After transitioning her post from Poultney to Rutland, one county native is looking forward to building community projects and giving back through her experience.
Caring Canines Therapy Dogs of Southern Vermont visit locations across the region and will begin monthly sessions at the Fair Haven Free Library on Nov. 18.
“I remember sitting there thinking how big the world is and how small we are. I hear people say that all the time, but seeing that everything was down there, there’s so much more to Vermont and the world than what most people see,” said Cindy Griffith, club hiker and volunteer.
Community Supported Agriculture, also known as a CSA, has taken over the Vermont agriculture world. As farms deal with and adapt to climate change, their members are seeing how a warming world creeps onto their dinner plates.
Slow Birding, a meditative and insightful form of birding, is a new concept in Vermont and beyond. Birding enthusiast Bridget Butler has emerged as the reigning “Bird Diva.”
Swimming in natural waters, also known as open water swimming, has taken over the world recreationally and competitively. These Vermont swimmers talk about the serenity it brings them, but also how it empowers their connection to nature.
“These young people could have jobs doing other things, but they’re choosing to work really hard and they’re choosing to come out here in the elements and spend their time doing manual physical labor that then makes a strong change in their state” said Devon Cooke, director of development and community at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps.
“One thing that I’d want to point out is the resiliency, the flexibility, the loyalty and passion that folks have in this industry. So many people have been in it for decades and we really believe in what we’re doing and making a difference in young people,” said American Camp Association New England Executive Director Michelle Rowcliffe.
Branch out Burlington, a tree nursery located in the University of Vermont Horticulture Farm, has been providing trees to Vermont towns and organizations for nearly the last 30 years.
Vermont is not known for producing top-end baseball talent. But both hurlers know that playing for the hometown team can be especially meaningful on the Little Leaguers who sit in the stands.
“From poetry, to movement, to film, to visual art, to music, the arts and storytelling are a way to deeply touch our, go into our psyche,” said Vermont painter Cameron Davis.
The Green River Reservoir State Park needed an alternative to a gas-powered boat. Park supporters gave them an electric canoe in order to maintain the land properly without causing a noise disturbance.
“We want people to really just celebrate their local food system and come together to really recognize the strength of our community,” Development Director Melanie Guild said.
As ash trees in Vermont face extirpation by the invasive emerald ash borer, residents come together to recognize the trees’ ecological importance and cultural history.
Someone’s grandparents always seem to remember one, and sometimes you can still find the scuffs and scrapes of shoes and boots on the floors. But where’d those hoedowns go?
Pre-K students at the Tinmouth Mountain School are learning traditional lessons in outdoor, natural classrooms as part of the Mill River Unified Union School’s Trailhead Initiative.
Volunteers across Vermont gather to help herps traverse the roads. Most often, that entails people scooping critters into their hands and shuttling them to safety.
Vermont native and Olympic Rugby star Ilona Maher captivated the world with her athleticism, bronze medal and social media prowess. Now she is joined by her two sisters in a new podcast called “House of Maher.”
For years, dams have been built to control river flow, power industry and prevent floods. Ecologists argue they just move the damage further downstream.
Silas Loomis, who has been the Castleton constable since Richard Nixon was in the White House, is calling it quits and sharing lots of wild stories from his more than five decades in the position.
Native plants provide the preferred food source, habitat and host for native birds and pollinators, as well as prevent invasive species from moving in.
Said a co-curator: “It’s a way of recognizing someone’s humanity. Often in prison situations, we think the best way to do things is to deny people their humanity.”
Young Vermonters often decide to leave their small hometowns for jobs elsewhere, but siblings Martin and Whitney VanBuren decided to stay put and make a difference in Poultney.
Pam Arel couldn’t stay retired. The Castleton Free Library librarian has had a variety of careers, but loves her current role, in part because she loves kids. She recently sat down with report Emily Ely to talk about her life and her role among the books.
A third of Vermont high schoolers described recently struggling with mental health when they answered the state’s latest survey of youth risk behavior.
In a state where about 47% of adults never attend religious ceremonies, spirituality is still fostered amid yoga studios, apothecaries, mindfulness retreats and in nature itself through pagan practices.
Toad’s Burger Bar in Poultney has become a go-to eatery for locals and a magnet for those passing through. Owners Andrew Breting and Caden Capman have been blown away by the success.
Kenneth Hart is 104 years old and currently resides in The Pines nursing home in Rutland. He spoke about all the changes he’s seen in his life and what keeps him going.
Respecting a client’s autonomy includes knowledge of skin types, anatomy and how a tattoo will age, said one tattooist. It also means knowing your limitations as an artist.
It’s been over a year since the Westbury mobile home park in Colchester became the Village of Westbury, the first village established in Vermont in nearly a century.
