Author Archive for Cynthia Prairie
Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor more than 40 years. Cynthia has worked at such publications as the Raleigh Times, the Baltimore News American, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Patuxent Publishing chain of community newspapers in Maryland, and has won numerous state awards for her reporting. As an editor, she has overseen her staffs to win many awards for indepth coverage. She and her family moved to Chester, Vermont in 2004.
North Star to add a pharmacy to Londonderry location Growth targeted to Springfield, Charlestown centers as well
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC North Star Health is moving forward with plans to open three new community pharmacies at its health centers in Londonderry and Springfield, Vt., and at Charlestown, N.H., it announced on Tuesday. According to a press release, construction of the three pharmacies will begin this summer, with all expected to have their […]
No Kings rally in Chester attracts large, peaceful crowd to protest Trump policies
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was just another damp and cloudy spring Saturday, except for the folks that began gathering on the Chester Green short before 10 a.m. to set up tents and a sound system preparing for the 10:30 national No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance rally organized locally by the […]
CAES educators join statewide Friday morning protest of Vermont education reform bill
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The educators are concerned. They say that the proposed state law H 454 to remake Vermont’s public education system, which is to be voted on on Monday in the Vermont Senate, has been rushed and filled with too many holes. It seeks to reform the governance, the finance […]
Generational wealth: A family matriarch’s legacy of women
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC When people talk about generational wealth, they usually mean inheritances, either in land, jewelry, stocks, money etc. In the case of Edith Hussey, 96, of Windham, her generational wealth is in the children she has had and the offspring they have produced. This very special photo, sent to […]
GM school board to hold special meeting to revisit board appointment, complaint
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Board of Directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District will hold a special meeting next Wednesday in part to cure violations of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law regarding executive sessions that occurred at its May 15 meeting and – in effect – to rescind its request that […]
Editorial: Two boards too weak to make the right decisions
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Over the past two weeks, both the Chester Select Board and the board of directors of the Green Mountain Unified School District could not have come across as weaker, more spineless. Under the mistaken guise of avoiding a political morass, they each punted their responsibilities: in the case […]
Vietnam veterans honored at pinning ceremony Neighborhood Connections photo gallery highlights honorees
By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie © 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Neighborhood Connections in Londonderry hosted a Vietnam War Commemoration last Tuesday. The ceremony was one of the last to mark the 5oth anniversary of the war that ended in 1975. Such commemorations began in 2008. Tuesday’s commemoration included a pinning ceremony in which veterans […]
On eve of Trump tariffs, Chester voters affirm friendship with Canada
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the end of Monday night’s Town Meeting in Chester — and the evening before the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariffs were to take effect against Canadian and Mexican imports — Chester resident Shawn Cunningham* rose to offer a resolution. With mic in hand, he read aloud from […]
Local social services programs hold on, worrying about possible Trump administration cuts
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Area social service organizations – those nonprofits that support folks who face food insecurity, send their kids to a Head Start program or can’t afford home heating – are hunkering down for what they see as a bumpy ride as the Trump administration takes a chainsaw to federal […]
TRSU began preparing for Trump budget cuts, funds freezes late last year
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles detailing the impact of the Trump administration’s actions on our communities. Because of fast moving directives from Washington, expect situations to be fluid. If you would like to share your story, please email cprairie@chestertelegraph.org. By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC How will the […]
Office seekers for Andover, Cavendish, Chester and Grafton
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday afternoon, Jan. 27, was the deadline to file petitions for those seeking town offices that will be on Australian ballots on Tuesday, March 4. Below you’ll find declared candidates for Chester, Cavendish and Grafton, which will all vote by Australian ballot. You’ll also find the lineup for offices in Andover, […]
Editorial: Dems kick up some dust over a MAGA event
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Words matter and so do the reactions to those words. And because of both of those, we have a bit of a dust-up over what exactly is happening at the beloved and historic Fullerton Inn in Chester. Has it gone “full MAGA” as one local Democrat is suggesting? […]
Flurry of customers brings success to Chester’s first ‘Starry, Starry Night’ event
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a frigid Saturday evening — one that made holding a camera near impossible. But it was brightened by lights adorning trees, the gazebo and many of the shops on the Green in Chester. And that bone-freezing cold quickly dissipated from the warm and welcoming atmosphere inside the shops, which […]
A busy holiday weekend? There’s still more … Train rides, Solstice Celebration, 'Starry, Starry Night' and Seraphic Fire
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC This past Saturday, Dec. 14, was one of the busiest on the local Christmas calendar, filled with events for young and not-so-young alike. Here are a few things that happened: Both the Chester and Grafton fire departments continued their Christmas tree sales fund-raisers. Chester’s benefits its fire department while Grafton uses […]
Burn ban again extended as dry weather persists
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The ban on debris burning extended through today, Monday, Nov. 18 for Windsor, Windham, Rutland and Bennington counties has been extended for an additional week, until 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25. Towns from Windham east to the Connecticut River are ranked “Very High” for fire danger, according to […]
Analysis: Southern Windsor and the emerging Republican Party
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC While there was never any doubt that incumbent Democratic Sens. Alison Clarkson and Becca White and anointed Democratic candidate Joe Major would win election for the three seats for the Windsor District, the nascent Chester Republican Committee has made a formidable premier foray into politics while the Ludlow […]
Many voters favor mail-in ballots, early voting amid brisk turnout at the polls
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Turnout was brisk on this warm and breezy Election Day, in which Americans were choosing a new president and Vermonters were deciding on their gubernatorial and State House seats. Mail-in ballots at times rivaled or surpassed in-person voting in many of our south-central Vermont towns. […]
From the editor: 10 thoughts on elections and voting
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Most of you may have already voted by mail or in early voting, but I wait til Election Day. Going to the polls is an experience I have cherished since I turned 18. In all the years since, in all the cities I have lived in and for […]
A Q&A with Charlton and Chase, candidates for Vermont House for Windsor-Windham District
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Heather Chase, the Democratic incumbent, and Thomas Charlton, a Republican newcomer to politics, are running against each other for a two-year term in the Vermont House of Representatives representing the cross-county Windsor-Windham District consisting of the towns of Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham. Voting will take place on 9 a.m. to […]
Weston’s Wilder Library gets $650,000 grant for addition, upgrades to entire site
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Wilder Memorial Library in Weston has received a federal grant of $650,000 to support renovations to the 200-year-old brick structure and add 1,300 square feet of space in a new addition. The monies were awarded by the Vermont Department of Libraries, which was responsible for awarding $16.4 […]
