All Entries in the "Featured" Category

Flood Brook’s first-time softballers discover hidden talent for the game
By Christian Avard © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC What are the odds that a group of girls who never played softball before could learn the game on the fly and dominate their opponents? Pretty good if those girls play for Flood Brook School. There’s no rhyme or reason to explain the team’s success. They just […]

Weekly Covid Update: State within 8,000 of 80% vaccination rate, remains safest in nation
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Health officials announced on Friday that 78.6 percent of eligible Vermonters have been vaccinated with at least one dose, leaving just 7,878 more to go, as Vermont inches closer to the 80 percent vaccination rate threshold that will result in Gov. Phil Scott lifting all remaining Covid-19 health restrictions. To visit […]

State panel finds ‘reasonable grounds’ in Chester Police discrimination case
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Human Rights Commission has found “reasonable grounds” that a Chester police officer illegally discriminated against a Black man when it stopped him in May of 2019, a claim that the Town of Chester strongly denies. The commission investigates allegations of discrimination under state law to […]

Pandemic postponed annual meetings take place under sunny skies After 3-month delay, Weston, GM school district meet
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be winding down, a number of municipalities are catching up with meetings (under sunny skies) that could not be held in their traditional March time slots this past winter. By the time the country was shutting down in mid-March 2020, most […]

Weekly Covid Update: Scott lifts curfew on restaurants, looks to 80 percent goal next week
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Friday, Gov. Phil Scott announced he was lifting curfews on restaurants, bars and social clubs beginning Saturday, May 29, allowing those establishments to return to their normal business hours. Local municipalities are still allowed to place their own restrictions on businesses if desired. In what had been an optimistic […]

Move to oust GM vice chair Brown fails in a tie
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just before the end of last Thursday’s meeting in the ongoing crisis that is the Green Mountain Unified School District board of directors, member Michael Studin moved to unseat board vice chair Deb Brown for actions he called “unbecoming of someone in a position of leadership.” The […]

GM board member wants much less detail in meeting minutes, destruction of notes, recordings
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A member of the Green Mountain Unified School District Board of Directors wants that panel to streamline the minutes of its meetings, eliminating much of the detail of its discussions, and to destroy notes and recordings of those meetings after the minutes are approved. Some of those […]

Sign panel gives Chester wayfinding a go-ahead of sorts State will work with town to clear final hurtles
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its first meeting in more than a year and a half, Vermont’s Travel Information Council considered Chester’s long-waiting request to erect wayfinding signs as a downtown economic development move and gave the plan a partial but enthusiastic approval. The council is administered by the Agency of […]

Chester board names new Zoning Administrator Will tour sites proposed for community greenhouse
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC For the second time in six months, the Chester Select Board appointed a new zoning administrator for the town. The appointment took place at its meeting on Wednesday, May 19. The board took the unanimous recommendation of the Planning Commission and appointed Preston Bristow of Woodstock to […]

Weekly Covid Update: Scott to lift all Covid restrictions once 80% of Vermonters are vaxxed
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Friday, Gov. Phil Scott extended a challenge to Vermonters saying that once the state reaches an 80 percent vaccination rate for all eligible Vermonters, he will lift all restrictions put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on state projections, the goal could be reached as soon as early […]

Community Preschool kids cultivate good will with ‘kindness rocks’
The Chester Community Preschool recently received a $500 grant from the Kindness Rocks Project, giving children a chance to paint rocks and have them inscribed with upbeat and inspirational sayings. The project centers around social and emotional learning and also includes workbooks and posters about kindness. Under their teachers’ guidance, the pupils on Tuesday placed […]

Fierman to LMH board: Fall classes ‘most likely’ entirely in-person Some online courses will be available
By Jasmin Gomez ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the Ludlow Mount Holly Unified Union School District meeting on Wednesday, May 13, Two Rivers Supervisory Union Superintendent Lauren Fierman announced that “we are most likely to be entirely in person in the fall.” Fierman clarified that being in-person does not mean that some online courses cannot […]

Weekly Covid Update: Scott extends emergency order even as mask mandate nixed for fully vaxxed Vermonters
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Friday, Gov. Phil Scott extended Vermont’s state of emergency for another 30 days, even as he announced the leap to Step 3 in the Vermont Forward Plan; and eliminated the mask and social distance requirements for fully vaccinated Vermonters. As Vermont continues to lead the nation in vaccinations and […]

Cavendish schedules sewer repair with late summer paving
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Town of Cavendish is looking to resolve a longstanding sewer pipe problem on Main Street in Proctorsville this summer by piggybacking on the state’s work on Route 131 At Monday night’s Select Board meeting, Town Manager Brendan McNamara said that the 8-inch asbestos-cement sewer line between […]

2 TRSU schools to participate in state Covid testing program Senior prom to be held; TRSU joins SU consortium
Correction: In the story below The Telegraph reported that Green Mountain High School would hold a prom this year open to both juniors and seniors. This was a misunderstanding and in fact there will be a seniors only prom and the junior class will wait until next year to hold its prom. We regret any […]

Chester board OKs three events; wayfinding signs in limbo as state panel goes missing
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board was in an agreeable state of mind last Wednesday night, giving all three organizations that came before them the permissions and support they asked for including use of town property, police security and the nod to conduct a second coin drop on Route […]

New dentist in Chester puts the paws on anxious patients
By Jasmin Gomez ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Canine dentistry” has taken on new meaning for the patients of Dr. Christopher Fauver, a dentist for our human population who recently moved into new offices at 48 Main St. in Chester after years in practice in Springfield. Enter Winston, Fauver’s partner, a 2-year-old golden retriever and a […]

Chester Planning Commission takes a step toward consensus
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC While it may have been the most constructive meeting of the Chester Planning Commission since Feb. 17, the word “quagmire” best described the Monday night meeting right up to the final minutes when its members — less Barre Pinske who exited abruptly apparently upset at the direction […]

Chester board reaffirms paper of record decision, adds The Commons as well Members call Press Association's claims 'condescending,' 'bullying'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board reaffirmed its March 18 decision to name The Chester Telegraph the town’s paper of record last Wednesday, but also decided to add a printed paper – The Commons – for its required legal notices. The choice reflected the board’s displeasure with the way […]

After reorganization fracas, planning panel looks forward
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two weeks after a contentious reorganization meeting, which saw the chair elected by a coin flip and the nomination of a vice chair as “a joke,” the Chester Planning Commission was back together on Monday night but seeming more restrained in front of a guest – Jason […]