Okemo Mountain School and the Okemo Competition Center were well represented in the 2020 Burton U.S. Open, Feb. 24-29. Two young riders, Tommy Okesson and Sumner Orr, and one senior athlete, Joey Okesson, traveled to Vail, Colorado to compete in the junior jam and pro pipe events. Tommy Okesson and Orr competed in the junior…

Demand up, inventory low, prices best in state By Karen D. Lorentz Nationally, a homebuyer is looking at higher prices and more competition this spring with greater demand from Millennials as well as lower inventories and low mortgage rates, contributing to a tight market that will price some would-be buyers out. But in Rutland County,…

By Curt Peterson Voters approved the Windsor Central Unified District $21.7 million budget on March 3, 1677-1216. On Monday night before the vote, Killington school district representative and Select Board member Jim Haff explained to voters at the pre-election information meeting that he would be voting “no” on the proposed budget. He said he suspected…

By Virginia Dean After an initial delay to the Rutland community of its all-new aircraft, the Tecnam P2012 Traveller, Cape Air airline continues to work on validating policies and procedures for the new prop plane. “This is typical for a newly certified aircraft,” said Cape Air spokesperson Trish Lorino. The delay in the Tecnam’s introduction…

Staff report People from all over New England flocked to Woodstock last week to catch a glimpse of a rare South American bird. The bird, a crested caracara, which is native to Cuba, South America and Mexico, was affectionately named “Carl” on the Vermont Birding Facebook group. It’s unclear what brought the caracara so far…

By Marion Pickielnok Twin City Lanes in Barre hosted the Vermont High School Bowling Team Championship on March 7.  It wasn’t hard to find great bowling and unbelievable excitement. Each match winner was decided by the team winning 4 out of 7 games. Playing into the quarter finals  were No. 9  White River Valley defeated,…

If you’ve driven by the United Church of Ludlow on the corner of Elm and Pleasant Streets lately,  you may have wondered what all the scaffolding was about. The church is excited to realize a long-held dream of making the building accessible to all. A new addition to the rear of the church, will provide…

Vermont State Game Wardens located a deceased red fox on Feb. 23 off Webster Road in Pomfret. The fox had been illegally caught in a snare.  Upon completion of their investigation, the wardens charged Neil Lamson, 73, of Pomfret with four criminal counts of trapping violations. Lamson is scheduled to appear at the Windsor County…

Killington Resort hosted the 2020 FIS Freestyle Ski NorAm Cup Moguls Finals March 7-9. Over the last few years, the mogul course on Highline has undergone significant work to meet FIS specifications for high-level competitions. The Freestyle NorAm Tour is the highest levels of ski competition in the country. The weather and the quality of…

By Ed Larson Rutland City has come to a settlement agreement with former Rutland City Fire Chief James Larsen. City attorney Matt Bloomer explained that under the chief’s employment agreement, a termination for lack of “efficient service” could occur at the will of the mayor.  Mayor David Allaire utilized that section of the contract to…

Staff report After six people died of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in Washington state last week, local officials have been preparing for an outbreak in Vermont. There were no confirmed cases in the state as of Monday, March 2, but officials are expecting residents will become sick. White River Valley Supervisory Union Superintendent Brooke…

By Curt Peterson The day before voters were asked to approve the Windsor Central Supervisory Union budget totaling $21 million, board member Jim Haff asked Killington residents to vote against that budget. He told voters at the Killington public informational meeting March 2 that it’s nearly certain an unrecognized $1 million deficit will be uncovered…

By Virginia Dean For those investing in winter rental properties, it may not come as a surprise that a recent study indicates that Killington and Ludlow have topped the charts in profitable revenue for the last two years, according to property management company Vacasa of Portland, Oregon. The company had calculated data on nearly a…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger Veterinarian Susan Johnson used to work with 15 large alpaca farms. Now Vermont’s down to just a few. But an Ascutney farm, Cas-Cad-Nac, is doing the alpaca business in a big way. It has 250 super-premium alpacas, half-ownership in a fiber mill, and a mail-order alpaca meat business. And this autumn, it…

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The Heritage Credit Union now owns the former College of St. Joseph campus. The bank moved to foreclose on the property in January, according to CEO Matt Levandowski, and the school surrendered the deed over to Heritage on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The school had an outstanding balance with the bank of $4.5 million.…