May 11-17, 2011
The Home & Garden Issue: When Home is Where the Farm Was; Charlie Nardozzi’s Cultivating Career; Pushing Paddies in Vermont; Vermont Workers’ Center Rallied for Rights
Pool Hall Hustlin’ on a Friday Night
It’s not every day you get to play pool with someone who makes her living at the sport (game, activity, thing you do when you’re drunk, what is it?). So when professional pool player Liz Ford invited me along on her stakeout mission of local pool bars in Burlington, I couldn’t say no. And when…
Environmental Groups Seek to Intervene in Entergy Lawsuit
Two more environmental groups are seeking to intervene in Entergy’s lawsuit against the state of Vermont: The Conservation Law Foundation of Vermont and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Last week, the New England Coalition (NEC) filed a similar petition to intervene. Entergy filed a response earlier this week with the court asking U.S. District…
Farmhouse Battleship Proves Nerds Can Have Fun
A couple weeks back, I was out to dinner with some pals at the Farmhouse Tap & Grill in Burlington when the most extraordinary thing happened. (For further explanation of said extraordinary thing, see below). If you’re wondering why I didn’t report this incredible event back when it happened it’s because I’m lazy and shiftless…
Special Report on DUI Breath-Testing Program
In early April, Seven Days staff writer Andy Bromage broke the news that two chemists from the state’s breath-testing program had raised questions about the equipment used to test drunk drivers. Shortly after the story appeared, Gov. Peter Shumlin transferred responsibility for administering the program from the Department of Health to the Department of Public…
Dear Vermont Lobbyist: Burn Eyeballs After Reading
In response to claims that it illegally solicited money from registered lobbyists during a legislative session, the allegedly non-existent reelection campaign of Gov. Peter Shumlin has added a lengthy disclaimer to its campaign emails. The disclaimer — which appeared at the bottom of an email issued today to supporters — suggests that registered lobbyists, or…
Captive But Dangerous?
Vermont’s emergence as the main base in the United States for captive insurance entities has been touted as one of the state’s great economic-development achievements of the past 30 years. But a report in Tuesday’s New York Times raises questions about the wisdom and sustainability of that achievement. A total of 919 captive insurance operations…
WTF UPDATE: Finally! How Burlington’s Iranistan Road Got Its Name…I think?
For readers who are bothering to keep score, this is the third and (hopefully) last time I’m writing about the persistent mystery behind the name of a street in Burlington’s Hill Section called Iranistan Road. Back in the December 22, 2010 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot column, I offered up a handful of variously plausible theories that might explain the…
WTF: What’s up with Wolcott’s home goods behemoth Buck’s Furniture?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: We just had to ask…
![Lois Trombley [222]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/episode222.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Lois Trombley [222]
5/8/11: Lois Trombley is a multi-talented local artist who wears many (top) hats such as dancer, choreographer, teacher, and performer. This Friday, the Spielpalast Cabaret, which Trombley co-created, directs, choreographs, and stars in, celebrates its 10th year at City Hall in Burlington. A former cabaret member and a dance student of Lois’, Eva caught up…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Two men who fled from a home invasion in Charlotte, N.C., left behind a black T-shirt that showed a photo of a man and the legend “Making money is my thang.” The homeowner recognized the photo as one of the men who had just robbed him. He turned out to be Tyrone…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The 16th-century English writer John Heywood was a prolific creator of epigrams. I know of at least 20 of his proverbs that are still invoked, including “Haste makes waste,” “Out of sight, out of mind,” “Look before you leap,” “Beggars shouldn’t be choosers,” “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and “Do…
Water World
A flood-mitigation expert walks through some dos and don’ts of the “science of drying”
Letters to the Editor
Clearer Picture I was initially startled when I read Vermont Public Television (VPT) president John King’s response to my comment that we felt left “high and dry” during the funding mess that plagued our 2004 VPT/Kingdom County Productions (KCP) comedy series, Windy Acres” [“Boxed In,” April 27]. Mr. King called my account “a myth,” so…
Springfield Theater Puts on a New Face
There’s a new face in downtown Springfield — grinning from the façade above that town’s historic movie theater. Last week workers installed Winooski artist Leslie Fry’s concrete relief, featuring an art-deco mask with a wild smile, atop the Springfield Theater, which has been closed since a fire severely damaged it about two and half years…
The 802 Cleans Up at the James Beard Awards
*Updated, below… The James Beard Awards are akin to the Oscars in the culinary world, and they’re doled out over two heady ceremonies: one more staid affair for food-related media; the other, a gala of sorts, for restaurants and chefs. Competing are the best writers, chefs, and television personalities from across the country. So last…
7 Questions for… VT Emergency Management’s Randy Bronson
In Vermont, each of the state’s 13 counties maintains its own Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), whose members might be called the masters of disaster. While average Vermonters go about our daily business of mowing the lawn, spreading mulch and getting our Netflix envelopes mailed on time so we don’t miss the next installment of…
Who Needs Billboards When You’ve Got Bikes?
Just when you thought we couldn’t have any more bicycle businesses in Burlington, another one pedals on by. This time, it’s not a bread delivery bike or a compost hauling bike. Nope, this new biz is a bicycle billboard of sorts. You gotta love the enterprise. Jen Fabiano, an enthusiastic, car-free 26-year-old, rolled out her…
