Do you know an individual or community group that has demonstrated a strong commitment to conserving, restoring or celebrating Vermont’s forests and trees? If so, consider nominating them for a 2022 Vermont Tree Steward Award. The awards are presented annually by the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) to promote the importance of…

On a recent weekend with threatening storms and frigid temperatures, Ludlow Rotarian Kim Benson Lampert and her husband, Jon headed south to Elizabethtown, Kentucky to deliver a truck and trailer loaded with goods for storm-ravaged Kentuckians who had lost everything. Lampert said, “I am overwhelmed by the support of our club and community members as…

If approved, 2.34% increase becomes effective Sept. 30, 2023 Green Mountain Power (GMP) filed is seeking a 2.34% increase in base rates starting Oct. 1, 2022. If approved by the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC), the new rates would be in effect until Sept. 30, 2023. “This allows us to invest in our people and…

Chris Ettori has been named regional director of Vermont Adult Learning’s Rutland office. He previously worked as assistant director at CCV for over twelve years as well as a faculty member teaching classes in foundational math, computer applications, customer service, and effective workplace communications. Ettori is very active in the Rutland community, having served on…

By Angelo Lynn Mei Mei Brown, one of Brandon’s best known and prolific volunteers needs a kidney, but the message she wants to convey is to broaden the awareness of the process around organ transplants and the vital importance it has to those in need. “It’s very touching and humbling” to be in the position…

By Katy Savage The Rutland High School’s mascot is back to the Rutland Raiders following a 6-5 school board vote on Tuesday, Jan. 11. The controversial Raiders mascot, deemed racist by some, was changed to the Ravens in October 2020, but the move widely divided the town and led to a year’s worth of contentious…

After 22 months of training and only a couple quiet competitions, Rutland's Cobra gymnastics team attended a traditional gymnastics meet (while masked) at the Royal Regal Classic in Essex Jan. 15-16. The 2021-22 team consists of 53 girls competing under the USA Gymnastics Xcel Program. The team is divided into five levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold,…

Staff report Some local schools are so short of staff due to the Covid outbreak they temporarily closed. Several schools in the Orange East Supervisory Union closed the week before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Oxbow High School in Bradford was closed Monday, Jan. 10-12 and reopened on Thursday, Jan. 13. Bradford, Newbury, River Bend,…

By Curt Peterson Five years ago popular Hartland politician and businessman Matt Dunne founded the Center of Rural Innovation (CORI) in a yoga center in downtown Hartland to help rural towns strategize successful development in the tech-driven 21st Century economy. “A single town would struggle on its own,” Dunne told the Mountain Times. “Our goal…

By Katy Savage Face masks are required in all public areas in the Woodstock Village, regardless of vaccination status in Woodstock, after a 4-1 Trustee vote on Jan. 11. Trustees Daphne Lowe, Seton McIlroy, Bill Corson and Jeff Kahn supported the face mask requirement, while Brenda Blackman, the owner of First Impressions Salon and Spa,…

By John Flowers/Addison County Independent Though former State Rep. Willem Jewett retired from the state Legislature in 2016, the Ripton Democrat continued in private life what he’d become synonymous for during his 14 years in the Vermont Statehouse: helping other people. The only thing that stopped him was his own premature demise, at age 58…

Editor’s note: After two public meetings, Nov. 29 and Jan. 4, regarding the proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district in Killington, the town has compiled answers to frequently asked questions. These were updated on Jan. 10. At the meeting Jan. 4, the Select Board approved the TIF application to the state. In the next few…

By Virginia Dean The Shire Woodstock opened its doors to guests last Thursday, Jan. 13 under new ownership at 46 Pleasant Street in Woodstock. The 50-room hotel has been sold to Turnstone Ventures, a Boston-based real estate investment firm led by developer Jeff Glew. In a move that is growing increasingly common in the hospitality…

By Julia Purdy Editor’s note: This story follows up on “Rescuing Rutland neighborhoods, one house at a time,” dated April 12, 2018. Around 2017, the city of Rutland launched an innovative plan to convert vacant or blighted city-owned properties to functioning residences by offering selected addresses for sale to contractors, investors or new owners who…

By Virginia Dean For the last 38 years, Steve Finer has dedicated his time to helping those in need in the greater Killington-Rutland community. Now, he will be retiring as a volunteer from the Killington Fire and Rescue and the Rutland Regional Medical Center. “I was always taught that you have to give to your…