Stories by Kevin O'Connor
Issue of Jun 7, 2023 (#718)
- ‘That’s the beauty of it’: A new section of a storied Brattleboro cemetery offers families more inclusive options for a final resting place for loved ones
Issue of May 24, 2023 (#716)
- Brattleboro crunches EMS numbers in look to future: Other towns around Vermont warn that providing EMS services is not a revenue producer
Issue of May 10, 2023 (#714)
- BUHS team name sparks Civil War of opinion: Colonel supporters aren’t surrendering without a fight, as seen through dozens of social media posts criticizing the proposed change
Issue of May 3, 2023 (#713)
- Rescue Inc. takes over Keene firm: Brattleboro nonprofit ambulance service to ‘provide continuity’ for R.J. DiLuzio Ambulance
Issue of Apr 19, 2023 (#711)
- A second chance to run her first Boston Marathon: Despite Covid and other setbacks, Nicole James of Brattleboro makes it across the finish line
Issue of Feb 22, 2023 (#703)
- Harris Hill ski jump returns, rising above a tree-tapping thaw: Despite unseasonably warm weather, organizers pull together another great weekend of competition and fun
Issue of Feb 8, 2023 (#701)
- Town Meeting floors will reopen to voters: After Covid pause, 70% of Vermont communities set to convene Annual Town Meeting in person
Issue of Feb 1, 2023 (#700)
- Brattleboro EMS study sparks more questions: Consultant will present findings to the Selectboard at Feb. 7 meeting
Issue of Jan 25, 2023 (#699)
- Legislature extends towns’ flexibility for Town Meetings: If signed by governor, bill would continue with pandemic-inspired measures like ballots and online information sessions
Issue of Jan 18, 2023 (#698)
- Brattleboro faces surge of need for shelter: A math problem: How do you help 250 people who need shelter when you have 234 beds?
Issue of Jan 11, 2023 (#697)
- Brattleboro to consider ‘to be determined’ plan for EMS coverage: FY2024 budget won’t specify any particular EMS plan
- State may extend pandemic-era Town Meeting options for 2023: Brattleboro will return to in-person Representative Town Meeting in March
Issue of Dec 21, 2022 (#695)
- Brattleboro police to test civilian support program: The department, stretched for officers, will pay from unexpended funds in the current budget
- Brattleboro’s Christmas breakfast will likely be its last: The annual Charlie Slate Memorial event, a 40- year tradition that feeds hundreds for free, is facing rising costs and a reduced crew of third- and fourth-generation organizers
Issue of Dec 14, 2022 (#694)
- Rockingham explores shakeup in EMS services: Town officials, unhappy with missed calls from Golden Cross, invite Rescue Inc. to bid on contract for ambulance service
Issue of Nov 23, 2022 (#691)
- Free Thanksgiving dinner options decrease with changing times: A holiday tradition in Brattleboro and other Vermont towns is curtailed by Covid, lack of volunteers
Issue of Nov 16, 2022 (#690)
- Project creates a colorful welcome: The High Street Mural Project turned a concrete eyesore into a 2,280-square-foot canvas
Issue of Nov 9, 2022 (#689)
- Back from Ukraine, Galbraith has more questions than answers: Former ambassador voices many concerns over the prospects for peace in his annual talk to the Windham World Affairs Council
Issue of Nov 2, 2022 (#688)
- Glebe Mountain will be part of federal reserve : Nonprofit will transfer 3,500 acres of ‘high priority habitat’ in Londonderry and Windham to federal conservation refuge
- Brattleboro parking garage site of new tensions: Selectboard mulls new security cameras as complaints and fears about public safety grow and police understaffed by nine officers
- ‘Nobody changes the world alone’: Jody Williams comes full circle 25 years after her Nobel Peace Prize win
Issue of Oct 26, 2022 (#687)
- Rapid response: After two student overdoses at Brattleboro Union High School, administrators started to cry. That’s when their school began to listen.
Issue of Oct 5, 2022 (#684)
- Brattleboro Union High School reports 2 students treated for overdoses
Issue of Sep 28, 2022 (#683)
- A daughter of acclaimed Vermont artists finds her own creativity mushrooming : Melany Kahn’s new children’s book, ‘Mason Goes Mushrooming,’ celebrates a family tradition of foraging seeded by her late parents, Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason.
- Police cleared in deadly shooting: State inquiry finds Brattleboro police officer, two state troopers did not act inappropriately in confrontation with murder suspect in July
Issue of Sep 14, 2022 (#681)
- AIDS Project leader moves on after 30 years: Antiretroviral medications make HIV a treatable condition, but the local organization continues the fight against a virus that once meant certain death
- Brattleboro still silent about what led to EMS changes: Selectboard members preach, but don’t practice, ‘transparency’ on EMS takeover
Issue of Sep 7, 2022 (#680)
- As it turns 50, BMAC finds its future still on the drawing board
Issue of Aug 31, 2022 (#679)
- A matter of human dignity — and public health: Brattleboro debates the necessity vs. nuisance of public restrooms
Issue of Aug 24, 2022 (#678)
- Ballot will be crowded for state Senate hopefuls: After a party switch, the Windham County Senate field rises to six candidates for the two seats
- ‘The biggest political upset in Vermont history’: In August 1972, Tom Salmon, a Bellows Falls Democrat, announced he was running for governor. Three months later, he became only the second Democrat in more than a century to be elected to the state’s highest office.
