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.
When talk turns to finances at the Brattleboro Retreat, the current buzzword is “stability.”
Administrators say they are implementing a two-pronged plan to improve the mental health and addiction hospital's short- and long-term financial outlook. The changes include a major overhaul in medical billing and an in-depth performance review of the Retreat's programs.
Retreat President and CEO Louis Josephson said the changes aren't driven by a dire financial crisis. Rather, Josephson said he's trying to build some breathing room into a budget that's been “too tight for comfort” for too long.
“I wouldn't say we're on shaky ground,” Josephson said. “But we have no cushion, and that's a big stressor on an organization.”...
After discovering elevated radon levels at two elementary schools earlier this year, Windham Central Supervisory Union officials quickly corrected those problems. But the potentially hazardous gas has caused more persistent issues at Leland & Gray Middle and High School, the supervisory union's largest building. With students returning to class,
After a long search and some legislative lobbying, Marlboro school officials think they've found their district's niche in Vermont's changing educational landscape. The question is whether state officials will agree. Marlboro School Board members have approved an Act 46 merger plan that would link their district with two other,
Despite Vermont's big problems with EB-5, the foreign investment program, has led to major expansions at Mount Snow. And that trend may continue, even in the wake of recent news that the federal government intends to shut down the state-run EB-5 regional center. Executives at the Dover resort wouldn't comment on the state's latest EB-5 travails. But Mount Snow administrators in recent weeks have touted their progress on an initial round of EB-5 projects, while also confirming that they've requested...
Voters finally may get a chance to consider a four-town school district merger in Windham Southeast Supervisory Union. The union's Act 46 Study Committee has approved a proposal for combining districts in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney into one new district governed by one board. If the state Board of Education also OK's the plan, the matter will go to voters in those four towns on Nov. 7 The outcome is far from certain, as Windham Southeast's merger talks have...
More than two years after its inception, a wood heat program fueled by a $1.6 million allocation from Vermont Yankee appears to be kicking into high gear. Windham Wood Heat Initiative, which promotes high-efficiency wood boiler installation, has funded three completed projects with five more in progress. Five of those new heating systems are in school buildings. The program also has a newly extended deadline, and officials have begun allowing nonprofit organizations to participate. Previously, the program had been limited...
Stratton Mountain ski area is now officially part of a 12-resort company that spans four states and two countries. The acquisition of Stratton's parent company, Intrawest, by two investment firms closed at the end of July. And the deal is even bigger than initially announced earlier this year, with four additional California resorts now in the mix. The new, combined company is still organizing and doesn't even have a name yet. But a spokeswoman said the deal eventually will bring...
While Vermont Yankee's $143 million fuel storage project still has a long way to go, federal inspectors like what they've seen so far. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors have visited the Vernon plant to observe the transfer of radioactive spent fuel into more secure storage. Federal officials also have interviewed workers at the site and reviewed records. The bottom line, the NRC says in an Aug. 16 report, is that “no findings of safety significance were identified.” Entergy wants to sell...
