Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
BRATTLEBORO-Sebastian Alvarez knows firsthand that not every student learns the same way.
Now the 16-year-old Brattleboro sophomore will get to make that case to the people who set education policy for the entire state.
BRATTLEBORO-When Jen Ricker heard the news that she had been named the 2025 Vermont Early Childhood Educator of the Year by the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC; vtaeyc.org), she "burst into tears." "It's a great job," says Ricker, the lead teacher at the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development. Ricker teaches infants and toddlers and was recognized for her two decades of work supporting children and families, building warm and welcoming relationships between family...
PUTNEY-For Rodney Bell, death provides a living. Bell works as a burial excavation specialist - that is, a gravedigger. When Bell, 57, was a toddler in early 1970, his father, Howard Bell, was working for Washburn Vault, then in West Brattleboro and now in New Hampshire. "He was going to different cemeteries with [burial] vaults for different funerals, and he met this guy who dug graves in one cemetery, who asked my father to help him," Bell said. "My dad...
-In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica last week, apple growers in Vermont have begun fundraisers to provide direct financial support to their Jamaican team members who annually come to Vermont to help with the harvest. On Oct. 29, Champlain Orchards of Shoreham announced it is organizing a statewide relief campaign by Vermont apple growers: the Vermont Apple Growers' Support Fund for Jamaican Seasonal Workers. The crowdfunding, via a GoFundMe appeal, will provide direct financial...
BRATTLEBORO-An editing error in the Oct. 29 cover story ("'I don't just want to read the landscape. I want to eat it.'") resulted in logistical confusion about the date and time of an upcoming event celebrating Newfane author Deborah Lee Luskin's new memoir, Reviving Artemis. Luskin will be signing books at ByWay Books (399 Canal St., Brattleboro) on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. This News item was submitted to The Commons.
BRATTLEBORO-A new book, set to go on sale Nov. 9, will celebrate the town's history through photos of local marches, cavalcades, and protests. Brattleboro on Parade, a 104-page paperback, features images from the Brattleboro Historical Society. The book looks at parades as far back as horse-drawn Valley Fair carriages in 1889 and as recently as the current "By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth" Independence Day parade. In between, the book pictures historic events, including presidential visits, local troops departing for...
-On Oct. 22, the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) said it was directed by the federal government earlier this month to pause food stamp distribution for November due to the continued shutdown in Washington, D.C. The following day, state officials said that they're rushing to deliver stopgaps for food and heating assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture informed Vermont and other states in recent weeks that it did not have sufficient funds during the shutdown to operate its...
BRATTLEBORO-She started her own restaurant at the age of 20. Today, Linda Alvarez teaches young people how to become entrepreneurs and community leaders themselves. And now, she has been named 2026 Vermont Teacher of the Year, the first career and technical education (CTE) educator in the state to receive this award from the state Agency of Education. "Being recognized as Vermont's Teacher of the Year is such an honor," says the business and entrepreneurship teacher at the Windham Regional Career...
NEWFANE-Mankind is a narrative species, argues Newfane author Deborah Lee Luskin, and hunting has been one of its chief topics for thousands of years. Now she is adding to the conversation. Luskin's new book, a piece of narrative nonfiction called Reviving Artemis: The Making of a Huntress, is the story of how she, a New York–born Ph.D., a writer, and an educator, turned herself into a Vermont deer hunter. The book will be published Nov. 4 by Sibylline Press. The...
Emma Rose Sheldon is a licensed clinical mental health counselor. BRATTLEBORO-I feel compelled to speak...
KATE TRZASKOS is executive director of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance. BRATTLEBORO- What does the future...
The writer represents Windham-1 (Guilford and Vernon) in the Vermont Legislature. GUILFORD-Thank you to the...
Chloe Learey is executive director of the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development.
BRATTLEBORO-For the first time since 2015, the Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) Annual Galbraith Lecture...
BRATTLEBORO-Sarasa Ensemble performs “Nordic Circle” at the Brattleboro Music Center on Friday, Nov. 13, at...
VERNON-Regional nonprofit Jazzhers will host a jazz clinic for female and nonbinary students in grades...
BRATTLEBORO-Peter Gould’s new novel, Part for the Hole, is about a guy who decides to...
-The Bellows Falls Terriers are now one victory away from winning the Division III state...
-There will be more soccer at Hayford Field in Wilmington this week as both of...
-It has been a great autumn of soccer in the Deerfield Valley so far this...
-The Twin Valley-Leland & Gray soccer rivalry is one of the best in Vermont as...
