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Chester Clerk Debbie Aldrich steps aside, but not too far away

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1983, Chester Town Clerk Sandy Walker hired a 20-year-old to be her assistant. And while some in Town Hall may have felt she was too young for the responsibility, Debbie Aldrich seems to have worked out. Now, with 42 years as Assistant Town Clerk, then Town […]

A field guide to Chester’s Town Meeting Day bond votes

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In addition to the approving the town’s $4.2 million budget and borrowing to purchase equipment and do paving, Chester voters will be asked to give vote to two bond issues totaling a little over $4.1 million. While these may look like a burden for taxpayers, if the […]

Meet the three candidates running for two seats on the Chester Select Board

© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Telegraph sent a series of questions to the three candidates who are vying for two one-year seats on the Chester Select Board. Those two seats are currently held by Arianna Knapp and Tim Roper, who are running for re-election. These questions address some of the issues for many […]

Local social services programs hold on, worrying about possible Trump administration cuts

By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Area social service organizations – those nonprofits that support folks who face food insecurity, send their kids to a Head Start program or can’t afford home heating – are hunkering down for what they see as a bumpy ride as the Trump administration takes a chainsaw to federal […]

Side by Side: Scott education plans past and present

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the eight years that Gov. Phil Scott has been in office, his administration has produced two reports on reforming education in Vermont. These reports that are strikingly similar in conclusions, but very different in their origins. One was said to be the result of public input […]

TRSU began preparing for Trump budget cuts, funds freezes late last year

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles detailing the impact of the Trump administration’s actions on our communities. Because of fast moving directives from Washington, expect situations to be fluid.  If you would like to share your story, please email cprairie@chestertelegraph.org. By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC How will the […]

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  • Aviation & Career Education Camp for young people this summer in Springfield

    Aviation & Career Education Camp for young people this summer in Springfield

    Hartness State Airport, 15 Airport Road in North Springfield, will be hosting the 2025 Aviation Career Education Academy from Monday, July 28 through Friday, Aug. 1. The day camp will take place from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and will provide a valuable opportunity for area students between the ages of 12 and 16 to learn […]

  • Chester Select Board agenda for Feb. 19

    Chester Select Board agenda for Feb. 19

    The Chester Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday Feb. 19, 2025 at Town Hall, 556 Elm Street and via Zoom. To join the meeting via Zoom go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81988842129 Below is the board’s agenda 1. Additions or Deletions to the Agenda 2. Approval of Minutes from the Select Board […]

  • Cavendish board talks road projects, speed limits and transfer station improvements

    Cavendish board talks road projects, speed limits and transfer station improvements

    By Lorien Strange © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC At Monday’s meeting of the Cavendish Select Board outgoing member George Timko thanked the board and said he hoped more people in Cavendish would get involved with local government. Timko has spent more than 20 years on the board and former board member Sandra Russo is running […]

  • Chester board denies driveway appeal, gets presentation on sidewalk study

    Chester board denies driveway appeal, gets presentation on sidewalk study

    By Shawn Cunningham ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC By a 3-1 vote last Wednesday, the Chester Select Board voted to deny an appeal by the owner of a Main Street property for a curb cut to install a new driveway. But while the vote sounds resolute, some board members spoke of how conflicted they were over […]

  • FOLA screens adventurous ski films Feb. 20

    FOLA screens adventurous ski films Feb. 20

    Friends of Ludlow Auditorium joins forces with the Catamount Trail Association to present an evening of skiing films at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20 in the Heald Auditorium in Ludlow Town Hall, 37 S. Depot St. The evening begin with the short CTA film 40 Years on the Trail produced by Climb High Productions. […]

  • College News

    College News

    Two local undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, Mass., were named to the university’s fall 2024 Dean’s List. The criteria for the WPI Dean’s List differ from that of most other universities as WPI does not compute a grade point average. Instead, WPI students are named to the Dean’s List based on the […]

