Huge Health Insurance Rate Hikes: Public Comment through 7/24

by ESchwartz | Health

Blue Cross and MVP Health Care want to raise rates by an average of 15.5% and 12.8% for individuals and 14.5% and 12.5% for small businesses. The affected plans are the ones people buy through Vermont Health Connect. This comes as an estimated 29,000 Vermont residents are being kicked off of Medicaid and forced to go uninsured or buy these expensive private plans.

If you are impacted by the rate hikes you can comment to the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB), the state’s regulatory body. If you or your small business are currently purchasing one of these plans, if you are at risk of losing Medicaid, or if you are uninsured due to cost, you are or will be affected by these rates.

Brattleboro Selecboard Special Meeting Agenda and Notes

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will be holding their July moments of public participation for anyone wishing to provide feedback and comments on the EMS plan.

They will also approve new land use regulations, and hear a report on plans for improvements to Living Memorial Park.  You can sometimes bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, if the Chair allows.

Bandwagon Summer Series Brings Vermont Institution Bread & Puppet to Putney

by hahrenholz | Entertainment

The Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series presents beloved Vermont institution Bread & Puppet, bringing their touring production to Putney on Thursday, August 24 at 6:00 pm at the Grammar School at 159 Grammar School Lane, in Putney, Vermont.

The Bread and Puppet Theater celebrates their 60th anniversary with The Mother Dirt Circus!
Audiences will delight as Bread and Puppet draws on its distinctive iconography to call attention to the urgent issues of the day. Young and old will thrill to see stilt dancers and paper maché beasts of all sizes accompanied by the riotous Bread and Puppet Circus Brass Band. A colorful spectacle of protest and celebration performed under the Vermont summer sky.

Sourdough rye with aioli will be offered after the performance and The Bread and Puppet Press and Cheap Art Emporium will be open for your perusal.

Construction Update Brattleboro-Hinsdale Bridge – July 20

by Not Signed In | Hinsdale

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES: Work continues to progress on waterline and drainage installation from north to south along the VT 142 corridor. Ledge removal along the north end of the project with hydraulic hammers has become necessary to advance this work and will continue until elevations above the ledge line can be achieved. The raising of drainage structures will continue as grade of the highway is increased.

The layout and formwork for the northern MSE wall moment slabs will continue this week as the contractor prepares for concrete. The moment slabs will hold the railings and become the sidewalk. It is anticipated that these locations will be ready for concrete in the coming weeks.

Windham Southeast School District Board Meeting Agenda

by Not Signed In | Education

AGENDA
I. Call To Order – 6:00pm – Kelly Young, Board Chair
II. Student Matters (5-10 minutes)
III. Administrative Report –
* Hires / Resignations / Retirements
* Summer Programming
* Update on contingency plans for buildings to be utilized as shelters in the event of future climate emergencies
* Update on BUHS re-branding and mascot selection – Action Required
* Update on selection of Restorative Justice Coordinator – Possible Action Required

Brattleboro EMS Request for Information

by RobertOeser | Town News

The town proposed a Request for Information (RFI) process on May 12, 2023 to identify potential EMS providers for Brattleboro. Vendors can provide input on the RFP’s structure, criteria, and requirements.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) will be developed based on feedback from the RFI responses, which the Select Board will review on July 25. Rescue Inc. enters Brattleboro EMS chat, Brattleboro Reformer, July 14, 2023.

The Body Is Dying

by RDavis | Activism

When a body is close to death organs start to fail. The kidneys lose their ability to filter out poisons, the gastrointestinal tract slows and stops moving and processing food, muscles waste away and the brain slips into a stage of fog until the big sleep takes over.

I can’t help but think that there are a lot of comparisons to the way we die and the way in which our planet is decaying and looking more and more like a body nearing death. We look to global warming and blame it for many of the disasters that are unfolding. The warming of the planet is much like a deadly disease that has taken over the body.

When a disease takes hold that has little hope for slowing or stopping the body knows that death is at hand and systems move into a different mode.

