LUDLOW – Okemo Mountain Resort has added kids’ snowmobile tours to its lineup of winter activities for families visiting the popular ski and snowboard resort. Pint-sized Polaris snowmobiles travel at a maximum speed of 8 mph. Kids love the look and sound of the Indy 120 XC – a real snowmobile built for kids. Each…

MOUNT HOLLY—This fall, the Mount Holly Town Library was one of only 12 libraries to be awarded a grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). The library received $2,000 worth of new books for the library’s children’s collection, plus a storytelling presentation at the Town Library for kindergarten through sixth grade. In spring 2015 CLiF…

Dear Editor, My name is Jessica Moore. I live in Burlington and have lived in Vermont all my life. I became a nurse because I wanted to help people, but the real world of health care is far from what I thought it was. I see patients every day who are diagnosed with debilitating and…

Dear Editor, The next session of the legislature starts in a few weeks. There was a very clear message that education and property taxes had reached the limit of Vermonters’ ability to pay. They want action to solve this problem. Governor Shumlin and legislators have heard the message. The cost of health care, clean-up of…

By Thomas P. Salmon In 1958, when I moved from Boston to Bellows Falls, Vermont was something of an economic and political backwater. The economy was stagnant and political loyalties were virtually unchanged since the Civil War. More people moved out than moved in. Not until 1963 did the human population exceed the bovine. Construction…

By Governor Peter Shumlin Earlier this week, I made one of the most difficult decisions of my public life when I announced that I cannot support a move to a publicly-financed health care system in Vermont at this time. I have advocated for such a system for much of my public life, but over the…

By Steve Costello With a national record set last year and a lack of a specific goal at the 2014 Gift-of-Life Marathon – 12 Days of Giving, a black-and-white definition of success seems elusive to a lot of observers. Since the GOLM wrapped up, I’ve been asked at least 100 times if the new GOLM…

Editor’s note: The Mountain Times receives many questions from readers every week about Killington Resort and Pico Mountain operations. In order to best answer some of the most common questions we will pose them directly to Mike Solimano, president and general manager for Killington Resort and Pico Mountain, who has agreed to respond in an…

By Dom Cioffi My grandmother was the quintessential Italian: she was short, attentive, liked to wear sundresses, hid money underneath the mattress, and spent the better part of her days cooking and watching soap operas. When I showed up and knocked on her door (which was always locked), she would yell, “Who is it?” I…

By Morgan True, VTDigger.org For the second consecutive year, Vermont ranks as the second-healthiest state in the U.S., according to America’s Health Rankings 2014 report. The report was is based on an evaluation of four categories of health determinants including behaviors, community and environment, clinical care and policy as well as the health outcomes those…

Smart Approaches to Marijuana chapter takes root in Vermont By Julia Purdy At the start of 2012, both Colorado and Washington State voters legalized recreational marijuana. However, the votes amounted to nothing like a landslide, as many expected, with about half the counties in each state voting against it — a push-back has been building since.…

By Cristina Kumka The newly-formed Killington Volunteer Fire Department Facilities Committee, charged with reviewing the needs and wants of the department and possibility of a new firehouse, took a tour of the Killington Road fire station on Wednesday, Dec. 17. The committee considered a feasibility study done by Dore & Whittier Architects, Inc. in which…

BarnArts Center for the Arts is seeking female actor to join our 9-cast ensemble for “Death and Taxes.” We lost a female actor unexpectedly and need some ASAP.  Rehearsals now in progress.  Performances Jan. 30-Feb. 2. Please contact director Jo Oliver-Yeager at [email protected]

Those who arrived at Pico Mountain Saturday, Dec. 13, could not have asked for a better day to start the 2014-2015 season. The sunshine highlight the first tracks down the nearly two feet of natural snow that blanketed the slopes earlier in the week. Photo by Robin Alberti Fresh tracks through deep powder excite eager…

Gov. Shumlin, emergency officials ask FEMA for damage assessment On Monday, Dec. 15, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) reported that the estimated cost for the storm was $2.2 milliion as of 8 a.m. that day. VTrans crews have plowed or treated for more than 120 hours continuously, covering 185,000 lane miles since the storm began last Tuesday. 12,600 tons…