Issue #826
Supreme Court rewards lawlessness
Elayne Clift (elayne-clift.com) has written this column about women, politics, and social issues for almost 20 years.
Vermont wins its third straight Shrine game, 19-14
-It hadn't happened in nearly five decades, but Vermont defeated New Hampshire for the third straight year with a 19-14 victory in the 72nd Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl on Aug. 2 at Vermont State University Castleton's Dave Wolk Stadium. The all-time series record in this football game that annually...
Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam to perform with Michael Daves plus The Stockwell Brothers
BELLOWS FALLS-Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Tony Trischka's Earl Jam, featuring Michael Daves plus The Stockwell Brothers, as part of the 2025 Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series, Saturday, Aug. 9, at 6 p.m. at the Robertson Paper Company field in Bellows Falls. In addition to guitarist-vocalist...
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Around the Towns
Moore Free Library hosts puppet making workshop NEWFANE - On Friday, Aug. 8, from 11 a.m. to noon, Moore Free Library, 23 West St., presents "Color Our Whole World," a puppet-making workshop that follows Pezzettino (Little Piece) from Leo Lionni's book of the same name and his discovery that "being yourself is best." Children will create a PuppetKabob, a colored paper-chain puppet to celebrate all the colors in our world. Sarah Frechette is an artist, puppeteer and founder of PuppetKabob,
BMAC events celebrate 50 years of pioneering Brooklyn arts org
BRATTLEBORO-A new exhibition at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the pioneering Brooklyn-based arts organization Franklin Furnace, an early champion of artists' books. On Thursday, Aug. 7, at 5:30 p.m., Franklin Furnace Founding Director Martha Wilson will give a talk at BMAC, along with the exhibition's curator, Mark Waskow, president and founder of the Northern New England Museum of Contemporary Art. Wilson, a feminist performance artist and gallery director, founded Franklin Furnace in 1976...
Men’s chorus performs this weekend
The Northeast Men's Summer Chorus announces its sixth annual Performance Tour at local churches in West Brattleboro, Grafton, and Walpole, New Hampshire, Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 7–9. The chorus sings a variety of numbers in glee club style in the tradition of the Yankee Male Chorus which sang in southern Vermont and New Hampshire for 65 years. Selections are taken from musical theater, vintage pop, rock, country, spirituals, hymns, and patriotic genres. This year they'll be singing "God Bless America,"
Milestones
Obituaries • Francis R. "Frank" Adams Jr., 81, of West Townshend. Died July 27, 2025, at his home following an extended illness. A resident of West Townshend since 2012, Frank was born in Brattleboro on Dec. 2, 1943, the son of Francis R. and Ruth (Minor) Adams. Raised and educated in town, he attended local public schools including Brattleboro Union High School. He proudly served his country in the Marine Corps for four years during the Vietnam War and was...
Bard Owl plays at Evensong Sunday
GRAFTON-On Sunday, Aug. 10, at 5:30 p.m., Bard Owl - T. Breeze Verdant and Annie Landenberger - will be featured in the Grafton Community Church's (GCC) 2025 Evensong Music Series. In lieu of morning worship that Sunday, the church offers Evensong coordinated by GCC Music Minister Ken Olsson. Of the series, Olsson said in a news release "we wanted to offer to the community a concert series with a touch of worship." Pastor Bill Watson added, "In the longest season...
Brattleboro Savings & Loan warns of texting fraud targeting its local customers
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro Savings & Loan (BS&L) says a recent fraudulent text scam has targeted its customers as well as those of other local banks in the area. According to a BS&L news release, this fraud effort has focused on sending texts to potential bank customers. The text asks if a substantial charge on the account is valid, at which time they will ask customers to click on a link. Some links might take customers to a fake website that looks real.
