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.
GMUSD meeting to discuss PCB remediation at High School with public
The Green Mountain Unified School District will hold a public meeting to present information on planned construction activities related the remediation of PCBs at the High School building and to provide an opportunity for public questions. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday June 2 at the High School, 716 Route 103 […]
Sage Jewelry takes root in new Chester location
By Cynthia Prairie ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Michele Colby has finally found the storefront she has longed for. During the 16 intervening years, her children have grown and so has her business, Sage Jewelry and Gifts, now one of the two oldest retail businesses on the Chester Green. Just this past April, Colby finally moved […]
Signs of the times: Chester Green hosts third No Kings rally
Elvis did not leave the Green during the two-hour protest. All photos by Shawn Cunningham unless otherwise noted. By Cynthia Prairie ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC While some of the signs carried angry messages, most of those carrying them did not. Instead, they offered up smiles and humor as they spoke of serious subjects that drew […]
From the editor: Handcuffing a free press
“I appreciate the effort that goes into the journalism. The part that I object to is the attitude that comes across, there’s some political bias that shows up and is also painting Chester, not necessarily in the right light. … “But my question is, as paper of record, we’re paying you a bunch of money […]
Chester’s Chase announces run for Democratic nomination for state Senate’s Windsor District Jonathan Gleason of Ludlow seeks Republican nomination
Heather Chase, a business owner who has served on the Chester Select Board and in the Vermont House of Representatives, announces her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the Vermont Senate from the Windsor District on Saturday, March 14, 2026. Despite the cold temperatures and blowing slow, more than 40 people turned out on […]
Election results for Andover and Weston
©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC At Andover’s Monday night Town Meeting, voters elected incumbent Melissa Gates Perry to another three-year term and incumbents Susan Leader and Chris Walker to one-year terms on the five member board. Voters also gave Jeanette Hazeltine another municipal hat-trick electing her as Town Clerk, Treasurer and Collector of Delinquent Taxes. Bill […]
Chester votes down 1% Local Option Tax; Frank Kelley steps up as Town Moderator
By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC The proposed 1 percent Local Option Tax on meals, rooms and consumed alcoholic beverages that would have brought an estimated $60,000 annually into the Chester Housing Commission’s Housing Reserve Fund went down in defeat on Monday night by a vote of 59 to 76. In […]
Political notes: Weekend with Bernie and the Chester GOP; now go vote
By Cynthia Prairie ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a busy Saturday in Chester, coming off two political scandals — one a whisper campaign and one ignited by two MAGA trolls. The whisper campaign was apparently snuffed out when the main target — Select Board member Arne Jonynas — wrote a letter to the editor […]
Bailey drops out of school board race amid ‘worry for my wife’s safety’
By Cynthia Prairie © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Jesse Bailey has decided to drop out of the race for the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District. His decision comes after two days of facing outrage, criticism, but also support, when a right-wing troll from Brattleboro found, repackaged and distributed a video of he […]
Small Chester group gathers in vigil for 2nd Minnesota killing Alex Pretti, 37, was shot by Border Patrol, echoing Renee Good's death
By Cynthia Prairie ©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC He lived and died 1,300 miles to the west, in a climate familiar to all, in cold and snowy Minneapolis, Minn. No one at Monday night’s vigil on Chester’s Green knew him. But the 17 people who showed up in 19-degree weather during a late afternoon snow squall […]
Chester icons under the aurora borealis
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester resident Bruce Johnson sent over a few photos he shot during Tuesday night’s aurora borealis, a spectacular atmospheric display that Vermonters — and much of the northern hemisphere — were graced with on Tuesday night. Johnson used his cellphone to take the shots around 8:30 p.m. They show the aurora […]
Family Center Food Shelf fills the gaps amid an uneasy economy, SNAP cuts, federal shutdown
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a recent afternoon in late October, the buzz in the grocery store grew louder as more shoppers arrived. The aisles soon were packed with people — an easy occurrence in the small store. It was becoming a more typical day at the Food Shelf at the Chester-Andover […]
Londonderry residents continue debate over future of Williams Dam
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC For years, Londonderry residents have been arguing over the dam at the West River at Route 11, which for some is a much needed fire pond as well bucolic spot. The state, town government and other residents, however, see it as a festering problem that is best addressed […]
The Ultimate Guide to the 2025 Chester Festival!
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC Welcome to the 51st Chester Festival on Green, a weekend filled with friendly faces, fine crafts, wonderful arts, great food and superb music and entertainment for the whole family. Editor’s Note: Please return often to check for updates to music, events and vendors. The Festival this year will be held […]
Woman in Londonderry incident who died in Bennington ID’d Medical Examiner: Fatal injuries caused by blunt force trauma, not gunshot
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington has determined that a woman who was injured in Londonderry and driven 50 minutes away to a Bennington hospital on Friday afternoon died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck, and not from a gunshot wound as was earlier […]
Chester featured in presentation on creating resilient public spaces beautifully Public invited to Aug. 21 event at Town Hall
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC A stone table down a stone path on a dead end street, its backdrop a swinging bridge. A gracefully curling bench surrounded by flowering perennials. A town-owned flood area, with trees planted along the embankment. A flat expanse of land once dotted with homes is now a riverside […]
Newly appointed state school redistricting panel weak in Southern Vermont representation
By Cynthia Prairie ©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC This week, members of the Vermont House and Senate named appointees to the new School District Redistricting Task Force. But only one of these 10 appointees represents the southern part of the state below Route 4. That one member is Wendy Harrison, a state senator who represents Windham […]
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 […]