By Rep. Jim Harrison While six more weeks of winter may be the prediction of Punxsutawney Phil when he came out last week to see if he had a shadow, it’s almost a guarantee that the Vermont Legislature probably has double that to finish its 2022 session. Entering week 6 of a normal 18-week session,…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson Every 10 years the results of the national census requires each state to review the impact of any population change on their electoral districts. Our Vermont Constitution requires that our state’s population must be fairly distributed to afford “equality of representation.” Covid delayed the national Census returns and, as a result,…

By Victoria Gaither A Rutland grandfather has turned his backyard into a scene from the famous Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie based on the novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien. “I’ve always been intrigued with hobbit houses, and I was building a road outback, and when the excavator came up, I said, ‘I want…

The Cobra gymnastics team in Rutland were among 176 gymnasts from seven Vermont gymnastics schools that participated in the annual Green Mountain Invitational in Williston Feb. 7-8. Shining stars from Cobra include Hazel Mabey, London Febbie, Bay Sparks, Sadie White, Amelia Gibbs and Maleah Jones as they compiled some of their personal best all-around scores…

By Liz DiMarco Weinmann There is an enormous but untapped business opportunity to grow Vermont’s economic vitality and diversity, to create networks of mentorship, to secure funding for small business, and to increase contributions to Vermont’s economy on an ongoing basis. What is this growth engine, and why is it untapped? According to Meg Smith,…

By Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Vermont skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle has scored Olympic silver in the Super-G at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Cochran-Siegle, 29, of Starksboro won his medal almost 50 years to the day his mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, snagged gold at the 1972 competition in Sapporo, Japan. Cochran-Siegle skied “a near perfect run,” according…

By Katy Savage Hannah Soar didn’t get a medal in her first Olympics on Feb. 6, but that didn’t matter to those who watched her grow up skiing. About 200 people got up before the sun on Sunday to cheer Soar on at Killington’s Snowshed Lodge for a 6 a.m. watch party. The room had…

By Katy Savage Before the Bengals and Rams take the field for Superbowl LVI on Feb. 13, puppies will compete in the 18th annual Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet and this year, two local dogs have made the cut. Dumpling and Pudding, two Labrador mixes from the Rutland County Humane Society, are in this year’s…

RUTLAND — Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC) has appointed Heidi Lynch as interim executive director, as it enters its second decade as an agricultural food and education hub for Rutland County. Lynch moves into the leadership role after 10 years with the organization, where she began as a volunteer in 2012, and most recently served…

By Katy Savage Hannah Soar heard it growing up. As she bumped down the moguls of the Outer Limits trail at Killington Resort as a child, other skiers told her, “You’re going to be an Olympian,” Soar remembers. Soar, a fearless child, just liked to be on snow and though she was talented, she wasn’t…

LeRoy “Roy” Erwin Prior, 82, died on Jan. 26 at home in Mendon, Vermont. He was born to Lucy R. Hunt Prior and Erwin Wilson Prior in their home in West Bridgewater, Vermont. Roy graduated from Woodstock High School. He received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Castleton College in 1988 and…

On July 1, 2022, Michael Ruppel, 33, will become OVUHS’s new principal, replacing Principal James Avery, who after 30 years with the RNESU district — 27 of which he served as associate principal and principal — announced his retirement in November. An aggressive search process got underway immediately, and among several applicants, Ruppel was picked…

By Ariadne Will A presentation to the Pittsford Select Board by the Otter Creek Consolidated Communications District (OCCUD) asked the panel to consider allocating ARPA funds to broadband infrastructure in the community. Tony Ferraro, a representative from the communications district, explained OCCUD’s plan to deliver broadband service to all Pittsford homes over the next several…

By Brooke Geery Not every child in Vermont has the chance to go skiing or snowboarding, but Pico Mountain’s school program aims to change that. Since 2016, the resort has worked with area schools to bring groups of students from kindergarten through 8th grade to the mountain to experience the sports, part of the resort’s…

By Curt Peterson Their first meeting in 10 months brought members of the Windsor Central Unified Union School District’s (WCUUSD) new build working group up to speed regarding developments and status since last spring. The group’s goal is a new $75 million middle and high school to be built at the current campus in Woodstock.…