Is it possible that our planet knows that it is on a death spiral and that the catastrophes we are experiencing a part of the process of the death of a planet?

SelectKitten Update

by cgrotke | Pets
14 weeks kitten

When we last left off in mid-June, Bianca and Margot were almost 10 weeks old and fending off a potentially life-threatening virus.  Quick update: everyone did well, which includes these two plus their siblings being fostered elsewhere and their still-wild brother living with Mom in the yard.

It was a long, stressful period for me, though. Nothing was certain. It was a day-by-day, hour-by-hour project until they were in the clear. That meant that I got to spend much of June and early July sitting on a bathroom floor in quarantine with them.  Lise was assigned to keep things as normal as possible for our existing cat in the rest of the house.

I did lots of special cleaning to keep things safe. It was like the start of COVID… washing everything, and not being sure if the virus was lurking about.

Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series Presents Afrobeat Ensemble Armo

by hahrenholz | Music

The Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series presents Afrobeat ensemble Armo, on Friday, August 18 at 6:00 pm at the Retreat Farm, 45 Farmhouse Square, in Brattleboro, VT.

Armo’s intimate and energetic sound focuses on classic and contemporary Afrobeat.

Founded by longtime Antibalas bandmates vocalist/keyboardist Amayo, trumpeter/percussionist Jordan McLean, percussionist/vocalist Marcus Farrar, guitarist/keyboardist Nikhil P. Yerawadekar, drummer Kevin Raczka, and bassist Justin Kimmel, Armo creates spontaneous arrangements of the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, The Daktaris, Ebo Taylor, William Onyeabor, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, and original rhythm-based music.

This 5-8 piece band features a revolving cast from the Daptone Records family and NY Afrobeat Scene. Members of the band now include Dave “Smoota” Smith on trombone/keyboards, bassists/guitarists Binky Griptite and Timothy James, saxophonist/keyboardist Tony Jarvis, and drummer Dylan Fusillo.

WSESD Social Justice Committee Meeting Minutes

by Not Signed In | Education

The Social Justice Committee will be bringing the following recommendations to the
WSESD Board and Policy and Amendment Committee meetings for consideration:

● The 2021-22 WSESD Social Justice committee developed three questions related to diversity and equity that should be included on all job applications. Currently only part of the first question seems to be included on job listings. The Social Justice Committee recommends that this be remedied and that all three questions are asked on every job listing for the district.

BCTV Schedules – Week of July 17, 2023

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Channel 1078 Weekly Listing for 7/17/23

Monday, July 17, 2023

4:25 am The Talk – Professional People of Color in VT

6:00 am Collegiate A Cappella Concert – 19th Annual A Cappella Concert 4/15/23

7:55 am Next Stage Arts – Bandwagon Summer Series 2023 Featuring Underground System

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

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting Agenda

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 5:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center (230 Main Street). Prior to the business part of the meeting, at 5:15pm,  the Selectboard will conduct a committee interview with a  candidate for the Development Review Board. The Board will then make appointments to the Development Review Board during the business part of the meeting. Following Committee Appointments, the Selectboard is expected to immediately enter into executive session to discuss contracts, real estate and the evaluation of a public employee. After exiting the executive session, the Board is expected to immediately adjourn. No action will be taken in executive session.

Guilford Brass Band Concert Postponed

by DonInGuilford | Arts

Christ Church Society sadly announces that the Celebration Brass Band concert scheduled for Sunday has been postponed due to a particularly wet weather forecast (even by the standards of the past week!)

Even Gov. Scott has proclaimed Sunday a miserable weather day.

WSESD Personnel Committee Meeting Minutes

by Not Signed In | Education

On a motion by Kim Price, the minutes of June 7, 2023 were approved.

On a motion by Anne Beekman, the committee accepted the recommendation of administration to hire Kerri Beebe, WSESU PreK Coordinator.

On a motion by Anne Beekman, the committee accepted the recommendation of administration to hire Tara Sullivan, BUHS Special Education teacher.