  • Op-ed: Clark sues to block Trump actions

    Op-ed: Clark sues to block Trump actions

    By Charity Clark Vermont Attorney General In the chaos of President Trump’s first three weeks in office, I sued on behalf of Vermont to block unconstitutional or illegal actions. President Trump’s executive orders and early actions reflect his campaign promises and dark view of the state of the union. Unfortunately, at least three of these […]

  • Op-ed: Be brave little state, defend public education

    Op-ed: Be brave little state, defend public education

    By John Castle Gov. Phil Scott has provided his shock and aw-shucks proposal for rescuing taxpayers and claiming to improve education along the way. Finding renewed hubris with the “red wave” of new Republicans in the State House and Democrats running scared, Gov. Scott is seizing the opportunity with a misguided overhaul of our public […]

  • To the editor: Share Heat fundraiser for Family Center an encouraging community event

    To the editor: Share Heat fundraiser for Family Center an encouraging community event

    It was encouraging to participate in the Share Heat fundraiser at Vermont Vines last Saturday, where dozens of people came together to raise money for the Chester-Andover Family Center. As the press release in The Chester Telegraph explained, the money will be available to local residents who have trouble paying their heating bills. It was […]

  • Donate to Green Up Vermont via state income tax return

    Donate to Green Up Vermont via state income tax return

    For 55 years, the first Saturday in May – Green Up Day – has been about gathering family and neighbors outside to clean up litter and debris from roadsides and waterways. This is a much-loved, prideful tradition that continues to keep our natural landscapes clean and healthy and instills a sense of community care in […]

  • New GM High mascot to be chosen this week

    New GM High mascot to be chosen this week

      By Lorien Strange ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Green Mountain Union High School students will be selecting a new mascot this week, more than a year since a contentious series of school board meetings ended with the demise of the original controversial mascot, the Chieftain. The original, 50-year-old mascot was considered racist and outdated and […]

  • Henry Homeyer: Spring brings the flower shows, the seeds and houseplant care

    Henry Homeyer: Spring brings the flower shows, the seeds and houseplant care

    By Henry Homeyer ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Here in Cornish Flat, N.H., this seems like an old-fashioned winter. Temperatures have been consistently below freezing, and the ground has had at least a light covering of snow most of the time. No deep snow, the kind that insulates the ground and keeps tender perennials safe, but […]

  • League of Women Voters speaker series on Supreme Court decisions continues Feb. 12

    League of Women Voters speaker series on Supreme Court decisions continues Feb. 12

    The League of Women Voters of Vermont, in partnership with Kellogg-Hubbard Library, presents the fourth in its 2024-2025 Lecture Series on Recent Supreme Court Decisions at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12. This season examines the potential impacts of five important decisions issued since 2022. Rep. Rebecca Holcombe and Harrison Stark, senior staff attorney at […]

  • History of chocolate tea, talk and tasting Feb. 15

    History of chocolate tea, talk and tasting Feb. 15

    SEE UPDATED LOCATION Cavendish chocolatier Maren Muter is giving a free workshop on the history of chocolate at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15 at the home of SuperRoasted Coffee, formerly Crow’s Bakery, 73 Depot St. in Proctorsville. Participants should arrive at the Cavendish Fletcher Community Library, 573 Main St. in Proctorsville, by 10 a.m. […]

  • To the editor: A teacher's view: Vermont legislature needs to ban cellphones from schools

    To the editor: A teacher’s view: Vermont legislature needs to ban cellphones from schools

    I am a science teacher at Green Mountain UHS in Chester. I urge you to support the Phone- and Social Media-Free Schools bill in the legislature (H.54 and S.21). When I first heard of such a bill, I thought it was over the top. But, I read the testimony from last session, reflected on my […]

  • To the editor: Cavendish Streetscapes' flower boxes vandalized

    To the editor: Cavendish Streetscapes’ flower boxes vandalized

    What is wrong with this picture to the right? There is only one flower box instead of three along the Depot Street bridge in Proctorsville. The missing boxes were smashed and tossed into the frozen river and looking over the railing, you can see the evidence of this crime. With generous support from the community, […]

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