

PCB Manufacturer Asks Court to Dismiss Burlington School District’s Lawsuit
PCB manufacturer Monsanto asked a court on Thursday to dismiss the Burlington School District’s lawsuit over contamination, citing the statute of limitations. The suit, filed in December, alleges that Monsanto encouraged customers to use PCB mixtures in construction materials “despite knowing that this would directly introduce PCBs into surrounding air and other construction materials, and…
Report: Off-Duty Troopers Used Slurs in Online Game
The Vermont State Police are investigating allegations that off-duty troopers used racist and offensive language while playing an online game. The allegations were first reported by VTDigger.org on Thursday afternoon. According to the online outlet, at least two troopers attended a gathering at a trooper’s home to play Mad Verse City, an online rap battle…
Act 250 Notice Minor Application 4c0799-4 10 v.s.a. §§ 6001 – 6111
Application 4C0799-4 from LITMAC ENTERPRISES, LLC, Attn: Michael Litwhiler, 239 Park Road, South Burlington, VT 05403-5612 was received on January 20, 2023 and deemed complete on February 3, 2023. The project is generally described as the development of one single family dwelling unit and associated infrastructure located on a previously subdivided parcel (Lot 2 created…
Book Review: ‘Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time,’ Sheila Liming
There may be no experience better suited to reminding us of the importance of friendship than moving across the country during a pandemic. That’s what Sheila Liming did when she joined the Division of Communication & Creative Media at Champlain College. The experience informed her latest book, Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time,…
Vermont Self Storage Sale: Unit 03-00415
THE CONTENTS OF STORAGE UNIT 03-00415, located at Winter Sport Lane, Williston VT, 05495 will be sold on or about the 16th of February 2023 to satisfy the debt of Carey Eastman. Any person claiming a right to the goods may pay the amount claimed due and reasonable expenses before the sale, in which case…
Earth + Salt Brings Sex Toys and Positivity to Burlington
Listen to this story read aloud: A dozen dildos line a shelf in Earth + Salt like neon pink and rainbow-colored soldiers waiting for marching orders. In this case, their duty is not to rain down destruction but to deliver sexual pleasure. Nearby, a center table holds more than 20 vibrators, from the smooth green,…
Barre Honors Sue Higby for 20 Years of Leadership at Studio Place Arts
For more than 18 years, Indiana sculptor Rob Millard-Mendez has entered his mixed-media assemblages in shows at Studio Place Arts in Barre. And every time, he has sent the work in pieces, entrusting the meticulous assembly to executive director Sue Higby. An especially complicated one with many miniature parts was aptly titled “Not for Sissies,”…
A Tunbridge Sheep Farm-Turned-Wedding Venue Blends the Rustic With the Elegant
Even before Landgoes Farm became an official wedding venue in 2016, plenty of couples chose to get married there. High on a hill in Tunbridge, with open views of Mount Abraham to the west, Landgoes is the kind of setting where people naturally want to exchange vows and host a party, where the beauty of…
The Hood Museum Brings a Retrospective of Chicano Graphics From the Smithsonian
A vibrant and socially relevant exhibition has arrived at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. The traveling show from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., consists of 119 artworks by some 74 artists of Mexican descent and “allied artists active in Chicanx networks,” according to a museum description.…
Champlain Trio and Vermont Philharmonic Perform a Rare Triple Concerto by Beethoven
A concerto usually features a single soloist — say, a violinist or a pianist — playing with an orchestra. So what was Ludwig van Beethoven thinking when he made a piano trio the soloist in his 1804 Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C Major? The logistics are mind-boggling: The piece creates a…
Amid a School Bus Driver Shortage, Jackie Terry Rolls Along
The sun is still half an hour from rising when Jackie Terry emerges from her split-level home in Vergennes and into the darkness of an early January morning. The thermometer registers 21 degrees. Dressed in black, save for neon green gloves and an aqua headband that holds back a sandy blond mane, Terry paces around…
Letters to the Editor (2/8/23)
Church ‘Claptrap’ [Re “Burlington Allows Parish to Demolish Historic Cathedral,” January 11, online]: In response to the idea that one possible repurposing of the cathedral building — in lieu of demolishing an architecturally and culturally important piece of Burlington’s history — could be its use as a theater, this was Monsignor Peter Routhier’s response: “The…
High School Sweethearts Share Their Love Stories
If humor and honesty are keys to a lasting relationship, it’s little wonder Frank and Diane Farrington are closing in on seven decades of marriage. Frank, who will turn 89 on February 20, was sweetly discreet about the couple’s Valentine’s Day traditions. “Some of it,” Frank said, “I shouldn’t tell you.” But the Farringtons shared…
