Brattleboro Senior Meals May 26 thru May 30
May 26 CLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY
May 27 Salisbury Steak w/Onions & Peppers
Mashed Potato
Carrots
Tropical Fruit Parfait
WSESD Board Meeting Agenda – May 27, 2025
A. Leadership Council Updates
B. Board Sub-Committees and SU Updates
C. Update on legislative issues related education (Tim & Jocelyn)
D. Update regarding Board Goals (Kim, Tim, Jessica, Ruby)
E. Consider annual review as per WSESD Ongoing Social Justice and Anti-Racist Commitment (Matt, Jocelyn, Mikaela)
Brattleboro Memorial Day Closings
In observance of Memorial Day, all Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Monday, May 26, 2025, with the exception of emergency services.
Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Monday, May 26, 2025. All other violations will be enforced.
My Conscience is a Thought Crime
This is a reply to The Shalom Alliance’s piece printed two weeks ago in The Commons (https://www.commonsnews.org/issue/814/814000_shalom-alliance) and last week in The Reformer:
The imps infesting the Ministry of Truth giggled with glee as they read The Shalom Alliance’s clarion call for censorship during the barbaric starvation of Arab babies nine months old barely weighing two pounds more. The laughably obnoxious notion of the ADL as arbiter of speech is despicably anti-American, akin to last week’s House panel on campus antisemitism, McCarthy’s HUAC reincarnate demanding young souls decrying genocide be vilified as the new commies deserving the harshest of penalties personal and professional.
Selectboard Meeting Notes – Board Hears Updates & Reports
The Brattleboro Selectboard heard a number of updates and reports at their second regular meeting of May. They learned how a grant was used to help with housing, how a group would like to expand passenger rail service in the region, how Green Mountain Power is burying some of the most problematic electrical circuits, and more.
More, of course, included hearing that utility rates would be increasing.
Revised May 21 Brattleboro Development Review Board Agenda
Review of Cases/Public Hearings to be reviewed under the Brattleboro Land Use Regulations as warned on October 12, 2015.
2025-32 Tarmy Properties, LLC; Service Center District; request for Site Plan Approval to construct a 120’ x 150’ dry storage warehouse by 983 Putney Road; Tax Map Parcel #70724.120
Sketch Plan Review.
2025-33 Brattleboro School District; Residential Neighborhood 3600 District; Sketch Plan Review to construct an eleven bay parking lot at 112 Canal Street; Tax Map Parcel #325158.000
Lissa Weinmann on “Here We Are”
LISSA WEINMANN is a powerful force in our community who has helped bring our history, people and stories together through the creation of The Brattleboro Words Project and 118 Elliot arts center. Tune in for some great stories of her other lives as a foreign agent and in international and local affairs.
Church Street Closure
The Utilities Division will be repairing a sewer line on Church Street on Wednesday, May 21. Church Street will be closed from 8:30am to 2:00pm for this repair. There will be no parking on Church Street during this time and motorists should plan alternative routes.
A Mesmerizing Evening of Global Rhythms: Aura Shards and Compass Trio to Perform at Next Stage Arts
Next Stage Arts is thrilled to present an unforgettable double bill of transcendent world music featuring Aura Shards and the Compass Trio on Friday, June 13 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, Putney.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $10 for livestream access, available now at nextstagearts.org.
Hailing from Brattleboro, Vermont, Aura Shards is a world fusion duo known for their immersive soundscapes centered on the Hand Pan—a mesmerizing, melodic percussion instrument. Fusing contemporary instrumentation with ancient rhythms, Anders Burrows (Hand Pan, Didgeridoo, Djembe) and Jed Blume (Hand Pan, Tabla, Djembe) deliver original compositions that are both rhythmically dynamic and harmonically serene. Their music invites both introspection and movement, offering listeners a rich, meditative journey through sound.
The Promises and Perils Of Gene Editing
It would have seemed impossible only a few years ago, but medical researchers have been able to edit a baby’s genes so that he does not suffer from a rare genetic disease. A press release from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains, “In a historic medical breakthrough, a child diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder has been successfully treated with a customized CRISPR gene editing therapy by a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine. The infant, KJ, was born with a rare metabolic disease known as severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency. After spending the first several months of his life in the hospital, on a very restrictive diet, KJ received the first dose of his bespoke therapy in February 2025 between six and seven months of age. The treatment was administered safely, and he is now growing well and thriving.”