Ukrainian-born pianist gives concert in Weston
WESTON-The Sundays On The Hill Concert Series welcomes Liana Paniyeva, who will perform a one-hour concert in the Old Parish Church (144 Main St.), on Sunday, August 10, at 4 p.m. Paniyeva has been hailed as a pianist with "tender regard for the music, a captivating inwardness" and "a sense of free spontaneity" by Fanfare magazine. She has been a prizewinner in numerous international competitions and has been featured in various broadcasts and recordings. In reviewing her recording, Huntley Dent...
Write Action hosts potluck in Ashuelot
Write Action members and the public are invited to attend the annual potluck picnic at the 32M Writers and Creatives Retreat in Ashuelot, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Aug. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Highlights of the day include networking, news about writers' work, an open reading, a sign-up for the 2025 Brattleboro Literary Festival, the announcement of Spotlight readers for 2025, and food and drink. 32M Retreat Center is an artist-run resource for poets, writers, and creatives that offers...
Perseids meteor shower with live musical accompaniment presented in Guilford
GUILFORD-On Tuesday, Aug. 12, the Mineral Springs Farm will host "Electric Perseids," an evening of meteor stargazing and live music at the Mineral Springs Farm, 49 Carpenter Hill Rd. In case of rain or clouds, they will try again on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The gathering starts at 8 p.m., with music beginning at 9. Guests are encouraged to bring snacks, blankets, flashlights, and chairs. Last year, more than 70 people enjoyed the celestial event and the music. The Perseids meteor...
Twilight on the Tavern Lawn presents StompBoxTrio on Aug. 10
PUTNEY-Twilight Music and Next Stage Arts Project continue the 22nd Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of bluegrass, Americana, world, swing, and pop music summer concerts on Sunday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. with StompBoxTrio. StompBoxTrio is a western Massachusetts–based group that "blends classic 20th-century American blues, rock, and soul music with 21st-century mojo to create a sonic, soulful, hip-shaking juggernaut all their own," according to their website. Featuring Evelyn Harris (vocals, percussion), John Cabán (dobro, vocals, stompbox),and Paul Kochanski...
Prouty Center begins its annual Prouty Pickles fundraiser
BRATTLEBORO-The Farm to School team at the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development is now selling pickles handmade by preschoolers, staff, and volunteers to raise money for their educational garden program. Farm to School runs a garden which doubles as an outdoor classroom for Winston Prouty's Early Learning Center. Children aged 6 weeks to 5 years participate in growing produce and flowers, explore new flavors, and build an early foundation for cooking healthy food. The hope is to...
Works by composer in residence at Marlboro Music
MARLBORO-At Marlboro Music, the artists themselves choose the music that audiences hear on the weekend concerts from among the many pieces that are being explored each week. Over the course of the summer season, audiences experience music from all eras: masterworks as well as newly composed music. For the first three-concert weekend of Marlboro Music's 2025 summer season, from Friday, Aug. 8, through Sunday, Aug. 10, three works by 2025 Composer-in-Residence Reena Esmail are highlighted alongside 11 varied pieces for...
Take meaningful solidarity and action for Palestine
Also signing this letter: Liem Berman, Antonia Dufort, Shana Frank, Colby Harris, Lucy Johnston, Fhar Miess, Grace Powers, hannah sorila. BRATTLEBORO-On the evening of Aug. 1, opponents of genocide and intentional starvation banged pots during Brattleboro's Gallery Walk. We did this to call attention to the deepening famine crisis in Gaza - part of Israel's U.S.-sponsored planned genocide in Gaza and its systemic apartheid in all of Palestine. We took this action in response to a call by Palestinian journalist...
Naulakha stable rehab at Rudyard Kipling property begins Aug. 6
DUMMERSTON-The Landmark Trust USA (LTUSA) is kicking off the rehabilitation of the former horse stable at author Rudyard Kipling's Naulakha, which will be adapted for use as an overnight vacation rental. The loft of the large stable will be converted into a studio bedroom unit with sleeping quarters, kitchen, and views of the building's cupola. The stable was constructed in 1896 for Kipling's horses, Nip and Tuck, and was initially restored along with the larger Naulakha estate by the nonprofit...
