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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.
BRATTLEBORO-Write Action, a local organization for writers which is based in Brattleboro, will be celebrating National Poetry Month in April with Poems Around Town.
We are in our sixth year with a call for poetry to all poets in Vermont and in the tri-state region.
Poems will be featured in downtown business windows for the month of April. This gives locals and visitors alike an extra uplift to their downtown trip. A flyer listing each business with the associated poet’s name and poem title will be available. In an effort to broaden Write Action’s reach and share more poems throughout Brattleboro, some poems will be duplicated and posted in Canal Street businesses. Severia Drake of Byway Books & More helped facilitate this effort last year and will again help this year.
Submission guidelines:...
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC), the economic development organization for Windham County, recently announced the Regional Priority Projects (RPP) list for 2026. The annual list ranks the top 10 priority projects as determined by a committee made up of members from BDCC, the Windham Regional Commission, and representatives from...
WILLIAMSVILLE-The Rock River Players (RRP) presents Love Letters on Friday, Feb. 13, and Saturday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. at Williamsville Hall, 35 Dover Rd. Organizers urge the public to celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend with the Rock River Players’ production of Pulitzer-prize...
College news • The following local residents were named to the fall 2025 Dean’s List at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Earning first honors were Roxanne Burt of Marlboro, and Solan Homestead of Putney. Earning second honors were Aurelia M. Critchfield of Bellows Falls, Josephine Maione Kazadi of Putney, and Skye M. Twining of Brattleboro. • Ilona Shaoul of Brattleboro, Miles Ackerman-Hovis of Guilford, and Ezra Holloway of Saxtons River were named to the fall 2025 Dean’s List at Purchase...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) recently announced that 167 young artists and writers from across Vermont have been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their exceptional artistic and literary talent. The students’ award-winning artwork and writing will be exhibited at BMAC from Friday, Feb. 20, to March 6. An awards ceremony will take place at the museum Saturday, March 7, at noon. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Doors open at 10...
Volunteers needed at winter overnight shelter BRATTLEBORO — The Beloved Winter Shelter, an emergency overnight shelter located at the Beloved Community church at 18 Town Crier Drive, operates seven days a week from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. It has space for 15 people. Only adults are allowed, and pets must be registered in advance as service animals to be admitted. This community-driven effort has brought local neighbors, clergy, nonprofits, and volunteers together to make this shelter happen, and they...
BRATTLEBORO-ByWay Books & More, 399 Canal St., welcomes back the Tiny Theater Acting Ensemble for another free, staged reading on Saturday, Feb. 14, from 3 to 5 p.m. Tiny Theater will be performing Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, a play by Simon Stephens, an award winning contemporary British playwright. The play is set in London and tells the story of an unfolding chance encounter and a relationship between a 42-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man. Heisenberg is “the quintessential Valentine’s Day...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center Chamber Series continues Sunday, Feb. 15, with Musicians from Marlboro Group II. The program will include Beethoven’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2, and Septet in F-flat major, Op. 20; and “Untitled” by Tyshawn Sorey, the recipient of both the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Music and a MacArthur Fellowship. The concert is set for 3 p.m. at the BMC, 72 Blanche Moyse Way. The ensemble includes Claire Bourg, Stephanie Zyzak, violin; Cara Pogossian,
John P. Wesley retired in 2015 as a trial judge of the Vermont Superior Court after serving 22 years overseeing cases in the family, criminal and civil divisions, mostly in Windham and Bennington counties. BRATTLEBORO-On Feb. 3, in an extraordinary session in the Vermont Senate, Gov. Scott’s nomination of First Assistant United States Attorney Michael Drescher to fill one of two vacancies on the Vermont Supreme Court was confirmed by the tie-breaking vote of Republican Lt. Gov. John Rodgers, after the...
BRATTLEBORO-As the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, stories about the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II are rarely seen in daily news reports in U.S. media. But, for one night in Brattleboro, people remembered this fight that began Feb. 24, 2022, and why it matters. “There is a certain amount of ‘war fatigue’ in the U.S. and Europe,” said Gediminas Varvuolis, ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United States. But...
