Vermont Official Warns U.S. Senate Panel: Don’t Let Transportation Funding Run Out

by Not Signed In | State News

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27 – Testifying at the invitation of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Vermont Agency of Transportation Deputy Secretary Sue Minter warned a Senate panel today that a looming shortfall in federal transportation funding could put people out of work in Vermont and “tip the balance of our fragile economic recovery.”

Projects slated for this construction season could be cancelled unless Congress acts soon to shore up the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to be depleted by July.

“Reducing or eliminating transportation projects translates into job losses in the construction industry,” Minter told the Senate public works committee. “In a small state like ours, this can tip the balance on our fragile economic recovery.”

The Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Emerging Artist Series – Carolina Calvache

by Not Signed In | Music

Innovative, original jazz, influenced by Colombian rhythms. Featuring saxophonist, Jaleel Shaw

The Vermont Jazz Center will present Colombian pianist, Carolina Calvache, performing as part of our Emerging Artist series. This young artist has all the qualifications that the VJC is celebrating in this series: she is launching her first CD with a major jazz label (Sunnyside), she is a creative composer, she is highly accomplished on her instrument. She is a rising star in the eyes of both critics and peers and she is traveling with her own band. Her musicians have studied and performed her complex material and are able to transcend its technical demands and add to the beauty of her vision. These musicians are Jaleel Shaw on saxophone, Yasushi Nakamura on acoustic bass and Rodrigo Recabarren on drums.

Phone Etiquette in Vermont

by Holland Mills | Op/Ed

Ever since I’ve moved to this town, I’ve noticed that virtually all except those I’ve conveyed the following sentiment to who call me on the phone employ the most miserable phone etiquette I’ve encountered in the many states and provinces I’ved lived in.

When I was a child, I lived on the Upper West Side in a communal situation that had three women (including my mother) under 30.  It being NYC and Ma Bell being the only game in town, it was standard practice for women to only give their first initial and last name when listed in the phone book.

Welch Highlights Climate Change Impact on VT Maple Industry

by Not Signed In | Politics

Climate change is having a real impact on Vermont.  For example, Rep. Welch regularly hears from Vermont’s maple producers about how changes in temperature and shifting seasons are affecting their businesses.  He  last week with Dave Marvin, owner of Butternut Mountain Farm, and Tim Perkins, Director of Proctor Maple Research Institute at the University of Vermont, about the impact of climate change on Vermont’s maple industry.  Rep. Welch will be bringing the voices of Vermonters like Dave and Tim’s to Washington to demonstrate why urgent action on climate change is needed.

Winter Sunshine Series at Sandglass Theater Continues This Weekend With Vermont’s Own Crabgrass Puppet Theatre

by SandglassTheater | Entertainment

Crabgrass Puppet Theatre
The Pirate, the Princess, and the Pea
March 29, 1pm and 3pm
$8

Reserve tickets at info@sandglasstheater.org
or (802) 387-4051

Spring is here but the 2014 Winter Sunshine Series of Family Performances at Sandglass Theater in Putney continues! On Saturday, March 29th, Winter Sunshine curators Bonny Hall and Jamie Keithline of Vermont’s own Crabgrass Puppet Theatre present The Pirate, the Princess, and the Pea.

Love & Blackmail at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Entertainment

Escape the dreary weather and join us for a FREE MOVIE! Today, Wednesday, Mar 26, at 2 PM, the Classic Matinee Film Noir Series at Brooks Memorial Library continues with a story of a tangled web of blackmail and love with surprise twists.

For title information please contact the Brooks Library. What is film noir? Literally it means “black film” and it is a Hollywood genre of crime movie of the 1940’s and 50’s that developed mostly out of the Great Depression crime fiction.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: A Reading and Discussion Series –Final Discussion

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Join Vermont Humanities scholar Richard Wizansky for this reading and discussion series which features the shorter works by the great Russian writer, dissident, and former Cavendish, Vermont resident and includes his most read and highly regarded novella as well as several of his famous speeches. 

The final reading for the series is the 1970 Nobel Lecture; and the 1978 Harvard Class Day Address. Wednesday 26 March 2014, 4:30pm – 6:00pm. 

A Local Gas Tax?

by AHubbard | Town Plan

Brattleboro is in a very tough spot. The town has suffered three severe economic blows in the past 5 years, in cascading order from national to state to local: The Mortgage Crisis, Tropical Storm Irene and the Brooks House Fire. Each event had a multiplying effect on the Town as revenue and equity evaporated from the region.

The mortgage crisis sapped equity from our homes and crippled real estate values which, in turn, crimped the tax revenue and town budgets. Tropical Storm Irene washed untold millions of equity downstream and cost millions more in repairs and rebuilding. And when the central block of your downtown lies vacant for three years, the economic scars seem fairly tangible.

