Brattleboro Tree Warden Wins Hamilton Award

by oakgeorgia | Home & Garden

Brattleboro Tree Warden Dan Adams is the 2020 recipient of the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program’s Hamilton Award, which honors a Tree Warden “who has significantly advanced the goals of urban and community forestry through successful forestry practices, effective conservation planning, increased citizen engagement, and active public education.” The award is named for Dr. Larry Hamilton, the former Tree Warden in Charlotte, VT.

A private consulting forester, with over 35 years in the forestry business, Dan was nominated by Brattleboro Director of Public Works Steve Barrett.

Town of Brattleboro COVID-19 Response Status – April 24, 2020, 12:30pm 

by Not Signed In | Town News

• After weeks of intense activity to set up and refine remote operations, the past 10 days or so have been characterized by the steady maintenance of the status quo during the deepest part of the “Stay Home – Stay Safe” restrictions. We are now seeing the very slight re-opening of some activities in society (what Governor Scott has called “re-opening the spigot a quarter turn at a time”) and we are planning for how to slowly, methodically, and safely reopen Town facilities and resume in-person Town services. Daily updates next week and beyond will include detailed information about the steps we will take “a quarter turn at a time” to ramp back up to something resembling normal operations. In the meantime, we thank everyone for your patience and your adherence to the social distancing restrictions that are frustrating for all of us but also are essential to our individual and collective well-being. Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay well. 

The Next Phase

by RDavis | Activism

We are now entering a new phase of pandemic adjustment. The first few months were a novelty and, although many people had a hard time adjusting, it seemed that most people were able to cope while holding out hope for temporary change.

Now that it is clear that we are going to have to change our lives for the long term and that there is no exact time frame for society to re-open, people are losing patience. Early on, people were almost too friendly, trying to be respectful of each other in supermarkets and other places that have been able to remain open. But that friendliness is wearing thin and some people are taking out their frustrations on others.

Then there are the mostly brain-dead yahoos who think their personal liberty is more important than the lives of others as they protest around the country. Thankfully, they are a minority, but they are being supported by Trump. Some governors have decided that reinvigorating commerce is more important than protecting lives. That puts all of us in jeopardy.

Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Humanities COVID-19 Relief

by Not Signed In | Arts

MONTPELIER, VT—Arts and humanities organizations in Vermont facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic can now apply for emergency relief funding through a new partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Humanities.

The new COVID-19 Cultural Relief Grant Program is seeded with more than $700,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.

Grant awards are based on organization size:

Annual operating budgets of up to $200,000: $5,000.
Annual operating budgets between $200,000 and $750,000: $7,500
Annual operating budget larger than $750,000: $10,000

“The people in Building 27 are scared!”

by MarkTwain© | History

CHAPTER 17

“The people in Building 27 are scared!”

OK, let’s calm down, let’s relax. Let us put aside fear, as we have nothing to fear, anyway. 

For here is a story from grandpa’s owns memories:

My family lived in Beach Haven Apartments from when I was five until we moved out from there to our own, 3-bedroom, semi-attached, cookie-cutter home located at 46-05 216th Street, Bayside 61 – Queens, NYC, NYS.

VT Department of Financial Regulation Announces Auto Premium Refunds and Reductions

by Not Signed In | State News

Montpelier, VT – Governor Phil Scott and Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) Commissioner Michael Pieciak today announced that more than forty additional auto insurance companies have filed plans to return premiums or reduce their rates for Vermont policyholders. DFR has moved quickly to approve these plans which amount to over $14.6 million in savings for Vermonters to date.

All Vermont-based auto insurance companies, along with most major out-of-state insurers, have developed refund plans for Vermonters, which combined, represent approximately 90% of all personal auto policies in Vermont. Each of these insurers has seen a reduction in claims as Vermonters do their part to stay home to comply with the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe directive. 

Dosa Kitchen Contactless Curbside Pickup

by Dosa Kitchen | Food

Hello Dosa Lovers,

We are now offering CONTACTLESS CURBSIDE PICKUP AT DOSA KITCHEN with an abbreviated menu plus an opportunity to purchase prepared food and grocery items from dosa batter and sambar to ghee, fermentation crocks, and Dosa Kitchen T-shirts from our store.  

