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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-The Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary Club recently marked its 30th anniversary by completing 30 Acts of Kindness throughout the greater Brattleboro community, demonstrating the spirit of service that has defined the club since its founding in 1995.
Thirty years ago, Rotarian John Penfield envisioned creating a second Rotary club in Brattleboro. While the existing club provided “outstanding opportunities for service and fellowship,” he said, Penfield recognized that many community members would benefit from a morning meeting option.
His vision became reality when the Club was chartered, gathering at 7:15 a.m. on Wednesdays and beginning a tradition of community service that continues today.
Over the years, the club has met in several locations and currently gathers at Ramunto’s Pizza, thanks to the generosity of owner and fellow Rotarian Vito Adragna.
WESTMINSTER-Housing affordability, food insecurity, and rising energy costs continue to place significant strain on individuals and families across southeastern Vermont, according to Southeastern Vermont Community Action’s (SEVCA) 2025 Community Needs Assessment. Over the past year, SEVCA engaged 630 residents, community partners, and local leaders across Windham and Windsor counties...
College news • Jackson Heller of Brattleboro recently graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in film from DePaul University. • Jake Moore of Saxtons River was named to the Dean’s List during the spring 2026 academic semester at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. • Charlee Davis...
BRATTLEBORO-The Selectboard voted unanimously July 7 to adopt a set of recommendations aimed to improve public understanding of the town’s ambulance service, capping months of community outreach that grew out of a nonbinding resolution passed at Town Meeting. The resolution had called for an independent, third-party consultant to review the town’s emergency medical services (EMS) program and raised broader questions about how program finances are reported. Because board members said they were unsure exactly what residents wanted from that resolution,
WESTMINSTER WEST-I will vote for Michelle Bos-Lun on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and I am encouraging everyone in Windham-3 to do the same. I met Michelle at one of the monthly Saturday Legislators at the Library meetings some years ago. I was working on an animal welfare issue and wanted to discuss and get support at the state level. I received both. What impressed me right away was Michelle’s energy, her enthusiasm, and her desire to listen to my ideas and...
BRATTLEBORO-I’m eager to say goodbye to Phil Scott as Vermont’s governor. He’s friend to neither education nor to creative problem solving about our most pressing issues. I’ve talked to the two Democratic primary candidates, read their platforms, and attended their forums. I’m convinced Aly Richards is the better candidate, and here’s why. Aly has progressive values along with a track record of success in making those values a reality here in Vermont. Ten years ago, she understood the potential of...
WESTMINSTER-I find it very hard these days to come up with anything positive to say about what’s going on in our country — politically speaking, that is. Every day it seems we have gone down yet another step, and you start to think we are just losing ground. Because of our decline on the federal level, I decided to turn my focus on state and local government, thinking that maybe I can help make a difference there and start feeling...
WESTMINSTER-As a young Vermonter, I am proud to support Michelle Bos-Lun in her bid for re-election. I first got to know Michelle as a legislative page in 2022, an opportunity she made possible by driving me to and from Montpelier every week. Today, I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve as her campaign manager. Michelle’s integrity, resilience, and altruism make her not only a personal role model but also an example for our leaders across the nation. At...
Chip Carter, a retired television anchor, moved in 2016 to Guilford, where he volunteers with a number of community organizations and serves on the Selectboard. GUILFORD-Most of us live in Vermont on purpose. We chose the hills and villages, Town Meeting, and neighbors who show up with a chainsaw after an ice storm. We stay because this place is worth it. That’s why the latest University of New Hampshire Green Mountain State Poll should concern every Vermonter. In the poll,
WILLIAMSVILLE-Rock River Players (RRP) continues its first Summer Musical Theater Revue — billed as a “Best of Broadway Experience” — this weekend in Williamsville. With selected songs from the Broadway canon, from timeless classics to contemporary gems, the show is a tightly wrapped evening of lightly staged performances designed, according to director Walter Cramer, “to showcase the music and the exceptional talent of local performers.” The American musical has a knack for cutting to an emotional core while honing microfocus...
VERNON-Vernon Selectboard members are raising concerns about being left out of the planning process for the future of a former nuclear power plant, which closed over a decade ago and is set to be decommissioned by the end of the year. The company NorthStar Group Services bought the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power station property in 2019 and has taken on decontamination, demolition and restoration efforts. NorthStar entered a lease agreement in 2024 with the private-equity backed, Texas-based company PowerTransitions...
