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Cavendish board talks road projects, speed limits and transfer station improvements

By Lorien Strange © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC At Monday’s meeting of the Cavendish Select Board outgoing member George Timko thanked the board and said he hoped more people in Cavendish would get involved with local government. Timko has spent more than 20 years on the board and former board member Sandra Russo is running […]

Chester board denies driveway appeal, gets presentation on sidewalk study

By Shawn Cunningham ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC By a 3-1 vote last Wednesday, the Chester Select Board voted to deny an appeal by the owner of a Main Street property for a curb cut to install a new driveway. But while the vote sounds resolute, some board members spoke of how conflicted they were over […]

New GM High mascot to be chosen this week

  By Lorien Strange ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Green Mountain Union High School students will be selecting a new mascot this week, more than a year since a contentious series of school board meetings ended with the demise of the original controversial mascot, the Chieftain. The original, 50-year-old mascot was considered racist and outdated and […]

Scott’s ed plan gets pushback at Future of Ed Commission meeting

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Zoie Saunders has had some bumpy days since moving to Vermont from Florida to take over the state’s Agency of Education. And Monday will go down as yet another one. During meetings of the State Board of Education and the Commission on the Future of Public Education […]

News Analysis: What’s the future for the commission on the Future of Public Education?

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday, the Scott administration unveiled its plan – at least a rough sketch of a plan – for fixing all the problems of Vermont’s education system with a 45 minute slideshow by Agency of Education Secretary Zoie Saunders. And, depending on who you’re listening to, it […]

Chester board to re-approve budget after spreadsheet glitch

By Shawn Cunningham © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A programming glitch in Chester government Excel spreadsheets detailing the proposed 2025-26 operating budget is forcing the Select Board to revote that proposed budget this morning. The new budget will be slightly higher — about $50,000 — than the one that the board earlier approved to send […]

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  • To the editor: A teacher's view: Vermont legislature needs to ban cellphones from schools

    To the editor: A teacher’s view: Vermont legislature needs to ban cellphones from schools

    I am a science teacher at Green Mountain UHS in Chester. I urge you to support the Phone- and Social Media-Free Schools bill in the legislature (H.54 and S.21). When I first heard of such a bill, I thought it was over the top. But, I read the testimony from last session, reflected on my […]

  • To the editor: Cavendish Streetscapes' flower boxes vandalized

    To the editor: Cavendish Streetscapes’ flower boxes vandalized

    What is wrong with this picture to the right? There is only one flower box instead of three along the Depot Street bridge in Proctorsville. The missing boxes were smashed and tossed into the frozen river and looking over the railing, you can see the evidence of this crime. With generous support from the community, […]

  • Layne Millington speaking at a 'meet the candidates' event last week

    Op-ed: The education fund, taxes and tax rates

    By Layne Millington Superintendent, Two Rivers Supervisory Union As we look at the coming school year, it is crucial to understand the impact of last year’s legislated changes to education funding that lead to budget failures across the state. This was the first time that most Vermonters experienced such an unprecedented increase in taxes, and […]

  • Op-ed: Who funds local candidates?

    Op-ed: Who funds local candidates?

    By Madeline Bodin The candidates we elected to the state legislature are getting down to business in Montpelier, but it’s not too soon to learn from the last election. While the next two-year state election cycle has already officially begun, we can expect campaign signs to pop up on lawns again in about 18 months. […]

  • New work by local playwright to be read at Chester UU Church on Saturday

    New work by local playwright to be read at Chester UU Church on Saturday

    Springfield Community Players presents a staged reading of a new play based on the works of Agatha Christie at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the First Universalist Parish, 211 North St. in Chester’s Stone Village. The dramatic thriller features the enigmatic Mr. Quin, a little-known recurring character of Christie who helps to solve […]

  • To the editor: Rep. Morrow: Trump tariffs to impact local home-building, food costs

    To the editor: Rep. Morrow: Trump tariffs to impact local home-building, food costs

    This week, Gov. Phil Scott presented his budget proposal for the next fiscal year and we heard more details on his education system overhaul plan. In addition, there was much discussion around the impacts of President Trump’s policies on Vermonters – both the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and his freezing (and possibly eliminating) […]

