Entergy spent $58 million from the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund in the first year after the Vernon nuclear plant's shutdown, the company disclosed.
Overall, with investment income and trust administrative expenses figured in, the fund decreased by about $69 million in 2015 - from $664.56 million to $595.4 million at year's end.
Administrators said the new figures show that Entergy is in compliance with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is on track financially in the early stages of Vermont Yankee's decommissioning.
“The good news is, we're still well above the NRC required minimum balance for the trust,” said Joe Lynch, Entergy Vermont Yankee's government affairs manager. “And we are under budget, overall.”...
When groundwater is collected at Vermont Yankee, there are two sets of eyes - Entergy's and the state's - scrutinizing the samples for pollutants. The question, though, is whether that arrangement should continue now that the plant no longer produces power. And some say it's a high-stakes debate, given...
Local groups host discussion on school discipline in Vermont BRATTLEBORO - On Thursday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m., at the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro at 17 Flat St., local groups are hosting a panel discussion on the unequal use of exclusionary discipline in Vermont schools, its effects,
Selectboard Clerk Gurudharm Khalsa told his colleagues he received a request for the town to double the Farmland Protection Fund from its current yearly budgeted amount of $2,500. He said he agrees it should be increased. The other board members were not convinced. At the Dec. 23 regular board meeting, board member Joe Cook pointed out that in the approximately 20 years of the fund's existence, there has been only one disbursement. It was recent, Cook said, and it was...
Obituaries • Lucy Belle Adams, 99, of Reading, Vt. Died Jan. 27 at the Davis Home in Windsor. Born in Braintree, Vt., the daughter of the late Harry and Alta Belle (Stone) Flint, she received her schooling in Braintree. She married Theron H. Adams in 1935. She and her husband owned and operated their family farm in Morrisville for many years. They moved to Reading in October 1950. Lucy did housekeeping for several families in the Reading area. She was...
The Greater Falls Warming Shelter is looking for more volunteers to staff the shelter each night. The shelter operates seven days a week, with four volunteers needed each night, so there is a constant need for more volunteers to fill in for regular volunteers. “Our regular volunteers are the lifeblood of our operation,” said Deb Clark, volunteer coordinator, “but they can't always be available, so we need others to fill in.” Clark said all volunteers receive training and can serve...
The Fit and Healthy Kids Coalition has named Marlboro Elementary School, which has 83 students in grades K-8, the Winter 2016 Community Champion because of its commitment to promoting good nutrition. The school started a Healthy Snack breakfast program in January 2008 and since then have implemented a full food program with breakfast, lunch and after school snack. Their full meal program started in January 2013. Francie Marbury, who has been the principal at Marlboro since 2002, says she is...
Thank you for your well-balanced coverage. I will be able to share this article with friends, neighbors, and others who might not be aware of the Liberty Mill Justice Center proposal. I will continue to oppose the LMJC and look forward to attending more Rockingham For Progress meetings. I am encouraged that Sheriff Clark might opt to look elsewhere for this project if there is enough opposition. Now we need to make sure folks are registered to vote and get...
Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts (MGFA) presents GROUP EXHIBIT 2016, a diverse selection of work created in a variety of media by current and new gallery artists. This show opens with an artists reception Thursday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., and continues through April 17. An artist forum is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. MGFA opened one and a half years ago with seven represented artists. GROUP EXHIBIT 2016 includes more than 20 artists from Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire,
This year's Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce's Person of the Year award went to not one person, but many. Chamber members honored the many Reformer Christmas Stocking board members on Jan. 28 with the chamber's Person (or in this case, Persons) of the Year award. Over its 78-year history of providing winter clothing to children, the volunteers behind the Christmas Stocking collected $3 million in funds, connected with families, purchased clothing, and organized comments from donors that appeared in the...
To be quite honest, I was surprised to see the conditions displayed in the article. Personally, I would want to know why those conditions exist and who is responsible for maintenance of the facility. It might be an old facility, but there is no excuse for the conditions I saw in those pictures. I might also add that the station was renovated - I think 10 to 15 years ago - so why did these poor conditions not get addressed...
