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Windsor Sen. McCormack won't seek re-election

Windsor Sen. McCormack won’t seek re-election He'll retire in January serving 31 years in state Senate

By Sarah Mearhoff ©2024 VT Digger After more than three decades representing Windsor County in the Vermont Senate, Dick McCormack plans to retire next January at the conclusion of his term. The veteran Democrat disclosed his decision to constituents on Town Meeting Day last week and explained his thinking to VTDigger in an interview Monday. […]

Chester hones STR ordinance changes as moratorium nears end

Chester hones STR ordinance changes as moratorium nears end

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a routine reorganization following Tuesday’s Town Meeting Day election, the Chester Select Board, with new member Tim Roper, got down to working on some proposed changes to its Short-Term Rental Ordinance. The board’s six month moratorium on new un-hosted rentals ends on April 1 and it […]

A Local Guide to the Solar Eclipse: Partial or total, prepare to be awed, if the clouds stay away

A Local Guide to the Solar Eclipse: Partial or total, prepare to be awed, if the clouds stay away

By Roderick Bates ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, April 8, a band of midday darkness about 100 miles wide will move in a northeasterly path across North America from Mexico to Newfoundland as the moon crosses in front of the sun. In Vermont, the southern edge of that path will cross through Middlebury and […]

Voters nix GMUSD budget; Other area results

Voters nix GMUSD budget; Other area results Wunderle, Leahy win school board seats; Roper wins, Knapp re-elected to Chester Select Board

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last year was a rocky one for the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District and to cap it off, on Tuesday, voters shot down the proposed $17.4 million budget by a vote of 699 to 620 in a turnout substantially higher than one year ago […]

Andover voters reject 'short-term rental' article; set Monday meeting next year

Andover voters reject ‘short-term rental’ article; set Monday meeting next year

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an otherwise routine Town Meeting in Andover on Monday night one thing stood out. On Tuesday, the town government asked its voters to weigh in by Australian ballot on whether it should add “short-term rental” to the list of conditional uses under its zoning bylaws. But […]

Cavendish voters narrowly approve cannabis sales, end 'from the floor' voting

Cavendish voters narrowly approve cannabis sales, end ‘from the floor’ voting

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Voters in Cavendish on Tuesday voted 182 to 168 to allow retail sale of cannabis in the town. But the hot topic at Monday’s informational meeting were articles that would permanently eliminate voting from the floor of the annual Town Meeting in favor of Australian balloting. The […]

Chester voters approve $3.975 million for budget; $39,811 for social programs

Chester voters approve $3.975 million for budget; $39,811 for social programs Ballot voting til 7 p.m. today; officers to be elected

By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 60 or so Chester voters attending Monday night’s Town Meeting in person  approved, with a few objections, to raising $3.975 million in taxes to fund the town budget, a budget that Town Manager Julie Hance said is “what it takes to maintain the services that we now […]

Grafton Fire Department celebrates 100 years of community support

Grafton Fire Department celebrates 100 years of community support

By Dave Ross ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Fire Department was formally established at the March 4, 1924 Town Meeting exactly 100 years ago today and almost to the day of this year’s Town Meeting. This came about due to action by the Grafton Improvement Association that had appointed a committee the previous September […]

Julian quarry neighbors call on Select Board for action

Julian quarry neighbors call on Select Board for action 'We want our neighborhood back'

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing The agenda for last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board was short and did not suggest the outpouring of emotion — from frustration to anger — that would come during public comment as neighbors of three quarries in Gassetts pushed the board to act more decisively on the complaints they […]

Chester voters hear from candidates in contested races

Chester voters hear from candidates in contested races

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC About 35 Chester voters turned out on Friday night to hear candidates running for contested seats on the Select Board, school district board and Trustees of Public funds address issues and why they want to serve. Moderator Bill Dakin introduced the candidates and asked each group some […]

Meet three candidates for Chester Select Board

Meet three candidates for Chester Select Board

© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Telegraph sent a series of questions to the three candidates who are vying for two one-year terms on the Chester Select Board. Those two seats are currently held by Heather Chase and Peter Hudkins. Chase, who also serves as a state representative, is not seeking reelection and Hudkins […]

Meet the three candidates for the GMUSD board

Meet the three candidates for the GMUSD board

©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Telegraph sent a series of questions to the three candidates who are vying for two three-year terms on the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District, which oversees Cavendish Town and Chester-Andover elementary schools and Green Mountain Union High. One of those two Chester seats is currently held […]

Chester Republican Committee launches inaugural candidates' event

Chester Republican Committee launches inaugural candidates’ event

©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After years of dormancy, the newly revived Chester Republican Committee held its first event on Sunday, drawing an audience of about 35 residents to hear from several “conservative-leaning” candidates running for Chester Select Board and the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District. The event was held at the Chester […]

Partisan candidates forum sparks concern in Chester

Partisan candidates forum sparks concern in Chester New local GOP committee is hoping to grow dormant party

By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Chester candidates forum that has excluded half the candidates running for contested seats on the Chester Select Board and the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District is drawing concern that it could be injecting partisan politics into local elections that have not seen them in […]

Julians appeal Chester's notice of violation

Julians appeal Chester’s notice of violation

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Friday brought the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the Julian quarries in Gassetts as Julian attorney Mark Hall submitted an appeal to the Town of Chester’s notice of violation in which he said the entire operation would be shut down for 2 to 3 weeks […]

Despite objection, Chester board refuses to remove road from list

Despite objection, Chester board refuses to remove road from list Community coalition hopes to build 'safe space' for youth in Chester

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Signing the annual certification of road mileage is usually a low-key, pro forma task in a select board’s first February agenda, but last Wednesday night a land owner who objects to the classification of an old road became increasingly agitated, raising his voice and insisting the board […]

TRSU board picks OSSD Super Millington as new superintendent

TRSU board picks OSSD Super Millington as new superintendent

By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC After interviewing two candidates and after nearly 90 minutes of deliberation, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union Board voted 4-2 on Thursday night to offer the job of superintendent to Layne Millington, who currently is superintendent with the Orange Southwest Supervisory District, based in the town of Randolph. He […]

Julians are back with a new gambit and engineer

Julians are back with a new gambit and engineer

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Seven days after Chester Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow sent a Notice of Violation to the Julian companies,which operates quarries in Gassetts, he received an answer. The notice had given the Julians the choice of correcting five violations or appealing the notice to Chester’s DRB. The Julians chose […]

GMUSD settles White family harassment lawsuit for $300,000

GMUSD settles White family harassment lawsuit for $300,000

By Ethan Weinstein ©2024 VT Digger A lawsuit alleging that Green Mountain Unified School District and some of its administrators failed to protect five sisters from harassment after one of them was raped has been settled for $300,000, according to the sisters’ lawyer. In 2017, Skylar White, a senior at the time, reported that a […]

Local drone club scores in Vermont's first aerial competition

Local drone club scores in Vermont’s first aerial competition

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Riverside Middle School’s Dressel Gym was buzzing on Saturday with the sounds of competition as teams from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts competed in Vermont’s first Aerial Drone Competition. The competition is sponsored by The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation. Fifteen teams – including four from the […]