Integrated Solar Applications (ISA) has announced a limited opportunity to join a new community solar array entitled “ISA Exit 1 Solar.”
The 500-kilowatt ground-mount array is located on 13.8 acres owned by the company on Canal Street in Brattleboro and serviced by Green Mountain Power (GMP). According to a news release, it will “provide direct access to renewable energy, enabling members to reduce their electricity bills and carbon footprint, without having to install or own a solar array on their property.”
Members will pay an upfront cost for the panels, with ISA assuming all responsibility for permitting, installation, insurance, and maintenance. Members will receive energy credits directly on their GMP monthly utility bill and will have the ability to transfer their net metering credits to another home or business anywhere in GMP's service territory.
Pending availability, members may purchase Energy Credit Shares in an amount up to that which will zero out their GMP annual energy cost.
Bruce Whitman of Leland & Gray Union High and Middle School has earned the American Meteorological Society's Certified AMS Teacher (CAT) designation, a professional recognition for completing required coursework and being actively engaged in raising Earth science literacy. Among science educators, the CAT designation is sought as a mark...
The HEART (Health Equity and Access for Rural TLGBQ+) Program aims to address common healthcare barriers faced by TLGBQ+ (Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer) people in Windham County. A team of trained volunteers will work alongside TLGBQ+ community members to ensure access to safe and supportive healthcare. The...
Landmark College recently announced it will present Sheinelle Jones with its LD Luminary Award during the “More Than We Imagine” gala fundraiser taking place on Thursday, April 28, at the Midtown Loft and Terrace in New York City. Jones, who will be in attendance and provide remarks during the event, is co-host of the 3rd Hour of Today. Since joining NBC News in 2014, she has covered a variety of breaking news events and human-interest stories. In addition, Jones hosts...
Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital has been awarded a Governor's Excellence in Worksite Wellness Program Award. Presented to Vermont employee wellness programs by the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and the Vermont Department of Health (VDH), these awards are given at three levels. Grace Cottage earned gold, the highest level. In 2021, Grace Cottage initiated Mediterranean Wellness, an online portal to encourage a healthy wellness culture among employees. The three main components of the wellness program are...
Kirsten Manville and Tim Foley will co-headline the Stage 33 Live listening room on 33 Bridge St., on Sunday, April 10, in a limited-seating 3 p.m. matinee. Singer/songwriter Kirsten Manville's latest album, Some People Sing, was a Metronome magazine top-five album pick, and she was subsequently featured on the cover. Her song, “...but Down,” was an Alternate Root magazine Top-10 selection. A blend of Americana, folk, country, and blues, her songs about finding and losing love, hard times, and small...
The Guilford Energy Committees is staging its second Southeastern Vermont workshop in which folks can help assemble low-cost insulating window inserts to warm their homes and reduce both heating bills and the use of fossil fuels. These workshops are sponsored by Window Dressers, a Maine-based nonprofit organization that has helped produce more than 40,000 inserts in its 10-year history. Volunteers, trained by experts from the committee, go to participants' homes and measure windows for a custom fit. Customers and volunteers...
Signs of spring are slowly but surely appearing across the state, which means it's time to think about which fruits, vegetables, and herbs to grow this season. Vermonters can buy their seeds and seedlings that produce edible foods with 3SquaresVT. 3SquaresVT is Vermont's name for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides eligible people with money every month to buy groceries. Nearly 70,000 people in Vermont are signed up for 3SquaresVT and can shop at over 600 retailers...
Obituaries • Walter Stewart “Walt” Allbee, 78, of Westminster. Died March 25, 2022. Walt, the son of Stewart and Margaret (Perry) Allbee, was born Sept. 26, 1943 in Bellows Falls. He was a graduate of Bellows Falls High School, Class of 1962. In 1968, he married Priscilla (Cote), and they made their home in Westminster and enjoyed summers together at Miles Pond in Concord, Vt. Walt had very fond memories of growing up on his family's farm in Westminster, where...