WESTMINSTER-I strongly recommend Michelle Bos-Lun for a fourth term in the Vermont Legislature. She represents the Windham-3 district (Westminster, Rockingham, and Brookline). She serves on the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry Committee and works on and supports a number of initiatives that support farms and food access. She was co-sponsor of a bill, enacted into law in May, that makes Vermont first in the nation to ban paraquat, which is linked to increased Parkinson’s rates. Michelle has worked closely...
MANCHESTER-I’m writing to state my support for Molly Gray, who’s running for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary. I look to a candidate’s record of experience and proven results when choosing who to vote for, and Molly’s record is strong. In her career so far, she has: • Led the Vermont Afghan Alliance from 2023 to 2026 as its executive director. During this time, Molly and her staff worked to resettle and assist over 650 Afghan refugees and immigrants rebuilding...
BRATTLEBORO-Vermont Democrats gathered for their annual Obuchowski Awards ceremony, honoring the service of retiring Rep. Mollie Burke of Brattleboro and Mary Gerisch, a longtime healthcare, housing, and human rights advocate from Bennington. The awards, presented by the Vermont Democratic Party (VDP) on July 17 at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (BMAC), are named after former State Rep. Michael “Obie” Obuchowski, who represented Bellows Falls in the House for 38 years, from 1973 to 2011, and who served as speaker...
BELLOWS FALLS-Award-winning country and Americana singer-songwriter Suzy Bogguss is set to bring her signature vocals and storytelling to the Bellows Falls Opera House for a one-night-only concert on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. With a career spanning over three decades, Bogguss has earned three Grammy nominations and two Grammys for vocal collaboration, a CMA Award, and multiple platinum-selling records. Known for massive hits like “Drive South,” “Outbound Plane,” and “Someday Soon,” she “has cemented her place as one of...
BELLOWS FALLS-The Flat Iron Cooperative will host June Goodband, the Peace and Justice Party candidate for Governor of Vermont, for a meet the candidate event Saturday, July 25, from noon to 2:30 p.m. In a news release, Goodband said she believes that Vermont can lead the nation toward a sustainable, just, equitable, and inclusive social and governmental system based in thriving communities, and has practical proposals for moving toward these goals. She said she wants to hear concerns and ideas...
GRAFTON-United Way of Windham County; Supporters of Democracy Grafton, VT; and the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) will host the “Freedom for All” concert, a special evening of music and advocacy,Thursday, July 30, at 7 p.m. at Grafton Community Church, 55 Main St. Framed as both an act of resistance and a beacon of hope, the concert invites the community on a musical journey through opera, musical theater, art song, and folk anthems. The event will feature performances by soloists...
Healing walk at Manitou WILLIAMSVILLE — The Manitou Project will hold its next Healing Walk Friday, July 24, rain or shine from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The walk will be led by Fred Taylor and will include poems or other readings and chances to share about the experience. Healing walks are held the second and fourth Friday of each month until October. The Manitou Project is at 300 Sunset Lake Rd. Directions: go 1.4 miles up Sunset Lake Road from...
GUILFORD-Guilford Center Stage will hold open auditions for actors for a new full-length play, Vermont Mythos: A Small Town Fable, written and directed by Michael Nethercott. The two sessions of auditions are: Thursday, July 30, 6 to 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Aug. 1, 2 to 4 p.m. No reservations are needed. Scenes from the script will be provided for auditioners. The play, written for this production, with an eye on this year’s national 250th anniversary, is drawn from Guilford history.
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro’s first Porch Festival will take place Saturday, July 25, from 12:30 to 5 p.m. The Porch Festival is an invitation to visit various porches and backyard venues to enjoy local music, visit, and make friends, all while raising funds for a good cause. This year, all donations will go to Turning Point in Brattleboro. The first stop, at 12:30 p.m., is 132 Sherwood Circle at Westgate in West Brattleboro for Jonathan Keane and New Mexican Standoff, an improvisational trio...
BRATTLEBORO-Abstract painter Emily Mason (1932–2019) is the subject of a new Brattleboro Words Trail podcast episode. The story sheds light on an “enigmatic artist” organizers described in a news release as having helped shape the creative identity of this New England cultural hub from her Brattleboro farm. They say her “vivid work defies categorization and is enjoying a surge of international interest.” The 35-minute episode features never-before-shared archival commentary from Mason herself, along with intimate insights from her daughter, Melany...
