By Julia Purdy RUTLAND— The third of five public forums on Moon Brook took place at the Rutland High School Monday, July 24. The purpose of the forum was to present options for achieving acceptable water temperatures in Moon Brook and its ponds, as well as a plan for dealing with the dam/causeway at Combination…

Green Mountain Power is warning customers about a bill payment phone scam that threatens customers with disconnection within 15 minutes if they do not pay immediately. In a new wave of calls today, customers received calls claiming to be from GMP and giving the customer a fake toll-free number to call, which is answered by a recording…

By Lani Duke Residents’ cooperative to buy mobile home park CASTLETON— The Windy Hollow Mobile Home Park on River Street in Castleton is about to become the Windy Hollow Mobile Home Cooperative. With the guidance of the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), the park’s inhabitants have joined together to purchase the park from owner Joe Howard,…

By Lani Duke Biz bits The Palms Restaurant, 36 Strongs Ave., has formally changed its name to The Palms Restaurant- Downtown Rutland, to further differentiate from its younger sister restaurant, The Palms at Prospect Bay on Lake Bomoseen. The Rutland County Habitat for Humanity gained two new board members: Jenna Watson and John Braun. Watson,…

RUTLAND— The Agency of Natural Resources announced last week that Central Vermont Motorcycles, Inc., a powersports dealer and service center in Rutland, is now required to pay a fine of $23,062 for multiple violations of Vermont Hazardous Waste Management Regulations. A Final Judicial Order was issued on July 25, 2017. Within 30 days of the…

By Stephen Seitz LUDLOW— Already facing sexual assault charges, Chester resident Ryan Stocker, 18, now finds himself possibly facing life in prison. On Aug. 7, Stocker appeared in Windsor Superior Court to face charges of kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. According to court documents, the two incidents occurred…

By Evan Johnson Clad in cycling shoes, shorts and superhero t-shirts, three friends near the end of their cross-country bike trip to raise money for pancreatic cancer research. The trip, which is being called Portland to Portland, is a project of Josh Johannessen, Scott Phillips, and José Alfaro, three high school friends from Budd Lake,…

KILLINGTON— The Killington Welcome Center has extended its hours to support the heightened levels of visitors. The Welcome Center will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The extended hours will continue until Jan. 1, 2018. “During the last two weeks in July…

By Evan Johnson Barry Leete and his team were looking to develop a new automatic pump regulator for firetrucks, Dave Goodspeed hoped to create orthopedic footbeds and inserts using 3D printers, and Jeff DeJarnette dreamed of starting an online music production company for artists around the globe. All three of them, plus a team of young…

By Alan J. Keays, VTDigger RUTLAND — Jeffrey Fredette told city officials last week he shouldn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to the crowing of his neighbor’s roosters every morning. “We do pay a pretty healthy amount of taxes to live where we live,” Fredette said. “I just feel, personally, the city…

POULTNEY— Teams of farmers from all over Vermont will come together Wednesday, Aug. 2 at Cerridwen Farms on the Green Mountain College campus in Poultney to compete in a wide range of events designed to challenge farmers’ field skills at the third annual Farmer Olympics, hosted by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT).…

By Evan Johnson KILLINGTON— On Tuesday afternoon, my phone vibrated with a text from Killington Mountain School’s director of athlete development, Gar Trayner: “Meet me at the umbrella bar [at the] bottom of Superstar at 2:50.” I replied that I was on my way, grabbed car keys and camera and was out the door. Blasting…

By Evan Johnson Growing Rutland’s economy and making it a more accessible place for young people to work was the focus of Rep. Peter Welch’s recent visit to Rutland on Monday, July 31. After attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a $20.8 million road project in Brandon, Welch and members of his staff traveled south to…

By Robin Alberti KILLINGTON— This past Thursday, July 27, the rain moved the annual Chili Cook-off indoors to Snowshed Lodge at Killington Resort, but it did nothing to dampen the mood of those in attendance. The general vibe at the event was rather one of great cheer and enthusiasm. Killington’s annual Chili Cook-off has quickly…

By Lee J. Kahrs BRANDON — There are two things no one thought they would ever see this summer: the sun, and the start of the Segment 6 Route 7 improvement project. But the clouds parted over the weekend and Monday dawned another bluebird day in Brandon’s Central Park, where roughly 75 local residents, state…