Mar 4-10, 2009
Building a Better Burlington; Judith Levine Examines the Price of Wealth; Espresso Lane – Getting a Barista Grip
Leahy Op-Ed: The Public’s Right to Know
Every year, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Sunshine Week coalition ask Vermont’s Sen. Patrick Leahy to pen an op-ed on the public’s right to know. As some media junkies may recall, one such op-ed contributed to the firing of former AP Bureau Chief Chris Graff several years ago. That op-ed in question…
Getting By: The Race to Refi
For this week’s installment of our bi-weekly column “Getting By: How Vermonters Are Surviving the Recession,” I wrote about the current mortgage refinancing boom. Interest rates have dropped dramatically over the past few months, and many Vermont homeowners have been scrambling to refinance and lower their monthly payments. But some borrowers have been unable to…
Wireless Carrier Shortcuts
I was browsing the web for a nice read and stumbled upon this cool article about wireless carriers. It gives you all the information you need to send free texts, skip over voicemail greetings, find out how many minutes you have used this month, and save, navigate or delete voice-mail messages while listening to them.…
Local Film: A News Hodge-Podge
Recently I’ve received a whole lot of press releases and emails about stuff going on locally with film and filmmakers. Since I don’t have time or space to cover them all in our State of the Arts section, I thought I’d do a quick roundup. OK, first up… the Capitol City’s Green Mountain Film Festival…
Ben Kaufman Goes to the White House
Former Champlain College student Ben Kaufman has been invited to the White House today to talk with “senior administration officials” about the economic crisis, according to an email I just received from his PR people. I’m guessing that Kaufman’s meeting is the same one that will include Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. You may remember Kaufman…
Wright Wants Recount in Burlington Mayor’s Race
Republican Kurt Wright informed city officials verbally this morning that he wants a recount in the Burlington mayor’s race, largely to ensure that the city’s instant-runoff voting system worked properly. “I don’t expect this to change the outcome of this race, but I do believe that we should take the opportunity to feelcomfortable about the…
Vote Now for the “Best of the Beasts”
The polls are open in our “Best of the Beasts” pet photo contest, sponsored by Play Dog Play. Click here to vote for your favorite pets. The deadline for entries was yesterday at noon. At 2 p.m., our team of staff judges chose five finalists in each category — it was a tough job, let…
Political Odds & Ends
Sure, the news this week for us was all about Town Meeting Day and the Burlington elections, but our Congressional delegation has been making some national headlines, as well as palling around with Pres. Barack Obama. Hey, Gov. Jim Douglas isn’t the only Vermont pol on the White House’s speed dial. First off, Rep. Peter…
Third Time’s the Charm
(Note to readers: This item was posted as an addendum to the online version of my column, but I post it here to hopefully spark some dialogue about the night’s results). In the end, the Progressives needed a little help from another partyto hold on to the Queen City mayor’s seat. As he did three…
Building a Better Burlington
Ok, Town Meeting Day is passed. Bob Kiss is still the mayor of Burlington. Time to move on from election coverage and focus on… “Building a Better Burlington.” That’s the topic of our cover story this week, by Ken Picard, Mike Ives and Dan Bolles. We asked readers to send us their ideas for how…
TMD: Vermont Yankee (Morning Update)
(Note to Readers: This post updates the number of towns that approved / rejected the Vermont Yankee resolution yesterday) Thirty-three municipalities have passed a resolution asking lawmakers to deny approval of the continued operation of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant after 2012. The resolution that petitioners placed on town meeting day warnings for about 40…
Letters to the Editor
EQUAL ACCESS FOR ALL To ask that a school embrace children of all abilities is not selfish at all [“Old School, February 18]! If every member within the community had a child with a disability, they would see the importance of being able to enter through the front door. Talk about something that is taken…
Pitchforked … for the Whole World to See
Pitchfork Media reviews lost Death recordings. Local music critic disagrees.
Mild Frontier
Review of All That I Have by Castle Freeman Jr., Steerforth Press, 166 pages. $22.95.
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for March 4 – 11, 2009. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” said Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff. “It’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” While…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again A German teenager caught shoplifting in Verden found himself in even more trouble because the address he gave police turned out to be the home of one of the investigating officers. “It was a complete coincidence,” a police official told Reuters after the 18-year-old boy admitted lying. “The thief gave that address…
Putting the Fun in Function
Art Review: “The Shape of Things: Johnny Swing and the Best of Vermont Design 2009,” Helen Day Art Center, Stowe. Through March 21.