BRATTLEBORO-Poets Wyn Cooper and Martha Collins will read from their latest books and discuss their work during an evening of poetry and conversation at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) Thursday, July 30, at 7:30 p.m. “Poetry started as an oral art, and to me it still is,” said Cooper in a news release. “Hearing poems read aloud, especially by the poet, is a way into the poems that reading them on the page can’t quite match. I’m thrilled...
PUTNEY-Yellow Barn’s 57th summer season continues Thursday through Saturday, July 23–25, with three concerts, including the first performances of the season with accordionist James Crabb, plus cellist Laurence Lesser’s annual masterclass. Pre-concert “Patio Noise” talks take place on Friday and Saturday, moderated by Artistic Director Seth Knopp. Week three of the five-week festival begins with a tribute to pianist Leon Fleisher. Fleisher, who would have been 98 on July 23, was a frequent guest at Yellow Barn during the last...
BRATTLEBORO-ByWay Books & More, 399 Canal St., is supporting the Vermont Reads Community Program by hosting a “pick-up party,” an all-community event centered around the book Charity & Sylvia by Tillie Walden (Drawn & Quarterly Press) Wednesday, July 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. A copy of the book may be “picked up” for free by anyone who participates. “Weybridge, Vermont, in February 1807 is small, cold, lonely, and beautiful. As an unwed woman with few prospects, Sylvia Drake resides...
The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) recently announce the successful completion of project development work on three proposed stormwater projects in southeastern Vermont, made possible through funding from the Vermont Clean Water Initiative Program administered by Watersheds United Vermont. According to CRC, this project sought to develop potential stormwater projects in Windham County with the goal of minimizing anthropogenic (caused by humans) nutrient and organic pollution, protecting and restoring riparian habitats, and minimizing flood and fluvial erosion hazards. The project began...
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Jazz Center presents vocalist Charenee Wade Thursday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. Wade is known for her “deep grooves and uncanny ability to bring energy and excitement to every performance,” according to event promters. Wade will be singing jazz standards from the Great American Songbook; her original compositions; selections from her Motema Music release, Offering; and songs from the repertoire of jazz poets Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. She has been actively performing this summer with the Urban...
PUTNEY-Twilight Music and Next Stage Arts Project continue the 23rd Twilight on the Tavern Lawn series of folk, world, jazz, zydeco, bluegrass, pop, and Americana music summer concerts Sunday, July 26, at 6 p.m., with Kwartetto Mambo. Kwartetto Mambo is John Clark (french horn), Wes Brown (bass, piano), Julian Gerstin (congas, percussion), and Dan DeWalt (piano, trombone). The band members draw on their collective 200+ years of musical immersion to compose pieces reflecting African, Latin, and Jazz roots and exploring...
WILMINGTON-The Deerfield Valley Players, a local community theater group, will be presenting 1776, the 1969 Tony award-winning Broadway musical, at Memorial Hall, 14 W. Main St. The choice for this year’s show is credited to Therese Lounsbury, Wilmington town clerk, who contacted Barbara Lipstadt, founder and musical director, to ask if the performance could be something with a patriotic theme. It would be a part of the Vermont 250 committee’s celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 1776...
MARLBORO-Marlboro Music’s 75th anniversary season continues Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, with the second weekend of concerts and free open rehearsals throughout the week in Persons Auditorium, 2472 South Rd. Some 26 musicians will take the stage, representing the full spectrum of experienced and emerging musical talent that characterizes all of the collaborations at Marlboro. Weekend performances and open rehearsals will continue through Aug. 16. Saturday evening’s program offers an opportunity to listen deeply to the work of...
-For the fourth time in the past five years, the Brattleboro Little League 12-U All-Stars have won the District 2 championship. Brattleboro defeated the Rutland County Little League All-Stars in a best-of-three series for the district title. Brattleboro won a 3-2 thriller June 15 at South Main Street Field and shut out Rutland, 10-0, in five innings on July 17 at White Memorial Park in Rutland. Rutland, who won the District 2 title in 2024, had beaten Brattleboro, 4-2, on...
BRATTLEBORO-No to Afghans. No to Haitians. No to Somalis. But yes to white South Africans. Brattleboro will be resettling 50 of them in the coming months. This is in line with a controversial refugee program initiated by the Trump administration. While the U.S.’s refugee admissions program remains suspended, leaving thousands of previously approved refugees in limbo, that is not true for white South Africans. “The Trump administration plans to admit up to 10,000 more white South African refugees into the...