Almogalli sees herself in the students: Winooski is the only majority-minority school district in Vermont, and its students come from more than two dozen countries.
The lieutenant governor-elect sits down with the Winooski News to talk about his upset victory, path in politics and what he wants to prioritize come January.
The July 2024 flooding was more destructive downstream while the December 2023 flooding resulted in higher flow because it involved snow and rain, said one scientist.
In a unanimous resolution, city councilors said Winooski had “greatly benefitted from his dedicated work and effective leadership” and that he made the city “a better place for years to come.”
“Music is one of the longest lasting forms of memory because it’s mapped in so many different parts of the brain. So even when there’s deterioration, music can stick,” an event co-founder said.
On a recent afternoon, entrepreneurs like Adriana Munch congregated in the warehouse, sinking their boots into disinfectant and slipping past each other as they hunkered down in kitchens.
The pair ventured from Charlotte on May 6, pedaling west through several states and one province before heading north to Vancouver, where they celebrated with family.
The Vermont Mountaineers went 30–11, tops in the league, boasting a .732 winning percentage during the regular season before bowing out to their rivals in the playoff semifinals.
Martz describes her exhibition, which runs until the end of September, as an exploration of nature’s adaptability and how, over time, it erases human imprints to restore equilibrium
A number of Vermont vineyards and wineries practice regenerative agriculture — that goes beyond minimizing farming’s costs on land to instead help restore it.
The trail demands much of the rider and offers rewards. Its 301 miles are peppered with 30,300 feet in total climb — all on public dirt roads between a dozen rocky sections.
“We’re not on the level of having gigantic fires in Vermont yet,” Dillner said. But officials believe Vermonters should pay attention and prepare to protect their homes and health.
Where can you buy a cheap hardware desk, find an antique embalming machine and pick up the pocket knife you had to give to security officials when you flew from the airport?
Her work shows how embedding a health care provider within the local government can help residents avoid the messy communication and confusing processes of hospitals.
Former programming director at the Shelburne’s library, Broder took the Hinesburg position in October and said he tries to be funny and silly in an otherwise serious job.
It has become increasingly more expensive to keep and repopulate his hives, the vetoed bill’s sponsor said, because colonies are dying at faster rates in recent years.
“She knows the sport intimately, she’s been doing it for I don’t even know how many years at this point, and she has a style that draws people in, gets them fencing quickly.”
While these big wins sound alluring, very few sports bettors leave with any profit. The average sports bettor has lost around 8 cents for every dollar they spent since 2018, according to a review of sportsbooks’ earnings last year.
Five years of data analyzed by Community News Service shows the state’s largest transit system is approaching an inflection point on the back of haywire trends.
The honor caps his time as the youngest son in the state’s most-storied basketball family — and it comes in a year that marks the 25th anniversary of his father’s death.
The institute, its partners and others in the sustainability industry see the practice — dubbed “peecycling” — as a cheap, easy and less-destructive method than synthetic fertilizer.
The brothers’ art-filled upbringings would take them from auditoriums in Randolph to arenas and stages worldwide, working with people like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ryan Gosling and more.
In response to the challenges faced by asylum-seekers and others with special immigration statuses as vulnerable people, volunteer-based organizations in Vermont have a solution: raising money through the arts.
In a survey by the state after last summer’s flooding, 70% of farmers said they didn’t have crop or livestock insurance. Another 10% said the insurance didn’t apply to their industry — meaning only around one in five had coverage for those losses.
The garden metaphor has brought seven artists from different backgrounds to share and indulge in interpretations of paradise, privilege, boundaries and cultivation.
Vermont Huts is reaching out to groups and “saying, ‘Look, we have accommodation out there, and we have funding, and we can help you achieve whatever your goals are to access the space that is out there.’”
The Sisterhood of the Dreaded Elevator Pitch is a free, interactive workshop for anyone who identifies as women to help them navigate some of the most intimidating aspects of running a business.
Parkour offers an out-of-the-ordinary outlet that costs nothing. The sport builds on intuitive human movement — running, climbing, rolling, swinging — to move between two points in the most creative and efficient way possible.
Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability initiative at Shelburne Community School connects Vermont schools to coordinators at Shelburne Farms and Up for Learning, a national organization that helps educators increase student engagement, to teach the future generation about sustainability and climate change.
Quacking ducks, the baas of sheep and bleats of goats, horses snorting, pigs and turkeys roaming about — another day for the crew of rescued animals who live new lives in this haven off Lime Kiln Road.
The Collinses are putting the final touches on their manuscript, entitled “In the Name of Honor, Vows and Valor,” which is scheduled for release by Shadow Spark Publishing in January 2025.
