Bookstore. From the colonization of North America through the secretive modern fur trade, Philip traces the outsize influence that these furry architects have had…
