A few months ago, I was down in Brattleboro talking with some local musicians and artists near the Estey Organ Museum. (No, it's not a museum full of livers and kidneys floating in jars. But yes, my brain went there as well.) The former factory for reed, pump, pipe and melodeon organs is something of a hangout, as area bands such as THUS LOVE live and rehearse in the apartments nearby. As happens often in my job, I found myself in a conversation about Vermont music, listing off new bands...
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will seek a fourth term in the Senate, putting to rest speculation over the progressive icon’s political future. At 82, Sanders is the second-oldest member of the Senate, raising questions about whether he would retire. He ruled out a third run for president a year ago but left political watchers waiting […]
A bill that would pave the way for a facility to help people use illegal drugs more safely advanced in the Vermont Senate on Wednesday. H.72 was approved on second reading by a 21-8 vote, suggesting it would have sufficient Senate support to overcome a likely veto by Gov. Phil Scott. Supporters say they fully expect the House to also be able to muster the two-thirds majority required to make the bill become law over Scott’s objections. The bill would create a pilot program for a single...
On Wednesday mornings in Shelburne, five women gather to weave fibers symbolizing the tapestries of their lives. During a recent session, Nancy Rissler, 67, finished weaving a series of letters at the base of her loom, representing the first initials of her mother's 11 siblings. "Putting in the yarn, taking out the yarn, deciding what colors — it sort of reflects how we do life," Rissler said. "[It's] empowering that you can reflect." This is Weaving Your Story, a free weekly course at...
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Vermont is poised to pass a groundbreaking measure forcing major polluting companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis, in a move being closely watched by other states including New York and California. Modeled after the EPA’s […]
Five men from Agawam and Springfield have been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling cocaine and fentanyl over several months.
At least 231 people died from drug overdoses in Vermont last year, according to preliminary state data released on Wednesday. The tally is a 5 percent drop from the 244 deaths that Vermont recorded in 2022. And though it may tick up once the state reviews another 15 pending death certificates, it represents a plateau after two years of staggering increases. But it is an alarming figure nonetheless, reflecting just how far Vermont still has to go in its effort to limit the damage from a...
After a stretch of sunny weather, storms return to the forecast for
Burlington had never seemed so far away to Joel Rosinsky. His heart was set on making it to the Flynn theater to attend a 50th-anniversary performance of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show, his favorite, on April 20. But Rosinsky, who no longer drives, faced a now-familiar conundrum: He had no way to get there from his home in Essex Junction, a mere 10 miles away. Since Rosinsky gave up his driver's license three years ago because of eyesight loss to macular...
A story often hits harder when viewers know it's true, and tick, tick BOOM! is — at least as far as make-believe musical comedy can be. The composer Jonathan Larson wrote an autobiographical monologue in 1991, when his career seemed stalled. It wouldn't be long before Larson broke through with the prize-winning Rent, a Broadway success he didn't live to see. Converted to a three-person musical after his death, BOOM! is Larson's story of early disappointment and unshakable hope. The...
Three Vermont poets and a cartoonist have won the 2023 Vermont Book Awards, the state's highest literary prizes, which were presented at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier on Saturday, May 4. Poet Sandra Simonds won the fiction award for her debut novel, Assia; former Vermont poet laureate Mary Ruefle won in the creative nonfiction category for her volume of prose poems titled The Book; and poet Vievee Francis won the poetry honor for The Shared World. Cartoonist, artist and...
Updated at 1:59 p.m. In a rare development, the Vermont Senate on Tuesday morning voted down Zoie Saunders, Gov. Phil Scott's nominee for education secretary. The 9-19 tally came after several senators gave impassioned speeches about why they'd vote against Saunders, a Florida school administrator who has spent the bulk of her career working for a privately held, for-profit charter school management company. Many lawmakers noted the unprecedented amount of calls, emails and text messages...