An eastbound shoulder operation on the new bridge deck for New Hampshire/Vermont Route 119 will require a flagger-controlled lane closure with one-way alternating traffic patterns. Travelers may encounter short delays.
Flaggers will also be present at the entrance to 28 Vernon Street to assist traffic entering and exiting the facility.
Bridge lights are now fully functional with completed solar panels.
The Selectboard’s proposed budget raises property taxes by more than 12% and defers expenses—setting residents up for even higher taxes down the road. And over the past several months the Selectboard has chosen to deplete Town funds to hire new positions and cover new expenses. Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Finance Committee recently issued a clear warning: The Selectboard must take a more responsible approach to budgeting. I agree. We need longer term financial planning and political courage for responsible budgeting, and the Selectboard and Representative Town Meeting can help us get there.
The Selectboard placed an opinion poll on the March 4th ballot regarding the 2% of the Town budget allocated for human services. But there’s another 98% we need to consider. That’s where the biggest opportunities are for savings.The Selectboard should have taken the Finance Committee’s recommendations seriously. The committee exists to advise Representative Town Meeting members—the ultimate deciders on the budget. To increase the chances of the budget passing, the Selectboard should carefully consider the Finance Committee’s guidance.The Finance Committee expressed concern about the lack of a long-term financial plan and called on the Selectboard to direct the town manager to present a list of potential staff cuts for the coming budget and to identify cuts and deferrals that will likely reappear a year from now when we are considering the following year’s budget. The outgoing Selectboard chose not to implement any of these recommendations.
The 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavik saw Spassky’s early two-game lead become a three-game deficit after Fischer won games 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10. In the face of such dire straits, Spassky chose to enter Fischer’s beloved Poisoned Pawn variation despite the Challenger having a +5=4-0 record with the Black pieces.
Spassky uncorked a novelty on his 14th move; soon after, Fischer began to play inaccurately while Spassky’s relentless precision soon allowed him to win the wayward Black queen. At its midpoint the outcome of the match was again in doubt.
Brattleboro’s second annual Palestine Film Series opens Sunday, March 23, with the Oscar-winning Best Documentary No Other Land, a devastating window on the continuing Israeli settler violence, land theft and forced displacement of Palestinians from their West Bank villages.
No Other Land is one of four films in this year’s series that give audiences an opportunity to experience diverse stories about the lives of Palestinian people. The series is presented by Southern Vermont for Palestine (SVT4P) and Latchis Arts.
Although it has won more than 45 top documentary prizes worldwide including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, No Other Land has struggled to find a U.S. distributor and has been screened in only a handful of U.S. cities.
Since 1998, Green Mountain Self Advocates has hosted the Voices and Choices Conference in Vermont. This two-day conference gives self-advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities a chance to gather with their peers from across the state and come together to shine and grow.
One self-advocate and their needed staff to attend costs about $460. The cost is prohibitive for many. This raffle helps make it possible for them to attend and supports Voices and Choices as an event.
I HEREBY DECLARE A NEW 2025
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
FROM the ARBITRARY RULE OF TYRANT ELON MUSK, advisor to President Donald Trump
Declaration of Independence from all orders, usurpations of our tax dollars, directives and firings and threats by Elon Musk!
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America declare that
when in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Official recount results are in, for the Guilford seat on the Board of Directors of the Windham Southeast School District: There has been no change to the number of votes for each candidate from Guilford. Jocelyn Fritts has been duly elected to the Board of Directors.
Representative Town Meeting Representatives could reject this year’s budget and the 12.1% increase in municipal property taxes.
Charter prohibitions prevent representatives from telling the Selectboard what specifically to cut, but they can tell them to cut the budget by any amount, and can strongly suggest what needs to be trimmed by the board.
Representatives are in a unique position this year, though. Voters rejected two incumbents that created this budget and replaced them, and the Chair that led this budget process stepped aside and was replaced. If voters had had the chance, the remaining two Selectboard members might have been tossed, too.
V. Presentation
– What is our Supervision/Evaluation Process to ensure quality staff for our students?
Michael Cruz Kayne is a comedian and writer on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. However, his life isn’t always funny. The loss of his young son profoundly changed his world and his family. In this hilarious, difficult, and touching show about grief, Cruz finds moments of humor, compassion, and ultimately some assemblance of acceptance. If everyone dies, why does nobody talk about it?
A Q&A will follow the performance.
The Town Clerks of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford and Putney have confirmed that they and members of their Boards of Civil Authority will come together in each town for a recount of the contested Guilford 3-year seat on the Board of the WSESD.
Candidates and members of the public are welcome to observe the recount. Time and locations for the re-count:
On March 10, 2025, at 06:30 a.m., the Brattleboro Fire Department responded to 90 Technology Drive for an alarm activation. The first arriving units reported an active ammonia leak of 273 parts per million in the building. Crews established that the building had been evacuated and accounted for all occupants. The Vermont HAZMAT Team was notified and dispatched to the scene.
III. Evaluate
– F8 Student Medication (2:00-3:00) Invited attendee: Rebecca Olmstead, Nurse Leader
– Assess Draft of statement re Students with Immigration Status [Mikaela and Shannon]
– Gender Freedom in Schools – Proposed new policy
Cutting social support programs that help the most vulnerable in our society has always been a Republican blood sport. Most of those rich old white men have contempt for “those people” who live on handouts because they deem them too lazy to help themselves. It is an old trope. But now things have gotten worse.
The current Republican budget plan which looks likely to pass includes massive cuts to the Medicaid program.
Here is some context from the Center for American Progress. “Last week, House Republicans passed a budget resolution directing Congress to make cuts that would slash Medicaid funding and threaten health care access for millions in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Medicaid is the largest single health insurance program in the United States and covers 72 million Americans, including low-income kids and adults, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.”
I am proud of Brattleboro voters who showed up on Election Day in unusually high numbers. At a moment when our country faces unprecedented challenges, the people of Brattleboro made clear they want a town we all can afford, a town where our young people can play safely, where we all have a warm place to sleep at night, and where we treat one another well. I congratulate my fellow candidates for putting themselves out there in this moment of political turmoil, and to Franz Reichsman and Richard Davis for their current service on the selectboard.
March 10 Lemon Garlic Pork Chops
Parmesan Tater Tots
Peas & Carrots
Apple Slices
The Windham Southeast School District announces that a recount has been requested in the election results for the three-year Guilford seat on the WSESD Board of Directors. Candidates were Jocelyn Fritts, having received 1128 votes and Kelly Young, having received 1100 votes.
The total vote tallies are reported in a “commingled” manner, as per 16 V.S.A. § 741(3). “The articles of agreement as initially approved by the voters on or before July 1, 2019 explicitly provide that the board of civil authority of each town within the unified union school district shall count Australian ballots cast in that town and report that town’s results to the district clerk, who shall calculate total votes cast within the unified union school district and report the result of the vote to the public.”
AGENDA
1. CONVENE MEETING
2. RECOUNT VOTE LOGISTICS
3. APPOINT RECOUNT ELECTIONS TEAM
4. ADJOURN
It’s the March 2025 dashboard summary. We continue semi-regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them. Numbers are low, but not zero. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, March 10, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street, Rm. 212) and over Zoom. The attached agenda contains information on how to access the meeting remotely, including the required “passcode.” ASL interpreters will be available for deaf and hard-of-hearing community members. The backup materials for this meeting will be available on the town Website Brattleboro.gov/Selectboard by the end of today.
