TOWNSHEND-Grace Cottage Family Health and Hospital has been chosen as the recipient of a $1 million grant toward the construction of a new primary care clinic building through the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC)'s Catalyst Program.
The NBRC is a federal-state partnership for economic and community development in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. Each year, the NBRC provides federal funds for critical economic and community development projects throughout the Northeast.
"In granting us this award, NBRC is validating and supporting what our community knows - the 14 practitioners in our primary care clinic are providing over 30,000 patient visits per year in two homes built in the 1840s, and we're bursting at the seams," Grace Cottage CEO Olivia Sweetnam said in a news release.
Sweetnam added that Grace Cottage "has the architectural plans in place and fundraising is progressing quickly for a 23,000-square-foot building to ensure that people in our rural area will get the excellent care that they need and deserve, and which they have come to expect from Grace Cottage."...
Saxtons River annual village meeting is April 14 SAXTONS RIVER - The annual Saxtons River village meeting is on Monday, April 14, at 7 p.m. at Main Street Arts. Before the meeting, there will be a potluck supper from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The annual village report can be...
BRATTLEBORO-The UMass Percussion Ensemble returns to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Sunday, April 13, at 7 p.m. to perform works by J.S. Bach, Franco Donatoni, Andy Akiho, and more. Led by percussionist Ayano Kataoka, the UMass Percussion Ensemble is made up of graduate and undergraduate percussion...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Camerata presents "The Unknown Master: Music of Adrian Willaert" on Sunday, April 13, at the Brattleboro Music Center. The 4 p.m. concert spotlights the works of Willaert, one of the central figures in 16th-century music. According to Camerata Director Jonathan Harvey, "He was the most powerful and influential musician in Venice, and his students included the biggest names of the next generation of Italian composers." Harvey added that the continuing reputation of centuries-old music "is always dependent on...
Obituaries • Kathleen Marie "Katra" Faust, 75, passed away peacefully on March 30, 2025 at Covenant Living in Keene, New Hampshire, after a courageous journey with Alzheimer's disease. Born June 1, 1949, to Helen Peterson Faust and Kenneth Faust, Katra was raised in Jamestown, New York, alongside her beloved siblings: older brother Kenny Faust, younger sister Karen Holcomb, and younger brother Carrie Faust, who died in 2022. Even as she charted her own path, the roots of her early life...
BELLOWS FALLS-A doubleheader featuring a magical VHS player and a celebration honoring the legacy of the Grateful Dead will screen at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. Bellows Falls Films, in conjunction with Rockingham Entertainment Development, showcases the work of independent filmmakers from southern New Hampshire and Vermont. First up is the 30-minute short film, The Rewind (2024), directed by Shea Hauver and starring Ty Jo Nash and Ari Lucius, produced by Gavin Key...
Children from infancy to 5 years old and their caregivers are invited to a Teddy Bear Tea this spring. Teas are a chance to check out community schools, meet other children and families, hear stories, eat a yummy snack, and try a teddy bear tea. Upcoming Teddy Bear Teas at Windham County schools include: • Academy School, West Brattleboro. Monday, May 12, 8:30 a.m. • Dover School. Friday May 2, 1 p.m. • Dummerston School. Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m.
BRATTLEBORO-Vermont Theatre Company will present its annual "Play in a Day" festival on Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston Center. Auditions will take place the night before (also at the Grange) on Friday, April 18, at 6 p.m. In a news release, organizers said the Play in a Day format includes writers, directors, and actors who "work together in a fun, fast, and intense process," creating five short plays that are cast, written,
BRATTLEBORO-Meeting Waters YMCA, now in its 130th year of service to youth and families, will be running its day camp program as it has each summer since 1965. More than 15,000 area children and teens have attended Meeting Waters YMCAs camps over the past 60 years. At Meeting Waters YMCA's Y Day Camp, eight one-week sessions between June 30 and Aug. 22 will be offered for youth who have completed kindergarten through age 13. Y Day Camp takes place at...
