By Dirk Van Susteren A sampling of the empty beer bottles, some considered artifacts, on display at Harpoon Brewery’s Tap and Beer Garden in Windsor. At center, is a bottle of Catamount from Vermont’s first craft-beer brewery that opened in 1987 in White River Junction.

By Polly Mikula Towns across the state are putting final touches on their budgets and articles in preparation for the Town Meeting Day vote, March 5. In Killington, the town is bracing for what is likely going to be a fairly significant municipal tax rate increase, due to retiring past debts (left over from Tropical…

By Katy Savage KILLINGTON— The Select Board’s consideration to borrow $14 million next year to pay for future costs over a 10-year period has been thwarted. Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth told the board Tuesday, Jan. 8, that the town can’t borrow the large sum of money up front because the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank requires…

By Katy Savage RUTLAND— The site earmarked for Rutland’s first Starbucks has hit a snag. Alrig-USA, a Michigan-based developer that was granted permits to build a Starbucks in September, withdrew its application two months later, when the site was sold to a new developer, according to Zoning Administrator Tara Kelly. Ocean Gate Realty Advisors purchased…

Jerry Laurence Hickory, 71, died Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, at the Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Hickory was born in Bethel. He was born to Phyllis Howard Hickory and Harold Hickory on Sept.5, 1947.  He grew up in Bridgewater and graduated from Woodstock Union High School.  Jerry Hickory and his family moved to Tampa, Florida,…

By Julia Purdy Logs harvested in Northwood Park await transport to a sawmill. By Julia Purdy RUTLAND TOWN— A logging operation scheduled for last winter at Northwood Park in Rutland Town has begun and is anticipated to be “wrapped up by the end of January if the weather holds like this without a lot of…

By Thana McGary Margery Salmon, Marsha Booker and Steven LaMonde search for and identify birds in Rutland.

Courtesy Killington Resort One of Killington’s three new tunnels gets built.

By Polly Mikula Killington has significant debt. Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth said the town has accumulated about $2.2 million worth of debt. Hagenbarth also projects about $14 million of future expenses, including the construction of a new $4 million public safety building, about $1.2 million in golf course upgrades, $3 million in recreation expenses and…

By Seth Butler Teo Zagar, a former state representative from Barnard is taking on the film industry. By Curt Peterson Barnard filmmaker Teo Zagar is working on an epic project—a film documentary about Dorothy Thompson, her husband Sinclair Lewis, and Lewis’s 1935 novel, “It Can’t Happen Here.” Following the 2016 election, Zagar, then 38, read…

Submitted It’s no fun to be sick, especially with the flu! But the season is upon us. Protect yourself! The year 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic, known more infamously as the “Spanish flu.” That pandemic killed 675,000 Americans and more than 50 million people globally. Since then, efforts to improve…

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets  began accepting applications for registration to grow and process industrial hemp for the 2019 registration year on Jan 4. The registration process is now online. Hemp growers and processors have separate registration applications and the forms provide VAAFM the opportunity to collect information about the hemp industry…

New England RE/MAX INTEGRA recently released its 2018 HMO Report that shows Vermont showed strong gains in home values with a balanced market anticipated heading into 2019. Agents are keeping an eye on the national economy, anticipated increases in interest rates as well as the national real estate market. The annual report evaluated data from…

Public Safety Commissioner Thomas D. Anderson and Tax Commissioner Kaj Samsom said a tax examiner employed by the Department of Taxes has been arrested by the Vermont State Police on suspicion of embezzling more than $15,000 from the state of Vermont by altering a single taxpayer’s return information in fall 2018. Chelsea Hoadley, 26, of…

Staff report The Slate Valley Unified School District is considering a new middle school to create better learning opportunities in the face of declining enrollment and rising costs. The Slate Valley Innovation Committee has been studying the possibility of a middle school since October, based on results from a community survey that shows the need…