Joyce Marcel
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.
Brattleboro makes slow, but steady, progress on housing
Planning director reports 54 permits approved in first nine months of 2024
BRATTLEBORO-First, the good news: The Town Planning Office has issued at least 54 permits for new housing projects this year - the highest number in years, as town Planning Director Sue Fillion told the Selectboard on Oct. 1. "That's a conservative estimate of our permitting activity for 2024, actually,"
Republicans, independents mount challenges
Four candidates share information about their campaigns, positions
BRATTLEBORO-The Commons reached out to challengers to incumbents in state legislative seats, inviting them to contribute some basic information to introduce them to readers as early voting in the general election gets underway. Following are brief profiles from those who responded to the newspaper's outreach for this story, with...
More
State treasurer hits the road with unclaimed funds
BRATTLEBORO-The sun had just set when a lone car pulled into the partially hidden and empty parking lot of the Brattleboro Collision Center on Old Ferry Road. Out popped State Treasurer Michael Pieciak, who was on a mission to return $5,150 in unclaimed funds to Todd DeAngelis, who owns the business. All in all, Pieciak returned $150,000 of unclaimed property to businesses, nonprofits, and service providers across Vermont's 14 counties on Sept. 9 and 10. This Unclaimed Property Road Tour...
The mean streets of Brattleboro
BRATTLEBORO-A great tsunami of pain is coming toward us, and there's no getting out of the way. Oh, sorry. False alarm. It's already here. I'm talking about homelessness. We see some piece of the situation every day. On the streets, camped by the river, in the library, panhandling near the supermarkets. Every day we see people who are vulnerable, exposed, and hungry. Vulnerable to violence, to theft, to all sorts of criminality. Exposed. So exposed. Imagine not ever having a...
For Balint, chaos, hope, and a looming budget showdown
BRATTLEBORO-There have been highs, there have been lows, and then there was the Democratic National Convention. "Ebullient" would be the best word to describe Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint going into the event, which was held in Chicago from Aug. 19 to 22 to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democrats' candidates in the November election. "It felt like the roof was being blown off the top of the convention center by the...
Two diplomats discuss a complex, changing world
BRATTLEBORO-With wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, plus a very uncertain presidential race in the United States, the Windham World Affairs Council's annual Galbraith Lecture featured a wide-ranging and candid discussion that touched on Afghanistan, Cuba, Ukraine, the Leahy Amendment as it applies to Hamas and Israel, and other hot foreign policy issues. "A Meeting of the Minds: Peter Galbraith and Tim Rieser Discuss What Lies Ahead - U.S. Foreign Policy Today and After the Election" featured two long-time insiders:
‘Music alone shall live’
NORTHAMPTON, MASS.-The Iron Horse in Northampton has reopened, but for me it is full of ghosts. In 1994, I got a job as the third-string music reporter for the Springfield Union-News (now The Republican) in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the time - when newspapers walked the earth like gods - it had a circulation of over 100,000 and covered the small city like a glove. It was the biggest job I'd ever had as a reporter up to then, and no...