All Entries in the "Latest News" Category
Chester board hears reaction to draft ‘Town Green Use Ordinance’ Sidewalk news and recap of busy festival weekends
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was looking like the Chester Select Board meeting last Wednesday would be contentious because a draft document for regulating the use of the Chester Green had been circulating in town. For more than a year, the Chester Green has been the venue for a number of […]
Right for Vermont holds session on Prop 3 in Chester on Oct. 20
The Right for Vermont Foundation will hold a free public information session in Chester to help voters understand Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Fullerton Inn, 40 the Common. The session will be open to the public […]
Andover Select Board agenda for Oct. 12
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Oct. 13 at Town Hall, 953 Weston-Andover Road. Below is the board’s agenda: 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of September 28th meeting. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: Five minutes per visitor, 10 minutes […]
Town Manager Hance baffled by missing portion of Chester Green draft ordinance
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Tuesday morning, Chester Town Manager Julie Hance told Select Board members in an email that she does not know why a portion of a draft ordinance on the use of the town Green that she had sent them last week was cut off mid-page. She then forwarded […]
Chester Select Board agenda for Oct. 7
The Chester Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 7 at Town Hall, 556 Elm St., and remotely via Zoom. Below is the board’s agenda: 1. Approval of Minutes of Sept. 16, 2026 Selectboard Meeting 2. Citizens Comments 3. Old Business 4. Update on Recent Festivals: Chester Festival Committee […]
Agenda for first meeting for Group 7 school merger study committee Group includes GMUSD, Springfield, Rockingham, Bellows Falls, Athens/Grafton and Westminster schools and RVTC
The first meeting of the Group 7 school merger study committee will take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday Oct. 13 at Bellows Falls Union High School, 406 High School Road, Westminster, Vt. and remotely via Zoom. Below is the committee’s agenda. 1. Facilitator Call to Order 2. Welcome and Introductions 3. Overview of Committee […]
LMH exits Green Mountain merger group; First Group 7 meeting Oct. 13 Zoom failed, notes from LMHUUSD meeting 'recycled'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Friday, the Vermont Learning Collaborative released the finalized groupings for merger study committees with only one district requesting to be moved. That district is Ludlow-Mount Holly, which has been allowed to switch from Group 7 (with Green Mountain, Springfield and Rockingham among others) to Group 3, […]
Candidates forums filling October calendar
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC We are now five weeks away from the midterm elections and, in the next few days, Vermonters will begin receiving their ballots in the mail from the Secretary of State’s Office. Across our area, organizations are sponsoring forums where members of the public can hear directly from candidates for the […]
Act 170 school merger groupings announced, meetings in weeks What is good faith?
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Thursday, Sept. 17, while discussing the Act 170 voluntary school merger process, TRSU Superintendent Layne Millington asked members of the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District what other group of school districts they would be interested in merging with outside of their Group 7 […]
GMUSD Board hears need for deep cuts to avoid penalties
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC After many months of wrangling over various aspects of policy governance — a method of assigning roles of the board and the administration — the Green Mountain Unified School District voted to consign it to the ash heap and move to another model. But that sense of […]
Andover Select Board agenda for Sept. 28
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Sept. 28 at Andover Town Hall, 953 Weston-Andover Road. Below is the board’s agenda. 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of September 14th meeting. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: Five minutes per visitor, 10 […]
Chester Hardware bankruptcy sale in the works Business could have new owners by year's end
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC If all goes to plan, according to bankruptcy trustee Raymond Obuchowski, the Chester Hardware store that declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed in July could be under new ownership by early December. On Friday, Obuchowski and trustee Paul Levine filed notice of a motion asking the U.S. […]
Vermont Land Use Review Board to host public info meetings on Act 250 habitat connectors
The Vermont Land Use Review Board will host four public information sessions across the state — in person and remotely — to introduce Vermonters to a new Act 250 review criterion that goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2028. Criterion 8(C) only applies to projects that already require an Act 250 permit and does not […]
Chester planners hear of alternative zoning for increasing housing
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Planning Commission is in the early days of updating the Town Plan with technical and writing assistance from the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission or MARC. But at Monday’s meeting, the most interesting moments came in a discussion of fast-tracking housing projects that could be applied […]
Black River Walk & Talk on flood awareness on Sunday
To kick off National Flood Awareness Week — Sunday, Sept. 20 through Saturday, Sept. 26 — the Cavendish Historical Society, Black River Action Team and the Dartmouth Rural Rivers Project are teaming up for a program on the history and health of the Black River and what is being to done to help mitigate flooding. […]
Chester Select Board agenda for Sept. 16
The Chester Select Board will hold two meetings on Wednesday Sept. 16. First they will meet in their capacity as the Water and Sewer Commission followed by a meeting as the select board. The meetings start at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 556 Elm St., and remotely via Zoom. Below are the boards’ agendas: Water […]
A Perspective on Growth: A boy forges path to adulthood with help from family, organizations
By Nicholas Boke Life now seems to be coming together for 18-year-old Ashton Briere, unlike just a few years ago when he could barely read or write, living in Claremont, N.H., with little adult supervision and almost never attending school. “I had behavioral problems,” Briere says today. “And I found it hard to go to […]
Andover Select Board agenda for Sept. 14
The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Sept. 14 at Andover Town Hall, 953 Weston-Andover Road. Below is the board’s agenda: 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of August 24th meeting. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: Five minutes per visitor, 10 […]
Chester board talks changes in finances, tax collection, budget voting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC With auditor Ron Smith attending the Wednesday, Sept. 2 meeting, the Chester Select Board again considered some big changes in the way the town handles its finances and tax collection and how the budget is approved. The board looked at a “fund balance policy,” and the idea […]
Facilitators chosen for Act 170 school merger talks to begin in October
By Shawn Cunningham © 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Learning Collaborative announced on Friday the names of the seven Act 170 facilitators who will guide school districts in evaluating the possibility of voluntary school mergers between now and Sept. 1, 2027. Any proposed mergers will be voted on by the communities involved in the […]