Taste over 300 wines from around the world KILLINGTON–The Killington Wine Festival celebrates its 14th anniversary July 17-19 with three days of specialty wine tasting events. Gaining more attention each year, this signature event attracts hundreds of wine and food enthusiasts. Throughout the weekend, representatives from over 30 wineries and distributors pour more than 300…

Courtesy of GMP GMP hydro plant and Sutherland Falls on Otter Creek. The falls furnished power for cutting and processing marble from nearby quarries as early as 1836. PROCTOR–Green Mountain Power has just completed an improvement project at its 110-year-old hydroelectric plant on the Otter Creek in Proctor that will mean more renewable, low-cost hydropower…

Tuesday, July 21—RUTLAND—With appointments well below target, organizers of Rutland’s Gift-of-Life Summer Mini Marathon Blood Drive have issued an urgent appeal for donors. “We have less than a third the number of appointments we are hoping for, so we urge anyone eligible to sign up today,” said organizer Steve Costello, vice-president at Green Mountain Power…

By Cristina Kumka The Killington Pico Area Association has withdrawn its proposal to manage town events and the budget that funds those events. The contract, proposed in June, would have put the responsibility for non-winter season event recruitment and sponsorship on the newly-formed Killington Pico Area Association, that took the place of the Killington Regional…

By Stephen Seitz TAFTSVILLE – A proposed 500-kilowatt solar panel project along Route 4 in Taftsville won’t go forward after all. As recently as April, Tom Garden, the managing partner of Boston-based Triland Partners, had laid his plans out in an official communication to the Town of Woodstock but has since canceled the project, according…

KILLINGTON—On Tuesday, July 7, the board of selectmen set the municipal tax rate for the Town of Killington for the 18-month budget adopted on Town Meeting Day. The town has an 18-month budget and tax rate because it is in the process of transitioning from a calendar budget year (Jan.-Dec.) to a fiscal year (July-June).…

Submitted Seated at the table for the July 9th’s signing ceremony (L-R): Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin. On July 9, at the Climate Summit of the Americas meeting in Toronto, Canada, Governor Peter Shumlin joined 21 other states and regional governments in signing the first-ever Pan-American action…

SHEFFIELD—On July 8 at about 5 p.m. Vermont state police and rescue personnel responded to a single-vehicle, fatal crash on Interstate 91 in the town of Sheffield, Vt. The driver, later identified as Paul Joseph Belliveau, age 22, of Concord, Vt., was traveling south when he veered into the median, causing his 1998 Toyota SR5…

The nonprofit projects it will reach more than 5,000 children at 81 sites The Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) is increasing its efforts to prevent “summer slide” among New Hampshire and Vermont children. Its popular Summer Readers program will reach more than 5,000 children at risk of growing up with low literacy skills and donate more…

RUPERT — On July 10 at 2:48 p.m. a call was made in reference to a deceased bicyclist on Vermont Route 315 in the town of Rupert. The cyclist, later identified as Michael Munson age 51 from Peru, Vt., had been riding his bicycle and had stopped to rest at the top of a long, steep…

By Bill Mathis Few education policy proposals have been adopted as widely and enthusiastically as preschool education. With near universal agreement, early education has been embraced across the political spectrum. This consensus was forged from “gold standard” research, conducted over decades, which almost universally found both academic and social benefits. One of the most attractive…

By Brad Ferland I read with interest a recent media report about Vermont being on the verge of a big increase in the use of fracked gas from Canada, and how our utilities plan to buy even more power from Seabrook, the nearest nuclear power plant to Vermont now that Vermont Yankee has closed. Several years ago…

As we work to make sure Vermont’s economy works for every Vermonter, our focus has to be on growing jobs and opportunity statewide, especially in more rural parts of the state that were hit hardest by the Great Recession. That’s why I was so proud this week to stand with the leadership of Vermed, a…

By Erin Mansfield, VTDigger.org An oversupply of milk is bringing down prices in the Northeast and driving large dairy cooperatives to dump their product in manure pits, experts say. Although low prices for milk products can be a short-term positive for consumers, the low prices are causing a hard time for farmers who otherwise enjoyed…

Dear Editor, I have a serious question for the town on an issue that has been left out of the Town Report — in fact it never made it into the financials of the 2014 Town Report, but is clearly stated in the Auditor’s Report. On page 9 of the Audior’s Report it states that…