BRATTLEBORO-The BUHS Players announce their upcoming spring play, Clue: High School Edition, based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn and written by Sandy Rustin. Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue: High School Edition is a farce-meets-murder mystery. The tale begins at a remote mansion. Six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all...
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro Savings & Loan is celebrating the 22nd annual National Financial Literacy Month during April. Recognizing the importance of financial education in empowering individuals and families, BS&L will provide essential financial tools and resources through free evening seminars this month. "Financial literacy is the foundation of a secure future, enabling individuals to navigate life's transitions with clarity and understanding," Deb Stephenson, president and CEO of BS&L, said in a news release. The sessions will cover a range of important topics,
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Rotary Club is proud to offer college scholarships again this year to graduating students at Brattleboro Union, Leland & Gray, and Hinsdale high schools. The amount of assistance will be $2,000 to $3,000 per student. A combination of financial need, academic achievement, and community service will be used as the criteria for selecting the recipients. The awards will be presented during part of the graduation festivities at each high school in June of 2025. In addition, the Rotary...
-There is always a little extra pressure on a team when they are defending a championship. Last season's Brattleboro Unified basketball team went undefeated and won the school's second state title. With nearly all of the starters from that team back for this season, they fully expect to repeat as champions. But head coach Tyler Boone is doing what can be done to temper expectations. While 13 players are returning, Boone says several of them are dealing with injuries and...
BRATTLEBORO-More than 90 poems from 47 poets are up in shop and restaurant windows downtown as part of "Poems Around Town," an annual celebration of poetry during April, National Poetry Month. The display of poems will be up throughout April and for the first Gallery Walk of the season in May. For the first time, Poems Around Town has posted copies of selected poems at Canal Street locations. Poems are primarily by Brattleboro area poets, but poets from the tri-state...
WESTMINSTER WEST-The 60-voice River Singers Community Chorus will perform an eclectic concert of world music on Saturday and Sunday, April 12 and 13, at 4 p.m. at the Westminster West Church. The River Singers, in its 34th year, is a multi-generational community choir led by Mary Cay Brass. The choir sings a thrilling variety of community-based music from many diverse cultural and musical traditions. Brass will be joined by Dr. Kathy Bullock, Professor Emerita from Berea College, who is a...
GUILFORD-Some may say that the Trump presidency is threatening our democracy. In fact, we are no longer living in a democracy. This is not a political view, it is based on the actions of the Trump regime. If we no longer have a democracy and are moving into totalitarianism, what are our options? It appears there are only two: totalitarianism and fascism, or popular resistance of such a magnitude that the tables are overturned and Trump and his thugs are...
BRATTLEBORO-What happens when you work in social services for 30 years, then retire and start your own social services agency, only to be met by the Trump Administration's attempt to cut Social Security off at the knees? Just ask Brattleboro's Leo Schiff. Schiff, 64, a licensed clinical social worker and drug and alcohol counselor, holds a master's degree in social work from the University of Vermont. He worked for the former Morningside Shelter (which became part of Groundworks Collaborative) for...
-Despite a cold and rainy Saturday, thousands of Vermonters poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration and its policies at "Hands Off!" rallies in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Chester, and Wilmington on April 5. More than 150 activist groups were involved in organizing 1,200 such marches and rallies across all 50 states, and southern Vermont turned out in force. Organizers estimated that more than 1,500 people showed up in Brattleboro, more than 500 turned out in Chester, and a...
The small state of Vermont has, believe it or not, 187 libraries. "From my perspective, libraries are as American as apple pie," Catherine Delneo, the Vermont state librarian and commissioner of libraries, told The Commons. She described the state's libraries as "a vital piece of our of our community, because they're providing access to information and free access to information and free speech and the right to use the library and do research and to read" - all "really fundamental...
Tim Stevenson ([email protected]) is a community organizer with Post Oil Solutions and is the author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (Green Writers Press) and the recently published Transformative Activism: A Values Revolution in Everyday Life in a Time of Societal Collapse (Apocryphile Press). ATHENS-"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part!" said Mario Salvio in his sit-in address...
