May 16-22, 2012
Can Green Mountain Coffee Survive the Stock Drop That Claimed Its Founder?; A Sort-Of Interview With Steve Martin; Opting Out of Front Porch Forum; Impromptu Gay Bars in Burlington; The Burlington Farmers Market Expands
Cover Story
Prog Candidate to Challenge Gov. Shumlin — At Least For Now
Republican Sen. Randy Brock isn’t the only one challenging Gov. Peter Shumlin for the state’s top job. Progressive Party Chairwoman and perennial candidate Martha Abbott is also gathering signatures to run for governor. But the Underhill resident, who has run for governor and state auditor before — twice each — says she’s not necessarily in…
Auditor Tom Salmon Not Running for Re-Election, Likely Moving to Washington D.C.
State Auditor Tom Salmon said on Friday that he isn’t running for re-election and is likely moving his family to Washington D.C. to work for the federal government. Salmon (pictured) said he would finish out his term, which ends in January 2013. “I have a number of options presented to me, and some still out there,…
Movies You Missed 39: Michael
This week in movies you missed: To his friends and coworkers, Michael (Michael Fuith) seems like an average thirtysomething bachelor. He sells insurance. Takes ski trips. Buys Harry Potter books for his nephew. And makes sure to pick up an extra copy for the 10-year-old he keeps locked in his basement. What You Missed Five…
Planned Parenthood Wants 35-Foot “Patient Safety Zone” to Keep Anti-Abortion Protesters At Bay
The Burlington chapter of Planned Parenthood wants a buffer zone around its new downtown offices to keep anti-abortion demonstrators from approaching patients and staff. On Monday, the City Council will take up an ordinance that would create a 35-foot “patient safety zone” around the St. Paul Street building. Jill Krowinski, director of Vermont public affairs…
License Plate Sales Not So “Vermont Strong” After All
Turns out those ubiquitous, green “I Am Vermont Strong” license plates aren’t quite as ubiquitous as Gov. Peter Shumlin thought. Pete Hirschfeld over at the Vermont Press Bureau has the goods on a bit of a “miscommunication” between the gov’s office and the Department of Motor Vehicles over how many of the $25 plates have…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again A woman entered a Chicago bank one Thursday and, according to a criminal complaint, handed a teller a note demanding “all of your money, no cops, no dye pack.” The teller told the woman “the bank was closed and that she should come back tomorrow.” She didn’t return on Friday, but on…
Booming Market
With more vendors and a new layout, the Burlington Farmers Market grows up
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Is there a difference in sound quality between relatively inexpensive modern violins and the multimillion-dollar violins created by master craftsmen in the 1700s? In research done at the Eighth International Violin Competition, most violinists couldn’t tell them apart. (Read more here: tinyurl.com/ViolinResearch.) In accordance with the astrological omens, Aries, I urge…
Letters to the Editor
Erreur-2 There is another to add to your corrections last week [Feedback, May 9]. In the ninth paragraph of [“Nuke of the North: Québec’s Gentilly-2 Reactor Faces VT Yankee-Style Closure Fight,” May 2], Mr. Picard refers to “the provisional government of Québec.” I think he meant the “provincial” government. He also could have just said…
Vermont Tiger Roars No More
Vermont’s online political arena moved a notch to the left Tuesday as the state’s most prominent conservative blog, Vermont Tiger, announced it’s ceasing regular publication. Dorset writer and editor Geoffrey Norman (pictured right; photo by Lee Krohn), who launched the blog in January 2007, said that competing professional and family obligations are forcing him to…
Pop-Up Pride and Memories of 135 Pearl
Last week, when President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, Vermonters didn’t flock to gay bars to celebrate — there aren’t any here. The state’s best-known LGBTQ bar, 135 Pearl, closed six years ago next month. So far, no one has been able, or willing, to replace it. Not permanently, anyway — several temporary…
ECHO’s “Our Body” Exhibit Sparks Controversy, Questions
A splashy front-page article in Sunday’s Burlington Free Press cast doubt on the ECHO Lake Center and Aquarium’s largest exhibit to date: a 6000-square foot show called “Our Body: The Universe Within,” which displays human cadavers of Chinese descent preserved through a process called “plastination.” Visitors are raving. Doctors at the University of Vermont College…
State Archivist Gregory Sanford to Retire
Gregory Sanford, the affable Vermont state archivist with the long gray beard, is retiring. Sanford’s boss, Secretary of State Jim Condos, spilled the beans on Saturday at a meeting of the Democratic State Committee and Sanford confirmed Monday that his last day on the job will be August 1. First hired as the “editor of…