Take a Vow: Say “I Do” to the Love & Marriage Issue
If you planned to get married in summer 2020, you probably either postponed your nuptials or said your vows before God and family on Zoom. Although the initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout created more favorable conditions for the following year, it wasn’t much better, wedding-wise. To host a wedding in summer 2021 was essentially to invite…
Essay: I Do’s and I Don’ts From a Semiprofessional Wedding Guest
After I got engaged, my Instagram feed was suddenly filled with images of florals and lace, sparkling diamond bands, and teary brides touching up their makeup in the mirror. The brides looked flawless, but they all blended together. I wanted to be different but still feel like me. I wanted the romantic vows with a…
New Hospital Union Seeks to Reset ‘Livable Wage’ in Chittenden County
University of Vermont Medical Center support staffers’ vote to unionize last month was one of the largest labor elections in state history. Yet the landmark organizing drive, waged by the 2,200 lowest-paid workers at the state’s health care behemoth, was easy to miss. The technical professionals, nursing assistants and service workers, who together voted 1,120-181…
‘Women Talking’ Raise Powerful Questions in Sarah Polley’s Oscar-Nominated Drama
Written and directed by Sarah Polley (Away From Her), Women Talking is one of those movies that get a lot of attention from critics and not a lot from audiences. Potential viewers who are instantly put off by the subject matter — the aftermath of years of rape and sexual abuse — should know that…
An Avid Outdoorsman Wins Free Vermont Hunting and Fishing Licenses for Life
Landis Menard’s social media pages are filled with images of his hunting and fishing conquests: seven-point bucks, turkeys and trout. But his latest trophy can fit in his wallet. The Fairfield resident is the 2022 winner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s lifetime hunting and fishing license lottery. That means the 25-year-old Vermonter won’t…
Poem: ‘Never Give Your Love a Knife, Because’
it will cut your love in two I was told by someone who’d know, someone who did give a pocket- knife to their love. The best present I ever got— a gift certificate to fly a falcon and I never redeemed it, just let it hover in my mental map. An idea is all I…
King Tuff, ‘Smalltown Stardust’
(Sub Pop, cassette, CD, digital, vinyl) When Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, left his hometown of Brattleboro in 2011 to board a Greyhound bus bound for Los Angeles, it wasn’t exactly a triumphant departure. “The truth is I never really wanted to leave my little town in Vermont,” Thomas said in a press release for…
Now Playing in Theaters: February 8-14
new in theaters ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT: Nine Oscar nominations went to this new adaptation of the classic German anti-war novel from director Edward Berger, starring Felix Kammerer and Albrecht Schuch. (148 min, R. Savoy) MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE: Channing Tatum reprises his role as a stripper in the final film of Steven…
Free Will Astrology (2/8/23)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): To get the most out of upcoming opportunities for intimacy, intensify your attunement to and reverence for your emotions. Why? As quick and clever as your mind can be, sometimes it neglects to thoroughly check in with your heart. And I want your heart to be wildly available when you get…
How Can I Avoid Getting Depressed on Valentine’s Day?
Dear Reverend, I used to really love Valentine’s Day when I had a partner to share it with. I’ve been single for a while, and now I hate it. How can I avoid getting depressed when everybody else seems happy? Lone Lee Hart (woman, 28) Dear Lone Lee Hart, The origin of Valentine’s Day is…
From the Deputy Publisher: Talk of the Town
Does the former Greater Burlington YMCA building on College Street, now covered in graffiti, look like a crime scene? Paula Routly likened it to one in her “From the Publisher” column on January 18. “Once a symbol of a healthy community,” she wrote, “the building is now a glaring illustration of what ails Burlington.” Judging…
Soundbites: Francesca Blanchard Says Goodbye to Burlington — For Now
For all the idiosyncratic charms of our local music scene, the specter of loss always lingers nearby. We know that Burlington — and, indeed, the Vermont music scene in general — is a small pond. So it comes as no huge surprise when a musician ships off for a bigger market. If there was one…
On the Beat: New Singles From Sean Kehoe and Verboten, the Mammals Swing Through Ripton
North Bennington trio Verboten release their debut single, “Wonderland,” on Friday, February 10. The indie project is fronted by recent Vermont arrival Foster Powell, who left Massachusetts in 2021 to hole up during the pandemic and write the material that will appear on the group’s forthcoming EP, Strange Rehab Ch. 2. “I was looking in…
