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Your support powers every story we tell. 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.
WESTMINSTER WEST-The River Singers Community Choir led by Mary Cay Brass will start their winter/spring session Tuesday, Feb. 3, at the Westminster West Church. The choir, in their 35th year, is a unique multi-generational community choir “dedicated to singing an eclectic mix of soulful, thrilling music from many lands.”
This season’s music will present songs of joy, love and peace from many Eastern European countries — Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia, as well as the Republic of Georgia and Lithuania.
Joining the choir as guest conductor will be Kathy Bullock, who holds a doctorate and master’s in music theory from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Bullock is a performer, arranger, and scholar of African American traditions and professor emerita from Berea Collage, as well as guest professor at Bennington College. She will join the choir for two workshops and concerts in the spring.
The River Singers have a longtime, deep tradition of presenting in song visions of social justice. The cost for a 12-week session is $145. If you are interested in joining, contact mcbrass@vermontel.net or visit marycaybrass.com.
BRATTLEBORO-The 19th annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival returns to the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24 and 25. The weekend festival, directed by Keith Murphy, explores the traditions that have contributed to this region’s rich musical heritage: Irish, English, Scottish, French Canadian, Scandinavian, and New...
Homelessness Awareness/Action Day is Jan. 22 BRATTLEBORO — Vermont’s annual Homelessness Awareness/Action Day takes place statewide Thursday, Jan. 22, when the community is invited to attend a vigil at 4 p.m. at Pliny Park in downtown Brattleboro to honor the lives affected by homelessness, to stand together for change,
Obituaries • Louis Michael Andreotta Jr., 70, died Jan. 16, 2026, due to complications from Dementia. He was born Oct. 9, 1955, in Clifton, New Jersey, the son of Louis Michael Andreotta Sr. and Anita Salmon. He graduated from the Florida Institute of Technology. His professional career took him across the globe, from Texas to Europe and finally, to settle in Vermont where he served Marlboro as Emergency Management Coordinator after Tropical Storm Irene. He is survived by his grandson...
MONTPELIER-Vermont high school juniors can now apply to earn a free, fast-tracked associate degree through the Free Degree Promise pathway at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). The Free Degree Promise builds on the state's Early College Program to give students the chance to complete a free associate degree of their choosing just one year after high school graduation. The state's Early College Program supports eligible high school seniors to take a full year of college courses tuition-free while completing...
SPRINGFIELD-The board of directors of Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) announced today the appointment of Anne Bilodeau as the organization's next chief executive officer, effective April 1. Bilodeau has been with HCRS since 2019 and has served as chief operating officer for the past four years. In this role, she has played a central part in advancing the agency's mission and strengthening its operations. As CEO, Bilodeau will provide overall strategic and operational leadership for the nonprofit organization, working...
BEDFORD, N.H.-Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains have kicked off the 2026 season of Girl Scout Cookies, their girl-led entrepreneurial program. “Exploremores,” a rocky road ice cream–inspired sandwich cookie, will join the legendary lineup for the 2026 Girl Scout Cookie season, which runs through March 15. In a news release, promoters said the cookies are “filled with delicious flavors of chocolate, marshmallow and toasted almond–flavored crème,” and “reflect the spirit of exploration at the heart of every Girl...
BRATTLEBORO-Turning Point of Windham County (TPWC) is launching a yearlong, nature-based wellness program pilot in partnership with the Windham Foundation and the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center (BEEC). This innovative initiative is designed to support individuals in recovery by integrating outdoor learning, environmental education, and wellness practices. Beginning in February, participants will take part in monthly two-hour guided workshop sessions on BEEC's campus. Each session combines hands-on outdoor skills or nature walks with opportunities for personal growth and peer recovery support.
BRATTLEBORO-The Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA) Small Business Cohort program was launched in January 2025 in collaboration with the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC). The purpose of the program is to create a peer support structure for new businesses, expanding businesses, and individuals hoping to start a new business. Meeting monthly, the cohort combines networking opportunities with access to community resources, along with focused learning on topics such as social media marketing, promotion, and business operations. Each session features subject...
BRATTLEBORO-Two long-handled shovels twist together like strands of DNA. Drawer pulls take the form of a barber’s scissors and combs. In the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) exhibition “The Purpose of Your Trip,” artist Elliott Katz of Burlington transforms familiar tools and heirlooms into sculptural reflections on migration, family history, and the ways personal objects carry memory across generations. Katz’s first solo museum show is on view at BMAC through March 6. Curated by DJ Hellerman, the exhibition is...
BRATTLEBORO-1. The Minecraft Movie 2. A Complete Unknown 3. Superman 4. Wicked: For Good 5. Zootopia 2 6. Lilo & Stitch 7. How to Train Your Dragon 8. One Battle After Another 9. Secret Mall Apartment 10. Jurassic World: Rebirth 11. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale 12. Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere 13. Marty Supreme 14. Fantastic Four: First Steps 15. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning 16. No Other Land 17. Becoming Led Zeppelin 18. Anora 19. The Phoenician...
