-The Windham County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) invites the public to a series of public meetings about the Windham County Sheriff's Regional Policing Initiative, its effort to improve access to rural law enforcement through shared services across municipalities.
According a WCSO news release, the initiative was launched in 2023 and is focused "on addressing the needs of the many Windham County towns that do not have their own municipal police departments."
By fostering collaboration and sharing resources among towns, the goal is to provide more consistent, reliable, and affordable policing to underserved areas, said Sheriff Mark Anderson, who is leading the initiative.
"I fundamentally believe people need access to emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How do we make it affordable? How do we govern it? How do we fund it?" he said. "Our current system is a 60% solution."...
BRATTLEBORO-Vendor applications are now being accepted for the 20th season of the Brattleboro Winter Farmers Market. The Brattleboro Winter Market is a five-month, weekly indoor market serving the greater Brattleboro region. Their mission is "to support sustainable agriculture by providing a viable winter-season direct market outlet for local community-based...
BRATTLEBORO-Join Director Bob Thies and Rock Voices Brattleboro, a community rock choir, for an evening of choral music at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 1. Rock Voices is backed by a full, professional rock band and features the harmonies of founder Tony...
-Invasive plants, new housing development, and climate change are boosting tick populations in Vermont, officials say, prompting new concerns about diseases the tiny arachnids carry. Although ticks have been present for a long time in Vermont, the population has grown substantially, said Patti Casey, environmental surveillance program director for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets. The blacklegged tick, or deer tick, is the type most frequently spotted in the state and responsible for 99% of the tick bite...
-It had been a great summer for the Brattleboro Little League 12U All-Stars. They swept through the district and state tournament without a loss, and everything was lined up for a happy ending. They had home field advantage, their top two pitchers were fully rested, and the team was quietly confident they could win a state championship. But it didn't work out that way for Brattleboro. Essex Town shut down the Brattleboro offense with great pitching and defense on the...
PUTNEY-The Bandwagon Summer Series continues its 2025 season with a celebration of Latin jazz as Mambo Jazz Party takes the stage on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 6 p.m., at Cooper Field, 41 Sand Hill Rd. Led by trumpeter Jonathan Powell, the Mambo Jazz Party ensemble fuses the rhythms of salsa and mambo with the textures of modern electric jazz. With a two-decade career performing alongside Latin jazz icons such as Eddie Palmieri and Arturo O'Farrill, Powell "brings a masterful blend...
WILLIAMSVILLE-The Rock River Players will hold open auditions for Midnight in Vermont, on Saturday, Aug. 2, from noon to 4 p.m., at Williamsville Hall, 35 Dover Rd. Midnight in Vermont, which will have its premiere with Rock River Players, is a traditional whodunit in the vein of Agatha Christie. It's the first full-length mystery play by Vermont playwright Michael Nethercott, who will also direct. Nethercott is the author of two suspense novels, and his stories have appeared in numerous periodicals...
ROCKINGHAM-To support conservation of two Stephen J. Belaski Revolutionary War-themed murals, the Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission has begun a fundraiser featuring a handmade lap quilt. "Burgoyne Surrounded" was pieced by Karen Engdahl and quilted by Linda Diak. They have donated it to support the Commission's efforts to restore two important murals. The quilt pattern was widely popular on both sides of the Hudson River Valley in the 1790s and early 1800s to commemorate the surrender of British General John Burgoyne...
PUTNEY-During August, Sandglass Theater will present The Legacy Series, an opportunity for their hometown audience to experience Sandglass Theater's currently touring original productions. Founded in 1982 and based in Putney, Sandglass Theater is an internationally recognized company specializing in combining puppetry with music, ensemble theater, and visual imagery. From Europe to Latin America, Sandglass productions have reached audiences around the world, but its work remains rooted in Putney and its accessible, 60-seat theater on Kimball Hill. Sandglass will present a...
