Joyce Marcel

Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of Windham & Windsor Housing Trust.

‘Real Solutions’ forum draws crowd upset about Brattleboro crime

Controversial media figure draws hundreds and encourages a shift from outrage to activism

BRATTLEBORO-Residents are angry about what is going on in their town, with drugs and crime heading the list.

And Hank Poitras, 42, otherwise known as Planet Hank, knows how to rev them up.

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Lawmakers head to capital to start new biennium

Legislators will face a variety of big issues, including housing, climate change, and property tax reduction

BRATTLEBORO-Yes, the holiday season has been celebrated, and now it's time for the season's next big event: the opening of the Vermont Legislature today, Wednesday, Jan. 8. It is no secret that things will be different this year. For one thing, the Democratic-Progressive supermajorities have been voted out of...

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Bracing for impact

The LGBTQIA+ community gets ready for a second Trump presidency — and the Republican majority that made vilifying transgender kids part of its party brand and a right-wing Supreme Court that is eager to reverse current policies

BRATTLEBORO-Bullying is a distinctive pattern of repeatedly and deliberately harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are smaller, weaker, younger, or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. It's the power imbalance that marks it as bullying, according to Psychology Today. With that in mind, it is interesting...

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Refugees and asylum seekers brace for new political winds

BRATTLEBORO-Once you have lived through a civil war, or been beaten and tortured and starved, or watched your family killed in front of your eyes, and then taken a dangerous route to find safety for you and your family in - of all places - Windham County, Vermont, the looming threat of a former president re-elected on a hard-line anti-immigration platform might not necessarily faze you. "We will wait and see," said Joe Wiah, the executive director of ECDC Brattleboro,

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State lawmakers react to a political shift

With the election now in the books, change is in the air. But how this change might manifest itself is still unknown. Many people in Vermont are voicing concerns about the national election, which puts former President Donald Trump back in the White House. "The results of the national election are devastating," said Rep. Mollie Burke, D-Brattleboro, who was re-elected to the House. "I worry about how the policies of the new Trump administration will impact Vermont," she said. "Will...

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Sibilia says she will run for Speaker of the House

DOVER-With a strong sense of urgency and just weeks before the election, Rep. Laura Sibilia is planning to challenge House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, for the leadership role when the Legislature returns to session in January. The reason for the rare challenge? Sibilia, who represents Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton, and Wardsboro, said that she believes Vermont is in crisis on many fronts, including education, climate change, and health care, and that under Krowinski, the House of Representatives is not moving...

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Deep-blue faithful rally at the Latchis

BRATTLEBORO-When it comes to voting, Brattleboro is as blue as the ceiling of the Latchis Theatre. So when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint spoke to more than 250 people gathered there for a Democratic rally on Oct. 19, it was as if they were preaching to the choir. And this choir was enthusiastic, offering more than one standing ovation to the two progressive politicians who represent Vermont in Congress. Both are prohibitive favorites in their own...

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For World Learning, a new way to bring together cultures: housing

BRATTLEBORO-World Learning Inc. is in the first stages of developing a creative answer to the region's housing shortage - a problem that is hitting close to home. In 2018, when its School for International Training ended on-campus degree programs, World Learning was left with many empty dorm rooms in a cluster of campus residential buildings. That made the facility the perfect place to temporarily house refugees from such countries as Afghanistan and Senegal when they began arriving in the region.

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