BELLOWS FALLS-The Village Trustees opened the board’s Jan. 13 meeting with a moment of silence to honor the memory of Trustee Susan MacNeil, who died suddenly on Jan. 10 [story, A1]. With no comments or objections from remaining board members or members of the public, the board will follow the same process previously used to fill the term of former Trustee Conor Floyd. “We have not started a budget process in the village, and I think it would be advisable...
-There are some seasons when everything falls into place and a team has success. Then there are seasons where every game is a struggle, even when the effort is there. The Leland & Gray boys’ basketball team is having that kind of season. The Rebels have only three seniors, one of them being an Italian exchange student — Tommaso Spitaleri — who is playing his first season of competitive basketball. The other seven players on the roster have limited varsity...
BRATTLEBORO-Remember when going to the movies was what people did on a weekend? Jon Potter does. Potter, who is responsible for the Latchis Theatre, calls those days the “Seinfeld School of Moviegoing.” “There were so many episodes of Seinfeld where they would all gather in Jerry’s apartment on Friday evening to figure out their plans,” Potter said of the television comedy show, and its four protagonists, that ran from 1989 to 1998. “Someone would say, ‘Let’s go to the movies.’
BRATTLEBORO-By the time 87 sites had signed on to take part in Brattleboro’s December miniatures displays, Erin Scaggs, creative director of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance (DBA), declared that the event wasn’t going to be just a stroll. It’d be a festival. It’d be big. Indeed, throughout December, it was hard to miss the chatter about it. Some maybe just drove through or took it in in course of daily routine. But for others, it was a destination for visitors from...
BRATTLEBORO-“Thy Coming Morrow Will Be Clear and Bright” is the theme of the Brattleboro Concert Choir’s next performance, Saturday, Jan. 31, at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre. The Concert Choir is the oldest performing ensemble of the Brattleboro Music Center. “Usually, a concert program starts in one of two ways for me,” said Jonathan Harvey, the Concert Choir’s music director, who holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting and music history...
WINDHAM-Rev. Yolanda and The Circle of Love offered a benefit concert for the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont in early November at the First Congregational Church in Dummerston. A moving, upbeat show of originals and covers, a wide range of sound and intentions, it was the first local appearance of the Windham-based trans femme genderqueer singer/songwriter/performance artist/interfaith minister. Word is she’ll be back there in February, again with her band: Freddy Freeman, Jay Freeman, and Tyler Wansley. Before then, audiences...
Conner Zargo originally conducted this interview for the Rebel Rooster, the student newspaper of Leland & Gray Union High School, where it appeared in the Jan. 9 issue. TOWNSHEND-There are relationships that people may think are not abusive, but they may actually be harmful because people may not be aware of the signs of abuse. In 2023, 24% of all homicides were determined to be domestic violence–related. In 2023, 24% of all homicides were determined to be domestic violence–related in...
Angela Earle Gray is an entrepreneur and human resources professional. BRATTLEBORO-During the Selectboard’s explanation of votes related to zoning changes affecting 69A on Dec. 22, 2025, two members cited the volume of complaints they had received. Peter Case stated that the number of people who spoke publicly opposed to rezoning “pales in comparison” to those who had contacted him personally, including by text. Elizabeth McLoughlin, the chair, stated that she had received “many, many, many complaints.” These statements suggested an...
Millicent Cooley chairs the Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee, on whose behalf she sent this analysis. Other members of the committee include Ernie Coughlin, David Levenbach, John Lightfoot, Nell Mayo, and Trish Twining. See the committee’s work at brattleboro.gov/finance-committee. BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee offers some preliminary observations about the proposed FY27 budget that begins July 1. These comments apply to the initial version of the budget proposed by the Town Manager. The Selectboard will discuss and...
BRATTLEBORO-One part of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s long financial nightmare may be ending this week, if and when the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB), which oversees hospital budgets, accepts BMH’s revised budget for 2026. However, the hospital’s problems will be far from over. Some of its problems are shared by almost all the rural hospitals in the United States. Some are unique to Brattleboro. For both kinds, solutions will be a long time coming. If you regard BMH, with its $14.5...
BELLOWS FALLS-Community activist, writer, and Bellows Falls Village Trustee Susan MacNeil lived her last few hours exactly as she’d lived the previous 72 years. Committed all of her life to social justice, on the evening of Jan. 8, MacNeil attended a hastily organized candlelight memorial downtown in memory of Renee Good, who had been killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents earlier in the week in Minneapolis. On the way to the rally, MacNeil, a lover of good food,
BRATTLEBORO-Public hearings regarding changes to the town charter that have come to the Selectboard via petition will be held Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the Municipal Center and via Zoom, and Thursday, Feb. 5 at 6:15 p.m. in the Selectboard meeting room. State law requires that the Selectboard hold at least two public hearings prior to voter consideration of the charter proposal. The town has received two petitions signed by 5% of voters to amend the town charter. The petitions were...
BELLOWS FALLS-Former Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) conductor, co-founder with his wife of Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre, and music minister at Grafton Community Church Kenneth J. Olsson, 54, is being held without bail after arraignment in Windham County Superior Court. According to Vermont State Police (VSP), on May 12, 2025, detectives from the VSP’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Troop B East, were notified of a report of sexual assault, lewd or lascivious conduct, and domestic violence perpetrated against a...