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Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music Presents Geneviève Racette with Hilary & G at Next Stage – May 30

by hahrenholz | Music

Putney, VT – Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music continue their 2025 concert season with a double bill of heartfelt folk-pop and boundary-pushing acoustic traditions on Friday, May 30 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney. The evening features acclaimed Québec singer-songwriter Geneviève Racette, joined by genre-blending folk duo Hilary & G. Tickets are $22 in advance, $25 at the door, or $10 for a livestream, available at nextstagearts.org.

Geneviève Racette has been turning heads across Canada and beyond with her emotive songwriting and ethereal voice. Since her 2014 debut, she’s built a bilingual following in both French- and English-speaking communities, earning acclaim from Rolling Stone, CBC, Exclaim!, and the Americana Music Association. Her 2022 album Satellite—highlighted by a duet with City and Colour’s Dallas Green—explores love, reflection, and resilience with rare emotional depth. Racette’s music has earned her a Canadian Folk Music Award, performances at top festivals, and radio play across North America.

Bandwagon Summer Series Kicks Off with High-Energy Global Grooves from Shokazoba and Zikina – May 24 at Putney Inn Field

by hahrenholz | Music

PUTNEY, VT — The Bandwagon Summer Series returns with a powerful opening night on Saturday, May 24 at 6:00pm at the scenic Putney Inn Field (57 Putney Landing Road), featuring two powerhouse bands that promise to get audiences dancing, connecting, and celebrating: Shokazoba and Zikina.

Presented by Next Stage Arts, the Bandwagon Series brings music and community together all summer long at outdoor venues across southern Vermont. This year’s season launches with a global, groove-rich evening that blends afrobeat, funk, East African rhythms, and soul-lifting dance music.

NXT Gallery Presents “Art Array”: Paintings by Vermont Artist Ricky McEachern

by hahrenholz | Arts

The NXT Gallery at Next Stage Arts welcomes a new exhibition, Art Array, featuring the evocative work of Vermont-based artist Ricky McEachern. The show opens with a public reception on Thursday, May 29, from 6 to 8pm, and will remain on view through August 11.

A recent transplant from Boston, McEachern is no stranger to the visual richness of New England. His oil paintings, many based on his own photographs, reflect a deep connection to the region’s layered history and striking diversity—ranging from gritty urban centers to tranquil shorelines, forgotten mills to majestic mountains.

Brattleboro Selectboard Meeting Agenda and Notes – May 2, 2025

by cgrotke | Town News

It has been a while, but the Brattleboro Selectboard will again hold a regular meeting to discuss items other than the FY26 budget. Instead they will examine more changes to the parking system, new murals and events, get an update on the Housing Plan,  and hire a financial services company for a year to help ill in for the Finance Director.

The board will also have a discussion about the old bridges sitting in the Connecticut River and come up with a list of requests for the state of New Hampshire to consider. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.

Selectboard Meeting Notes – Chair Encourages Civility For Herself; Loses It Over Rescue Comment; Budget Passes

by cgrotke | Town News
selectboard may 1 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard held a May Day meeting to discuss and pass their new budget, which takes the overall municipal tax increase down from 12.1% to 10.8%, shaving 1.3% from the budget rejected by Representative Town Meeting.

The public, those allowed to speak, weren’t very impressed.

Chair McLoughlin began by apologizing for being rude to young people at the previous board meeting. Later on, she shut down the meeting with gavel banging and demands for an adult to stop speaking about something she said could not be tolerated-  a discussion of Rescue Inc correcting the record. 

April 2025 Precipitation Report

by local | Nature

A little wetter than average April with cool weather in the first half but warmer days in the second half. Measured 4.62″ this month with measurable moisture on 17 of 30 days compared to the normal of 3.85″.  For the calendar year my number is 14.54″ compared to the NOAA average of 13.97″.

Also recorded 2.7″ of snow, bringing the season total to 54.5″. My snow average is 62.6″ per season.  All numbers are from my location in the SE corner of Brattleboro and do vary with location.

Brattleboro Planning Commission: May 5, 2025 Meeting Agenda

by planning | Town Plan

7:00 – 7:30 Town Plan 2026
• Town Plan Survey – Review responses collected.
• Community Conversations – Identify targeted demographics we want represented in discussions. Identify potential organizations to reach out and arrange conversation with.
• Community workshop – Discuss community land use workshop, agree on a potential date, and discuss the need for any additional workshops

Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Policy and Amendment Committee Meeting Minutes

by Not Signed In | Education

Gender Freedom in Schools

At the last meeting, the committee reviewed Pietro’s remarks on the draft policy. After that session, SK and AH met with stakeholders to further discuss legal’s response. Today, SK and AH when through Pietro’s comments point by point and shared potential revisions

Page 1, Philosophy, second paragraph. Remove reference to Title IX and strike through footnotes 1 and 2.

WSESD Board Meeting Minutes April 22, 2025

by Not Signed In | Education

Summary
● A statement was read into the minutes shared by the Dummerston LC related to their commitment to DEI.
● The Finance Committee updated the Board about their regular meeting time: second Monday of the month at 5 pm. Location to be determined.
● The Board moved to approve a reimbursement of up to $100.00 per annum per Board Member to purchase publications for professional development as deemed pertinent to their work on the Board.
● A draft was approved regarding the composition of the Harassment, Hazing and Bullying Advisory Committee that will be sent to Secretary Saunders, Ms. Watterson, and Chair McBroom.
● A presentation was made related to the Education Quality Standards (EQS) and District Quality Standards (DQS) which will go into effect on 7/1/25.
● Two hires and three resignations were approved
● The Board entered an Executive Session resulting in an action.

Disconnected

by RDavis | Politics

Elected politicians, on all the levels, and the people who support government on a daily basis often have nothing in common. There are no requirements to run for office except for age in some instances. It is one of the great elements of democracy and, for better or worse, we end up with people in power who may have no understanding of how government works. If they have enough money they can win office and once they are in it is hard to get rid of them, That is also what democracy is about.

As we lose our democracy on a national level this disconnect could not be clearer. Trump and Musk have no interest in learning what all the people do who actually do the work of our government. If they even had a shred of interest in trying to understand how government agencies work they might have somehow found a little bit of common sense and talked to all these people and asked them how they might be more efficient.

Leo Mousseau on “Here We Are”

by Wendy O'Connell | Education

Voices from our high school ! A senior at BUHS, LEO MOUSSEAU keeps busy as a teacher’s assistant, acting in local productions and serving on the student-led Restorative Justice panel. Tune in for an inside look…..

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting Agenda May 1, 2025

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will meet on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and over Zoom. The agenda includes information on how to access the meeting remotely. Either ASL interpreters of closed captioning will be available in the meeting for deaf and hard of hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the website early next week. 

Brattleboro Winter Parking Ban Lifted

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Town of Brattleboro’s winter parking ban has been lifted. Overnight parking is allowed on all streets EXCEPT in the downtown area.
The streets listed below are not permitted for overnight parking:

Main Street
High Street

Selectboard Special Meeting Notes – Board Reacts To Revised FY26 Budget Up By $420,000

by cgrotke | Town News
selectboard solid waste april 24 2025

The Brattleboro Selectboard held another in their month of many meetings to focus on decisions around solid waste and to hear the results of their budget decisions thus far.  Those results were not good. They also warned a special Representative Town meeting to vote on the revised FY26 budget, which will face further revision.

As with last week, I’m watching this second meeting of the week but not typing up every word. I’ll summarize again.