On the final night of the Palace 9 movie theater’s operation, the hottest ticket was for the three-hour Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” costing only a dollar.
Inside Feeding Chittenden, a food shelf located in the Old North End of Burlington, colorful murals dot the walls. Baguettes and fresh veggies fill the shelves of the space, which looks like a small grocery store. Edi Abeneto, Feeding Chittenden’s supervisor, greets up to four families at a time and welcomes them into the food […]
People in the industry believe the problems caused by the floods will worsen with winter weather soon setting in and, within the next few months, artists could be left wondering what they’ll do without accessible indoor spaces.
Virginia Barlow, Dave Mance, Amy Peberdy and Patrick White have worked together for decades now, creating and publishing the Northern Woodlands Magazine, a quarterly chronicle of the forests of the Northeast. For the past four years, however, they have dedicated themselves to something a little closer to home: the Vermont Almanac.
“We rely on that water for training, and if those beaches are closed because of the quality of the water, that really impacts us,” said the Burlington diving center’s co-owner.
For the last decade Wear and several pals have worked to reunite families with their furry friends. When a pet goes missing, searching for it can be difficult and lonely –– Wear can help.
Step by step, the Craft Beer Cellar has gotten back on its feet after the July floods hit their just-opened shop’s basement, causing thousands in damage.
Now, in its 25th year, the museum is looking to reflect the changes in Winooski — as well as help grow and support those changes — outside the walls where it illustrates its own immigration story from the past.
The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost. Reducing personal use of gasoline powered vehicles is a top priority of state Rep. Mollie Burke, D-Brattleboro, heading into the next legislative session. “The priorities have been so […]
Olivia Wilson reported this story on assignment for the Vermont Community News Group. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost. Ariel Mondlak and Abbie Waite first embarked on their journey to visit every town in […]
Maya Porter reported this story on assignment from the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost. The capital of an often self-styled progressive state might be one of the last places you’d […]
With the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 came a rush of guidance on masks, testing, vaccines and social-distancing. But even with all the messages from the CDC and local communities, there was a communication issue.
More than 50 years, a slew of roadblocks and $45 million later, the controversial Champlain Parkway is set to push forward along Burlington’s southern edge.
With bear season starting Sept. 1, and rising reports of bear encounters in Vermont’s more urban areas like South Burlington, the state is faced with new discussions on how best to manage its bear population, if at all.
Now at 27, Trombly has been hired as the first full time, year-round editor of UVM student stories for the Community News Service—a program which provides student reported stories to local newspapers across Vermont.
Even with these losses, and 10 of the 45 acres of pasture taking significant water damage, Sanford-Long considered herself one of the luckier farms last week.
The show, which opened June 1, came together through a collaboration between South Burlington Public Art Gallery Curator Jessica Manley and a team of dedicated art teachers from the district.
A small group of folks made a series of weekly trips around the New North End this past winter to remove the stickers — often found on signs or poles — and the effort is set to pick back up this summer.
About 20 volunteer came out to the 100-foot-wide strip of land at the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington on April 18 for One Tree Planted Day, an event hosted by the Intervale Center, Winooski Valley Park District and the nonprofit One Tree Planted.
The sweet scent of maple rose with the steam from the Shelburne Sugarworks evaporator on a recent afternoon as Steven Palmer dipped a hydrometer into a metal cylinder holding newly boiled sap to measure the sugar content. The instrument read 66 percent sugar — the correct content for maple syrup. Palmer and two assistants released […]
On Saturday morning, a half-dozen volunteers with plastic bags, bright-colored buckets and claw-like scoopers scanned Wheeler Dog Park for dog waste, toy scraps and other garbage for an April Stools Day cleanup event.
Tucked away in Burlington’s arts district on Pine Street, the Dojo gives independent music teachers a space to gather and teach lessons to students both in person and online.
Lewack organized a kickoff meeting for the project March 14 to get people excited and recruit help. Groups with a presence on the website — such as Charlotte Library and Charlotte Recreation — were invited to the meeting to help get the ball rolling.
The Harwood Unified School District’s $45.4 million proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year represents 6.5% increase in spending for the coming year, although programs and services remain level with the current year. Voters in the district approved the request by a vote of 1,192 to 599, according to results released Wednesday.
For more than a month, members of the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) community have told school officials they don’t want Principal John Broadley to leave.
When scientists detected a small, bug-eyed gray fish two years ago at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers in New York, it set off alarms everywhere along the waters of Lake Champlain.
Last year at the Waterbury Public Library, Youth Services Librarian Cynthia Ryle started noticing more and more young people coming in and asking for books with queer characters.
“Fire Index,” set to release April 4, is the first book by the Indiana-born author, mother, educator and activist, who settled in Charlotte in 2019 after stops in Malibu, Boston and Atlanta.
