All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Chester native’s animated short tells of Romaine Tenney’s ‘Love of the Land’ Film to be presented by Van Alstyne at Springfield Cinema
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Sixty years ago, just before 3 a.m. on Sept. 12, 1964, Weathersfield volunteer firefighters were called out to the Tenney farm, where a multi-building blaze glowed brightly in the late night summer sky. Romaine Tenney, a 64-year-old farmer whose lifelong home was to be taken by the […]
Guide to the 2024 Chester Festival on the Green More music, fascinating performers throughout downtown
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Festival on the Green is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It’s a weekend filled with music, great arts and crafts, good food and friends set in the charming Vermont town of Chester. Editor’s Note: Please return often to check for updates to music, events and vendors. The […]
State education commission members may not ‘fully represent Vermont,’ chair says Calls for 'good faith' efforts to bring other voices to the table
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the second meeting of the full Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont covered agenda items in detail, one thread ran through the three-hour meeting: public representation, engagement and credibility. Even before the meeting’s agenda and previous meeting’s minutes were approved, commission chair Meagan […]
GMUSD board mulls finances, new bond effort, restructuring
By Shawn Cunningham ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Late summer board meetings are often sparsely populated, with both members and the public on vacation, and light on topics to tackle. But while the former was true of the Thursday, Aug. 15 Green Mountain Unified School District board meeting, the latter was not. With just five members […]
Chester board OKs court action against Julian quarries, neighbors want more
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC At last Wednesday’s meeting, the Chester Select Board authorized Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow to start enforcement actions in court against two of Julian Materials’ violations of the stipulation the company negotiated with the town this past spring. And, at the same meeting, neighbors of the Julian quarries […]
Plenty of bear sightings, but not necessarily more bears in our southern Vermont towns
By Lorien Strange ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Everyone seems to have a bear story these days. If you haven’t seen one — or four — this season, just check your social media feed to find that these lumbering animals are local internet sensations. So how big is the Vermont bear population now and are we […]
Ed Commission creates group to fix school financing Hears public criticism of members' 'hidden agenda'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the third meeting out of 30 budgeted by the Vermont legislature, about half of the members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont assembled as the “steering group” on Monday and got down to making some decisions on how their work will […]
The Future of Public Education in Vt. – a big lift on short time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Toward the end of this year’s session, the Vermont legislature passed a bill – H-887, also known as the “yield bill” which made adjustments to rein in tax increase for this year by finding other sources of income. It also established a commission to recommend fixes problems […]
Chester planners hear objections to proposed rural zoning changes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC An a recent press release announcing a public hearing for a proposed zoning amendment, Chester Planning Commission chair Hugh Quinn wrote that the commission “encourages and welcomes all community feedback.” On Monday night, they indeed received some from several residents who attended in person or via Zoom. […]
‘Nobody is looking to close Cavendish’ – A tale of two meetings
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing Last week, two meetings looked at the same topic, but the tone of each could not have been more different. At issue is a proposal to move the 6th grades out of the elementary schools and create a grades 6 to 8 middle school. Currently, the middle school […]
Chester board considers water meter upgrade, adopts animal ordinance
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Meeting as the town’s Water Commissioners last Wednesday, the Chester Select Board heard a presentation on new metering technology that Superintendent Jeff Holden says will upgrade a system that is outdated and near the end of its useful life. The commission is considering a $95,000 upgrade for […]
Ludlow Fire Chief Kolenda ‘retires,’ gets a ‘ride home’ parade
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Ludlow Fire Chief Peter Kolenda started his career in firefighting in 1970 as a junior firefighter in Proctorsville. He was just 11 years old. This past Sunday, he “retired” as chief, but said he’d stay on as a Ludlow firefighter just so he could “be the old […]
Vermont one of two states chosen to test federal program to improve patient outcomes
By Danielle Brown ©2024 Maryland Matters Vermont and Maryland have been chosen as test-subject states for a new federal program that officials hope will improve patient outcomes and bridge inequities while constraining hospital and medical costs. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday that Vermont and Maryland will be the first states […]
STR owner criticizes ordinance prior to Chester board’s adoption of it
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Coming into last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting it was expected that the board would be voting to adopt the updated Short-Term Rental Ordinance it has been working on since September of last year. During that time – from October to April – there was a six-month […]
GMUSD board preps for next year as Fierman departs
By Lorien Strange © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The calm of Superintendent Lauren Fierman’s final meeting with the Green Mountain Unified School District Board last Thursday stood in contrast to the turbulence and tension throughout her last year with the Two Rivers Supervisory Union. With the school year done and the All Board Retreat still […]
After civil public hearing, Derry board rejects proposed zoning regs, returning them to planners
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC With more than 120 people in the Town Hall on Monday night and the memory of the heated exchanges when community members pushed back on proposed updates to Londonderry’s zoning regulations, many expected a fairly contentious hearing on the issue. But with Moderator Doug Friant running the […]
Rain forecast clears, allowing GMUHS Class of 2024 graduates outdoors
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was raining at 7 a.m. on Friday. That evening’s graduation ceremony was already set up in the gym at Green Mountain Union High School rather than outdoors in front of the school, where it is traditionally held. That was a disappointment for those graduating and their […]
Chester board hones proposed regulations on ‘nuisance animals’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The lion’s share of the Chester Select Board’s June 5 meeting was taken up with the question of how to make an “nuisance animal” ordinance that isn’t a bit of a nuisance itself. The impetus for this was the problem that a herd of goats roaming at […]
School spirit shines through cloudy day at Chester Alumni Parade
By Lorien Strange ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC There’s a unicycle?” exclaimed a young boy as other kids practiced gymnastics and ran around the gazebo in front of Chester Town Hall just before Saturday’s annual parade put on by the Chester High School/Green Mountain Union High School Alumni Association. Meanwhile, the small crowd of adults took […]
GM and Ludlow-Mount Holly districts pass budgets with higher turnout
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Residents in the two school districts that comprise the Two Rivers Supervisory Union went to the polls for the third time in as many months on Tuesday, this time passing their much-downsized budgets to run four elementary schools and one high school, with a much higher turnout. […]