![Gregory Douglass [SIV118]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/episode118.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Gregory Douglass [SIV118]
2/26/09: Gregory Douglass celebrated the release of BATTLER, his seventh albumThursday to a sold out crowd at Higher Ground. After 10 years as anindependent singer/songwriter touring the country and performing atcountless venues, it was a warm homecoming with guest vocalists Grace Potter, Anais Mitchell and Lisa Piccirillo. Other singer/songwriters interviewed about Greg: the producer of…
TMD: Woodbury School Budget
(Ed note: This is another dispatch from reporter Anne Galloway) A school budget increase of 8.7 percent for the 2009-2010 school year threw Woodbury voters in a tizzy on Town Meeting Day, and not only because that number exceeded the allowable increase of 3.9 percent, forcing the school board to present two budgets to voters…
TMD: Vermont Yankee Update (Final)
(Ed. note: This is the final dispatch from reporter Anne Galloway on today’s votes related to the relicensure and decommissioning of Vermont Yankee). So far, 25 municipalities have passed a resolution asking lawmakers to deny approval of the continued operation of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant after 2012. The resolution that petitioners placed on town…
TMD: Vermont Yankee Update
So far, 24 municipalities have passed a resolution asking lawmakers to reject recertification of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant after its operating license expires in 2012. The resolution that petitioners placed on town meeting day warnings for about 40 municipalities around the state also required that lawmakers hold Entergy Corporation, the owner of the…
TMD: Preliminary Vermont Yankee Roundup
[Ed. Note: This just in from Seven Days correspondent Anne Galloway…] So far, 20 municipalities have passed a resolution demanding that the legislature refuse to approve continued operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant beyond its scheduled end date of 2012.The nonbinding resolution that petitioners placed on town meeting day warnings in about 40…
Town Meeting Day 2009 Live Blog
Town Meeting Day 2009 <p><a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=ed379d0283" >Town Meeting Day 2009</a></p>
TMD: Rutland Residents Mum at Info Meeting
Today’s Rutland Herald has a story covering proceedings at last night’s pre-town-meeting informational forum. Or rather, the lack of them. According to Herald staffer Stephanie Peters: “A Monday night public hearing on the city’s Town Meeting Day ballotdrew a handful of residents, but none who actually wanted to comment orask questions about items appearing on…
TMD: Wasilla
Vermont isn’t the only state with an iconoclastic rural mystique. Remember Alaska? That’s where former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin lives. Here is actor Chris Schneider reading what is reportedly a town meeting transcript from Wasilla, Alaska, where Palin used to be mayor.
Best Bites: Foothills Bakery
Foothills Bakery1123 Main Street, Fairfax, 849-6601 By Suzanne Podhaizer In rural Franklin County, places to nosh are few and far between. And if you’re a vegetarian or a whole-foods aficionado, most area eateries will leave you in the lurch. But one little gem in Fairfax caters aptly to both crowds. The tiny Foothills Bakery, right…
TMD: Stowe-away
I drove to Stowe this morning to observe a real live town meeting. The sky over I-89 was clear and cold. Commentators from WDEV were talking town meeting on my car radio. When I arrived at Stowe High School just after 9 a.m., the parking lot was full. Free muffins everywhere. More than 200 people…
TMD: BurlingtonPol Endorses Bob Kiss
I just read Haik’s endorsement on his blog and thought it was worth sharing. Another must-read from BurlingtonPol: Haik interviews Burlington mayoral candidate James Simpson. Here’s the most telling exchange from that interview: HB: And what part of the city do youlive in? JS: I live in downtown Burlington. HB: OK JS: Yup. Up on…
TMD: Old North End, Burlington
I stopped by three polling places in Burlington’s Old North End this morning between 8 and 9:15 a.m., to see what was going on. Not much, it seems. I kept feeling like I had just missed the first rush of the day — maybe people tend to vote in the afternoon and early evening on…
TMD: “The Best Show in Town”
This 5-minute video from Steve Delaney and the Vermont Public Radio team explores the Town Meeting Day tradition. Watch it to see what TMD is like in the rest of Vermont, outside of Chittenden County. Nice job, VPR. Memo to Winooski: This could be us! Maybe we could get the restaurants of Little Asia to…
TMD: The Fur is Flying in Guildhall!
Or so says a commenter on Vermont Public Radio’s website. VPR is asking readers to share the goings-on in their towns today. They’ve only gotten 3 comments so far, but the second one, from “ellewilson” is a goodie. I know it might be difficult to imagine that tiny Guildhall, Vermont(Essex County) might have controversy, but…
Town Meeting Day 2009
Hey, it’s Town Meeting Day! Did you vote yet? I’ve always wanted to live in one of those towns that has an actual town meeting, where residents meet and discuss whether to buy a new fire truck, and where the moderator has an encyclopedic knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order. But I live in Winooski.…
Checking in with Kesha Ram
[image-x] I recently had the opportunity to spend a Friday morning with UVM alum and newly elected Representative Kesha Ram at her new digs — the statehouse in Montpelier. I had never been to Montpelier before. The capital of Vermont, like most Green Mountain towns outside the Burlington metro area, consists of no more than…
