Brattleboro’s Business License (Tax) Needs Reform

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

At about this time each year, Brattleboro businesses generously donate over $50,000… to the Town of Brattleboro for a town business license.

That’s $50,000 that is diverted from food and heat drives, year-end bonuses, and holiday gift buying and into the town’s coffers. It is also an unnecessary hurdle for business owners in Brattleboro.

There are many things wrong with this approach, all easily solved if we are serious about being business-friendly.

It doesn’t need to be collected at this time of year.

The current system requires payments be made during the holiday season, when food drives, heat funds, and donations to other worthy causes need funds. This is the only time it can be collected, according to the way the town operates the program.

New Beginners Tai Chi Chuan Class starting in Dummerston, Friday January 8th.

by Not Signed In | Health

Beginner’s Hunyuan Taiji Quan is a 14 week series that introduces the principles of alignment, balance, correct movement, qi (vital energy) cultivation. Each week participants will learn a new movement of the Hunyuan 12 movement taiji quan form. Through dedicated practice, students will complete the form by the end of the series. Participants will also learn chan si gong (silk reeling) exercises to help open and relax the joints while simultaneously nourishing the vital qi and blood of the body. All are foundational practices to re-condition the mind/body connection, deepening one’s capacity to relax, release stress, improve balance, and build core strength.

G.S. Precision Breaks Ground on Expansion in Brattleboro

by Not Signed In | Business

BRATTLEBORO – Governor Peter Shumlin, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Congressman Peter Welch, and local officials joined Norm Schneeberger, President and CEO of G.S. Precision, to break ground on a $17 million expansion that will bring 100 new jobs to Brattleboro in the next few years. The event capped nearly eight months of work by G.S. Precision, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), and the Town of Brattleboro to ensure that the company expanded its business in Brattleboro and not elsewhere.

“This project has been a team effort to combine federal, state, and local resources to retain and create great jobs in Brattleboro,” said Governor Shumlin. “This is the kind of public-private partnership that will help ensure Windham County’s economic future.”

Act 46 Study Committee Agenda and Minutes

by Not Signed In | Education

ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE

Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District, and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at the Academy School.

BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 12/28/15

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 12/28/15

Monday, December 28, 2015

12:00 am Vermont Humanities Fall Conference 11/14/15

1:30 am Hunger Mtn Coop Workshop Series: Living Tiny Conversations with Lisa Rochelle

2:50 am 1st Wed: Face to Face with the Emotional Brain

4:00 am A Retrospective on Vermont Environmental History

5:20 am Rights & Democracy Summit: Building an Economy for People & the Planet

Christ’s Birthday in an America That Kills Jesus Multiple Times in Multiple Countries Daily

by jay janson | Op/Ed

DESCRIPTION:
Jesus warns harming God’s children is equivalent to harming the Lord. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” This principle of a common humanity is basic to the Nuremberg Principles of Int’l Law, written to prosecute anyone, who would ever do what the Nazis did, which included bombing, invading and occupying innocent nations as Christian Americans have done since end of World War Two

What Happened to The “3 White Guys” ?

by tomaidh | Rumors

With the intense focus on the supposed Islamic Bonnie and Clyde team of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a lot of people seem to have forgotten that the initial reports of the tragedy fingered 3 white guys.  Cops on KTLA reported that witnesses said as much. 

Indeed, the Fox affiliate in Los Angeles tweeted that police were seeking 3 white males in relation to the shooting, in this tweet helpfully screen-capped at patheos.com in a story by Lilandra Ra.

1887 Advertisement for I. B. Thorn

by cgrotke | History

For our final December historical advertisement, let’s see what I. B. Thorn has to offer downtown on Main Street, across from High.

Thorn is thinking ahead. Not only does he offer Christmas gifts, but also gifts for the New Year. It’s “the finest display of holiday novelties ever seen in town,” after all. Not bad for a drug store.

A Challenge Grant

by cgrotke | iBrattleboro

iBrattleboro was just given a generous gift of $300, and the person doing the giving asked us to challenge readers to match the gift. Our guess is that the hope is we can raise another $300 for hosting, upkeep, and so on from some small donations.

If you are so inclined, you can contribute using PayPal (a box here in the iBrattleboro section in the right column should assist) or send a check to iBrattleboro, 41 Cedar Street, Brattleboro, 05301.

Act 46 Study Committee Agenda

by Not Signed In | Education

ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE

Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District, and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at the Academy School.

1886 Advertisement for N. I. Hawley

by cgrotke | History

Hawley sells clothes. Each season he goes to New York City to find the latest and greatest fashions and best prices for his Brattleboro customers. He returns with a new load, tells us all what he has for sale, and we buy it from him.

Here is his complex advertisement for December 1886. Get your holiday goods and staple supplies!

Faraday Cable

by BusyMom | History

1888: Seventy-seven feet of Faraday cable have been added to the telephone circuit this week to take the place of the wires which run from the switch-board in the exchange to the large standard on Harmony block. This makes a total of 481 feet of the cable in use.

Essentially, this means they are replacing bare wires with insulated wires and a multi-wire system.   That’s the nutshell version; it took a lot of research and technological advances to get there.  A lot of that work was spurred on by the effort to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable, which finally succeeded in 1866, and made use of Michael Faraday’s research into electromagnetism and induction.

http://ethw.org/Transatlantic_Cable

BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 12/21/15

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 12/21/15 

Monday, December 21, 2015

12:00 am Vermont Humanities Fall Conference 11/14/15

1:30 am Hunger Mtn Coop Workshop Series: Living Tiny Conversations with Lisa Rochelle

2:50 am 1st Wed: Face to Face with the Emotional Brain

4:00 am A Retrospective on Vermont Environmental History

5:20 am Rights & Democracy Summit: Building an Economy for People & the Planet

Brattleboro Time Trade Listings – Week of Decemeber 20

by Brattleboro Time Trade | Other

Brattleboro Time Trade:   Exchanging services, creating connections, strengthening communities, one hour at a time.  See below for more exciting Upcoming Events and learn what Time Trade can do for you!

How Time Trade Works: You do something for someone and earn time credits for your “bank,” which you can then put towards someone
else doing something for you! It’s that simple – and amazing!

This week’s fabulous listings, brought to you from Solstice Eve:

OFFERS (i.e. things people could do for you):

Home Arts and Crafts Projects
Learn to Stack a Round Woodpile
Pet Care in Your Home
Paper Leaf Collection Bags
Brattleboro Food Coop Member Hours
Time Credits for New Member Recruitment! Last week!

Crafting for the Homeless

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Activism

Crafting for the Homeless 

Come join Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim on Sunday afternoon, January 3rd, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

All you need is enthusiasm and interest–techniques will be taught and projects will use basic techniques and simple patterns. This event is suitable for adults, teenagers, and kids old enough to sit still and participate. Kids younger than 12 will need to have an adult in attendance with them. If you want to, you can take projects home to work on between meetings.