All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Covid Weekly Update: State of emergency, vaccine rollout continue Not all activities seen as drivers of Covid numbers
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Gov. Phil Scott extended the state of emergency throughout Vermont through mid-February as new weekly Covid-19 totals again topped 1,000 for the second week in a row. The new weekly total of 1,115 was down slightly from the record-setting high of 1,207 last week, for a total of 9,734. Seven Vermonters […]
TRSU board approves 14% budget increase
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Thursday night, the board of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union unanimously approved a budget of $6.548 million, which taxpayers in the SU’s two districts will see as assessments in the district budgets for the 2021/22 school year. The spending plan included an overall increase of $807,764 […]
Chester board opts out of in-person Town Meeting All questions to be voted by Australian ballot; online informational meeting to be held
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board last Wednesday opted to hold an informational meeting on Monday, March 1 followed by a vote on all issues before the voters by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 2 — Vermont’s Town Meeting Day. At the beginning of the discussion, board chair Arne […]
Project Londonderry volunteers establish new non-profit organization Members work toward North Village Master Plan, seek community input
From the editor: To correct the record: Project Londonderry organizers have notified The Chester Telegraph that the 501(c)(3) organization recently established is actually known as The Community Fund for Londonderry, and is separate from the Project Londonderry initiative, which remains a volunteer effort coordinated by the Town Planning Commission. The Community Fund for Londonderry is […]
Local Covid-19 numbers grow in post-holiday spikes
By Cherise Madigan © 2021 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The Vermont Department of Health announced 165 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, with 38 hospitalized, eight of whom are in intensive care. Now more than 500 new cases have been reported since Thursday, Dec. 31. Since Sunday, Vermont’s seven-day average positivity rate has risen from 2.3 […]
Chester Rotary seeks ‘competent organization’ to take over Fall Festival
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Rotary is hoping that a “competent organization” will soon step forward to take over the annual Chester Fall Festival “for the sake of the community and the town,” said Rotary President Ian Montgomery on Tuesday morning. The festival, which was in its 45th year with the […]
Derry board nixes new maintenance position, seeks volunteers
By Cherise Madigan © 2021 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The suggestion of a new Highway, Building and Grounds Maintenance employee drew a crowd to Londonderry’s virtual Select Board meeting on Monday night after a number of residents expressed opposition to the position’s cost in a year that has been financially difficult for many. The $20-per-hour full-time […]
Weekly Covid Update: Federal vaccine reductions vex Scott administration
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A spike in the daily Covid-19 new case totals, two new deaths, and lower than expected vaccine allotments coming from the federal government capped off 2020’s final Covid-19 press conference on Thursday, Dec. 31, which also marked the 100th press conference given by Gov. Phil Scott and his state health team […]
Boards struggle with holding annual meetings during pandemic Legislation may give municipalities more options
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Town Meeting day is more than two months away, but municipalities — including school districts — throughout Vermont are working out how that annual ritual of direct democracy will be handled during a global pandemic in which personal contact can be hazardous. When Gov. Phil Scott announced […]
3 GM board members eschew re-election, annual meeting in flux
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC On the evening following a snowstorm that normally would have cancelled all school activities, the Green Mountain Unified School District board and finance committee met remotely last Thursday with three members announcing they would not run for re-election and the board deciding to hold a Zoom annual […]
Chester board mulls dismantling 131-year-old Jeffrey Barn Lack of insurance, upkeep at core of Select Board decision
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board is looking for a contractor to dismantle the 131-year-old Jeffrey Barn on Rt. 103 North after learning that the town’s insurer will no longer cover it. Town Manager Julie Hance told the board at its Wednesday, Dec. 16 meeting that the Vermont League […]
Derry board ponders delay in Town Meeting; addresses property taxes and budgeting
By Cherise Madigan 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry’s 2021 Town Meeting may move to Pingree Park — and from March to May — if the state grants towns the ability to delay meetings due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And state legislators are working to make the one-time exception a reality, Town Clerk Kelly Pajala, who also […]
State to allow 2-household holiday gatherings
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Citing stabilized case counts of under 100 over the past several days — including 63 on Tuesday, Dec. 22 — that suggested an overall “vast improvement,” Gov. Phil Scott announced that several health guidelines will be loosened from Wednesday, Dec. 23 through Saturday, Jan. 2. These include expanding the state’s gathering […]
Christmas memory: Dickens, Della and baccala salad in Vermont
By Rafael Alvarez ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Charles Dickens arrived for his second reading tour of America just before Thanksgiving 1867. The crush of reporters and fans in New England — with some trying to tear a handful of fur from his coat — was not unlike the Beatles landing in New York in 1964. […]
Slight hike in call for heating fuel help, but local programs expect more
By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The call for heating assistance has increased this year, but not as dramatically as expected given the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, those who distribute such aid say. As the end of 2020 approaches and programs funded by the federal CARES Act begin to expire, however, those […]
Vaccines arrive as infections, deaths climb
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC With Vermont reaching what he called a “grim milestone” of over 100 deaths and with new case counts again jumping another 1,000-mark threshold this week, Gov. Phil Scott announced on Tuesday that he is extending Vermont’s state of emergency through Jan. 15, 2021. The first Pfizer vaccines arrived in the state […]
Stopped superload draws early Monday
morning attention in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham Photos by Linda Diak © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A 147-footlong “superload” that spent an hour on Main Street just west of the Green in Chester Monday morning had residents and passersby scratching their heads. The 62,500-gallon stainless steel milk tank bound for Ehrmann Commonwealth Dairy in Brattleboro — from Winchester, Ontario, […]
Holiday Lights: Send us your photos!
© Telegraph Publishing LLC On a recent evening drive to view some of the decorations on The Telegraph’s Holiday Lights Map we took a few photos that we thought we’d share with readers who haven’t had a chance to get out there yet. This is just the tip of the iceberg and several neighborhoods have […]
Weekly Covid Update: 16 more Vermonters die as new cases hit 778 Dr. Levine: No surge from Thanksgiving yet seen
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Department of Health reported 16 more deaths this week, up from 10 last week, along with a new Covid-19 case count that skyrocketed by a record-breaking 778, up from 758 reported last week. Deaths in Vermont from Covid now stand at 93 deaths, with a total of 5,541 cases. […]
Holiday Lights are twinkling! Find them with the Telegraph Holiday Lights Map
To get into the holiday spirit, our map maker, artist Dan O’Donnell, shot this video of the Green Mountain Flyer gussied up for the holiday. Turn up the volume so you can hear Santa! © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC More than 30 families and businesses answered the call to be placed on The Chester Telegraph […]