Next Stage Arts Project will honor the late David Bowie on Friday, Feb. 5, by showing the 1973 film, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, at 7 p.m. Assorted Bowie music videos are also on the bill. Costumes are welcome. Documentarian D.A. Pennebaker focuses his lens on a 1973 concert by David Bowie, who performs under the moniker Ziggy Stardust with his glam-rock backing band, the Spiders From Mars. While some backstage footage of the theatrical singer-songwriter is featured,
I have given clothing to Experienced Goods for many years and have always been a responsible donor. I have donated items for reasons good and bad and everything in between. I might have gotten a new job and found out that my previous work wardrobe didn't mesh with my new position. Or less happily, due to an aging metabolism, I might have discovered the zipper that wouldn't go all the way to the top or the button that wouldn't quite...
Men and women as far away as Brattleboro, Rutland, Putney, Barre, Burlington, and St. Johnsbury met recently to launch a Vermont alimony-reform movement. I am spearheading this new activist organization, Vermont Alimony Reform (VAR). I am a native of Brattleboro who is forced to pay lifetime alimony to an ex-wife who has since remarried after the divorce was final. In most states, remarriage of an alimony-receiving spouse terminates an alimony obligation. Vermont Alimony Reform's mission is to reform and update...
I attended a really incredible performance recently: “Luminous Night” by the Brattleboro Concert Choir, directed by Susan Dedell. I was so very moved that I went home and found and purchased all the pieces on iTunes to create a CD of the concert. I must say that Sunday's live performance was of better quality than most of the recordings I could locate - especially the choir, who sang with great depth, sensitivity, and emotional maturity. Bravo, local musicians! How amazing...
A nearly decade-long trend of dwindling community participation will leave voters with few choices at the polls. Voters will decide only one contested race - two, one-year Selectboard seats - in the March 1 town election. The rest of the more than 60 combined open municipal, Representative Town Meeting, and school district seats are uncontested. Local business owner Avery Schwenk is running for one of the two Selectboard seats. His two opponents, incumbent David Gartenstein and former Selectboard Chair Dick...
Miss VT International 2016, Maddie Shaw, will have her first public speaking event at The Inclusion Center, on Monday, Feb. 8, at 12:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on Main Street. The event will be held again on Friday, Feb. 12, at 2:00 p.m. at The Inclusion Center at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on Putney Road. At this free event, Shaw will conduct ice-breaker activities, educate those attending about Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS), a rare genetic disorder, and...
This is to alert your readership to the fact that lately there have been many attempts to scam local residents into thinking that their computer has been hacked, or a “firewall has been breached” and the computer needs to be “cleaned” by an “Expert Computer Service.” If a box pops up on your screen and you can't get rid of it, don't call the phone number in the box. Just turn off your computer and start it up again. Please...
Thank you for documenting Bill Guay's effect on us. A memorial is being planned for Mon., Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main St., Brattleboro.
I have enjoyed having the Annual Town Report mailed to me. I understand some might prefer to opt out of the mailing, which would result in a smaller mailing list. If I need to be added to a list in order to receive it, then so be it. A postcard notification could be mailed, in lieu of mailing the report, with instructions on these ways to receive it.
Honoring the victims of Armenian Genocide and championing gay and lesbian identity may seem issues far removed from one another. However, a theater piece at Marlboro College written by and starring Lousine Shamamian finds a way to weave both into a compelling one-woman show, Shake the Earth. “People come up after the show and tell me that, although they would not have believed it possible, combining sexual identity and genocide now makes total sense,” says Shamamian. On Wednesday, Feb. 10,
Tim Johnson, news director for local radio station WTSA, swings his vehicle into a parking space outside Vernon's town offices. He trundles from his car, juggling paperwork and a folder of press releases. Today is more than a municipal news day for Johnson, the name he uses on-air. Today, he is the news. “Hi George,” Johnson says to a man exiting the building. “Tim! How are you?” the man happily replies. Johnson, a Vernon native, is a fixture in town.