BRATTLEBORO-p>Peter Siegel, founding member of The Gaslight Tinkers, hosts local, seasoned, and touring songwriter acts on the first Sunday of every month at the new Marigold on Main Street. On Sunday, Aug. 3, from 7 to 9 p.m., the event will be guest hosted by singer-songwriter, guitarist, and songleader Shawn Magee. Magee was known as a part of The Barbary Ghosts, a well-known sea chantey singing band from the West Coast. Here in Brattleboro, he has been a prolific songwriter,
MARLBORO-Marlboro Music's 2025 summer season enters its third concert weekend with performances by co-Artistic Director Jonathan Biss and 16 more resident artists on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 3, at 2:30 p.m. Concerts and open rehearsals continue through Sunday, August 17, in Persons Auditorium, 2472 South Rd. Each performing ensemble includes a combination of experienced and emerging musicians. The weekend opens with the Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114, with Biss, clarinetist Jonathan Leibovitz,
ROCKINGHAM-The Great Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce announces Rockingham Old Home Days, happening Saturday, Aug. 2, at 17 Depot St. in Bellows Falls. This community celebration will run from noon to 8:30 p.m., closing out the day with a fireworks show at 9 p.m. This year's event promises a full day of entertainment and activities for all ages. The music lineup kicks off at 1 p.m. with the Milkhouse Heaters, followed by Intercept at 2:30 p.m., and wrapping up with...
PUTNEY-The penultimate week of Yellow Barn's 56th Summer Music Festival kicks off 10 days of nightly events, starting with a triple header this Thursday through Saturday. The final run begins on Thursday, July 31, with works by Robert Schumann (including the Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47); Gunther Schuller's "Phantasmata" for violin and marimba, featuring Curtis Macomber on violin; and Mexican composer Hilda Paredes's "El Prestidigitador" ("The Conjurer") for winds and percussion. Friday, Aug. 1, brings the Shostakovich Violin...
JAMAICA-Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival (PFCM) is returning to celebrate the 2025 summer season with an admission-free concert series. Concerts run Tuesday, Aug. 5, through Saturday, Aug. 9. In the summer of 2012, Susanna Loewy founded a summer festival emphasizing music and visual art. In Jamaica, the foothills of the Green Mountains, Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival took root. Since then, PFCM has performed 67 concerts in southern Vermont, commissioned 14 World Premieres, and has shown 13 works of visual...
Parking Enforcement Office closed July 30–31, reopen in Municipal Center on Aug. 1 BRATTLEBORO - The Parking Enforcement Office will be temporarily relocating this summer from the Transportation Center to the Brattleboro Municipal Center to make way for renovations. The Parking Enforcement Office will be closed on Wednesday, July 30, and Thursday, July 31. During this time, the public will not be able to make transactions at the window. Online payment for parking fees will still be available at brattleboro.gov,
BRATTLEBORO-The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) presents the inaugural Vermont Circus Festival, set to transform the streets of Brattleboro into a celebration of circus arts from Nov. 2–9. They invite local businesses and organizations to join the planning. According to a news release, the Vermont Circus Festival "will be a regional event with an international draw framed around circus performances, workshops, seminars and pop-up activities in and around Brattleboro. By sharing the magic of this art form, NECCA...
WESTON-Join the Sundays On The Hill concert series and experience an afternoon of live music with the Equinox Wind Quintet. The one-hour concert will be held in the Old Parish Church, 144 Main St., on August 3, at 4 p.m. Equinox Wind Quintet members are flutist Laurel Ann Maurer, oboist Elise Conti, clarinetist Betsy LeBlanc, bassoonist Molly Finkel, and hornist Sel Yargici. The program will feature music by August Klughardt, Darius Milhaud's score for the 1939 film Calvalcade d'amour, Malcolm...
