By Polly Mikula When asked if taxes are going up, Killington selectman and Windsor Central School District (WCSD) school district board member Jim Haff didn’t waffle. “Yes,” he said bluntly. Then explained. “There are two main parts of your tax bill, the state education tax makes up the majority and then there’s the town’s municipal…

By Katy Savage  Baird Farm syrup in Chittenden is getting national attention as a local resident competes on ABC’S dating reality show, “The Bachelor.”  On the show, former Pittsford resident Gabi Elnicki steps out of a limousine carrying a pint of maple syrup from Baird Farm. As she meets the bachelor,  Zach Shallcross, a 26-year-old…

By Curt Peterson Hartland’s five-member Select Board aired some internal issues at Monday evening’s meeting, Feb. 6. Town Manager David Ormiston described a phone call he received from Ann Gammell, chief engineer of the highway division at the Vermont Agency of Transportation.  According to Ormiston,  Gammell made it clear the AOT would like to have…

Staff report Principal Greg Schillinger said an inoperable firearm was found near a dumpster at Rutland High School on Feb. 6. Schillinger sent a letter to parents on Feb. 6, explaining the gun appeared to be left over the weekend.  “The hunting rifle was broken, rusted and appears to be very old,” Schillinger said.  Schillinger…

By Katy Savage Nearly 200 parents sounded off at Windsor Central School Board members at a meeting, Monday, Feb. 6, for lack of transparency about a potentially violent incident at Woodstock Elementary School, which led to a School Board member’s and fourth grade teacher’s resignation. “I am disturbed by the latest incident at WES and…

Staff report Killington’s Hannah Soar secured a podium spot and a third place finish in World Cup dual moguls at Deer Valley Resort in Utah on Sunday, Feb. 4.   This was her best performance of the season and her first podium. Soar has  previously done well at Deer Valley — the only United States…

Brandon is one of seven Vermont towns that received grant funding through the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. A total of $56,905 was awarded for projects through the Certified Local Government (CLG) program to support community-based preservation initiatives.  Brandon was awarded $7,200 to hire a qualified consultant to…

Brandon resident Cecil Reniche-Smith is seeking a one-year term on the Brandon selectboard.  A graduate of Vermont Law School, Reniche-Smith moved to Brandon after working for many years as a senior assistant attorney general for the state of Oregon, where she represented state agencies in state and federal courts. Before she was appointed to that…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service invites comments for the proposed Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project located on the Rochester and Middlebury Ranger Districts of the Green Mountain National Forest. The 72,250-acre project area includes National Forest System lands within Rutland, Windsor, and Addison counties, including the towns of Brandon, Chittenden, Goshen, Killington, Mendon,…

By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger In more than a third of Vermont towns, primary residents are taxed at higher rates than those who own second homes or commercial land, according to a VTDigger analysis of property tax rates. But that could change this legislative session if Vermont lawmakers take up reforms that have been researched throughout the past…

By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger With two-thirds of Vermont towns requiring property value reappraisals, the House Ways and Means Committee is considering a moratorium on them and transitioning to a state-run reappraisal system. “This was not on my agenda coming into the session as, like, the project to take on,” Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, the committee chair, said at a hearing on…

By Erin Petenko/VTDigger On Monday, Jan. 30, President Joe Biden announced that the federal government plans to end the emergency declarations for Covid-19 on May 11, a move that could affect Vermonters’ ability to access vaccinations, testing and treatment for the disease. The national emergency and public health emergency declarations related to Covid have been in…

Staff report The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC reported that five counties, all located on the western side of the state bordering New York, had their Covid levels rise from “low” to “medium” as of Thursday, Feb. 2; and Rutland County rose to “high” levels.  Other Covid metrics showed signs of an increase,…

By Alison Clarkson The Vermont Legislature is now deep into the work of our 2023 session. To date, 230 bills have been introduced, committees are taking testimony on various issues, and the priorities we identified before session began are beginning to take shape in legislation. The discussion about the Senate’s 107-page child care bill, S.56,…

By Jim Harrison I have never been much of a poker player, but I do know when my cards could have been better. With an 8-4 partisan split on the House Appropriations Committee and only 38 Republicans in the full House, trying to negotiate a reduction in the $91 million in new spending in the…