It's been more than two years since Vermont, in the midst of an opiate crisis, began distributing free doses of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. And recently released state statistics back up what Gov. Peter Shumlin declared in his Jan. 21 budget speech: Naloxone, also known under the brand name Narcan, “has saved hundreds of lives” during that time. But it's also become clear that there are complexities associated with attempting to quickly rouse an overdose victim. For one thing, officials...
Next Stage Arts Project presents ON SCREEN, a series of themed films, hosted and curated by filmmaker Vanessa Vadim and writer/producer Paul van Winkle. The first theme is neo-noir. All films in the series will be on Monday nights at 7 p.m. Upcoming films in the series include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Feb. 8), Winter's Bone (Feb. 15), and Touch of Evil (Feb. 22). A short course on cinematic storytelling, ON SCREEN will provide the community with a place to...
In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a change in raw-milk cheesemaking standards that places more than two-thirds of cheesemakers in the state at risk of being put out of business. Of the 48 members of the Vermont Cheese Council (vtcheese.com), 34 make at least one cheese using raw milk. According to industry insiders - cheesemakers, microbiologists, and even an authorized FDA agent - the agency's change in raw-milk cheese standards is not based in science. They...
This town's Old Brick Church is nearly 200 years old, and a group of volunteers has plans to restore its former status as an important community center. But first, they've got to stabilize a building so deteriorated that the public has been barred from entering. A new, $20,000 state historic preservation grant - one of a dozen such grants announced by the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation - will help move the town and its Athens Meeting House Committee toward...
At a recent Rockingham Selectboard meeting, Francis “Dutch” Walsh gave his annual report, describing his office's work to facilitate new business and economic development in both the village and at the town's industrial park. Walsh serves two roles - development director for the town of Rockingham and executive director of the Bellows Falls Area Development Corporation - as the result of a one-page agreement between the town of Rockingham and the BFADC in 1984. Since the public announcement of Sheriff...
The Brattleboro Concert Choir will host “Songs of The Journey,” a concert by Charles Mays Jr., bass, on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street. Mays will sing a program of songs in celebration of Black History Month that, in his words, “reflect themes that touch the lives of everyone in some way. Although all of the songs are either written by Black people or are spirituals organically composed by field workers and arranged...
Main Street Arts will host a Coffee Haus concert Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., featuring three local musicians. The show is one in a series of events in the village's month-long celebration of “Blue Lights for Winter Nights.” Singers, songwriters, and storytellers Liz Rogers, Nick Kaiser, and Ron BosLun will each perform on the MSA stage. Considered one of folk music's most authentic voices, singer and composer Rogers first started singing professionally at the age of nine with the...
Withington Rink was hopping on Jan. 27 with a rare doubleheader night for the Brattleboro Colonels varsity hockey teams. The Colonel girls were finishing up a three-game homestand against the Hartford Hurricanes in the early game, while the Colonel boys were back to face the U-32 Raiders after playing three of their previous four games on the road. Both teams entered their respective games one win away from qualifying for the playoffs, and both teams ended their nights with losses.
The art exhibition “Centering” opens on Feb. 27 at Landmark College's Fine Arts Gallery. Curated by art professor Jen Morris, the exhibit features five artists of regional, national, and international reputation. “I wanted to make sure that I invited artists with as broad a foundation of process as possible,” Morris said in a news release. “I tried to not just represent a variety of mediums, but also include studio-based artists, artists who are reinventing their medium's history of 'studio,' and...
In celebration of Black History Month, Next Stage Arts Project presents a concert with Samirah Evans and Evelyn Harris on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. This tribute to iconic jazz and blues artists Nina Simone and Etta James will feature acclaimed selections from both celebrated artists. Evens and Harris will also sing compositions that resonate with them. They will be accompanied by pianist Miro Sprague, bassist Dave Picchi, and drummer Jon Fisher. “For mashing politics with music, Nina Simone...
I think of myself as a lifelong environmentalist, from participating in the first Earth Day and in education about nuclear power via Seabrook activists in the early '70s, through today, when we are at the major decision time regarding the healthy future of the planet. In those many years of observing presidential politics, I have never felt that we had a candidate who truly understood the importance of making real and lasting changes in our economic system in order to...