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.
After more than two years of legal battles and two rulings from a bitterly divided Vermont Supreme Court, a case involving an assault committed by a former Brattleboro Retreat patient still is far from over.
That's because the Supreme Court's rulings, the latest of which came Sept. 16, have created a new legal standard - dubbed a “duty to warn” - for mental health workers who are treating potentially dangerous patients. And that standard is causing worry for health care providers, state officials, and even two of the high court's justices.
As the assault case returns to the Superior Court level for further action, attorneys on both sides of the dispute also are predicting that the state Legislature may step in to resolve the larger legal matter.
Retreat attorney Ritchie Berger, while saying he has “great empathy” for assault victim Michael Kuligoski, vowed that “the lawsuit will continue to be vigorously defended based on the facts and on the medicine involved.”...
The controversial Stiles Brook Wind Project proposal is about to change. Developer Iberdrola Renewables has scheduled two public meetings to discuss revisions to the project's size and its economic impacts. Currently, plans call for a 28-turbine wind energy site that would be Vermont's largest. The sessions are scheduled for...
Given a chance to reconsider their decision to leave the Leland & Gray regional school union, Jamaica voters reversed course. On Sept. 13, the town voted by a 126-102 margin in favor of staying in the five-town union. That has immediate implications for Jamaica's school board, which now will...
As residents try to imagine Vernon's energy future, some say the former nuclear town should think small. Officials and experts gathered Sept. 12 to discuss how Vernon might continue to produce electricity - whether on or off Vermont Yankee property - and possibly profit from it via jobs and tax revenue. The session included talk of gas plants, solar arrays, a hydroelectric partnership, and an energy research facility. There also were warnings that the town shouldn't try to find another...
In a sunny meeting room on a historic Brattleboro farm, a few dozen people spent part of the morning on Sept. 16 talking about good news in the region's dairy industry. They highlighted local success stories like the Holstein Association USA and the rapidly growing Commonwealth Dairy. And they touted a resurgent interest in agriculture, with an accompanying need for manpower and training. But there was no avoiding the dark clouds over Vermont's dairy business: Farmers are struggling with low...
A long-planned Act 46 merger vote has been delayed once again in Windham Southeast Supervisory Union. Just a few weeks after setting a Nov. 8 vote on the merger of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney school districts, the union's Act 46 Study Committee decided to push that ballot question all the way to Town Meeting Day 2017. Officials also decided to reschedule a Nov. 8 vote on allowing Vernon to leave the regional high school union. That matter will be...
In a basement meeting room just a short walk from the front gate of Vermont Yankee, federal, state, regional and town officials spent the afternoon hours of Aug. 29 discussing ways Vernon might bounce back from the nuclear plant's closure. They focused on two ideas floated by Vernon residents - a business incubator and a high-speed fiber optic internet network. The general conclusion is that neither of those ideas is ready for prime time, with experts saying Vernon needs to...
Town officials say they may not meet a developer-imposed deadline to vote on the controversial Stiles Brook Wind Project proposal. Developer Iberdrola Renewables has said it will abide by the results of a November vote from Windham and Grafton residents on whether the 28-turbine Stiles Brook plan - which would be the state's largest turbine site - should proceed. While Windham has committed to a Nov. 8 vote, Grafton Selectboard Chairman Ron Pilette says he doesn't think residents will have...