  • McKibben to speak on climate crisis Sat. Feb. 8

    McKibben to speak on climate crisis Sat. Feb. 8

    Nationally known climate activist and Vermont environmentalist Bill McKibben will speak on climate change and how we can play a part in minimizing the damage of a warming planet in his presentation Back to the Wall, Face to the Sun. The talk, hosted by the Londonderry Conservation Commission, will be held at 4 p.m. on […]

  • Meals & Wheels needs drivers, donations

    Meals & Wheels needs drivers, donations

    If you can spare two hours a week on a Monday,  Wednesday or a Friday, Meals and Wheels of Greater Springfield can use your help. Meals and Wheels of Greater Springfield, in partnership with Senior Solutions, needs drivers to deliver nutritional meals to the homes of eligible seniors and disabled adults in Springfield and the […]

  • College News

    College News

    Madison Wilson of Chester has graduated from Vermont State University as a member of the university’s December 2024 graduating class. The following local students earned Vermont State University President’s List recognition for the fall 2024 semester. To qualify for this highest academic honor, students must maintain full-time status and a semester grade point average of […]

  • League of Women Voters offering three $2,000 scholarships

    League of Women Voters offering three $2,000 scholarships

    The Vermont Education Fund of the League of Women Voters is now accepting applications for its Winona Smith Scholarship program. Created in 1998 to honor the legacy of League leader Winona Smith, the scholarship is awarded annually to Vermont high school seniors who embody the characteristics and qualities Smith displayed of civic participation and community […]

  • Kids Valentine art program at S. Derry Library Feb. 8

    Kids Valentine art program at S. Derry Library Feb. 8

    The South Londonderry Free Library, 15 Old School Road, invites children of all ages to a special Valentine art program with Casey Junker Bailey at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8. Hand-dyed and decorated papers, ribbons and lace will be used to create beautiful gallery style valentines. Each family will also receive a copy of […]

  • Vermont Academy names new Head of School

    Vermont Academy names new Head of School

    The Vermont Academy Board of Trustees announces the appointment of Michael Peller as the school’s next Head of School, effective July 1. Peller brings a wealth of experience, a deep understanding of independent education and an entrepreneurial spirit to the Saxtons River private school. He will replace  Dr. Jennifer L. Zaccara, who announced last August […]

  • Talk on Cavendish abolitionist Peter Tumbo Feb. 5

    Talk on Cavendish abolitionist Peter Tumbo Feb. 5

      In honor of Black History Month, Cavendish Historical Society will present a talk at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at the Cavendish Fletcher Community Library, 573 Main St. in Proctorsville. Several newspapers, including Vermont Watchman and State Gazette and The Liberator, reported that Peter Tumbo, a “colored man,” died at age 106 in […]

  • Komen 'Snowshoe for Hope' Feb. 9 in Grafton

    Komen ‘Snowshoe for Hope’ Feb. 9 in Grafton

    Andie Fusco of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty in Bondville has created the Snowshoe for Hope Vermont fundraiser to benefit the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity. It will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9 at the Grafton Trails & Outdoor Center, 783 Townshend Road in Grafton. Interested snowshoers can sign up as […]

  • Leona Hazen, 93, of Chester

    Leona Hazen, 93, of Chester

    It is with great sadness, the family of Leona Mary (Grignon) Hazen, announces her peaceful passing on Jan. 19, 2025 at the age of 93, at the Gill Home in Ludlow. She was born Feb. 6, 1931 in North Walpole, N.H., the daughter of Atwell Joseph and Catherine Mary (Reardon) Grignon. She grew up in […]

  • 36-year-old Windsor man gets prison for unlawful firearms possession in Chester

    36-year-old Windsor man gets prison for unlawful firearms possession in Chester

    Ryan Buckley, 36, of Windsor, was sentenced on Tuesday, Jan. 21 in U.S. District Court to 46 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release in relation to his arrest in Chester by Chester Police in June 2023. Buckley, formerly from New Hampshire, had pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm after previously […]

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