BRATTLEBORO-Within a day of learning that over 150 people marched in our July 4 parade to protest the plan to close the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Birthing Center, Amanda Janoo wrote a deeply personal and sharply political response that clearly demonstrates she is head and shoulders above all the other candidates for governor. Her first comment was that a dear friend had just given birth, and that birth coinciding with the BMH parade story led her to question why maternity care...
BRATTLEBORO-I admire and respect both women running in the Democratic primary for governor. So I've had to look closely to decide who would be more likely to win in the general election and be the more effective governor. That's why I'll be voting for Aly Richards. As a guardian ad litem for 20 years, I've worked with more than 250 kids in the Vermont court system who need, and deserve, a safer and more secure home life. I've also written...
The writer represents the Windham-3 district in the Vermont House of Representatives. WESTMINSTER-During my first term as state representative, I had the pleasure of serving while Molly Gray was the lieutenant governor. While in office, Molly focused on workforce expansion, traveling across Vermont, connecting with businesses, agricultural communities, and labor groups. As a person who grew up in a farm family, she also used her platform to draw attention to rural and agricultural issues, something I deeply appreciate as a...
Libby Bennett, a lifelong Brattleboro resident, is the executive director of Groundworks Collaborative, a nonprofit organization working with people and systems to end hunger and homelessness in southeastern Vermont. BRATTLEBORO-Over the past few years, something remarkable has happened in Brattleboro. Community organizations, businesses, municipal leaders, healthcare providers, public safety professionals, and residents have come together around a shared vision: to build a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant community. That vision is evident everywhere. While generational storefronts change hands, new businesses...
BRATTLEBORO-After 10 years under the same governor, Vermonters should ask a simple question: Is our state moving in the direction we want? Elections are an opportunity not simply to judge personalities, but to consider what kind of leadership Vermont needs for the next decade. My association with the Rural School Community Alliance reinforced my belief that good government begins with local democracy. The Alliance opposed another round of forced school district consolidation because we believed local communities should help shape...
Dan DeWalt, a frequent contributor to these pages and one of the founders of this newspaper, writes that if he didn’t love his country, he “wouldn’t spend so much time trying to get it to live up to its purported principles.” NEWFANE-It is time to bring the imperial governorship of Phil Scott to an end. As his tenure has increased, he has warmed to the Trumpian style of governance: preferring rule by executive orders over collaboration with the Legislature, ignoring...
PUTNEY-I was a pediatrician who worked at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Birthing Center for a little over 10 years. It was a special place compared to other maternity wards I had worked at. Breastfeeding was supported, childbirth classes were well-attended, nurses were devoted to patients having the best experience possible, and well-trained, experienced, and compassionate OB and pediatric doctors and midwives worked together well. I was forlorn when I heard it was on the chopping block. Why does this happen?
PUTNEY-I have known Michelle Bos-Lun for 25 years. We taught at a Quaker school in New Hampshire before she moved to Vermont, several years before I moved back here. Michelle has as much integrity as anyone I know. If she says she’ll do something, she’ll do it. She listens thoughtfully to constituents and is truthful if she disagrees. She also works hard on the issues that are most important in southern Vermont, including taxes, housing, mental health, and healthcare generally.
Chloe Learey, chair of the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital board of directors, gave this statement at a July 14 community rally in support of the hospital’s Birthing Center. BRATTLEBORO-I want to acknowledge what an emotional couple of weeks this has been for many of us in our community. We understand how critical the Birthing Center is and that planning for its closure is not something anyone wants to do. The financial reality of reimbursement rates, declining birth volumes, and on-going workforce...
PUTNEY-With the Aug. 11 Democratic primary election for governor looming, how is one to make a fact-based choice between Amanda Janoo and Aly Richards? After 10 years of Gov. Phil Scott’s failure to live up to his promises to “reduce property taxes” and “make Vermont affordable,” let’s look at the contrast between how these two candidates will finance their initiatives. Janoo supports the “Fair Share for Vermont” 3% tax surcharge on the wealthiest Vermonters — those with yearly incomes over...
