Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – August 4, 2015

by cgrotke | Town News

The NEA Our Town Grant Screening Committee has chosen finalists, and their list of screened proposals will be reviewed and approved by the by Brattleboro Selectboard at their next regular meeting, enabling the project to move to the next phase.

Brooks Memorial Library hours will be restored on Thursday mornings and Saturday afternoons, the board will accept a grant, and allow the Assessors to fine more local businesses. You can bring up other items that aren’t on the agenda during Public Participation.

SeVWA’s 2015 E. coli Monitoring of Local River Sites Continued July 29th

by sevwa.wqmp | Nature

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) had its fourth monitoring day for the summer of 2015 on Wednesday, July 29th. Our sites on the Saxtons River and Sacketts Brook received significant rainfall in the day before sampling and 5 of our 27 sites tested above the recommended “suitability to swim” bacteria level set by Vermont and the EPA. It is generally recommended to wait 24-48 hours after a significant rainfall to resume swimming in lakes and streams, so keep that in mind when making weekend plans on the water. As the summer progresses you can use the charts we publish to make informed decisions about where it is safer to swim or boat based on which sites have high bacteria counts after rainfall or tend to always have high bacteria counts.

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of August 2

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

Blasting operations on the north side of the new bridge will begin on August 6th or 7th. Roughly 15 separate 10-minute blasts will be needed to complete the work. The blasting will be conducted on weekdays for approximately 3 weeks; the target time for the blasts is between 1:30-2:00 pm. The contractor will need 5 minutes to verify clear lanes of travel. To ensure travelers’ safety, rolling roadblocks will be implemented on I91 in each direction. Sound impacts associated with the blasting will be minimal. More details to follow.

I-91

See above re blasting scheduled to start on August 6th or 7th.

On 50th Anniversary of Medicare, Sanders Proposes Medicare-for-All

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, July 30 – Addressing a rally outside the Capitol to mark the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced that he will introduce legislation to provide Medicare-for-all health insurance.

“We need to expand Medicare to cover every man, woman and child as a single-payer national health care program,” Sanders told a rally held by National Nurses United in a park near the Capitol.

A Presidential Candidate – Jim Gilmore

by cgrotke | Politics

Jim Gilmore has decided that you need to update your list of who is running for president, and add his name:

“This race is running differently than previous presidential races, that’s one reason why I’m encouraged to get in.”

Special Program on WVEW

by WVEW-lpfm | Media

If you were at the Farmer’s Market last Saturday, you may have noticed a group of teens wandering around recording various sounds. Intrigued, WVEW asked what they were doing. The resulting conversation led to a special live-in studio program to be presented Friday morning (July 31st), from about 8am to 10am.

The students, from Northfield Mount Herman’s summer session, will present and discuss their ‘soundscape’ project.

Summer Cinema Slam!

by Iris | Entertainment

The Brattleboro Film Festival and the Southern Vermont Young Professionals will join forces to mount Brattleboro’s first “Summer Cinema Slam” on August 8, 2015 from 5:30 to 11:30 pm for an outdoor/indoor mini-festival featuring film and filmmakers, music, food and brew at 118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street in Downtown Brattleboro Vermont.

All Vermont artists! 4 short films, 1 feature film, and an intermission with live music, food, and drinks!

Local food trucks (Taste of Thai, Ro’s Petite Fete, and Dosa Kitchen), Vermont Gelato, wine and Hermit Thrush beer will be available for purchase.

5:30pm Event opens (pre drinks / mingle)

6:30pm Shorts Program (including Q&As with filmmakers)
Intermission: Outdoor food trucks & beer w/ music from Lowell Thompson

Bloom County is Back

by BusyMom | Entertainment

Not in newspapers, Berkeley Breathed quit those over censorship, but Donald Trump entering the presidential race was just too rich to pass up, so he’s been releasing them on Facebook.  Anyone else happy to have something to make you spray your coffee in the morning?

Lovely Summer Weather

by cgrotke | iBrattleboro

It’s nice to feel hot at least once during the summer. Recent summers have left me feeling a bit chilly, but this year we are experiencing quite a few days that I would classify as “genuine summer.” It’s currently approaching 90 degrees in Brattleboro. Hot and humid. A chance of thunderstorms.

This is all a way of saying we’ve fixed the (NOAA makes occasional improvements that break things, then we catch up.) This round of improvements includes a new set of weather icons they hope will better indicate what’s going on.

