State delays school start to Sept. 8 By Katy Savage Shortened days, delayed starts, partial remote learning, face masks and temperature checks — these are just some of the changes students can expect to see as the new school year approaches. Superintendents across the state are in the midst of developing plans to safely bring…

Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m.—BRANDON— Due to the Covid-19 issues, Brandon Chamber of Commerces’s 32nd annual Great Brandon Auction will be taking place in a non-traditional way this year. The organizers have had to think outside the tent and decided to move into a downtown storefront! With the kind donation from Heather and John Bierschenk, the…

Gov. Phil Scott on Friday issued an order requiring people in Vermont to cover their faces when out in public, saying that while Vermont’s Covid-19 infection rate is still among the lowest in the country, a rise in cases elsewhere in the U.S. has put Vermont on the defense. Scott has long resisted a mandate,…

Staff report RUTLAND—BROC Community Action collected over 800 pounds of food in the first annual Stuff-A-Ruck event held in Rutland, Friday, July 17. Departing from the recruitment office at 10 a.m. the Vermont Army National Guard carried donated food in their rucksacks to BROC. “If there are two things the Vermont Army National Guard loves,…

By Katy Savage As trucks beeped and concrete was dug up on Library Avenue to install pipe that would reduce wastewater overflows into Otter Creek, Congressman Peter Welch outlined a plan to federally fund similar infrastructure needs on July 16. Welch’s $1.5 trillion Moving Forward Act passed the House on July 1. The bill includes…

The residents of Wallingford were hoping to celebrate their annual Wallingford Day with dancing and a deejay, but Covid-19 had other plans. So organizers came up with a more socially-distant way to celebrate, encouraging everyone in town to decorate a pallet and display it in their yard. “There are 30 pallets waiting for you to…

Health Department so far finds no indication of COVID-19 spreading in the community   A week after reports first surfaced of a potential outbreak in the Manchester area, 35 of 63 people with a positive antigen test for Covid-19 reported to the Health Department by Manchester Medical Center since July 10 have had a PCR…

By Erin Petenko/VTDigger The first wave of influenza in the spring of 1918 was easy on the world: It, too, was a novel virus, but as it spread through the armed forces, sickening young men, it killed a few and spared most. It turned out to be a “herald wave,” presaging the second wave, which had…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger Move-in day at Vermont’s college campuses will be a relatively somber event this year, as students sign contracts promising to practice Covid-19 safety measures, enter quarantine if they’ve come from afar, and prep for party-free socializing. State officials on Tuesday, July 7,  released Covid-19 safety guidelines for college campuses, much as the state has…

By Emma Cotton/VTDigger About 200 Rutland High School alumni, students and community members are drafting a petition calling on school officials to remove the name and arrowhead imagery of the school’s sports team, the Rutland Raiders. The group, led by RHS 2010 alumna Amanda Gokee, cites appropriation of Native American culture. Gokee, who identifies as Ojibwe,…

Artist/Activist Lopi LaRoe (a.k.a. LMNOPI) created a nearly four-story mural facing Rutland’s new Center Street Marketplace Park on the back wall of the former Strand Theater adjacent to Roots –The Restaurant. This new public artwork imagines a world where all children are nurtured and cherished equally, and it is dedicated to uplifting the Black, Indigenous,…

Staff report Green Mountain College in Poultney will be auctioned off on Aug. 18, according to Maltz Auctions of Central Islip, New York, who will preside over the sale. A press release from the company states that “a well-qualified, interested party” has placed a stalking-horse bid of $3 million for the property. So the auction…

By Katy Savage If you’re planning to go to Woodstock, don’t forget your face mask. The Woodstock Village Trustees and town Select Board have required masks both inside retail stores and in outdoor public spaces since July 9. The requirement is being enforced by the Woodstock Village Police, the health inspector and village parking attendants,…

ROCHESTER—The “quin-towns” of Granville, Hancock, Rochester, Pittsfield and Stockbridge celebrated this past 4th of July weekend with a new tradition — a reverse parade. Route 100 became the designated parade route, but instead of the floats passing the spectators, the displays and points of interest remained fixed, while the viewers drove by in their cars.…

PROCTOR—On Thursday, July 9, at approximately 3:18 a.m., troopers from the Vermont State Police – Rutland Barracks were assigned to a single vehicle crash with entrapment and ejection on West Street, in Proctor. Through investigation it was determined Gabe Capen, 21, from Pownal, was operating the vehicle, a 2000 Saab 93, traveling south on West…