Money Issue
Coronavirus Ravages Vermont’s Budget; Self-Employed Vermonters Wait for Unemployment Benefits; Financial Therapists Help Vermonters Cope With a Tanking Economy
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#ThanksHealthHeroes: Share Your Gratitude to UVM Health Network’s Frontline Workers
Health care professionals are working tirelessly and selflessly, risking their health to screen, care for and protect those in need. Let our “health heroes” know that you’re thinking of them, appreciate their commitment and that you value their incredible dedication to helping our community. People can now easily see and share messages and photos expressing…
Obituary: Susan Ainsworth-Daniels, 1954-2020
Champlain Housing Trust associate director helped people in many walks of life
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How Social Distancing Slows the Spread of COVID-19
Did you know that one person who has COVID-19 can spread the virus to 406 people in 30 days — and someone who is sick with no symptoms can still spread this highly contagious virus? It’s unlikely that anything will completely stop it, which is why slowing it down is so critical. How staying home…
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Dr. Tim Lahey Answers Your Pressing Coronavirus Questions
As we seek to protect ourselves and our loved ones while preventing the spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness known as COVID-19, accurate information and expert guidance is more important than ever. Here, Tim Lahey, MD, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of Vermont’s Larner School of Medicine and…
Sasha Travis, ‘No Going Back’
(Self-released, digital) Sasha Travis is a triple threat from Vermont by way of Russia. He is a naturally talented rapper, a prolific producer (as NOtation) and an accomplished musician. Travis is especially formidable on the trumpet, which makes several appearances on his latest EP, No Going Back. Drawing on his considerable experience, the multitalented artist’s…
Soundbites: Local Musician Recovers From COVID-19; Plus, New Music From Madaila
When historians sit down to write the story of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Vermont, they’ll have to come up with some kind of catchy name for Friday, March 13. Maybe “Black Friday” or “The Day the Music Died” or, um, “Friday the 13th.” (Yeah, we’ll workshop that.) If you recall, that was the day…
Father Figuer, ‘Transitions’
(Self-released, digital) In a 2016 interview with the Austin Chronicle, DIIV front person Zachary Cole Smith stated his purpose for composing music: “The music I’m writing now, it’s more about drawing eyes back to us and trying to make something that makes the case for guitar music again.” As a listener who’s moved by the…
Page 32: Five Newish Books by Vermont Authors
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a cete of badgers. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book…
Free Will Astrology (4/8/20)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Moses did 40 years’ worth of hard work on behalf of his people, delivering them out of slavery in Egypt. Yet God didn’t allow him to enter into the Promised Land. Why? At the end of his travails, he made a minor mistake that angered God beyond reason. Petty? Harsh? Very…
Major Jackson and Other Vermont Poets Bring Verse to the Socially Distant
“I am a tributary of something greater,” wrote poet Major Jackson in his new book, The Absurd Man. The poem, called “Double View of the Adirondacks as Reflected Over Lake Champlain From Waterfront Park,” is about the perspective found in considering the lake and the mountains. But in the age of a pandemic and social…
Hackie: The Trickle
One by one, my existing airport bookings had canceled, transforming my once-reassuring wall calendar (yes, I’m that old-school) into a sad display of big red X’s. Certainly, no new reservations were on the horizon. Not in this environment. The next blow: My restaurant fares began to dry up as people got hip to the danger…
Dash for Cash: After Stumbles, Race Begins for Federal Business Relief
A group of college ski bums may have opened Skirack in Burlington on a whim in 1969, but it’s taken smart business instincts to survive the 50 years since. Faced now with an unprecedented public health crisis that has shuttered the outdoor gear store, founder and co-owner Zandy Wheeler knows he needs to navigate with…
Investment Adviser Dan Cunningham Offers Tips for Staying Sane in a Financial Crisis
