New England Youth Theatre's Town Schools Theatre “Winter Festival” brings together three original 20-minute plays into one show, to be performed by local schoolchildren on Feb. 15 and 16, at 7 p.m., at NEYT, 100 Flat St.
The Un-lost Island of Atlantis, directed by Putnam Smith and performed by students from Putney Central School, tells the tale of the clash of two groups of explorers who discover the lost island of Atlantis at the same time.
Death By Murder, directed by Jay Gelter and featuring students from Oak Grove Elementary, is a comic murder mystery whodunit, with plot twists that will leave you guessing until the very end.
Finally, in the dark comedy, A Festival of Merriment and Joy for the Good King Heimlich, directed by Doran Hamm and performed by students from Academy School, the good people of Chokeslandvilleshire rise up to overthrow their tyrannical king.
Latchis Arts' popular Exhibition on Screen series returns on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 16 and 17, at 4 p.m., with Young Picasso at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St. A pioneering series of cinematic films about exhibitions, galleries and artists, Exhibition on Screen takes a fascinating in-depth look at...
The Brattleboro Music Center's 2018-19 Chamber Series continues Thursday, Feb. 21, with the Escher Quartet, an American string quartet based in New York City, where they serve as Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at BMC. Tickets are $40...
Emerald ash borer is here. Infestation has been verified 20 miles away from Brattleboro. It is a killer; now is the time to vaccinate any ash trees you want to save, because by the time you find the pretty green insect on your tree, or notice the damage, it will be too late. In a news release, Brattleboro Town Tree Warden Dan Adams said infested trees die from the top of the crown down, and by the time you can...
This fall, through the 2018-19 Vermont Mentoring Grants, MENTOR Vermont (formerly known as Mobius) has awarded 29 grants, totaling $310,300, to support adult-to-youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This funding will support more than 100 new and existing program sites, and nearly 1,800 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont. According to a news release, MENTOR Vermont awarded two grants to agencies that support youth living in Windham County: a grant of $18,900 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont,
The Rich Earth Institute recently received multiple grants totaling approximately $145,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Fund's Long Island Sound Futures Fund to divert nitrogen from the Connecticut River Watershed. While Rich Earth Institute was the only Vermont organization to receive an award, 36 grants totaling $2.57 million were distributed to groups throughout the Northeast to improve the overall health and ecosystem of Long Island Sound. This grant program combines funds from the EPA and National Fish and Wildlife...
Taxes due in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO - The third installment of the 2018 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on Feb. 15. Payments made after Feb. 15 will have an additional 1 percent interest added to the unpaid balance. The utility billing is also due on Feb. 15. Payments made after Feb. 15 will have an additional 1 percent interest, as well as an 8 percent penalty added to the unpaid balance. Payments can be mailed to the...
This February, celebrate Black History Month by taking part in Putney's VT Reads programs, focusing on the themes of this year's community read: March: Book One by John Lewis. March is a graphic novel autobiography of John Lewis. Lewis was chairman of the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was considered one of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement. He has served in the U.S. Congress since 1987 and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama...
On Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m., In Stile Moderno presents the second program of their 2018-19 season with “The Lily and the Rose: France and England Entwined,” at the Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way. This intimate Valentine's Day program for voice and lute features songs of love and loss from both sides of the English Channel. Boston-based ensemble In Stile Moderno is dedicated to music of the seventeenth century, and combines fidelity to historical performance practice with...
Marlboro College students, faculty, and staff will perform a staged reading of scripts from the Prison Story Project, based on writing by incarcerated people living in northwest Arkansas. The performance will take place in Whittemore Theater on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public. The performance is the culmination of a “pop-up” class and collaboration between faculty, students, and Matthew Henriksen, creative writing director (Death Row) of the NWA Prison Story Project. Henriksen...
Canal Street Art Gallery's “A Moment In Frame” photography show opens Feb. 15, and will be open to the public through April 6. The gallery is located at 23 Canal St. and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All are invited to attend the opening reception in Bellows Falls from 5 to 8 p.m. on the 3rd Friday Gallery Night on Feb. 15. There will be live jazz music and refreshments. “A Moment In Frame”
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center recently announced that 119 teenagers from across Vermont have been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their exceptional artistic and literary talent. Their award-winning artwork and writing will be exhibited at BMAC from Feb. 13 to March 2, culminating in an awards ceremony on Saturday, March 2, at noon. The awards ceremony is free and open to the public. Syndicated cartoonist Hilary Price will deliver a keynote address. The Scholastic Art...
The Rock River Players present “What's Love Got to Do with It?! - A Valentine's Cabaret” on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Williamsville Hall on Dover Road. Cabaret brings to mind a dark and intimate night club and an evening full of songs, laughter, scenes, and surprises. Williamsville Hall will be transformed into just such a place with cafe tables, flickering candles, and a tempting array of sweets and savories. In a wry nod...
A broken sprinkler valve to the Paramount Building on 167 Main St. was the cause of a large water leak in downtown Brattleboro on Feb. 5 that caused a considerable amount of damage to the sidewalk and a traffic island at the intersection of Main and High streets. According to the Brattleboro Department of Public Works, water service and electrical power were turned off for several hours until Utilities Division crews contained the leak. Workers finished the emergency repair around...
Asylum seekers legally come to the U.S. to escape persecution and likely death in their home countries. Upon arriving in some locations, mothers and children are locked into windowless, chilled rooms without sustaining food or water for days. Then the children are kidnapped, taken to undisclosed locations, and dispersed throughout the country without their captors keeping track of where they go - all in the hope of destroying their and their parents' lives. All to send a message to other...