PUTNEY-Vermont needs a governor who deeply cares about all of its people, one who has the skills, experience, and tools to help meet their needs for housing, healthcare, early childhood education, and economic security. As an economist with the conviction that economic systems should be structured to meet these goals, Amanda Janoo has my enthusiastic vote as the Democratic candidate for governor. She listens to Vermonters. She cares. Elizabeth Christie Putney This letter to the editor was submitted to The...
The writer represents the Windham-4 district (Putney and Dummerston) in the state House of Representatives. PUTNEY-Aly Richards, has the ideas, temperament, and track record of accomplishment to be our next governor, and I ask voters to join me in voting for her. I’ve worked with Aly over the last decade to help make real the systemic changes to our early childhood/childcare system. It clearly showed me she has the skill set for the job. Other states — and cities —
BRATTLEBORO-Vermonters have an important choice to make over the next four weeks. By Aug. 11, Primary Day in Vermont, we will need to choose the Democratic candidate who will run against Phil Scott in November. Scott has been in office now for 10 years. Our hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy, and our farms are failing. Over 60% of young Vermonters anticipate moving out of the state. Scott’s “moderation” has begun to wear thin. Democrats have fielded two primary...
Charles Bergmann is an architect from South Newfane. SOUTH NEWFANE-My wife and I moved to South Newfane in 1995 because we had some ties from childhood to Vermont and wanted to grow old in a small Vermont village. Hermine was a Dutch citizen, our children are dual citizens of Holland and the United States, and we have also lived in Alaska, Holland, Switzerland and Seattle. I am an architect, and since coming here I have had a chance to build...
BROOKLINE-I’m putting in a plug for voters in Brookline, Westminster, and Rockingham to be sure to get to the polls for the Democratic primary on Tuesday, Aug. 11 and vote to keep Michelle Bos-Lun as one of our two representatives. We could not have had two more committed and hard-working people representing us in Montpelier than Michelle and Leslie Goldman. Sadly, Leslie has moved out of the district to be closer to family, so one of the two seats will...
BRATTLEBORO-Volunteers at this town’s Estey Organ Museum are used to a symphony of sounds at the former home of the world’s largest manufacturer of pump and pipe instruments. “In its heyday, the Estey Organ Company factory was the beating, bleating heart of Brattleboro,” the online travel guide Atlas Obscura begins its review of the current attraction. But everybody went silent when peers at the local historical society, having recently banked several general bequests, arrived to announce they wanted to pay...
SAXTONS RIVER-Chris Lundberg is the right choice for Windham-3 (Rockingham, Westminster, and Brookline). He is a thoughtful listener, asking a question rather than dominating discussion. He regularly attends Rockingham Democratic Committee meetings, helping to shape the local and county agenda. He goes to the legislative updates at the Rockingham Free Public Library with our senators, Nader Hashim and Wendy Harrison, and our representatives, Michelle Bos-Lun and Leslie Goldman. As a candidate, Chris spent four days in the House to attend...
BRATTLEBORO-Everyone has a story to tell, but what about a time and place to tell it? Laura Lockie of Brattleboro has created such. Roughly once a month since October, she and her husband, Ken, have hosted the Spotted Moth at Brattleboro’s 118 Elliot Street Gallery. The next opportunity, open to all, is Wednesday, July 29, 6 to 8 p.m. In a recent press release, people of all ages are invited to “come tell your first person tru-ish story […] without...
WILMINGTON-Ryan McLaren sat at the counter of the Cup and Saucer diner just north of Wilmington village, and said his current run for lieutenant governor may well have been inspired by the ski accident that left him a paraplegic. The catastrophic crash at Vermont’s Mad River Glen in 2017 that has left him with only limited use of his legs, likely permanently, changed his outlook on life to the extent that his long-running pursuit of social change has now led...
GUILFORD-Molly Gray’s Vermont roots run deep. She grew up on a farm, just as many other people in our state have. She is here to make sure all Vermonters’ voices are heard. Molly has spent time around Vermont getting to know people in our towns and hearing their thoughts on what Vermont needs. She is already supported by a broad coalition of Windham County leaders. I know she will think of each individual town as lieutenant governor. Molly understands that...
MARLBORO-I had the opportunity to meet Aly Richards on June 28 with a small group of community members in Marlboro. Besides being a dynamic speaker, she impressed us with the depth of her understanding of every issue that our tough crowd put before her. She not only clearly identified problems but offered practical, informed solutions to them. Don’t be fooled by the label “progressive” embraced by the other candidate. We love progressive ideas, but they need to be backed by...