Not so long ago, the stock market was a common small-talk starter from barstools to locker room benches. “Hey, Bob, how’s your portfolio looking?” you might say as you bellied up for a dirty martini or laced your Nikes for a round of pickleball. Bob would shrug and say something like, “Oh, you know. Up…
Downgraded: Coronavirus Is Ravaging Vermont’s State Budget
Hours after legislators voted to close the Vermont Statehouse last month in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, Rep. Kitty Toll (D-Danville) and fellow members of the House Appropriations Committee toiled into the evening to complete next year’s state budget. “We were well over 80, 85 percent done,” said Toll, who chairs the committee, “until…
Financial Therapists Help Vermonters Cope With a Tanking Economy
Recently a friend admitted that, in a pandemic-anxiety-induced fugue state, she aggressively stocked up on hot sauce. “My afterschool snack was Tabasco on crackers,” she revealed. “Definitely a comfort thing.” Another friend confided that she bought a printer so she could make collages at home: “I don’t even have glue!” she lamented. Yet another confessed…
Burlington Woman Helps Those Hit by Coronavirus Crisis Pay Bills
While Burlington’s COVID-19 Resource & Recovery Center is connecting Queen City residents with resources to help them through the coronavirus crisis, one Burlington woman is using her nonprofit organization to help them pay their utility bills. Laura Hale has harnessed the power of her 501c3, the ONE Good Deed Fund, to raise nearly $24,000 and distribute…
Photographer Brittany Powell Documented the Faces of Debt
Debt doesn’t disappear during a pandemic, and it’s a huge weight on the shoulders of those who carry it — especially if they’ve lost their jobs. Photographer Brittany Powell knows this firsthand from a previous global crisis: the economic collapse in 2008. Living in California at the time, she racked up serious debt as her…
Letters to the Editor (4/8/20)
Editor’s Note: Seven Days Suspends Online Comments Until Further Notice Since 2014, Seven Days has allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we’ve appreciated the suggestions and insights, the time has come to shut them down — at least temporarily. While we champion free speech, facts are a matter of…
Postponed Nuptials, and Revenue, in Vermont’s Wedding Industry
Whitney Henault and Josh Narrow were counting down the days until their wedding, scheduled for April 25 at the Catamount Country Club in Williston. The couple, who live in North Woodstock, N.H., had been talking for two years about getting married and planning the event for 14 months, Henault told Seven Days by phone. Then…
How Do I Prevent the ‘Quarantine 15’?
Dear Reverend, I was laid off due to the coronavirus. Luckily, I should be OK financially for a while, but I haven’t left my house in about three weeks. All I do is lay on the couch, watch the news and stress-eat. I thought I’d change out of my pajamas yesterday to maybe feel like…
Self-Employed Vermonters Must Wait for Federal Unemployment Benefits
Salvatore and Jamey Barnao are not used to needing help. The two self-employed business owners — Salvatore, a custom tile installer; Jamey, a hair stylist — have long relied on themselves for their livelihood, building faithful clienteles that have kept them busy through the years. The Georgia couple’s financial self-reliance crumbled late last month after…
Relief Funds Established for Baristas, Bartenders and Restaurant Workers
Vermont’s service industry is facing unprecedented levels of unemployment as the result of shutdowns and loss of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As restaurants, bars and cafés adapted to takeout-only business models last month — or closed entirely to ride out the crisis — many were forced to trim their payroll, and food-service employees…
Vermont-Grown Produce Is a Hot Commodity in Hard Times
In the last week of March, Pete’s Greens produce farm in Craftsbury sold about 35,000 pounds of root vegetables, roughly double the farm’s weekly distribution of storage crops, owner Pete Johnson said. The organic farm he started 21 years ago is also experiencing a surge in its CSA business, the part of the farm that…
Obituary: Penelope Carlisle, 1937-2020
Mary Fletcher Hospital candy striper worked in nursing for more than 30 years
The Money Issue — 2020
Money is a difficult subject for a lot of people to talk about. Perhaps owing to old-fashioned Yankee modesty, Vermonters in particular tend to get uncomfortable when asked about their finances. That’s true even under ideal circumstances. But what about when things get bad? Like, bad bad? Like, real-life disaster movie bad? Turns out, global…