Paul Normandeau wrote about my testimony to the House Education Committee. He was not in Montpelier, and I was surprised by two false statements he asserts that I made: 1. He wrote that I “testified [...] without authorization or any direction from her local school board.” Although never asked by the representatives, I stated emphatically that I did not give testimony as a representative of the Brattleboro Town School Board, much less speak in my capacity as chair. In fact,
I have been reading about the proposed changes to the rental inspections in Brattleboro with some interest. One of the things I have not seen mentioned are homes like mine that have two or three apartments and are also owner-occupied. The issues I read about seem to be with landlords who do not live on their properties. I have had two inspections by the fire department in the past eight years and have followed up on all recommendations. Why would...
The U.S. Navy has named a Virginia-class submarine (SSN 792) the USS Vermont. This is only the third U.S. naval vessel to be named after the state of Vermont. The Vermont has been christened with anticipated commissioning in early 2020. The Green Mountain Base of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. is looking for submarine veterans to represent our state and to support the crew of the Vermont by coming on board for this historic event. I look forward to...
Elayne Clift's recent revelations about women charged with homicide for fetal deaths, whether intentional or unavoidable, spiked my longstanding outrage at efforts to block women's sovereignty over their pregnancies. I share her interpretation that such punitive measures are acts of political dominance over women by men, as well as by women who have aligned themselves with that posture. Championing the “right to life” of the unborn might gain some legitimacy in my eyes if it included supporting the rights of...
The Selectboard has endorsed Groundworks Collaborative's $500,000 grant application to the state's Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG). If granted by the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the funds will support the nonprofit organization's efforts to build a new facility as a shelter and for its programs at 54 South Main St. [“Groundworks buys land for a new facility,” News, Jan. 30]. CDBG funds are federal monies that are administered by the state, but a municipality must sponsor...
The Vermont House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved partial extensions to the Act 46 merger deadline of July 1. Should the bill, passed by the House on Feb. 7, become law, the one-year extension would provide breathing room for some schools forced by the state Board of Education to undergo mergers. But with extensions approved on a district-by-district basis depending on their progress in the merger process, only one town - Windham - in the county could receive an extra...
Good day to you, fine folks of southeastern Vermont, as winter continues for those north of the Massachusetts border. Despite some mixed precipitation events, you have seen far more snow than our southerly neighbors in the lower terrain of western Massachusetts. In Windham County, a mix of snow and ice showers should generally have ended if you happen to pick up this paper on its publication date. However, additional snow showers and some spotty light accumulations are expected Wednesday afternoon...
A broken valve for a sprinkler line leading into the Paramount Building on 167 Main St. broke on Feb. 5, sending approximately 160,000 gallons of water cascading into the basements of a pair of downtown buildings. But the owners of the two places most affected by the flooding - the Brattleboro Bike Shop and the neighboring River Garden - said it could've been infinitely worse. Both credit the good fortune of the flooding happening mid-afternoon, rather than at night, and...
Painter Carol Keiser of Putney has donated a painting that will be raffled off to support asylum seekers in Windham County. Keiser's colorful painting is a fundraiser for the Community Asylum Seekers Project and its work of providing aid and resources to a half dozen adults and children who are currently living in the county while they await their court dates. Titled Yellow Tulips with Woman Reading, the framed acrylic on canvas measuring 20 by 25 1/2 inches and features...
In 2017, I fell in love for the first time - with a group of Iraqi and American youth. I was working with the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP), a program run by World Learning in Brattleboro and funded by the U.S. State Department. It offered a month-long experience to 29 Iraqi and 10 American students and three staff the chance to live and learn for a month together in the United States. I served as a teacher, travel...
The Brattleboro Union High School Music Department presents the musical Pippin on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Feb. 14, 15, and 16, in the BUHS Auditorium. The Thursday performance will begin at 4 p.m. and the Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7 p.m. All tickets for the Thursday matinee are $6. Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances are $10 for general admission and $6 for senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased in the BUHS front office Monday through...
Some of the best up-and-coming ski jumpers are set to fly above Cedar Street at New England's only Olympic-size venue on Feb. 16 and 17 during the annual Harris Hill tournament in Brattleboro. The nearly century-old competition will feature women and men from North America and Europe leaping off a 90-meter hill that's one of just six of its size in the country. One of those competitors is Harris Hill distance record holder Blaz Pavlic from Slovenia, who jumped 341...
In a historic moment for two venerable Southern Vermont institutions, Marlboro Music and Marlboro College have agreed on a new 99-year lease. This ensures that, for generations to come, Marlboro Music will remain on the beautiful, 500-acre campus that has been its only home since its inception in 1951. “This new lease codifies an already strong relationship, and gives us stability for a century to come,” Marlboro Music manager Philip Maneval said in a news release. “Having Marlboro Music on...
Those of us who are lucky to grow up in the country learn a lot just from looking at what goes on around us in the garden and on the farm. If you grew up in the '60s, you probably burned your trash out in a bin, but at some point you figured out that was not such a great solution, so you stopped doing it. You probably learned where your ancestors or the previous owner of the property once...
My first guest on my new podcast “Montpelier Happy Hour” was Vermont State Representative Emilie Kornheiser, one of three representatives from Brattleboro. Kornheiser represents District 1 and, according to her biography, she “comes to her work in the legislature with a passion for supporting and amplifying community voices - asking communities to own and tell their own stories in order to facilitate shared visions and outcomes.” A Democrat who was first elected to the Statehouse in November, she holds a...