There have also been cases of gene editing for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. But in KJ’s case this is the first time gene editing was done for one individual which means the editing only applies to his case. For those other diseases, anyone who has them can use the same editing process.
Brattleboro Charter Revision Commission Meeting Agenda
Old Business
1. Discuss form of annual town meeting.
Report of the Brattleboro Finance Committee for Special Representative Town Meeting
The report of the RTM Finance Committee for the May 27 Special Representative Town Meeting is posted on the Town’s website.
Go to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rO3ELZP6e8HewXSf4CmYVbYtCaximdvL/view
The Finance Committee met weekly while the Selectboard was working on the revised budget and then held four meetings in May to prepare the report.
Brattleboro Senior Meals May 19 thru May 23
May 19 Turkey Tetrazzini w/Pasta
Brussels Sprouts
Garlic Bread
Honeydew Melon
Twilight On The Tavern Lawn Presents Acoustic Nomads
Twilight Music and Next Stage Arts Project launch the 22nd Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of bluegrass, Americana, world, swing, and pop music summer concerts on Sunday, June 1 with progressive world music quartet Acoustic Nomads. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 24. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by Next Stage, the Town of Putney, and many Putney area businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit nextstagearts.org.
At the crossroads of South American Folklore and Northern Americana, Acoustic Nomads blends music from two continents to create soaring original melodies, playful improvisations, and driving grooves, sweeping listeners away on a journey from the Appalachians to the Andes. Since forming at Berklee College of Music in 2019, Acoustic Nomads has been pushing the envelope of progressive acoustic music – drawing inspiration from the likes of Turtle Island String Quartet, David Grisman, Hamilton de Holanda, and many of Bela Fleck’s acoustic projects, all united in that they use acoustic instruments and are universally beyond category. Acoustic Nomads forges a sound interweaving North and South American musical threads as varied as the continents themselves.
Press Release: Special RTM Budget Report
The Brattleboro Special Representative Town Meeting Budget Report is ready. Paper copies can be found at the Brooks Memorial Library. You can also find the Report on the RTM page of the Town Website. The link is below.
Windham Regional Career Center Aviation Careers Program Advisory Board Agenda
1. Greetings/Introductions.
2. Summary of the functions of an Advisory Board.
3. Program Goals and Objectives.
4. Review of topics/action items from the last meeting
a. Connection with Young Eagles program in Rutland
Brattleboro Selectboard Meeting Agenda and Notes – May 20, 2025
The Brattleboro Selectboard will have a regular meeting on Tuesday and will hear lots of updates and reports – on expanding rail service to Connecticut, electric company projects, state legislation, FY25 budget numbers, and the results of a Utility Rate Study to see if Brattleboro customers are paying the right amount.
You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation if the Chair anticipates what you are about to say is germane.
WSESD Finance Committee Meeting May 27, 2025 Agenda
Agenda
1. Call meeting to order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Legislative Updates on Fiscal Matters
The Games of Boris Spassky – Part VII – Spassky’s Immortal Game
Known as the Match Of The Century two years prior to Spassky’s defense of his title against Fischer, the USSR v The Rest of the World match held in Belgrade during the spring of 1970 was a truly unique event featuring four rounds of play on ten boards involving two dozen of the best grandmasters of the time.
The World Championship was firmly in Soviet hands since 1948, so half of the Soviet team held the title: Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Botvinnik. As reigning champion, Spassky played on the top board facing Bent Larsen whose string of recent successes elevated him to first board over the until recently inactive Fischer.
There Is A Way to Preserve Medicaid and Medicare Funding But Democrats & Republicans Don’t Want You To Know How!
“When you throw 13 million people off health insurance, when you raise co-payments for poor people, it is a death sentence,” says Senator Bernie Sanders on the Republican plan to cut Medicaid. “Thousands and thousands of low-income and working people will die because they simply will not be able to get into a doctor’s office when they need it.” May 14, 2025
The Republicans and the Democrats don’t want you to know that there could be plenty of money for Medicaid and Medicare if the United States Congress votes to repeal and get rid of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 which changed U.S. Patent law.