When: SATURDAYS + SUNDAYS 12-5

Where: Dosa Kitchen at 34 Elliot Street in downtown Brattleboro

Brattleboro Floral Arts & Garden Club Offers New Format

by JillStahlTyler | Home & Garden

Gardens provide continuity and hope every year, and the Brattleboro Floral Arts & Garden Club shines as a happy reminder that natural beauty continues in our community.

New president (and local mystery writer) Lynne Kennedy is the club’s new president.   As the annual April meeting was cancelled this year, and in response to social distancing requirements, outgoing Co-Presidents Lynn Kuralt and Melissa Kuralt passed the keys “on a ten-foot pole”.  Other new officers include Vice President Shelia Kinnare, Recording Secretary Frankie Knibb, Corresponding Secretary Judith Wagenbach, Treasurer Libby Lafland and Librarian Carlene McCarty.

Vermont Jazz Center Presents: LIVE STREAM 4th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival

by vtjazz | Entertainment

The Vermont Jazz Center is proud to present its 4th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival the weekend of April 24-25th in live streaming format. Each of the artists will be performing from the comfort of their own home or a close-by piano studio using digital streaming technology to present their sets live, directly on the Vermont Jazz Center’s webpage. The Festival will be run using the same format as past years: Friday and Saturday evening feature concerts, Saturday daytime classes and emerging artist concerts, and a late afternoon panel discussion amongst all the artists. The performers will be NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi, Manuel Valera, Orrin Evans, and Shamie Royston as headliners as well as emerging artists Franz Robert, Maya Keren and Matt Twaddle. Helen Sung will moderate Saturday afternoon’s panel discussion.

The event will be free and open to the public, donations are encouraged and can be made on line via the VJC’s website.

Food Security

by spoon | Food

Let’s get concrete. One aspect. Food security. There was a suggestion, a well worn mantra but nonetheless very true, to buy local. We’ll keep that narrowed to food. The presumption is that the more local food we buy the more local growers will be inclined to raise. Each additional pound of food gets us one pound closer to security. But there is another factor. The food has to be affordable.

Small farms, especially the organic farms and it would be ideal if all were organic, can’t get food to the market at the same price as agribiz. Agribiz doesn’t care about or thus factor in the external costs of pollution (and resulting health issues) from chemicals or gmo’s or any such thing. On top of that they get huge subsidies. The subsidies are added to everyone else’s tax bill.

Vermont Covid-19 Real Estate Guidance

by SK-B | Health

Stay Home Stay Safe Sector Specific Guidance

New Rules effective April 20 for various occupations:
https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/business/stay-home-stay-safe-sector-specific-guidance

Guidance specifically for Real Estate

BCTV Schedules – Week of 4/20/2020

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 4/20/20

Monday, April 20, 2020

4:54 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Ben Cosgrove – Composer, Pianist, Author
5:00 am UVM Larner Medical School Coronavirus Webinar – The Science of Social Distancing
5:50 am Waking Up With Ami – A New Relationship in the Pandemic
6:00 am Waking Up With Ami – Ami’s Morning Routine: Part 1 Warm-up to Yoga
6:29 am Waking Up With Ami – Monday Morning Yoga

Blind Men and An Elephant

by RDavis | Health

There is a lot of solid science to help us understand how to deal with COVID 19, the disease caused by SARS-Cov 2. Keep in mind that this disease is related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that occurred in 2002-2003, but experts believe that COVID 19 has somehow become more pathogenic.

We want to trust the experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, because he has become a prominent spokesman for delivering news that seems based in science and not politics.

But even Fauci and many other equally reputable scientists admit they wish they knew more about this new disease outbreak to provide guidance about the safest way for societies to proceed. Politics is clouding the picture and erring on the side of caution is the best advice for now. We need to move slowly while using the best available scientific information.

Pandemic Quarrel

by MarkTwain© | Creative

True Bipartisan

For the good of all…

We ride together

But first, we must agree on the vehicle.

And then…

our destination!

Food Delivery For Those In Need

by LisaL | Food

The Brattleboro VFW Post #1034 and the Brattleboro Elks #1499 is banding together with the guidance of the Brattleboro Fire Department to buy groceries and other essential items for those who cannot and should not venture out. Volunteers will be purchasing items, bagging or boxing them, and delivering them to homes where needed in the Brattleboro area.

Brattleboro Senior Meals

by KathrynT | Food

Brattleboro Senior Meals Menu April 20 to April 24
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MENU

Apr. 20 Quiche Lorranie
Roasted Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts
Roll