HINSDALE, N.H.-I'm reading a lot about cuts to the federal government workforce and how horrible we're supposed to think that is. Funny how this is viewed differently than cuts to the private sector. Private sector companies merge, acquire each other, and even downsize all the time. Job changes and/or layoffs happen. This is normal. No one decries the loss of employment these affected individuals suffer; the fact is they can (and will) find new jobs. So can former federal employees.
BRATTLEBORO-Being against the Netanyahu regime is not necessarily antisemitic, and supporters of innocent victims and a free state in Palestine are not necessarily pro-Hamas terror, yet many expressing those opinions around the world are. Brattleboro passed Article II, saying in part: "We affirm our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people. We pledge to join others in working to end all support to Israel's apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation." What does this...
Laura Sibilia, an independent, represents the Windham-2 district (Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton, and Wardsboro) in the Vermont House of Representatives. She delivered these remarks at the Hands Off rally in Wilmington on April 5. WILMINGTON-My daughter is currently deployed alongside many other Americans' sons and daughters. What's happening to our military under this administration is dangerous, disrespectful, and a complete disgrace. Let's start with the V.A. The Veterans Administration - after years of being understaffed - finally had the resources...
BRATTLEBORO-Open your door to Rescue Inc. for a pre-operation safety check of your living space. I did, and I am so happy that I did. As part of preparing me for knee replacement surgery, I was offered this free visit to suggest any changes I might make to my living space in order to make it as safe as possible after surgery. Not only were helpful suggestions made, but Zack and Paul also went over my checklist of medications and...
Dan DeWalt, a frequent contributor to these pages and one of the founders of this newspaper, writes that if he didn't love his country, he "wouldn't spend so much time trying to get it to live up to its purported principles." NEWFANE-On April 5, 2,000 people in Brattleboro, 10,000 in Montpelier, thousands in Burlington - in all, 20 or so Vermont towns and cities saw around 20,000 people turn out to say no to the Trump tyranny and the greed...
BRATTLEBORO-During their April 1 meeting, Selectboard members heard passionate appeals from the public regarding downtown crime and public safety issues, which accounted for more than $675,000 in unbudgeted expenses in the last fiscal year. "Excuse my French, but people are shitting on my basement floor and breaking into our building," said Daniel Systo of Brattleboro. "I've found hypodermic needles, fentanyl, and heroin. I've cleaned up multiple times out back on Arch Street," he told Selectboard members. Expressing urgency for quick...
Natalie Silver, a political consultant, submitted this open letter on behalf of more than 200 Vermont attorneys, including Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak and Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark. Signatories from Windham County include Robb Alan Spensley, James Rodgers, William E. Kraham, Sharon L. Annis, and Bettina V. Buehler. BURLINGTON-We, the undersigned Vermont lawyers, write to express our commitment to upholding the rule of law, and to protest and decry the current administration's disdain for the rule of law as...
BRATTLEBORO-Jay Symonds has taken on the job of Brattleboro Fire Department chief after being sworn in April 1. "I know we're facing some challenges, but its my intent to be part of the solution to these challenges," the new chief said by phone on Monday, his first day on the ground. The former lieutenant of the Manlius Fire Department in upstate New York said he found out about the job through Town Clerk Hilary Francis, his sister-in-law, but he has...
BRATTLEBORO-Comedian Paula Poundstone, known for her "smart, observational humor and spontaneous wit," according to her publicity materials, returns to the Latchis Theatre for the third time on Saturday, May 3. "She's very down to earth […] with a little bit of snark and bite - but really, really funny," says Jon Potter, executive director of Latchis Arts and Latchis Corporation. During her last performance here in 2018, "she packed the Latchis and had us all in stitches for a very...
BRATTLEBORO-On behalf of the Windham County Heat Fund and your friends and neighbors who benefit from our work, we would like to thank all of the people who donated to our fundraiser on March 29. Eugene Uman and Sarah Ozga from the Vermont Jazz Center did all of the heavy lifting to make this event such a success as well as baker Roberta Levy. They helped us raise over $6,000 which will immediately help some of the more vulnerable people...