Vermont lawmakers are seeking to give workers increased protections when it comes to collective bargaining and union organizing through a bill that has passed in the Senate with a number of changes since it was introduced.
Officials are cutting back how many lake trout are released annually into Lake Champlain after finding, for the first time in decades, sustained successful reproduction in the species — exciting news for biologists and anglers alike.
Vermont is the only state in the country where farmers cannot readily access a program meant to pay them back for restoring habitats around their farms.
RANDOLPH — Students take over the basement in Keenan Hall after sunset nearly every night at Vermont Technical College, posting up in front of computer monitors with rainbow-colored keyboards and headsets. Sophomore Luc Levesque, a regular, spent a recent weeknight explaining one game he and others come there to grind — first-person shooter Valorant — […]
The EAP course intends to help multilingual students develop reading and writing skills expected in an English-speaking college. The course covers classroom culture, academic expectations, history, and design of U.S. collegiate institutions.
Whether towns and cities can charge farms for stormwater utility fees is at the center of a bubbling debate between state agriculture officials and municipal leaders around Vermont.
Vermont continues to see spikes in housing prices with the median home price rising 15% in 2022, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. Communities and state officials alike have spent a lot of time discussing how the growth of short-term rentals in Vermont has contributed to the state’s housing crisis.
Waterbury’s newest cannabis dispensary has gotten off the runway with a store featuring big windows positioned to maximize natural light, four separate kiosks prepared for product browsing and sliding glass hatches covering fresh bud for fragrance testing.
With mud season just beginning, experts warn that Vermonters should stay away from high-elevation trails for now to protect natural areas from erosion and further damage.
Vermont lawmakers launched the cross-party Future Caucus with the Millennial Action Project, a group focused on encouraging younger people to pursue politics, in 2015 to unify lawmakers under 45 years old and encourage younger individuals to run for office. But in June of last year, only 24 of the 150 state legislators were under 45.
Lindsay Aldrich peered into the vat of syrup, getting a noseful of the sweet aroma. It was a far trip from her home in Burlington to the sugarhouse in Bethel where she and Luke Briccetti now gazed at rows of bottled syrup perched up along the windowsills. But they were excited they’d made it. They […]
Earlier this year, the Hinesburg Town Forest Committee learned that Lyman had gone into the town forest with heavy machinery and destroyed three beaver dams.
Alarmingly high levels of E.coli were found in an early February sample from a small town wastewater facility outflow into the Missisquoi River, but local officials say the testing lab didn’t tell them until weeks later — meaning the bacteria could have continued to leave the plant for most of the month.
HAVERHILL—In 2020, Mallory Graham bought a gift – a commissioned “map of home” – for her partner in music and life, Scott Tyler. But the map didn’t depict a single place. It included Nashville; parts of Michigan, Maine, and South Dakota; and Bradford. For the duo behind the folk-Americana band The Rough & Tumble, each […]
A power outage Monday caused up to 500,000 gallons of partially treated liquids to flood out of the city’s wastewater treatment plant and into an outflow area near Stevens Brook, a waterbody that’s connected to Lake Champlain and flows downstream into St. Albans.
Shepherd Dave Martin, left, lends his sheep’s wool to Muriel’s of Vermont. Cyrus Brooks, right, owns the company with his mother, Laura Jacoby, and runs their whole-garment knitting machine to turn yarn into sweaters. Photos by Kayla Duvel Not all of Dave Martin’s sheep have names. He likes some more than others. He should probably […]
Before voters on Town Meeting Day say “yes” or “no” to proposed local and education taxes for the coming year, the numbers they see on the agenda go through a labyrinth.
With winter weather becoming harder to predict, Vermont’s skiing and outdoor recreation industry is looking at new ways to keep the season’s business going.
When the class of 2020 arrived at South Burlington High School four years ago, the students would be the first to encounter a new academic standard that administrators and educators had been working to prepare: proficiency-based learning.
What started almost two decades ago as only a camp in a local barn has grown into a theater organization serving about 1,000 youths annually from northwestern Vermont.
“A strong spirit transcends rules.”— Prince Craig Mitchell stands before Mount Kilimanjaro, flanked by a friend. “You have to be ready for the mountain, and the mountain has to be ready for you,” says his friend, but Mitchell starts climbing. The two ascend at record speed. But when the peak is in sight, Kilimanjaro erupts, […]
Apple-picking season is back in Vermont, and orchards across the state are starting to come alive with visitors — and apples. The Other Paper checked in with three orchards across the Champlain Valley to see what their owners think about this year’s fall fun. Shelburne Orchards For Nick Cowles, running Shelburne Orchards is a family […]