Green Up Day coordinator neededBRATTLEBORO - The town is looking for a volunteer coordinator to lead Green Up Day efforts. Green Up Day is Saturday, May 7, and anyone who cares about the environment and neighborhood beauty enough to rally volunteers and hand out Green Up Day supplies to other enthusiastic Brattleboro residents of all ages will love serving in this role. Contact Robin Rieske at [email protected] or Kate at [email protected] to learn more, or visit greenupvermont.org. Yard sale to...
Main Street Arts (MSA) is hosting an audition prep and acting workshop, led by Sean Roberts, in MSA's theater at 35 Main St. Workshop classes are scheduled for the first, third and fourth Monday of each month starting April 4, and ending June 27. Classes will be held on April 4, 18, and 25; May 2, 16, and 23; and June 6, 20, and 27, from 7 to 9 p.m. “As MSA returns to its 34-year tradition of producing community...
New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., presents its 2022 spring musical, Disney's Frozen Jr., with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and book by Jennifer Lee. This production is directed by NEYT administrative director Jeff Seabaugh, with music director Bob Thies, and choreography by Malia'Kekia Nicolini. Performances are Friday, April 8, through Sunday, April 10, and Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, at NEYT. “It has been such a delight to work with these talented...
Gov. Phil Scott's veto of Brattleboro's proposed charter change has prevailed, snuffing the town's hopes of allowing teens to vote and run in municipal elections. On March 31, the Senate failed to override Scott's veto of H.361. Fifteen senators voted in favor of overriding the governor and 12 voted against doing so. A two-thirds majority was required. In 2019, more than two-thirds of Brattleboro voters approved a charter amendment that would have allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote and run...
At its March 24 meeting, the Londonderry Selectboard voted unanimously to recommend the town pursue removal of the Williams Dam. The annual Town Meeting warning includes an article seeking to raise $40,000 for engineering costs for the removal process. Londonderry's annual Town Meeting will be held on April 30, at 9:30 a.m., at the Town Hall. The Williams Dam was constructed in the 1880s and is located on the West River in proximity to Vermont Route 11, just east of...
Vermont is facing two serious and interrelated challenges: reducing carbon emissions, and providing housing that is energy efficient, safe, and available -housing not only for those of us who already live here, but for those who are fleeing climate catastrophes, for those fleeing political (and often lethal) turmoil, and for others we are inviting in with our culture of community. The pace of the influx is only going to grow as climate change and other pressures worsen. Already we are...
Running the Putney General Store has taught me that we are a small community that cares about each other - especially in the village. The diverse community in the village is made up of people who support and care for one another in ways that the larger town can't. Historically, the kindness and generosity in the village has embraced all kinds of people, including those who need help and those who can give it. It saddens me to see this...
As a tenant of Putney Landing, a Windham & Windsor Housing Trust property, I have felt degraded by the negative and false rhetoric being printed in the local newspapers and on social media by other Putney residents. Because of that, I would like to share my story as a resident of this sweet, diverse community. I have proudly lived at Putney Landing since 2018. I am a widow, age 68, who was born and raised in Brattleboro. I lived many...
When I first heard the story of Melissa Lucio, scheduled for execution just weeks away now, on April 27, I was shocked but not surprised. I had heard stories like this for decades. When I lived in Maine, one of my neighbors was a direct descendant of one of the last men put to death in the state, a case that led to the abolition of the death penalty there. Years later, in 2011, I travelled to Georgia during the...
I am saddened and frustrated by what is happening in Putney. It certainly never has been an ideal community, but I have always felt, as both a resident and a past Selectboard member, that despite differences there was a level of respect and neighborliness. But that seems to have changed. There are rumors and accusations that people are terrorists, that they are connected to organized crime, that the housing projects are simply money laundering schemes, that “those people” will bring...
I write as a three-year member of Representative Town Meeting and a four-year Brattleboro resident. Reading Kevin O'Connor's accurate summary of our 2022 Annual Representative Town Meeting prompted me to comment. To be an RTM member is an honor - a meaningful role in the small town where I live. In a city, impact is diminished. In villages, there's little critical mass for community enrichment. Being a meeting member gives opportunity to express oneself with both awareness and conscience. The...