TOWNSHEND-The Friends of the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House will host a community event Friday, August 1, at 6 p.m., "celebrating one of Vermont's most historic and meaningful buildings," organizers wrote in a news release. The Town Hall building carries within it a "story of heartbreak turned into hope." Colonel Henry Forrest Dutton was a Ludlow-born Civil War veteran who nearly lost his arm in battle. He taught at Townshend's Leland & Gray Seminary before his military service, said...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) are jointly announcing the 2025 call for project submissions for inclusion in the Southern Vermont Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and Regional Priority Project (RPP) lists. The project intake portal is open for submissions, with an initial deadline of Friday, Sept. 5, for CEDS project consideration. As part of a streamlined process, all RPP projects must first be submitted through the CEDS portal. Every RPP submission will automatically...
BRATTLEBORO-Artist Emily Noelle Lambert, whose work is featured in the group exhibit "Making Space" at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), leads a workshop called "Collage Logic" on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 2 to 4 p.m., at Brattleboro's River Gallery School. A practicing artist and art educator, Lambert will encourage workshop participants to explore the intersection of collage with sculpture, drawing, and painting to develop a small series of mixed media works. Admission to the workshop is $45 ($30...
College news • The following local residents were named to the spring 2025 Dean's List at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts: Tori D. MacKay of South Newfane, Roxanne Burt of Marlboro, Lydia Hazzard-Leal of Brattleboro, and Freddie Learey of Brattleboro were all named to first honors, and Solan Homestead of Putney was named to second honors. • Grace Conety of Brattleboro, Sophia Hamm of Brattleboro, and Zadie Olmstead of Dummerston were named to the spring 2025 Dean's List at Simmons...
LONDONDERRY-The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released a new river corridor plan for the Upper West River. The DEC will hold an informational meeting on the plan Wednesday, Sept 3, at 6:30 p.m. at the Londonderry Town Office, 100 Old School St., South Londonderry. Prepared by Fitzgerald Environmental Associates LLC, the plan focuses on the West River and tributaries upstream of the Townshend dam. It provides an in-depth analysis of the river channel's stability and assesses the natural...
Gemma Seymour is a Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting member representing voters in District 8. She serves on the Planning Commission and the town's Capital Grants Review Board. BRATTLEBORO-As a person who has been car-free in Brattleboro for four years now, relying entirely on my feet and my bicycle for all my local transportation needs, as a member of Representative Town Meeting for District 8, and as a member of the Brattleboro Planning Commission, I have some thoughts on the future...
WESTMINSTER-"These are the times that try men's souls." Words written by Thomas Paine 249 years ago are arguably as relevant today as they were when first written. He spoke of reasons to birth a country whose promise was only a dream in 1776. Today, after thousands have died to defend that promise, our country, its flaws, setbacks, and trials notwithstanding, nevertheless was inching toward what Lincoln called "the last best hope of earth." Today, we find the soul of the...
BRATTLEBORO-I happily signed a petition for "One Person, One Voice." Every Brattleboro voter should be able to vote on important issues for the town - especially the town budget! If you would like to sign but have not yet had a chance, contact me at [email protected]. Jill Stahl Tyler Brattleboro This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons. This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion...
BRATTLEBORO-Town officials from Brattleboro and Hinsdale, New Hampshire remain at odds over the disposition of the two bridges over the Connecticut River that connect the two states with an island in the middle. Hinsdale officials resolutely support their demolition and the Brattleboro Selectboard has backed longstanding plans for community and recreational reuse ["Brattleboro wants to reopen talks and preserve two bridges," News, July 23]. Despite a July 25 meeting with leaders from both towns and from government agencies in Vermont...
ROCKINGHAM-After months of discussion starting this past January, the Rockingham Selectboard voted 4–1 at its July 22 meeting to ratify the final draft of a town flag policy without changes. The complete flag policy is available on the town of Rockingham website. It is based on an already established policy created by the city of Montpelier. The policy was discussed and modified at the Board's June 10 meeting, where it passed 4–0. At the July 22 meeting, after some discussion...
