By Sarah Mearhoff/ VTDigger Kicking off his fourth two-year term as Vermont’s top government official, Republican Gov. Phil Scott in his inaugural address on Thursday echoed familiar calls for statewide economic recovery in the face of unprecedented opportunity. But from Scott’s seat, this legislative biennium looks quite different from the past two years and presents…

Gary Frank Salmon, (also known as “The Tree Guy,” “Forest Recreation Guru,” “The Answer Man”) 75, of Shrewsbury, Vermont, died Jan. 1, 2023 at his home.  He was born June 8, 1947, in Utica, New York, the son of Warren Kenneth and Mildred Eleanor (Brant) Salmon and was predeceased by his brother Bradley Warren Salmon.…

James (Jim) R. Ruth, 82, passed away, with his family by his side, on Dec. 28 at the Rutland Regional Medical Center after a short illness. Born in Easton Pennsylvania March 20, 1940, Jim Ruth was the son of Francis “Jack” Ruth and Gilma (Sinclair), of Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Easton High School in 1958…

Pico Mountain has new snowmaking capabilities on A Slope ski trail. This project is part of continued improvements to the snowmaking system at Pico Mountain and was made possible in large part by community contributions facilitated by the Pico Ski Education Foundation, a nonprofit with a goal to help maintain an affordable organized ski racing…

By Brett Yates Local musicians will soon have a new opportunity to get together and play songs with their neighbors at the Pittsfield Town Hall. At last week’s meeting of the Pittsfield Select Board, officials gave permission to resident Dan Webb to organize acoustic jam sessions – free and open to all – inside the…

By Katy Savage Ludlow police dispatch receives up to 10 automated crash notifications from skiers’ iPhones and Apple watches a day. The problem is, most of them aren’t emergencies.  Each of the non-emergency calls takes time to process and respond to.   “They have to call every single one of them back and basically treat…

                            By Karen D. Lorentz Okemo Mountain has introduced a Mountain Safety Team to augment the services provided by the ski patrol and to increase mountain safety awareness among skiers and riders. “The mountain safety team’s goal is to build a community…

By Brooke Geery The next generation of ski and snowboard superstars showed off their stuff in the Lil' stash at Killington Resort on Saturday, Jan 7. At Mini Shred Madness, kids get a feel for the rules and navigation of the park and are rewarded with great prizes from sponsors such as Mammut, Burton, Yeti,…

By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger In what he called his “first day” as a U.S. senator, Peter Welch, D-Vt., returned to Vermont to discuss the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder at Rutland Regional Medical Center. “This has been an area of enormous bipartisan cooperation in Congress,” Welch said at an event at Rutland Regional Medical Center, Monday,…

By Curt Peterson A large crowd attended Hartland’s Jan. 3 Select Board meeting, more than a dozen of whom participated in a discussion expanding the time designated for “public comment” to almost 90 minutes. The topic: the long-proposed reconfiguration of the Three Corners intersection. Most speakers had strong opinions, but board chair Phil Hobbie demonstrated…

  Vermont Fish and Wildlife (VTF&W)  is offering shooting range improvement grants to encourage upgrades of shooting ranges for enhanced safety and operation.     The Shooting Range Improvement grant program seeks grant applications from clubs and government agencies involved in the operation of shooting ranges, including archery ranges.  Grant applications must be received by 4:30…

The final number of deer taken in Vermont’s 2022 hunting seasons will not be available for a few more weeks, but the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the final tally will be a little over 17,400 deer. Those deer will provide approximately 3.5 million servings of local, nutritious venison.  The buck harvest will be…

By Liz DiMarco Weinmann Tawdry treachery! Dastardly deeds! Sinful sex! Unrequited love between distraught divas and vain villains! More melodramatic mayhem than in whole seasons of Law & Order and Lifetime Movies! Yes, please! More to the point, “Bravo!” Growing up in an Italian household, I have been listening to opera since I was 5,…

Covid-19 community levels rose to “medium” last week, the Vermont Department of Health reported. The rising number of hospital admissions was mainly responsible for the state moving from “low” to “medium,” according to the department. It reported 67 new hospital admissions for Covid in the past week, compared with 33 the week before.  As of Wednesday, Jan. 4,…

Following an analysis of Covid-19 data, the Vermont Dept. of Health is reporting a cumulative 86 additional Covid-associated deaths that occurred over the course of the pandemic but had not been previously reported. Most of these deaths occurred in 2022. This  brings the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Vermont to 877, as of Jan.…