By Mike Faher, VTDigger.org It’s been the warmest winter on record in Vermont, with mean temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above normal and snowfall several feet below normal statewide, the National Weather Service reported at a meeting in Brattleboro Thursday, March 17. Such statistics meant that the gathering of state officials and emergency responders took…

RUTLAND–Mary Cohen, a longtime NeighborWorks and community leader, was appointed Wednesday, March 23, to be interim executive director of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce, effective April 1. She fills the position left vacant by the resignation of Tom Donahue. “Mary will provide stable, proactive and energetic leadership to the Chamber staff and the Chamber…

Update on Killington Village progress By Karen D. Lorentz Some progress has been made concerning the Killington Village master plan and resort parking project permits that were issued by the District #1 Environmental Commission on Oct. 7, 2013, but then appealed. On March 7, 2016, Judge Thomas S. Durkin, who is presiding over the two…

By Stephen Seitz PITTSFIELD — ECFiber, officially known as the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District, is planning significant fiber optic cable growth this year and next. Now they want their customers to provide a little guidance as to where this growth should take place. “We’re in a position to have funding to move forward with…

Saturday, April 2 at 11 a.m. — LUDLOW — Okemo Mountain Resort brings back Hops on the Snow on Saturday, April 2 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This one-day beer festival, located in the Jackson Gore Courtyard, will feature new seasonal beers and cider. Enjoy spring conditions on the mountain in the morning, then quench your…

By Robin Alberti

eTown Meeting offers one-stop shopping for energy FAIR HAVEN–Energy experts on efficiency, heat pumps, weatherization and solar are joining forces at the Fair Haven Town Hall to offer local residents instant energy advice, special offers and same-day home visits to save people money and reduce environmental impacts right away. Through the first ever eTown Meeting,…

CASTLETON—The Rutland Region Workforce Investment Board’s Council on Youth is working with the middle school counselors of Castleton Village, Fair Haven, Mill River, Orwell, Benson, West Rutland, Christ the King, Proctor and Rutland Town School to organize the sixth annual Your Journey Starts Here event. The seventh-grade career event will be held March 31, 2016,…

RUTLAND—The University of Vermont is collaborating with Cornell University, NOFA-VT, and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) of the UVM Extension on research that examines whether low-income participation in a subsidized community supported agriculture (CSA) program, along with tailored nutrition education, can improve the quality of diet for low-income children, who are at…

By Rebecca Reimers The small group of students arrived at Rutland Middle School’s technology lab right after school ended one recent Wednesday, logged onto their computers, and began working on their projects before the school’s technology teacher, Jack Adams, returned to the tech lab from his last class. These students knew what they were working…

By Lani Dukes Contemplating Life Café holds official open house FAIR HAVEN—Michael Mancino has opened the Contemplating Life Café in the former Carvey’s restaurant of Fair Haven. Though it first opened Feb. 13, it held its grand opening over Easter weekend. Rita Carvey is the star of Mancino’s new business venture, whose chicken and biscuits…

By Lani Dukes RUTLAND CITY Jack Russell terrier theft not part of fighting ring, police say Rutland City police are noncommittal about the theft of service dog Daphni and her subsequent death. Taken from her owner’s Center Street apartment March 11, the three-year-old Jack Russell terrier was found dead near White Park, suffering from bite…

Students learn the full process of sugaring at Killington By Robin Alberti KILLINGTON — Every year the fourth graders at Killington Elementary school get to experience an important part of our state’s history, culture and economy: maple sugaring.  The school is equipped with a sugar shack and evaporator to boil sap into syrup. All the…

By John Herrick/VTDigger

Courtesy of  Rob Kovalesky