Next Stage Arts presents Stephane Wrembel, the “living face of Gypsy jazz,” at Next Stage on Saturday, April 26 at 7:30 pm.
Stephane Wrembel stands as one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists. Originally from Fontainebleau, France, Wrembel is renowned for his masterful blend of jazz, gypsy swing, and world music, enchanting audiences worldwide with his distinctive sound.
The newest version of the Brattleboro Selectboard had their first regular meeting, and it was quite something. Chair Liz McLoughlin kept things under control but things weren’t going her way most of the evening. The public was riled, the new members had “ideas,” and her suggestions weren’t always easily agreed upon by others. It was a long meeting.
The primary focus of the night was what to do about the rejected FY26 budget and how to go about doing it. It’s not 100% determined, but generally there will be lots of meetings in April (most Tuesdays and Thursdays), including a listing session to hear why the budget was rejected, a meeting to discuss what was heard at the listening session, and more meetings to discuss whatever then needs to be discussed. There will also be one or two special Representative Town Meetings to vote on whatever gets presented.
And, our new Fire Chief was sworn-in. There was much rejoicing.
Summary
● Leadership Council and Committee assignments were established.
● The Board determined that they will follow Robert’s Rules for Small Boards and confirmed Board Norms.
● A committee was established to explore the Board goal setting process.
● Donation of $4,626,00 made to the Rural Community School Alliance was approved.
● Approved 3 policies.
Offering spiritual approaches to addiction and recovery, LAMA TOMAS (aka Tom O’Flaherty) is an ordained Celtic Buddhist Monk living a life of service. He talks about his own path to sobriety and his place in the Crazy Wisdom lineage.
A warmer first half of the month and a rainy second half totaling 3.61″ of moisture compared to a NOAA normal of 3.62″. Only recorded 0.2″ of snow all month. Earlier in the winter many were saying what a snowy winter we are having, but the season total so far is 51.8″ compared to my average of 62.5″. Most all snow was melted by the middle of March. Still possible to receive snow in April.
For the calendar year, total moisture is 9.92″ compared to the average of 10.12″. Very close to normal. All numbers are from my home in the S.E. corner of Brattleboro and do vary by location.
April First – I had wanted to play an April F00ls’ joke and came up with the idea of a bogus announcement that an expedition to discover the East Pole is underway. But then I realized that the joke will not work because any educated person knows that the East Pole was discovered decades ago.
Just for fun, let’s regard the government as a game.
It is, in a way. There are rules, roles, and regalia, a bank, an army, real estate. You could construct any number of exciting board games from this apparatus. In order to play the game of government, you are presented with a rule book that you are required to follow. You are not allowed to tear up the rule book and make your own rules that you then insist are binding to all other players. As is true of every game there is, from checkers to baseball, if you persist in breaking the rules of the game, you are disqualified from playing.
Next Stage Arts presents indie rock band BETTY, plus DJ ezGirl at Next Stage on Friday, April 25 at 7:30 pm.
The award-winning Indie Rock trio BETTY, Alyson Palmer (vocals, bass, guitar), Elizabeth Ziff (vocals, guitar, electronic programming) and her sister, Amy Ziff (vocals and cello), uses beguiling melodies, compelling lyrics and signature harmonies to create energetic live shows that mix music, performance art, politics and comedy.
BETTY sings of joy, love, longing, lust, food, heartbreak, and the universal hilarity of human existence. More than a band, BETTY uses music to channel their passion for representation, fairness and equality. From the beginning, they’ve blended their voices for causes they fight for, their talents in collaboration with other artists of every medium, and their time in support of women and girls, worldwide.
The Brattleboro Listers will meet on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 3:00pm at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Rm. 101).
I was going to do an April Fools’ story, but the Town of Brattleboro beat me to it. : )
The Town Manager has provided the Brattleboro Selectboard with an extensive overview of current town operations. Along with it, he provided a number of dramatic scenarios that could unfold if the new selectboard dared to make any cuts to the town budget.
These doomsday scenarios are really something. Department heads were asked to provide examples of what could happen if some unspecified cuts were undertaken. These were then tossed in the “make scary” machine.
The Charter Revision Commission is making its public debut on Monday, the 30th, in the Library at 6 pm. And online too. After two and a quarter years it is introducing itself by asking the public what to do about one particular question: should Representative Town Meeting vote itself out of existence and revert Town Meeting to the former and more common open meeting style.
