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A distress signal for the United States

‘This isn’t about right and left. It’s about right and wrong.’

May Day march in Brattleboro draws more than 550 people

BRATTLEBORO-On May 1, hundreds of people took to the streets of downtown Brattleboro to protect democracy and denounce the Trump administration's effort to roll back workers' rights, cut education funding, carry out mass deportations, and much more.

"Show up and make your voices heard," said Calvin Dame of Brattleboro Area Action, one of the organizers of a May Day march along with Brattleboro Indivisible and 50501 Vermont. "This isn't about right and left. It's about right and wrong."...

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Brattleboro Selectboard under gun to craft a revised budget by May 1

Tension in air during marathon meetings as board weighs options amid strong and diverse public opinion; RTM revote set for May 27

BRATTLEBORO-It's been a month of lengthy, intense Selectboard meetings since Representative Town Meeting (RTM) rejected the proposed fiscal year 2026 operating budget on March 22. The strain has showed. RTM voters rejected a municipal budget that would represent a 12% increase in town taxes, or an overall 6.2% increase...

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Local food program looks for security in state money amid funding worries

Farmers say it helps secure their bottom line, and officials in and outside the Legislature say it’s vital to curbing hunger

MONTPELIER-Funding may be at risk for a nonprofit program that buys local food and gives it to Vermonters struggling with money - so its leaders are backing a bill that would solidify its budget through a state agency, rather than grants and donations. Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, created and run...

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Original budget underestimated contracted costs by $427,000

BRATTLEBORO-When Representative Town Meeting members rejected a $25 million municipal budget for the coming fiscal year, they returned it to local leaders for revision in hopes of lowering a 12% projected tax increase. No one anticipated costs might instead climb higher. Officials have discovered their original spending plan underestimated contracted expenses like payroll taxes, retirement contributions, and overtime. With the addition of the omissions and other accounting adjustments, the base budget's corrected total is $426,732 more than initially calculated, according...

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May Day rally in downtown Brattleboro

BRATTLEBORO-For many years, Brattleboro has celebrated May 1 - International Workers Day, in much of the world - with a rally on the Town Common. This year, organizers said that the annual May Day event will be part of a nationwide protest against they call the "increasingly destructive actions by the current Washington, D.C. administration." It will begin with a rally on the lawn of Centre Congregational Church at 5 p.m., followed by a march through downtown that will end...

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‘Two hundred and fifty years ago today, we said no to kings. And we’re still saying no to kings.’

BELLOWS FALLS-On this Saturday, the 250th anniversary of two early Massachusetts battles that irrevocably advanced the Revolutionary War, approximately 500 people gathered in downtown Bellows Falls, where for two hours they sang, chanted, and carried signs along both sides of Westminster Street from Henry Street down into the Square. "This is what democracy looks like," local poet Erica Bowman said when she spoke to the crowd on April 19. People came and went during the two-hour event, but an unofficial...

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‘You’ll find you learn things about people that you’ve known for years’

BRATTLEBORO-Greg Lesch. the executive director of the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce, died Feb. 19, after a battle with cancer. In this interview, which aired on Brattleboro Community Television on Dec. 2, 2024, less than three months before he died, Greg and I discussed his life and work and the changes that have taken place over more than a half century since he and his family moved to town in 1974 when he was 11 years old. Prior to his...

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State senator says fixes can help backlogs in judicial system

Many people in Windham County look on in frustration as they watch the police arrest people suspected of breaking into cars, selling drugs, or stealing from stores - and then, in what seems like a minute, seeing them back on the streets. There's even a sarcastic term for the process: "catch and release," a phrase that once was used only for fish. "Backlog" is the usual one-word explanation for this problem. It means the cases accumulate faster than they can...

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