State Senate candidate Wichie Artu will host a meet-and-greet on Saturday, April 9, at 6 p.m., at American Legion Post 5, 32 Linden St. The event will be Artu's first public appearance since he announced his candidacy March 7. He is the first gay and Hispanic candidate and, as described in a news release, “lives his rural queer dream with his husband, Dr. Ike Leslie, on their farm in the lovely community of Athens.” The event is aimed to be...
Voters at Putney's Annual Town Meeting agreed to change the composition of the Selectboard from three members to five. With a special election is scheduled with in-person voting on Tuesday, April 26, the Putney Huddle is hosting an online candidates' forum on Sunday, April 10, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held via Zoom at bit.ly/selectboardforum or dial in 301-715-8592. The meeting ID is 838 3198 093. The forum will be recorded, and Town Moderator Meg Mott...
At her second meeting since formation of a new Windham Southeast Supervisory Union school board, Chair Michelle Luetjen Green admitted that the hiring process to select a new superintendent raised “concerns that we did not secure a fair process for all applicants to be reviewed, assessed, and deliberated on.” She told The Commons that her words are a “personal statement that I felt should be acknowledged sooner than later.” Her comment came at the same March 30 meeting where parent...
On Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m., the Brattleboro Literary Fest's monthly online Literary Cocktail Hour will feature Ukrainian American poet Dzvinia Orlowsky, Ukrainian American writer Askold Melnyczuk, and translator of Ukrainian, Ali Kinsella. They will be reading their work and discussing the effects of the war and the power of translation, as well as ways to support Ukraine's writers. Suzanne Nossel, director of PEN America, recently said in a news release that “Ukraine's hard-won democratic and human rights gains...
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents “The Spaulding Dunbar Photo-Poet Solo Show,” the artist's inaugural solo show that runs Friday, April 8, through Saturday, May 7, with an opening from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 8. The show features archival and UV-coated original prints of photographs taken by the artist on Anjali Farm in Vermont, along the New England coastline, and while visiting family in India. According to a news release, the collection “tells tales of cycles,
In celebration of Children's Month, the Crowell Gallery presents “The Barnabus Project Redux” during April. A reception is planned for Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to noon. NewBrook Elementary students will exhibit their “diverse, winsome and sincere portrayals of the misfit animals in the well-known children's book The Barnabus Project,” organizers write. Additionally, pre-K paintings and compilations of other work completed this year will be on display. Each year, thousands of K–4 Vermont schoolchildren read the 10 picture books...
The Putney Food Co-op is the first retailer to officially join the Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership's efforts to support local organic dairy brands and organic dairy farms. The Partnership, launched earlier this year through the efforts of Stonyfield Organic co-founder Gary Hirshberg, hopes to encourage consumers to increase weekly purchases of organic dairy brands with the goal of providing area dairy farms with the demand they need to remain financially viable. Putney Food Co-op is the first retailer in...
The Rich Earth Institute is hosting their 2022 Urine Donor Kick-Off at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, April 9, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. They will be joined by prominent area-based poets to celebrate a decade of reclaiming urine as a resource in Vermont and beyond. The past year's most prolific donors will also be acknowledged as “Piss Off” contest winners. “After two years of pandemic separation, we're excited to host this event in person,” Rich Earth's executive director...
During one of the first Town Meetings that I moderated, one woman was continually talking over others during discussion about building a senior housing project. I had originally run for town moderator because people were talking over one another and snickering and catcalling. And now I had run out of patience. I called a recess, and I explained to the woman that according to the meeting rules, only one person was allowed to speak a time, and if she persisted,
Nowruz is an important and special day in Afghani culture. Have you ever heard about this celebration? On March 20, 200 Vermonters celebrated the holiday with the new Afghan refugees who have been supported in the Brattleboro area since we had to leave Afghanistan. We have been coming to Vermont over the last few months. On that Sunday, the first day of the new solar year, we celebrated many different traditions with people of Brattleboro and the area. We celebrated...
For Vermonters who love hunting and fishing, there are two dates on the calendar that are holy days of obligation - the first day of rifle/shotgun season for deer hunting, and the first day of trout fishing. The 2022 trout season begins this Saturday, April 9, and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says anglers should be aware of a few rule changes for this year - mainly that you can now fish year-round using artificial lures and flies for...