BRATTLEBORO-Windham is no county for old men. Or for old women, either. Windham County’s birth rate is the lowest in Vermont, while its median age is still a relatively young 48. But while data on aging abounds, what is lacking for our elders as they reach retirement age is housing, transportation, food, medical care, caretakers, broadband access, social life, and — surprisingly for a rural population — air uncontaminated by particulate matter. What is not lacking: state, regional and local...
-When a team hasn’t won a game all season, success is measured by the little things. The Brattleboro girls’ hockey team lost to Rutland, 5-1, on Feb. 4 at Withington Rink, but the Bears put together one of their stronger efforts of the season. Rutland entered the game with a three-game winning streak, and if they thought the Bears would be a pushover, they soon found out that they were going to have to work for their fourth straight victory.
Millicent Cooley represents District 9 as a member of Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting, where she also chairs the body’s Finance Committee. She is author of the petition to place open Town Meeting as a voting option on the March 3 election ballot. BRATTLEBORO-When I moved to Brattleboro in 2018, I had only ever known ballot voting. In most places that I lived, I did not know the name of my mayor. My impression is that most people in those communities...
Tim Kipp is retired from 39 years of teaching U.S. history. He has been a political activist since the 1960s, including draft and war tax resistance and advocating peace and environmental issues. He is one of the founders of the Vermont Progressive Party, is a longtime field organizer for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and is currently active with the Vermont Indivisible movement. BRATTLEBORO-The Trump-Republican coup d’etat is mutating into a more virulent and pervasive form of authoritarianism. In the previous nine...
MARLBORO-The Marlboro School Board has finalized the language it will include on its annual meeting warning, which will ask voters whether the board should close the Marlboro School, which currently serves students pre-K to grade eight. The move comes after months of the board analyzing rising costs and declining enrollment at the school, which has served residents of the town for generations. Article 4 of the school district’s annual meeting warning asks whether voters shall “authorize the Board of School...
The writer serves Brattleboro's District 9 as a Representative Town Meeting member. BRATTLEBORO-Representative Town Meeting (RTM) has served our town well for over 60 years. RTM members serve the town and provide oversight with consistency, civility, and commitment. I will be voting to retain RTM because it is by far the largest gathering we have to regularly discuss our shared interests and decisions. RTM is a cross-section of our community by age, class, and outlook. Democracy is not purely a...
BELLOWS FALLS-One of Bellows Falls’ many unique features is its ski trail, complete with an old-school rope tow, a warming hut with a wood stove, and lights for night skiing. The Bellows Falls Municipal Snow Tow — a 200-foot-tall hill with two trails, a 950-foot rope tow, and lights for night skiing — has been a part of the town for over 70 years, making it one of the oldest continually operating ski slopes in Vermont. The Recreation Department and...
WINDHAM-On Jan. 13, amid widespread killings of demonstrators in Iran, President Trump posted on Truth Social "Iranian Patriots, keep protesting-take over your institutions!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price." However, Trump justified the killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis, falsely claiming she "willfully and viciously" ran over a federal immigration officer who was "recovering in the hospital." (Video evidence shows the agent, Jonathan Ross, briskly walking away after shooting Good.) Vice President...
PUTNEY-In observance of Black History Month: I was recently a visitor in Charleston, South Carolina, where I enjoyed balmy weather, good food, friendly people, and a sightseeing saunter on the grounds of Fort Moultrie, a Revolutionary fort on Sullivan’s Island, a part of Charleston City proper. Fort Moultrie is now a part of the Fort Sumter National Park. From park signage there, I learned the following: Between 1500 and 1870, an estimated 10 to 12 million Africans were shipped to...
Elizabeth Bridgewater is executive director of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust. BRATTLEBORO-We at Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) believe housing is about more than four walls and a roof. It is about creating places where people feel safe, connected, and supported. At the Snow Block in downtown Brattleboro, we are seeing what is possible when residents, staff, and community partners work together with intention. The Snow Block is home to a growing network of neighbors who are actively...
