Featured Story

Deerfield Valley News becomes sister newspaper to The Commons

Longtime owners Randy and Vicki Capitani sell 60-year-old community newspaper in Wilmington after almost 35 years at the helm

BRATTLEBORO-Vermont Independent Media (VIM), publisher of The Commons, has purchased The Deerfield Valley News, a loved and respected weekly that has been serving the Deerfield Valley community for almost six decades.

VIM becomes the fifth entity to steward the publication, which announced the sale to its readers in its July 10 edition and on its website.

Read More
News

Bracing for impact

BRATTLEBORO-Much of Windham County depends for its health care services on Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH), which has been weathering what already was a financial crisis. And then everything changed on July 3, when Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, may cause some 45,000 people in Vermont to lose their health insurance over the next several years, according to initial estimates from the Vermont Agency of Human...

Read More

A place to care for one another

BRATTLEBORO-With this month's effective end to the state's motel voucher program on July 1, a community art space has transformed into an oasis of sorts for people who are without shelter as demand for resources and needs have increased drastically. According to data from VTDigger sourced from the state Department for Children and Families (DCF), 73 adults and 34 children in the Brattleboro district were evicted from motels last week. They are among more than 800 people statewide who were...

Read More

Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly updates

Brattleboro ‘Goes Fourth’ with a celebration of community — and dissent

BRATTLEBORO-The annual Brattleboro Goes Fourth! parade on July 4 featured plenty of vehicles from all the town departments, not many politicians, and lots of protesters. Perennial participants included bands from the local American Legion and Brattleboro Union High School, and various veterans, civic, and youth groups. Local personality Alfred Hughes Jr. capped the event, wearing a red dress, white feathers, and a blue mesh shawl wrap. The tradition of free speech was represented by approximately 200 marchers from Invisible Brattleboro,

Read More

Lawmakers explain votes on education reform bill

BRATTLEBORO-When the Vermont Legislature adjourned on June 16, it had run more than a month longer than expected. The reason was the controversial and complex reform bill that will, as written, drastically change the way education is delivered in Vermont. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, who many would say instigated the changes by presenting his own more-drastic educational reforms before the session began, signed the bill into law on July 1. The final 155-page bill, H.454, does two major things:

Read More

Paving projects in Brattleboro set to begin night of July 14

BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is about to begin a nearly $19 million night paving project on sections of Routes 5, 9, 30, and 142 within the town. VTrans says motorists this week "should be vigilant for daytime sign installation and crews with uniformed traffic officers accessing the shoulders along all approach routes to the project." Sign installation crews will continue to work on installing construction signs on all project and approach routes and will also be conducting project...

Read More

‘Big changes’

BRATTLEBORO-Last week, the Vermont Legislature adjourned after passing a controversial education reform bill that many observers both inside and outside the Vermont State House called "drastic," and which Vermont Public called "the single most transformational piece of education legislation passed in Vermont in modern times" if all its provisions are enacted. Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who made the effect of school spending on property taxes a cause célèbre during the last election cycle, approves of the bill and has pledged...

Read More

Windham, at ‘a crossroads,’ eyes priorities

WINDHAM-Approximately 40 people gathered at the Windham Meeting House on June 17 for "What's Possible, Windham?," a community vision discussion hosted by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), who came at the invitation of the Selectboard. In his introduction, Selectboard member Michael Pelton said that the town is at a crossroads. The town manages several properties, including the Windham Meeting House (where the discussion was held), the town offices, and the town shed. In addition, Pelton said, the town...

Read More

Free food for kids, no strings attached

BRATTLEBORO-Three school districts will begin their summer meals programs, distributing free, weekly meal kits to families with children. Susan Grabowski, food program coordinator of the Windham Southeast School District, runs the program for that region and has a message for parents: "We know summer can be a challenging time. These meal kits are one way we're trying to make things a little easier. There's no paperwork, no proof of need - just free, nutritious food for any child 18 and...

Read More