By Cassandra Tyndall There are times when the more you push, the more things seem to happen. Then there are other times, when the more you push, the more resistance you face. Straddling the balance between the personal will and the cosmic weather can be a point of frustration. It pays to remember from time…

Women may now join any combat arms unit in the Vermont Army National Guard, following authorization by National Guard Bureau issued April 28. The Vermont Army National Guard is the first in the nation to open all combat arms units within its organization to the recruitment of women. “This is a momentous achievement for the…

Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m.—VIRTUAL—Rutland Young Professionals and Castleton University’s Master of Business Administration program are co-hosting part two of the Managing in the Pandemic series this Thursday, May 6 from 7-8 p.m.  The event is free and open to all. For our second event, we’ll be joined by Eliza Leeper, mission and customer manager at Vermont…

By Brett Yates Rutland City hosts several well-known public events each year, such as its famed Halloween parade and the Chaffee Center’s Art in the Park. According to Alderman Michael Talbott, 2021 will add a new celebration to the city’s social calendar if all goes to plan: a whoopie pie festival, tentatively scheduled for the…

By Julia Purdy Duane Atwood of Wallingford, 38, was painting a two-story house at 69 Baxter St. in Rutland Friday April 23 when a neighbor called out that the house was on fire. “At first I thought it was a joke,” he told the Mountain Times. Then he saw smoke billowing from the back of…

By Katy Savage Killington Boot Camp is moving and expanding operations.  Owner Beth Roberts is opening Killington Boot Camp Wellness Center on Saturday, May 1, on the second floor of Base Camp Bike and Ski (formerly Base Camp Outfitters) on Killington Road. There will be an open gym with weights, cardio equipment, pliability bands, suspension…

By Brett Yates Dozens of municipalities in Vermont took advantage this year of a new state law that, for 2021 only, permitted them to postpone their annual town meetings in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. These include five towns in Windsor County (Hartland, Sharon, Barnard, Weston, and Baltimore) and one in Rutland…

Ludlow-Mt. Holly, Rutland Town, Hartland, and Mt. Ascutney school districts named in appeal By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The state board of education on Wednesday, April 21, ordered three Vermont school districts to reimburse families who live in “school choice” towns for the tuition they paid out of pocket this year for their children to attend religious schools.  The board’s…

The Dark Knight to be featured in sculpture honoring annual Halloween parade organizer Two characters who turned Rutland’s Halloween parade into a comic book phenomenon will be immortalized in marble —Tom Fagan and DC’s Batman! Fagan, a journalist and book editor, was involved in Rutland’s legendary parade from its start in 1959. He launched a…

By Erin Petenko/VTDigger Sales of Vermont homes to out-of-state buyers jumped 38% in 2020 over the year before, suggesting that the pandemic drove newfound interest in Vermont real estate. According to data collected by the state Dept. of Taxes and newly analyzed by the Vermont Center for Geographic Information, home sales to out-of-staters reached their highest level in…

Beware of a dangerous imposter if you are foraging for ramps Wild leeks, also known as ramps (Allium tricoccum), are a wild edible that many Vermonters enjoy each spring. But if you are foraging for them, be careful to not mistake the ramps for a poisonous lookalike plant called false hellebore, the state warns.  The…

By Rep. Jim Harrison File it under "be careful what you divulge in a public forum." As I began some remarks in a House session last week, I started with a short childhood story to make a point where my mother would say, “Jimmy, you must clean your room.” Well, I have gone by “Jim”…

Vermonters participated in the nationwide Prescription Drug Take Back Day this past Saturday, April 24, turning in more than 3.5 tons of unused, unwanted and expired medication at over 55 collection sites throughout the state. The 7,165 pounds of collected medication sets a record for Drug Take Back Day in Vermont, exceeding the previous record of 6,734 pounds collected in October 2019.  “As we continue to work to prevent substance misuse in Vermont, we know having unused prescriptions in the medicine cabinets at…

U.S. congressmen Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), and senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) re-introduced bipartisan legislation that requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take enforcement action against manufacturers labeling non-dairy products as dairy on April 22. The Dairy Pride Act would stop the use of dairy terms such…

Dear Editor, America is the technology titan of the planet. America is the productivity engineer of the nations. America is the humanitarian giant of the globe. America is the policeman of the world. If so, why then is India burning its people to ashes night and day to remove the human fallout of our leadership…