By Brooke Geery 2020 will go down in infamy as a year remembered more for the bad than the good, like 1929 or 2008. For that reason, we’ve opted to save our Year In Review until we were sure it was actually over. Now, in this first week of January, let’s look back on the…

The top live shows I attended in the region this past year By DJ Dave Hoffenberg 2020 was an incredible year, like none other. I’ve never seen the world look forward more to a new year like everyone did for 2021. Don McLean sang about “the day the music died” in his hit song “American…

While it’s not fun to imagine getting sick, the Rutland County Humane Society (RCHS) thinks it’s important to plan for it and our pets, just in case. Gather your family around and put a plan together to ensure your animals will be well cared for in the event of an emergency. First, know the facts.…

By Cassandra Tyndall One of the highlights this week, and of this month, is the movement of action-planet Mars into Taurus. Thanks to an extremely long and rare trip through Aries, this is the first time in nearly six months we’ll have the opportunity to change the direction of our goals, plans and projects. Fast…

By Jack Lyons/VTDigger Soon after Vermont’s first wave of Covid-19 deaths subsided in May, another wave of death quickly began to climb: traffic collisions. Crashes at one point surpassed the death toll of the coronavirus, and killed 62 people in the state in 2020, up from 47 the year before. Vermont roads have had less traffic…

By Paul Costello As we come out of the crucible of the pandemic and look to a new year, we need more than recovery, we need to work together to advance renewal and resilience for our communities and economy. The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) has been asking Vermonters what recovery will look like.…

An open letter to Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Legislature from industry leaders We appreciate the challenge of governing during a global pandemic. Instead of meeting with colleagues and constituents, we now rely on video chat, texts, emails, and phone calls. We are in an extraordinary time, where safety requires us to maintain physical distance from one…

Dear Editor, Trump reportedly intends to keep pushing the baseless claim that massive fraud of unbelievable scope robbed him of reelection even after Congress accepts the results, because  “Why should I ever let this go?… How would that benefit me?” That Trump plans to continue this demolition of democracy even after the almost certain inauguration…

Dear Editor, With the “year of Covid” barely behind us, we look forward to the New Year and the customary resolutions: reduce personal weight, reduce time on social media, and reduce consumption of animal foods. Yes, that. Nearly 40% of Americans are already eating more plant-based foods. Hundreds of school, college, and corporate cafeterias have…

Dear Editor, As we sprint away from 2020, and towards what we hope will be a happier new year, many of us have environmental resolutions front of mind. Leaders have resolved to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and host a global climate summit early next year. Many individuals are seeking to reduce their environmental footprint…

By Rob Riley Over the past year, I’ve heard two very different narratives about rural America. The first is that rural people face enormous economic and social challenges and the federal government does little to help them. The second is that the coronavirus pandemic has turned rural places into refuges where the urban elite — with…

State officials urge all Vermonters who recently gathered with others or traveled to get tested By Polly Mikula Governor Phil Scott and State Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine encouraged Vermonters to go get a Covid-19 test, at the regular press conference Tuesday, Jan. 5. The governor had temporarily permitted households to gather with one trusted…

Hockey teams will not be traveling outside the state to play until at least the end of this month, state officials from the Northeast announced on Dec. 31. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Maine Governor Janet Mills, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Vermont Governor Phil Scott, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont…

Mentor Vermont announced the recipients of the 2020-2021 Vermont mentoring grants on Dec. 30, which provide funding for youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This year, Mentor  Vermont awarded 24 grants, totaling $347,850, which will support over 100 new and existing program sites, and nearly 1,500 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont. These grants…

David H. "Chip" Garland, Jr. of Killington, died suddenly on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020. Son of the late David H. and Ruth M. (Curley) Garland, Chip Garland is survived by his siblings Tom and his wife Carol of Northwood, New Hampshire, Marianne McCourt and her husband David of Medford, Massachusetts and Paul and his wife…