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board recently approved new deer hunting rules including one that will allow hunters to harvest does with rifles during the regular November season. The rules, passed on a 7-5 vote at the board's July 16 meeting, will take effect in 2026. Current rules still govern the hunting season this year. But next year, for the first time since the 1980s, hunters in Vermont will be able to hunt female and antlerless deer using rifles and...
BELLOWS FALLS-Rockingham for Progress (RFP), the citizens group that owns and is working to restore the Miss Bellows Falls Diner, reports that the project is proceeding slowly and now with a scaled-down renovation plans and a smaller budget. Andrew Dey of Walpole, New Hampshire, continues to serve as project manager, with Banwell Architects of Lebanon, New Hampshire, handling the design. Those attending a July 19 fundraising dinner got to discuss the project's progress and see the latest architectural plans. RFP,
Michelle Simpson is executive director of the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center. BRATTLEBORO-As wildfires rage, floods rise, and species vanish, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the unraveling of the world we once knew. But if you've ever stood quietly in a meadow, listened to the wind through the trees, followed the deliberate path of a turtle crossing your trail, or seen a hummingbird at your feeder, you know that despair is not the end of the story, regardless of what...
BRATTLEBORO-As I watched our Independence Day celebration this year I was struck by the contrast between our local accessible government and the ever-devolving and deeply divisive national situation. Hopefully, as with our neighbors to the north, these circumstances we will be bring us closer, as a community and as a state, to face challenges not seen in this country in any of our lifetimes. Everything we hold dear is at risk. For all the important concerns highlighted in our experiment...
BRATTLEBORO-I have driven down Canal Street in Brattleboro and had a bicycle come flying by on the right-hand side as I was about to turn onto Oak Street. I'm just supposed to see them when they come out of nowhere. Or I go past the town garage and someone doesn't stop and rolls into the intersection from Elm Street. I have to slam on my brakes so hard that everything starts sliding to the floor, because they decided to pull...
FLORENCE, MASS.-I just read with shock and awe, or just plain enthusiasm, a couple of essays/articles about the newly opened Route 119 bridge over the Connecticut River and discussions about the nascent remake of the older bridges into a bike and pedestrian pathway. I've been waiting for this discussion for over 20 years now. Folks, we are now going to zoom up in altitude so lets buckle your seatbelts. Did you know that there are five former highway or railroad...
-Vermont's landmark education bill, recently signed into law, queues up some big changes to the state's education system in the months and years to come. But one immediate impact is the bill's effect on private schools, called "independent schools" under Vermont law. Those changes, which went into effect on July 1 - the same day Gov. Phil Scott signed Act 73 into law - have left some independent schools and advocates uncertain and others reeling. Under the new law, private...
BRATTLEBORO-Peter Adair's essay is the best piece of writing I have seen in The Commons: tightly composed and packed with fascinating vignettes that leave me wanting more. I hope the author will consider sketching the 12-Step Program founders, early Quakers (1780) in Danby, and how the Great Awakening played out in Vermont. Cindy Holden Brattleboro This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons. This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the...
Kris Pavek, a 71-year-old retired midwife and photographer, has often stayed in Brattleboro in summer months, in the van she calls her home, since 2021. This post originally appeared on her Substack site. THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST-Cornelius Taylor, crushed to death as he slept in his tent in Atlanta. Run over by a bulldozer destroying a homeless camp. Our president, two days ago, issued Executive Order #5,000. It's a long read. In short, it orders states to purge homeless folks off...
AmÉe LaTour is a writer for nonprofits and lover of words and human beings. Recovery City is screening at film festivals and at events around the country. BRATTLEBORO-I'm grateful to Turning Point and Community Substance Use Response for hosting a recent screening of Recovery City, a documentary that features women rebuilding their lives and becoming forces for hope in Worcester, Massachusetts. As the film tells their stories, it shows that recovery is both possible and hard to start and to...