I have not seen any of the evidence it has gathered pro and con but perhaps they will share that at the meeting itself though at that point perhaps not as useful as it might be. Presumably they have gathered evidence inasmuch as that is what Charter Revision Commissions are appointed to do.
What a jerk!
Homeless Women Less Than 6 Months Pregnant Will Be Kicked Out Of Motel Program
From Burlington Free Press: “March 29, 2025 Republican Gov. Phil Scott has signed an executive order allowing families with children under age 19 and “medically vulnerable” Vermonters who face eviction from hotel and motel rooms on April 1 to remain in the state’s General Assistance program through June 30. Pregnant women in their third trimester or who will enter their third trimester between April 1 and June 30 are among those who qualify as “medically vulnerable.”
March 31 Baked Chicken Feta
Roasted Potatoes
Mixed Veggies
Jell-o
The newest iteration of the Brattleboro Selectboard will ease into their work year at their first regular meeting with an approval of an outdoor consumption permit for Snow Republic, then will take assignments for signing warrants and committee assignments and adopt rules of conduct.
The Town Manager will review the budget re-development process with the board and supply his list of proposed cuts – to services.
The final item will be approval of a plan to re-paint bike lanes on Western Avenue in a new single-side-of-the-road pattern from Green Street to Exit 2 when the road is paved later this year. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, and the board is free to engage with you on those items but not take any action.
During my college years I took a nutrition course that taught me a lesson that I have carried throughout my adult life. As the importance of vitamins to the proper functioning of the human body was spelled out it became clear to me that very few people would be able to take in an optimum amount of vitamins on a daily basis.
When you are young you tend to think you are immortal, but I felt like I could use a little help with my immortality so I started taking a daily multivitamin. Over 50 years later I am still taking vitamins and I continue to believe that they have made a difference in my life. The reason that I am thinking about this now is because I read a study that has revealed some very credible new information about the benefit of vitamins.
The 1992 Fischer-Spassky match in UN-sanctioned Yugoslavia was highly consequential to the sport of chess. At five million dollars with the winner taking two-thirds, the purse was was astronomical. No chess event in history has offered anything close to this prize, and it rivalled that of the best-paid sportsmen of the time: Bobby Bonilla had recently signed for six million dollars a year to become baseball’s richest player, and Michael Jordan’s salary during his second championship season was $3.25 million.
More importantly, Fischer’s clock revolutionized gameplay with the abolishment of adjournments.
About 24 hours after emergency personnel responded to multiple fires at the School for International Training (SIT) campus, nine of the 26 buildings on campus have been cleared for occupancy, with three more expected to open tomorrow.
The American Red Cross plans to keep the temporary shelter open and provide food to those affected through the weekend as more buildings are cleared for occupancy. About three dozen people will remain in the shelter through Friday evening.
“At this time, SIT is taking things day by day as we focus on the well-being of our refugee students,” said Tim Rivera, Senior Advisor of World Learning & SIT. “We continue to assess the situation in all of our buildings and are looking forward to when we can resume normal operations on our campus. We would like to express our enormous gratitude to the Red Cross for their care and professionalism throughout.”
On March 26, 2025, at approximately 11:11 a.m., Brattleboro emergency personnel received call of a fire alarm activation at the School of International Training (SIT), located at 1 Kipling Road in Brattleboro. Units arrived at 11:19 a.m., and first-arriving crews located a fire in Gamble Residence, a building on the north end of the campus.
After locating the fire, Captain Emery upgraded the incident to a first-alarm assignment, calling in additional crews.
The incident was upgraded to a second alarm after fires were located in other buildings. There were active fires in a total of five of the 26 buildings on campus. The call was upgraded to a three-alarm fire at approximately 11:45 a.m., and additional equipment and personnel were called to the scene.
What have you noticed? Little things matter.
Add any items that have caught your eye recently… such as:
– The Estey Organ Museum is featured in the AAA Explorer magazine. They got a nice photo, a few paragraphs of praise and even a mention of their program to give away organs.
New Brattleboro Selectboard members Oscar Heller, Amanda Ellis-Thurber, Isaac Evans Franz were sworn in by Town Clerk Hilary Francis to begin the organizational meeting.
Peter Case nominated a slate of candidates: Elizabeth McLoughlin as Chair, Oscar Heller as Vice Chair, and Isaac Evans-Frantz as Clerk. The board voted 5-0 to approve the slate.
Returning Chair Liz then took comments from the board and public participation.
