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

Photos Courtesy of Robin Alberti By Clara J. Shortle Sugaring in the fourth grade is a lot of work, but it is also lots of fun. I know this because I am one of these fourth graders at Killington Elementary School. The process is complicated, but I will try to explain it in the words…

Killington’s annual Bachelor Auction Sunday, March 20, raised over $12,000 for Vermont Adaptive, according to The Foundry’s preliminary estimate for the night. The dozen bachelors each came with prize packages ranging in value from $350-$1,200. Most winning bids were well over their stated value.

CCV student from Shrewsbury selected for NASA program RUTLAND—Community College of Vermont’s Dale Kenyon, a non-traditional female student, will travel to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., in May to participate in the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars project (NCAS). Kenyon, of Shrewsbury, will be one of 216 community college students from across the…

By Michael Bielawski, Vermont Watchdog Representatives and concerned citizens gathered at the State House on Thursday, March 17, to study the continued impact of Act 46 on school choice in Vermont. The legislation was pitched last year largely on the notion that Vermont’s school choice would be left undisturbed. However, as non-operating choice districts begin…

By Anne Galloway, VTDigger.org State revenues were up by a whopping $16.34 million in February, despite sagging ski resort attendance due to unseasonably warm weather. Justin Johnson, the secretary of the Agency of Administration, said personal income was higher last month because of lower than anticipated income tax refunds “due to concerns over taxpayer fraud.”…

By Polly Lynn RUTLAND — After 21 years as CEO of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue (a.k.a. “Mr. Rutland”) will leave to become the new CEO of BROC – Community Action in Southwestern Vermont. Donahue made the announcement Thursday, March 17, after informing the Chamber board of directors on Wednesday that he…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger.org After nearly three months of work, the House Appropriations Committee voted out a budget bill for fiscal year 2017 Monday, March 21. The committee passed the package on a vote of 10 to 1. Rep. Marty Feltus, R-Lyndonville, the lone dissenter, said, “We each look at it the way we think is…

CASTLETON — On Saturday, March 19 at 4:16 a.m. Castleton Police Department was dispatched to a one-car motor vehicle accident on Drake Road in the town of Castleton. When they arrived on the scene at 4:24 a.m. Castleton Fire Department and First Response determined that there were three occupants inside, and all three were pronounced deceased…

Courtesy of PEGTV The studio audience looks on during a recent taping of “Academic Showdown” in the Howe Center studio. The show airs on PEGTV channel 20 on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Proctor-Fair Haven on March 24; West Rutland-Otter Valley, March 31 RUTLAND–PEGTV’s new weekly half-hour quiz show “Academic Showdown,” featuring eight local high schools,…

Rutland City Two steps forward, one step back Although the city seemingly gains fiscal ground with every audit, two gargantuan obstacles continue to lie in the path of solvency. Both the city pension fund and the downtown parking garage-transit center are problems that present no foreseeable remedy. The pension fund is really two funds, City…

Latest Act 46 snag The new district consolidation law stands in the way of what could be a successful merger on Rutland County’s western boundary. The folks who created merger mandates failed to consider that laws permitting districts to designate schools across state boundaries must be rewritten to cover the newly formed merged districts. Pawlet,…

RUTLAND — St. Peter Parish in Rutland has entered the solar energy age, the first parish in the state Roman Catholic Diocese to install money-saving solar panels to generate electricity. St. Peter’s received a $20,000 grant from Green Mountain Power and a $6,000 contribution from Rutland-based Same Sun of Vermont Inc. which installed the panels.…