NEWFANE-The Crowell Art Gallery at Moore Free Library will present “Arrangements,” by Cathy Osman, a variety of collages and oil paintings by Cathy Osman during Feb. 28. Osman explains more about her theme for the show: “my process of whether it’s collage or painting, is arranging elements, right? It’s a shape, it’s a mark, it’s a color, it’s sort of putting, oh, I’ll put a yellow spot down, and then, oh no, then I’ve got to, you know, rearrange it...
BRATTLEBORO-Representative Town Meeting (RTM) has been an eye-opener for me. When I moved here, I did not think anything about local politics would require much effort to understand. Since I became a member of RTM, I have learned that local governance can be very complicated. People sometimes express positions that reflect valid but conflicting values, and making an informed decision to address the real problems of the town can be hard. Town Meeting has forced me to get rid of...
BRATTLEBORO-Will Brattleboro be prepared to defend its citizens against an unlawful, white supremacist, extrajudicial security force, should ICE come to Vermont? What are the recommendations from the chief of police? What protections against unlawful kidnapping can be prepared now? Can the Selectboard set some requirements like using body cameras, not concealing faces, etc., within our boundaries? What can the sheriff's office and the state police and the governor of Vermont contribute to our understanding? Besides investing in whistles, cameras that...
BRATTLEBORO-As described in its publicity, the River Gallery School of Art (RGS), founded in 1976 by Barbara Merfeld Campman and Ric Campman, “has grown over five decades into a vibrant, inclusive arts organization serving people of all ages, abilities, and experience levels.” “At the heart of River Gallery School’s work is the belief that everyone benefits from creative expression,” school leaders write. “The school is committed to fostering an inclusive art-making community, with programs intentionally designed to support equity, access,
CHESTER-To the people of Minnesota: Your presence on the streets of Minneapolis, and the tragic losses you have suffered, bring to the minds of us New Englanders the patriots of Lexington and Concord. Millions of others who believe in your struggle are standing strong with you but you, amazing people of Minneapolis, are at the center of the struggle right now. Each of us will be next unless as a people we stand with you and declare as Thomas Paine...
KEENE, N.H.-Mardi Gras, the last time to enjoy good food and drink before the 40 days of Lent, falls on Tuesday, Feb. 17. You don’t have to go to New Orleans to enjoy the city’s joyful music as The Celebration Brass Band of VT and Folksoul Band will bring the spirit of the Crescent City to New England with a Mardi Gras party at Nova Arts, 48 Emerald St., Saturday, Feb. 14. The doors open at 7 p.m. and music...
BRATTLEBORO-Minneapolis has become ground zero for fighting for democracy. Refusing to be cowered by ICE agents in tactical gear, residents continue to protest. Monitors with whistles warn people of the presence of ICE in neighborhoods. Residents form safety patrols and conduct food drives and deliver box meals and other necessities to people afraid to leave their homes. Restaurants deliver free food to people affected by ICE. Immigrants are provided with legal representation. How can we in Vermont support the courage...
Eric Caron is a retired high school guidance counselor. BRATTLEBORO-At the Jan. 13 meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard, a longtime resident stated: “I really want to give my house to my kids and I’ve got a daughter who’s living in Guilford who’s earning, I don’t know exactly, but I’m guessing somewhere about $40,000 a year, maybe $45,000 a year. “My taxes alone are over $10,000 on that house,” he said. “How do I give it to her? What can I...
T. Hunter Wilson is a former member of the Marlboro School Board and for 47 years a teacher of writing and literature at Marlboro College. MARLBORO-On Town Meeting Day of this year, the citizens of Marlboro will decide whether to close our school and to become a nonoperating school district, distributing our schoolchildren among neighboring towns. From the way this question has been posed to the town and from some of the arguments that have been presented from people whose...
BRATTLEBORO-Having a vote on how our town is run - a vote on how tax dollars are spent - is a fundamental right, and we should make sure everyone has a vote. Australian ballot, also known as secret ballot, ensures full access for everyone. You get your ballot, and you vote. Do you need facts and information? Access is everywhere, from numerous informational meetings, town reports, social and print media, discussions between neighbors and friends, letter writing campaigns, and even...