Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2011
How Colchester’s Sen. Dick Mazza Became Montpelier’s Most Influential Pol; VT Gets a Cartoonist Laureate; Are Legislators Gun Controlled?
LGBTQ Publication Out in the Mountains Relaunches Online
After closing down more than four years ago, the GLBT-themed Out in the Mountains newspaper is relaunching as a website, including news articles, columns, reviews and its popular statewide calendar and resource directory. Out in the Mountains, the only newspaper devoted to covering Vermont’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, was shuttered in November 2006…
Middlebury College “Sloppagees” Exposed
Apparently, Middlebury College has a problem with theft. Not theft of TI-84 calculators, Longchamps bags or Range Rovers. No, this problem is much more serious than that. Midd students are stealing spoons. And forks. And knives. And other assorted dishware. And the college’s food service staff is none too pleased about it. To stem the…
Viva Rut-Vegas! Milton Rep. Seeks to Legalize Casino Gambling
With Vermont $178 million in the hole, a state lawmaker from Milton and several colleagues are going “all in” with a new revenue scheme: legalized casino gambling. H.131, introduced just today, proposes to require the state lottery commission to issue one casino gaming license. Under the bill, the casino would pay the state $5 million…
The Good, the Bad, the Burlington Telecom: Citizens Question Officials About the Future of BT
They came, they saw, they vented. More than 100 people crammed into City Hall Auditorium in Burlington for a special city council meeting Thursday night about the status of beleaguered Burlington Telecom. The nearly four-hour meeting probably didn’t change many minds. Diehard BT supporters are still insisting the utility can be saved. Likewise, those who…
Housing Groups and Pizzigalli Craft Deal to Preserve Low-Income Housing
On the day they were supposed to receive eviction notices, the 44 residents of Wharf Lane were handed much better news: A deal has been struck between two nonprofit housing groups and the building’s owner that will keep their apartments as subsidized, affordable housing. “We announced to the residents that we had a deal, in…
Heave-Ho — Vermont Frost Heaves Fold
If you picked up the latest issue of Seven Days yesterday or read it online, you’ll know that we wrote about a man from Calais named Dick Rouelle who is the ultimate Vermont Frost Heaves superfan. Over the years, Rouelle has let nothing stand in his way of catching every Heaves game, both home and…
Citizens Ask Court to Find Burlington in Contempt for Using Taxpayer Funds
Two Burlington taxpayers are asking a Chittenden Superior Court judge to find the city of Burlington in contempt of a court order prohibiting certain use of general funds to support Burlington Telecom. The motion was filed today on behalf of Fred Osier and Gene Shaver by their attorney Norm Williams of Gravel and Shea. In…
Burlington Offers “Amnesty” For Unregistered Landlords
Attention Burlington landlords: If you’ve got a rental apartment that you haven’t registered with city hall, now’s the time to do it. In an effort to make sure Queen City housing stock is up to code, the city is offering an “amnesty” period for landlords to declare their unregistered rentals and get them inspected without…
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for January 26 – February 1, 2011. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): What rewards do you deserve for all the good living and the hard work you’ve done since your last birthday? And what amends should you make for the mediocre living and the…
Skiing to the Sound of … Silence
Discovering backcountry solitude at Trapp Family Lodge
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again A security officer called police after noticing blood and two trays of empty razor-blade packages at a Walmart store in Venango County, Pa. Deducing that a shoplifter had cut himself while removing the blades, state troopers followed the trail of blood to Michael Barton, 29. (Erie Times-News) Zannish Frazier, 28, called police…
The Sixth Man
How the Vermont Frost Heaves superfans brought the team back from the brink
Pouring the Tropics
Side Dishes: Café Verde brings espresso and exotic sodas to Plainfield
Letters to the Editor
Squirrel Tale Glad to see squirrel stew is on the menu here in Vermont [Bite Club TV: “Squirrel Stew,” January 12]. When I arrived in Burlington in 1983 from the backwoods of Arkansas, I brought with me an old Ozark recipe for “Six Squirrel Stew.” I was thrilled with Alice Levitt’s comment that it reminded…
![Cochran’s Ski Area [209]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/episode209.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Cochran’s Ski Area [209]
1/22/11: The non-profit Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond has a mission to provide affordable slope access to kids and families. For multiple generations, the award-winning Skiing Cochrans have been teaching others how to ski the “Cochran way.” Where else in VT can you share the hill with an Olympic gold medalist and get pointers on…
City Hall Criticizes State ‘Audit’ of Burlington Telecom
Late Tuesday, the Kiss Administration issued a 21-page rebuttal to last month’s blistering review of Burlington Telecom and the city’s oversight of the fledgling telecom. The so-called “Larkin Report” was initiated in October 2009 by the Vermont Department of Public Service as the city sought relief from a few key conditions contained in its certificate…
More Bite Than Bark
Side Dishes: A defunct Shelburne eatery sees new life as Barkeaters
Shumlin Unveils Budget Plan: ‘Tough Choices, Big Opportunities’
Gov. Peter Shumlin unveiled a sobering budget address to a rather subdued legislature Tuesday afternoon — laying out a fiscal spending plan that makes significant cuts in human services spending while at the same time setting aside new money for broadband expansion, job training and expanding pre-school education. Some of the highlights of Shumlin’s speech…
Lockheed Martin Pays $2 Million Settlement for Defrauding U.S. Government
Becoming bedfellows with any defense contractor is a dangerous game, but in light of yesterday’s news out of the justice department, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss may now wish he’d courted a more attractive partner. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had reached a $2 million settlement with Lockheed Martin, Inc. to…