- Journalist faces charges for domestic assault: Landmark College professor, a Commons contributor, pleads not guilty to two counts
Issue of Aug 10, 2022 (#676)
- Brattleboro Selectboard drops abortion resolution: State lawmaker warns that stance could ‘unintentionally trip up state efforts’ to address the issue
- Rescue Inc. set to open state’s first EMS training academy: For emergency medical nonprofit, the new project marks ‘a natural progression and a dream realized’
Issue of Jul 27, 2022 (#674)
- Selectboard to discuss funding abortion access: Board members express mixed views to proposal from Gelter in response to Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade
- Déjà vu: After second shooting there in two decades, Brattleboro’s All Souls Church again seeks healing
Issue of Jul 20, 2022 (#673)
- Can only Democrats win a Windham County state Senate seat?: Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in Windham County since the 1990s, but party hopes 2022 — with two seats opening up — will be different
Issue of Jul 13, 2022 (#672)
- Vermont teens confront a polarized world: Attendees at annual Governor’s Institute on Global Issues and Youth Action wrestle with the age-old dilemma: Can they, and should they, learn to ‘love they enemy’?
Issue of Jul 6, 2022 (#671)
- Brattleboro’s EMS plan racks up higher costs: Selectboard approves raises for firefighters with EMS training, spending the last of a projected surplus less than a week after the transition from Rescue Inc. to Golden Cross
Issue of Jun 29, 2022 (#670)
- Brattleboro EMS plan will launch as public questions linger : ‘This is a manufactured crisis,’ one cardiac arrest survivor said of the ambulance change set for July 1. ‘I have a sense of foreboding that our elected officers have chosen to gamble with people’s lives.’
Issue of Jun 22, 2022 (#669)
- Brattleboro amends EMS takeover plan 10 days before scheduled start : Vermont ambulance officials continue to voice questions as the town approaches the July 1 end of its nearly 60-year contract with Rescue Inc.
Issue of Jun 15, 2022 (#668)
- Brattleboro’s EMS plan lacks state license: Weeks before Rescue Inc. contract is due to expire, the town is still seeking approval from the state for its interim plan with Golden Cross
- Brattleboro to honor memory of soldiers erased from history: The town is set to dedicate a second marker for the Civil War monument to account for soldiers of color or lower class missing from the original count
Issue of Jun 8, 2022 (#667)
- Fisherman rescued after falling off Brattleboro bridge to avoid Amtrak train
Issue of Jun 1, 2022 (#666)
- Preschooler and his family avert homelessness: Nolan Goodnow woke his sleeping household last Christmastime during Brattleboro’s largest fire of 2021. Now news of his recent national Youth Hero Award has brought him a new place to live with just days to spare
Issue of May 25, 2022 (#665)
- This preschooler saved his family, and now they all face homelessness: Five-year-old Nolan Goodnow just received a national award for waking his sleeping household during Brattleboro’s largest blaze of 2021. But without another place to stay, he and his parents, sister and grandmother may be living outside as of June 1.
- Town OKs feasibility study for EMS plan: Wyoming-based consulting firm to research costs, staffing needs, and related challenges of assuming the work of Rescue Inc.
Issue of May 18, 2022 (#664)
- Economy summit juggles post-pandemic optimism, obstacles: ‘Unique and specific challenges’ for Windham and Windsor counties include more workers and more housing for all
- Nobel laureate talks peace to a new generation : ‘Chatting with your friends is not a strategy for changing anything,’ Jody Williams told students during a visit to her alma mater, Brattleboro Union High School. ‘Change happens because we act.’
Issue of May 11, 2022 (#663)
- Citing ‘unsustainable’ costs, Holton Home to close: Current residents of Brattleboro long-term care facility will be moved to Bradley House
- Two projects could bring 500 housing units to Brattleboro: Omega Optical Delta Campus and Prouty Center jointly pursue development; M&S explores mixed-income housing downtown
Issue of May 4, 2022 (#662)
- Windham County to elect new state Senate roster: Jeanette White will retire, leaving both seats without incumbents; Rick Morton seeks seat from the GOP side; Wendy Harrison set to announce run
Issue of Apr 27, 2022 (#661)
- For 6 Vermont runners, the Boston Marathon is a journey longer than 26.2 miles
- Brattleboro/Rescue split’s aftershocks ripple through state: State EMS board approves license for Brattleboro Fire Department
Issue of Apr 13, 2022 (#659)
- Brattleboro, Rescue Inc. on course to part ways due to contract dispute : Municipal leaders, clashing with the town’s nearly 60-year nonprofit emergency medical service, want the fire department to take over at a time crisis responders are stretched statewide.
Issue of Mar 23, 2022 (#656)
- WSESU schools drop holdout mask mandate: Facing public pressure, district makes masking optional for kids after a confusing process
- For Brattleboro meeting members, no free lunch: Annual Representative Town Meeting rejects tax-funded lunch as it eats up 12 hours online
Issue of Mar 9, 2022 (#654)
- Brattleboro Selectboard eases rules for indoor masking: Town had lobbied the state for the right for municipalities to set local mandates for masking when the delta variant flared up in 2021
Issue of Apr 21, 2021 (#609)
- Thriving tomorrow, surviving today: A decade after fire and water ravaged the Brooks House, the developers who breathed new life into the historic structure are applying those lessons on new projects in four states
Issue of Sep 23, 2020 (#580)
- Brattleboro approves $40,000 for police study: Two facilitators from Windham County will begin work on a report that will arrive as Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald departs into retirement
