Discover More from This Author: MtnTimes

Donations and parade participants sought for Killington’s Fourth of July Celebration

June 12, 2024
Killington Parks and Recreation has announced the schedule for this year’s July 4th Celebration and seeks participants and volunteers to help make the events successful. Participants can get involved in multiple ways. Children 12 years or younger can bring their patriotically decorated bike and ride in the parade. Parents of younger children can walk with…

Vermont Bikepackers hostsBeginners’ Community Campout

June 12, 2024
 Friday, June 14 at 8 a.m.to Sunday, June 16 at 8 a.m.—GOSHEN—A free, fun, off-road ride and campout in the Green Mountain National Forest in Goshen. The event will be based at the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center, 1288 Goshen-Ripton Rd, Goshen, which has been reserved for the weekend to offer this event free of charge…

Capturing Time: A Neil Rappaport Retrospective

June 12, 2024
Saturday, June 15, 5-7p.m. —POULTNEY—Stone Valley Arts, 145 E. Main St., Poultney announces “Capturing Time: A Neil Rappaport Retrospective,” a major exhibition of the late Pawlet, Vermont based photographer. The show will cover Rappaport’s life’s work including portraits from the Pawlet Community Study, slate industry, farms, Vermont landscapes and rare photos from Comstock Prison where…

Quechee hot air balloon festival lifts off

June 12, 2024
Hartford Area Chamber Prepares for Balloon Festival Friday, June 14 at 3 p.m. to Sunday, June 16 at 6 a.m. ­—QUECHEE —The Quechee Hot Air Balloon Craft and Music Festival, Village Green, Quechee, the longest running hot air balloon festival in New England, will celebrate its 44th anniversary in 2024 when thousands are expected to…

Short-term rentals are a scapegoat for every housing issue

June 12, 2024
Dear Editor, Short-term rental owners are not the evil housing tycoons we are sometimes made out to be. Vacation rentals peppered around our state make up just 2.5% of our housing stock yet contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to our state budget in the form of rooms/meals taxes and consumer spending. I’ve lived in Guilford for…

Override Scott’s veto to protect pollinator, ecosystem, public health

June 12, 2024
Dear Editor, In the peaceful farmlands and meadows of Vermont, a silent emergency unfolds. Bees, the heart of our agricultural ecosystem, face unprecedented threats to their survival. Despite Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Market reports claiming that bee populations are thriving, beekeepers around the state emphasize the deteriorating health of their colonies. These adverse…

Vermonters deserve affordability, but Gov. Scott has no ‘grand plan’ 

June 12, 2024
By Rep. Rebecca Holcombe Editor’s note: Holcombe is the state house representative for Windsor-Orange 2 and member of the Vermont House Appropriations Committee. She also served as the Vermont Secretary of Education 2014-2018. It’s groundhog day. Governor Scott vetoed the yield bill, again leaving Vermont school districts adrift. The reason: all the school budgets voters…

Yale student wrote her thesis on Vermont’s school mergers, found they don’t save much

June 12, 2024
By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger While studying economics and education at Yale University, Grace Miller found a surprise topic on the agenda: Vermont’s one-of-a-kind school funding formula.  The 22-year-old from Newport and her classmates learned about the Brigham decision, a 1997 Vermont Supreme Court case that found the state’s education finance system was unconstitutional.  In response to the case, the…

Killington road work extends into Saturday morning

June 12, 2024
Drilling and blasting will continue this week at the intersection of Route 4 and Killington Road in Killington. A detour remains in place via West Hill Road.  As the project approaches the scheduled end date of July 8, work to haul out rock will occur on Saturdays till about noon time going forward, Markowski Excavating,…

Hartland board to propose new vendors’ ordinance

June 12, 2024
By Curt Peterson The Hartland Select Board refined a proposed new Vendors’ Ordinance to replace the original that’s been in effect since 1996. According to Town Manager John Broker-Campbell, “There are minor changes which will hopefully help to clear up any confusion or ambiguity on the applicability of the ordinance.”   The Select Board will next…

Building a stronger Killington-Rutland community:Essential nonprofits tackle tough issues

June 12, 2024
Vermont’s vibrant spirit thrives on a network of over 7,000 nonprofits; some 1,500 of them in the Killington-Rutland region alone. Considering that number, it’s not surprising that some of these organizations prompt the question: “Why does that nonprofit exist?” Yet, the ones that tackle tough issues and enrich lives spark admiring comments, like “Imagine how…

Gov. Scott vetoes property tax bill, unsettling next year’s ed funding

June 12, 2024
By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the annual property tax bill on Thursday, setting up a veto session showdown on a piece of legislation that must pass for schools to be funded as usual.  “We must provide property tax relief now. This can’t wait for another study before implementing cost containment strategies,” Scott said in…

Full of hot air

June 12, 2024
This weekend, June 14-16, the skies over the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire will be filled with hot air balloons during the longest running hot air balloon festival in New England. See page 14  for a full schedule of events for the weekend. 

Killington’s Amy Spear named president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce

June 7, 2024
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced June 6 that Amy Spear will be the incoming president of the organization. Spear was selected from a robust pool of applicants following a six-month search committee process that leveraged the expertise of Burlington-based Hawley Consulting Services. The committee’s recommendation was ratified by the full board…

Prig Latin and Goy Vey Yiddish

June 5, 2024
By Bruce Bouchard and John Turchiano Editor’s note: Bruce Bouchard is former executive director of The Paramount Theatre. John Turchiano,  his friend for 52 years, was formerly the editor of “Hotel Voice,” a weekly newspaper on the New York Hotel Trades Council. They are co-authoring this column collaborating to tell short stories on a wide…