Burlington Voters Will Decide Whether to Create a New Police Oversight Model
On Monday, Burlington city councilors took the unusual step of asking voters to defeat an item that’s on the Town Meeting Day ballot. Led by the council’s Democratic caucus, the body voted 6-5 to oppose a charter change that would create a new police oversight board. If the ballot item passed — and was then…
With a New Space, Daily Chocolate Keeps Making Vergennes a Little Sweeter
Every town has a spot — it could be a village green or a scenic river bend — to which locals and visitors alike gravitate for a moment of sweet relief. In Vergennes, it’s the half-block stretch of Green Street that hosts two purveyors of literal sweets: lu•lu and Daily Chocolate. Lu•lu’s giant ice cream…
Chef Couple Copilot Marble Valley Kitchen in Rutland
Valentine’s Day is special for Lisa Fennimore and Nate Wright — but not because the couple has ever sat down together for a romantic meal on February 14. The chefs, who co-own Rutland deli and catering business Marble Valley Kitchen, met on Valentine’s Day 2006, when Wright hired Fennimore to work for him at a…
North Branch Nature Center Hosts a Forest-to-Spoon Workshop
What I gained from the January 29 Snow Season “Spooning” workshop at Montpelier’s North Branch Nature Center: 1) hands-on education in which trees yield softer wood receptive to the efforts of neophyte carvers, and 2) slightly more confidence when using hatchets and other digit-threatening tools. What I did not gain: a hand-carved wooden spoon. Ken…
Maudite Poutine to Close Poutinerie but Expand Guest Chef Program
After less than a year in operation, Burlington’s Maudite Poutine will close its poutine restaurant at 156 North Winooski Avenue at the end of February to refocus on mobile operations, said Joe and Leah Collier, part of the founder-owner sibling team of three. The business, which started as a food cart in 2016, will still…
New Owners for McKee’s Pub & Grill in Winooski
McKee’s Pub & Grill has been a Winooski staple for 35 years. As of January 1, it has new owners: Ryan Johnston and his aunt Jamie Lacourse bought the bar at 19 East Allen Street from Lance McKee, who still owns Papa McKee’s Pizzeria in Richmond in his “semiretirement,” Johnston said. Johnston started working for…
Putnam’s vine/yard Opens in White River Junction
In 2021, when Kelsey Rush returned to her native Upper Valley after living and working for six years in California’s Silicon Valley, she decided to pursue “a passion project,” she said. In December, Rush, 40, opened Putnam’s vine/yard in the White River Junction rail yard location at 188 South Main Street that previously housed the…
Obituary: Marcia Jean Perry, 1949-2023
Longtime educator also served her community as a Green Up Day coordinator, Meals on Wheels driver and food shelf volunteer
Obituary: Mark David Williamson, 1948-2023
Longtime OR nurse spread joy and kindness to everyone he touched
Vermont Lawmakers Question Job-Creating Subsidies at a Time of Low Unemployment
South Burlington battery technology startup Resonant Link has shown an impressive capacity for raising cash to fuel its growth. The firm, founded by Dartmouth College grads in 2017, got an initial infusion from FreshTracks, a venture capital firm in Shelburne. Then, early last year, it raised $9.3 million from the Engine, a fund connected to…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, February 8-14
Free Verse Wednesday 15 Poet, Hampshire College assistant professor and Massachusetts Review editor Nathan McClain stops by the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson for a reading. McClain, author of the collections Scale and Previously Owned, writes in straightforward, insightful verse about family, racism, history and grief. Live, Laugh, Love Tuesday 14 Valentine’s Day gets the…
Obituary: Candis Perrault-Kjelleren, 1957-2023
Cofounder of the Relay for Life of Chittenden County is remembered for her leadership, spirit and passion for music
Obituary: Robert Weber, 1934-2023
Fierce advocate for the disenfranchised loved birds, traveling, music and sports
Vermont International Film Festival Executive Director to Step Down
Orly Yadin, executive director of the Vermont International Film Festival, will step down from that position at the end of June, the organization announced on Thursday. Yadin, a former board member, has been its executive director since 2012. As she prepares to leave, Yadin said she’s pleased that the organization is in a “solid position.”…
Shelburne Museum Hires Curator of Native American Art
Victoria Sunnergren was in Santa Fe, N.M., last August, attending the centennial of the Santa Fe Indian Market — the world’s largest juried Native American art show — when she got a phone call from an 802 area code. It was Shelburne Museum, offering her a job in its curatorial department as the inaugural associate curator of…
Obituary: Robert Hall, 1923-2023
Decorated World War II veteran and family man was a talented photographer and ham radio enthusiast






