Low Income Senior Citizens Notified We Will Lose Program That Helps Pay For Internet In April!

Hello, I’m 71 going on 72 years old, I live alone with my dog, and I don’t know if I will be able to afford internet when this program ends in April. This email was sent to me by VTEL:

On Tuesday, January 16, 2024 at 04:06:05 PM EST, vermontel-no-reply@smarthub.coop wrote:

Dear Valued ACP Customer,

We regret to inform you that the FCC has advised us of the potential ending of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in the very near future.


Selectboard Meeting Notes – We’ll See Your $80k, and Raise You $80k

selectoard jan 16 2024

The Brattleboro Selectboard heard a request from two organizations for an $80,000 a year part time position (and some data collection) and decided to double it. They gave them $160,000 and two years for a “proof of concept” showing that this investment attracts new businesses to Brattleboro.

The board went on to discuss their ARPA plans and FY25 budgets.


Reflections On Retirement

I have had over eight years to learn something about the stage of life that is called retirement. Sadly, in this country retirement is almost totally a financial issue and not everyone has the means to be able to set a date when they will no longer work for a living. The numbers have to work and living solely on Social Security is pretty close to impossible in today’s economy.

According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, half of all Americans would have to lower their standard of living in order to retire. That means that those 50% of Americans have no retirement savings and they face the prospect of having to have an income from work for the rest of their lives.


Guilford Center Stage 2024 Season

Guilford Center Stage will again this year be staging two productions, in the spring and fall of 2024, at Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford. These will be the 12th and 13th shows since the group was founded in 2015, and both feature the work of Vermont playwrights.

On the first weekend in May, Hardwick, Vt. playwright Marc Considine’s “Love Lost Diaries” will be staged, directed by Julie Holland of Guilford. Considine is a science teacher at Hazen Union School in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. He is coach of the school’s ambitious Drama Club. It was for his student actors that Marc Considine wrote this play, which was the ensemble’s entry in a regional drama festival in the late 1980’s.


20 Minute Bridge Street, Route 119 Closure

On Wednesday, January 17, contractors for the New Hampshire Bridge Project will be moving a steel structure from New Hampshire to Depot Street on the Vermont side of the existing bridge. At approximately 1:30pm Bridge Street from Main Street to the NH bridge will be closed for a twenty-minute period.  The rain date will be Thursday, January 18.  Please expect delays and plan accordingly.


Warm Winter Coats – Donation Boxes

Please donate clean, gently used coats and boots for men, women, and children of all sizes

Drop off boxes are on the porch of The General Store in Putney and at the Brattleboro Coop entrance

Groundworks is currently housing, feeding, and supporting 200+ neighbors experiencing homelessness.


Genticorum, with Special Guests Seamus Egan and Lissa Schneckenburger at Next Stage Arts on 2/10

Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present Québécois trad trio Genticorum, with special guests Seamus Egan and Lissa Schneckenburger, at Next Stage Arts on Saturday, February 10th, at 7:30 PM.

Genticorum is among the most distinctive voices of Québécois traditional music.

In French, to describe the chemistry between people, you say they have atomes crochus — literally, that their atoms are interlaced. There’s no better way to talk about Genticorum. The trio’s connection is magnetic. In the filigree of their arrangements, seamlessly melding fiddle, flute, accordion, guitar, foot percussion, and voices, there’s always an organic spark: at its root, this is social music, and audiences can’t help but feel the pleasure these three musicians get from playing together.


If Pres. Lula Quoted Martin Luther King “Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World is My Own Government,”

If, On Martin Luther King’s Birthday and U.S. National Holiday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil could have quoted from King’s mainstream media covered up 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence,’ which condemned his government’s atrocity wars to protect predatory investments, he might have started by quoting what King said about Latin America.


BCTV Schedules – Week of January 15, 2024

Monday, January 15, 2024

5:00 am All Things LGBTQ – Interview Show: Lydia Stryk and Emma Mulvaney-Stanak 1/2/24

6:00 am Hooker Dunham Presents – Vermont Suitcase Company presents The Feeble Fantastical

7:00 am Seasonal Specials – A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols

8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast


If Xi-Jinping Reminded that Martin Luther King Called U.S.”Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World?”

If, during the three day Martin Luther King birthday holiday, a world attention getting source, for example, a high enough profiled Chinese government official, pointed out that the government of the United States of America was condemned as the most violent in the world by America’s own idol, this writer believes it would be a sensation, and a most difficult moment for the U.S. government and America’s wars supporting mainstream media which has for 57 years totally suppressed all mention of King’s condemnation of his government’s wars to protect predatory investments.


If Pres. Petro Quoted Martin Luther King “U.S. Helicopters Are Being Used Against Guerrillas in Colombia”

If, On Martin Luther King’s Birthday and U.S. National Holiday, President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego of Columbia would quote from King’s mainstream media covered up 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence,’ which condemned his government’s atrocity wars to protect predatory investments, he might start by quoting what King said about his own country Columbia:


Brattleboro DRB and DRC Site Visit

Call to Order.
Tour the newly refurbished building to see the results of a project review by the Committee and Board. No motions or decisions will be made. No applications will be heard.
Public Comment.


Possible Partial Government Shutdown January 19th Deadline

The federal government budget runs out of money January 19th for some programs but the Speaker has not scheduled another meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives until Jan. 16th. https://live.house.gov/ The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on January 16, 2024. The first deadline at midnight on January 19, 2024 includes the following four appropriations areas: Agriculture, Rural Development, etc., … There are rumblings about removing the Republican Speaker if he caves to Democrats.


Johnny Gandelsman: This Is America: Part II

Putney, VT – Renowned violinist and former member of Silkroad Ensemble, Johnny Gandelsman, invites audiences to a unique musical experience, “This Is America: Part II,” on Wednesday, February 7th, 7:00pm at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, Putney, VT 05346, USA.

In response to the tumultuous times of the early pandemic and the tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020, Johnny Gandelsman initiated a profound musical project. Collaborating with a diverse group of American and US-based composers, Gandelsman sought to reflect on the current state of society in a personal and intimate way.


If Palestinians Quoted Martin Luther King “US is Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World?” 

On Rev. Martin Luther King’s Birthday Holiday, a Palestinian  spokesperson might well want to draw world public attention to King’s 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence’ [1] when Martin Luther King, today the only American celebrity with the distinction of a national weekend holiday to honour his birthday, made bold print headlines in newspapers across the world of King loudly denouncing his very own U.S. government..