Sanders Statement on Planned Parenthood

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, July 29 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today as Senate Republicans pushed for a vote on legislation to cut $500 million in annual funding for Planned Parenthood:

“The attempt by Senate Republicans to cut off support for Planned Parenthood is an attack on women’s health. Stripping funding for Planned Parenthood would punish the 2.7 million Americans, especially low-income women, who rely on its clinics for affordable, quality health care services including cancer prevention, STI and HIV testing and general primary health care services.

“The current attempt to discredit Planned Parenthood is part of a long-term smear campaign by people who want to deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies.

Tuesday Farmer’s Market

by KAlden | Op/Ed

For the second year in a row the Tuesday market on Whetstone Pathway is really disappointing. Two small farms – both selling identical vegetables. No seasonal fruit being sold. A woman selling baked goods; a flower vendor and that’s pretty much it. No variety – very little reason to go there. The biggest draw – with the only lines of customers -was the Thai food truck.I don’t know what’s going on with this market. When it was located on Main Street mext to the Senior Center there were lots of farms offering not only veggies and herbs but berries, melons, peaches; apples in the fall. Plus flowers and baked goods and a couple of places to get lunch.

David Bradbury To Speak About Vermont Seed Capital Fund

by Not Signed In | Sci-Tech

David Bradbury, president of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), will speak at the August meeting of Brattleboro Area Tech on Thursday, August 20. The meeting will take place in the Atrium of the Brooks House on Main Street in Brattleboro at 6:00 p.m.

Mr Bradbury will speak about the Vermont Seed Capital Fund and other financing opportunities available to new or growing technology companies in Vermont.

VCET assists technology oriented companies in a number of ways in addition to financing. Plus, it operates incubators for startups at two locations in Burlington and one in Middlebury.

Expanded Poetry and Video with Rachal Hadas & Shalom Gorewitz

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

Please join poet Rachel Hadas and video artist Shalom Gorewitz on Wednesday, July 29, at 7 PM, for a presentation where they will fuse poetry and digital filmmaking through a collaborative process that is not illustrative or narrative, but a kind of syncretic linking. The presentation is free and open to the public. 

Rachel Hadas is is the author of The Golden Road (poems), 2012, and the prose work Strange Relation: A Memoir of Marriage, Dementia, and Poetry (2011). Her awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 7/27/15

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 7/27/15

Monday, July 27, 2015

12:25 am Brown Bag Concert Series – Will Patton Ensemble

1:30 am September 11 – The New Pearl Harbor? Pt 2

2:30 am Green Mtn Bonsai Society – 33rd Annual Members Show

5:00 am Reading Frederick Douglas – July 13, 2015

6:30 am SAFSTOR: 7/16/15 – Jennifer Stromsten

Cannabis Legalization Talk Set for Monday

by joebob | Town News

From the Brattleboro Reformer-

“BRATTLEBORO >> A citizens’ group that is trying to develop a statewide strategic plan for the legalization of cannabis will hold its first public meeting in Brattleboro next week.

The Vermont Cannabis Collaborative, or VTCC, plans to hold a series of public forums around the state as it prepares to issue a report on cannabis legalization in time for the upcoming Legislative session.

The group will host a meeting Monday, July 27, at 5 p.m. at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden at 157 Main St.

Brattleboro Time Trade Listings – Week of July 26

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 sunset on the porch:

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

Egyptian Walking Onion Plants
Vegan Raw Cookbook
Clean Sod and Garden Soil Available
Single Kayak(S) Loan

Spectacular Niagara

by Lise | Travel

Americans love a realistic spectacle, the more realistic the better.  So says Umberto Eco in Travels in Hyper Reality, a survey of American theme parks and attractions that argues the premise that for Americans, the real is not real enough, and that enhanced reality (or even enhanced unreality) are sometimes better than the thing itself.  One could certainly make that case with the theme park called Niagara Falls, which I was fortunate enough to visit recently at night, when Niagara transitions from mere natural wonder into a 20th century spectacular worthy of Las Vegas.

Weekend Comedy Series: Maria Bamford

by cgrotke | Entertainment

It’s time for Comedy Christmas in July, featuring Maria Bamford’s “One-Hour Homemade Christmas Stand-up Special.”

This is hard to describe, and probably isn’t for everyone, but for those who enjoy twisty journeys through the brain, excursions into the uncomfortable, and explorations of the surreal, you may like this quite a bit.