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GMUSD board sets graduation date as state cuts required days

GMUSD board sets graduation date as state cuts required days District reaches agreements with teachers/staff

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A singularly unsettled school year got a measure of certainty earlier this month with the passage of legislation that decided a number of questions that had vexed administrators and school boards, including the number of education days required in a year that started late on orders from […]

Woman critical after hit-and-run in W. Wardsboro

Woman critical after hit-and-run in W. Wardsboro State Police seek information on Saturday night incident

© 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont State Police are asking for the public’s help in finding the driver of a car who hit and critically injured a West Wardsboro woman on Saturday night, then fled. According to a VSP press release, Deborah Ayers, 65, was found semi-conscious on the Stratton Arlington Road around 8 […]

Weston firefighters seek new building; board appoints rep for Communications Union District

Weston firefighters seek new building; board appoints rep for Communications Union District

By Cherise Madigan © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Volunteer Fire Department may be getting a new home following a preliminary presentation by Fire Chief Ryan Hart and Firefighter Jake Hart at the Oct. 13 meeting of the Weston Select Board. In their appeal, presented by Jake Hart, the fire company requested that, as […]

'Little library' for food installed at Smitty's Market

‘Little library’ for food installed at Smitty’s Market

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In another effort to eliminate food insecurity in area communities, Smitty’s Chester Market and Chester Helping Hands have teamed up to install a food pantry for those who are in need. On Wednesday morning, Stu Stocker and Smitty’s owner Garrison Smith could be found leveling a wooden […]

Vermont drops out of 'green zone' for Covid-19, White House says

Vermont drops out of ‘green zone’ for Covid-19, White House says

By Liz Essley Whyte Center for Public Integrity Oct. 13, 2020 The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories. More than half of states are in the “red zone” for new Covid-19 cases, meaning they had more than 100 new cases for […]

Prospects for Church St. sidewalk in Chester distant, dimmer

Prospects for Church St. sidewalk in Chester distant, dimmer Pinske questions loan fund, election update

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Many Chester residents who use Church Street as part of their walking route have long asked for a sidewalk to separate them from the traffic. But the possibility of that happening dimmed a bit on Wednesday night as Christina Haskins of Dufresne Group gave a presentation to […]

From virtual contests to drive thru trunk or treat, communities push for 'normal' Halloween

From virtual contests to drive thru trunk or treat, communities push for ‘normal’ Halloween

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Countless holidays and traditions are being re-configured in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Halloween has not been spared. While traditional trick-or-treating practices have come into question due to social distancing requirements, many community groups have modified their annual events so that the holiday can still be […]

Beattie named Vermont Emergency Management Director of Year

Beattie named Vermont Emergency Management Director of Year

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry’s own Kevin Beattie has been recognized as Vermont’s Emergency Management Director of the Year for 2020, a year in which emergency management is anything but “business-as-usual.” “Kevin Beattie has all the characteristics that make an exemplary EMD,” said Mark Bosma, public information officer for the state Department […]

TRSU board OKs funds for LES kitchen

TRSU board OKs funds for LES kitchen

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The board of directors of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union approved the expenditure of approximately $17,000 from the coffers of the After School program to fund the re-installation of a kitchen in the Ludlow Elementary School, which Principal Karen Trimboli asserted was a matter of hot lunch […]

Derry Transfer Station food-scrap intake doubles

Derry Transfer Station food-scrap intake doubles

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Recycling Coordinator Esther Fishman told the Londonderry Select Board at its Monday, Oct. 5 meeting that the amount of food scraps being brought to the Transfer Station has increased by nearly 10,000 pounds per month since a state composting mandate went into effect this summer. Food scraps totaled […]

A community greenhouse grows in Chester

A community greenhouse grows in Chester

By Cynthia Prairie ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A group in Chester is working to establish a community greenhouse that will allow residents to extend the season to grow plants, vegetables and flowers almost all year long. Their vision is of a community greenhouse and gardens that include educational opportunities while addressing climate change, food insecurity […]

Chester board OKs Act 250 appeal, orders dog in attack muzzled

Chester board OKs Act 250 appeal, orders dog in attack muzzled

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In two special meetings last week, the Chester Select Board discussed the Act 250 District Commission’s rejection of the town’s application to extract gravel on the site it bought for a new water tank and took evidence in a hearing about a dog named Edgar that neighbors […]

As autumn descends, eateries cautious, optimistic

As autumn descends, eateries cautious, optimistic

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Vermont’s fall foliage season typically rakes in revenue totaling $280 million throughout the month of October, according to the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, and leaf peepers have already begun to descend on the Green Mountains as they burst into a blaze of color. While the foliage […]

Casting your ballot: A guide to voting procedures

Casting your ballot: A guide to voting procedures

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Voting in this pandemic year will not be like any vote we have ever cast and Secretary of State Jim Condos is suggesting that everyone have a voting plan. One suggestion is to vote by Saturday, Oct. 24 — “to reduce contact at polling places and to […]

Statewide disc golf tournament draws players to Chester

Statewide disc golf tournament draws players to Chester

By Cynthia Prairie ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Stone Village Shootout disc golf tournament this past weekend at the Pinnacle in Chester attracted 50 players from Vermont and New Hampshire and marked the four-year-old course’s inaugural run in the disc golf tournament world. The Chester course was the No. 9 stop in the 2020, 11-course […]

K-12 Covid numbers remain low as child-care hubs continue to expand

K-12 Covid numbers remain low as child-care hubs continue to expand

©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC With continuing low Vermont Covid-19 numbers — and with just one new positive case in K-12 schools this week — Vermont schools have been approved to go from a  Step II to Step III in health guidance as of Saturday, Sept. 26. Meanwhile, the statewide child-care hub initiative continues to grow,  […]

Weston board grills Brattleboro Dev. Corp. on lack of internet push, local jobs programs

Weston board grills Brattleboro Dev. Corp. on lack of internet push, local jobs programs

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Economic development — particularly in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic — dominated discussion at the Sept. 22 meeting of the Weston Select Board, which found some friction between its own development priorities and those established by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. BDCC Director of Programs Jen […]

How VTel's phone/internet outage happened

How VTel’s phone/internet outage happened

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Multiple equipment failures brought to a standstill VTel phone and internet service to Chester, Andover, Grafton and Windham — first on Thursday, then on Friday and into Saturday of last week, prompting questions about access to public safety agencies and how to make that more robust. According […]

Hance tells board Public Safety building is on schedule

Hance tells board Public Safety building is on schedule

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC While it may appear to a passerby on Pleasant Street, that construction of Chester’s Public Safety Building has stalled, according to Town Manager Julie Hance, the standstill is a sign that the project is not only on schedule but also saving money. At its Sept. 16 meeting, […]

Derry Main St. paving wraps for season as town begins to focus on future Master Plan

Derry Main St. paving wraps for season as town begins to focus on future Master Plan

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry’s Main Street paving project will continue into November, Town Administrator Shane O’Keefe announced at Monday’s Londonderry Select Board meeting, and the project is on-schedule to be completed this fall with the exception of a wear coat — the final driving surface for the newly paved road that […]