Creatively supporting a creative economy
In a post-lockdown economy with rising prices, wealth hoarding, and dissipated government support, how can performance spaces - especially in rural regions, far from big cities - get people in the door, keep those doors open, and make sure musicians are fairly compensated? In an effort to meet these goals, and match their practices to their values, some venues in and around Windham County, both old and new, are offering sliding-scale admission and sometimes even charging no cover at all.
Is Representative Town Meeting representative?
Spoon Agave has served in numerous positions in Brattleboro town government, including on the Selectboard. He is a Representative Town Meeting member from District 8. BRATTLEBORO-I have called Brattleboro home for the last 37 years, during most of which I have been quite civically and socially engaged. Until now I had never heard the claim that Representative Town Meeting was not representative. Has something changed? I've given this question a lot of thought and done some investigation. Resources include my...
The Federal Reserve must remain independent
Jim Freedman is a leadership consultant and author. In recent days, since this piece was written, President Donald Trump has publicly called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "a stubborn moron" for failing to lower interest rates. BRATTLEBORO-The Federal Reserve, often called "the Fed," is one of the most important institutions in the U.S. economy. The Fed, created by the Federal Reserve Act, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, manages the nation's monetary policy - particularly through setting...
An aging workforce in southern Vt. casts a shadow
BRATTLEBORO-The basic structure of any local economy is built upon a continual stream of new workers entering the work force to replace those who are winding down their careers. This is something that the Brattleboro job market, with its diverse and distinct business community and work force, is currently struggling with, according to several people who are working on the issue at the local and state levels and spoke with The Commons about their perceptions of the local economic landscape.
More Amtrak service ahead?
Prospects for a second Amtrak train calling in Brattleboro look slightly better than in past years in light of the upcoming state rail plan, published in draft form in June. The document lists, as a "recommended initiative," the northward extension of Amtrak's Valley Flyer train from its current northern terminus in Greenfield, Massachusetts, just south of the Vermont border, to either Brattleboro or White River Junction. The last state rail plan, which the Agency of Transportation (AOT) published in 2021,
Regional Quakers make a call for peace
The Northwest Quarterly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) is a coalition of 14 Quaker congregations in Vermont and New Hampshire. PUTNEY-As Quakers, we seek to abolish all wars and the causes of wars. We feel a deep and profound grief for the people of Palestine, who are being subjected to a daily and furious assault from bombing, and for the deaths and suffering of all Israeli and Palestinian civilians in this conflict. The Israeli government has directed the bombing of Palestinian...
Downhearted? Not Becca Balint.
BRATTLEBORO-As Congress devolves in front of our eyes and the federal government appears to be rapidly abandoning working Americans, Windham County's own U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D–Vermont, is fighting the good fight in Washington, D.C. She recently became the chair of a Progressive Caucus Ending Corporate Greed Task Force, and she has worked out her own estimate of the cost to Americans in general and to Vermonters specifically of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, recently passed by Republicans and...
A poet, a musician and, above all, a giver
Matt Dorsey serves on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He delivered this memoriam to his family friend Scott Garvey, who was shot and killed in his apartment in Putney on July 7, at the board's July 29 meeting. SAN FRANCISCO-I ask that we adjourn today's meeting in remembrance of Scott Garvey, a deeply compassionate, creative, and loving soul whose tragic recent death has left his family and many others reeling, including friends and loved ones here in San Francisco.
As educators, we stand with Winooski school supt.
This letter was submitted on behalf of Spark faculty. PUTNEY-We, the faculty of the Spark Teacher Training Institute, support and stand with the National Education Association, the Vermont-NEA, and the Winooski Education Association in condemning the unjust and abusive interrogation and detention of Winooski School District Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria on July 21 at the Houston airport. We oppose the criminalization of human beings based on their documentation status and the racist profiling that is intensified by these policies. The upsurge...