Live Free or … Bernie?

by tomaidh | Politics

Editorial from the Concord Monitor:

As it turns out, Scott Brown isn’t the only politician from next-door New Hampshire voters should be watching.

In an interview with The Nation magazine this month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s thinking about launching a campaign for president in 2016.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/25-1

Sanders Statement on NSA Surveillance

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, March 25 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today on reports that President Barack Obama intends to seek another 90-day extension of the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records before asking Congress to make private phone companies store the records:

“As someone who voted against the Patriot Act and opposed its reauthorization, I have long been concerned about out-of-control intelligence agencies.

Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Note RT Closure Scheduled for April 4-11

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge in the Fall of 2015.

Weather permitting, night work will be conducted Sunday night, March 30th through Saturday night, April 5th.

Route 30

The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. This reduction will remain in effect through the Spring of 2016.

Brattleboro Area Community Solar

by Not Signed In | Putney

PUTNEY, V.T. – (March 25, 2014) Putney based SunFarm Community Solar in conjunction with Vermont’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power (GMP), and the nation’s leading community solar developer, Clean Energy Collective (CEC), are brining a community-owned solar array to residents in the Brattleboro area. It is the second in a progression of community solar facilities planned for Vermont, making community solar available to some 70 percent of the state’s electricity customers.

Sanders to Host Four Simultaneous Town Meetings Sunday on Income and Wealth Inequality

by Not Signed In | Politics

BURLINGTON, Vt., March 24 – At a time of growing income and wealth inequality in the United States, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday will host free screenings of the Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All.”

Sanders has held hundreds of town meetings across Vermont. This Sunday’s events will mark the first time he has held four town meetings simultaneously.

The documentary, featuring former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, will be shown in Middlebury, Brattleboro, St. Johnsbury and Bennington. Afterward, the audiences will come together via video conference for a discussion led by Sanders from Middlebury Union High School.

Study Shows Drop In Searches For Certain Terms Post NSA Revelations

by cgrotke | Sci-Tech

A since the NSA spying revelations. In it, the researchers say that U.S.-based search traffic fell 2.2% for terms perceived as likely to get one in trouble with the government. Internationally, there was a similar drop in terms that might be embarrassing to family or employers.

It doesn’t sound like much, but with the high volume of searches, the number is indeed quite large. (No wonder that tech companies are starting to push back against spying, at least in PR efforts. They see their numbers dropping more clearly than anyone, and that equates to lost profits.)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Writing the Red Wheel in Vermont

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Please join us. Conductor and pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn will discuss the writing of his father Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and their family’s life in Cavendish in the 1980s in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library on Friday, March 28, at 7 PM. (This talk was originally scheduled for February 5 at 7:00 pm.)

Solzhenitsyn will recollect his father’s painstaking crafting of the Red Wheel — a history of the Russian Revolution — and his family’s life in Cavendish during Solzhenitsyn’s exile from the Soviet Union. Ignat Solzhenitsyn was born in Moscow in 1972, the middle son of author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

UFAUXs Are A’ Comin

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Things seem hard, in Brattleboro. It’s been a long winter, and spring is very sought for and very over due.

When things get hard, one of the best remedies I know of, is to launch a UFAUX. So we went and bought the supplies needed for a really BIG one. We hope to do so on Gallery Walk, in May. Yes, I know that is a long way away. But hopefully it gives us enough time to plan it well. Also, we can celebrate more spring like weather then !

So, look to the skies, in May, and smile.

The 2014 RTM Message

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

Representative Town Meeting members repeatedly tried to “send a message” to the Brattleboro Selectboard at their most recent meeting. Throughout, representatives also stated that they didn’t think the Selectboard was getting that message.

As an outside observer, the message was simple: Taxes are too high. If you are going to cut something, cut additional Police Fire bonds and not the Library or Recreation and Parks departments. The bonds can wait.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 3/24/14

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 3/24/14

                   Monday March 24  

12:00 am      Green Mountain Vets for Peace: Ep. 130

1:00 am       Pres. Coolidge Site Panel Discussion

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       The Folklorist Ep. 6

4:30 am       The Vermont Healthcare Experiment

5:00 am       Common Good VT: The VT Community Foundation’s Food and Farm Initiative

Interesting Query On Money From The Net

by tomaidh | Economics

“What shall we call “hard” non-fiat currencies?

I propose the following: Gold based currency and Oil based currency.

The Gold Based currency should be called the Trojan because its value is reckoned on a troy ounce of .999 fine gold

Not In Your History Books – Part 3

by RLElkins | History

Authors Note: An Eidetic Memory is the ability to remember the intricate details of sights, sounds, and conversations during the adolescent’s years with no relationship to the child’s intelligence or learning skills. It is estimated that between two to ten percent of children are born with this aptitude. In the medical profession this memory phenomena is diagnosed as HSAM or Highly Superior Autobiographic Memory that some health professionals dispute.

As a follow-up to the high school student interview in Part 2, the one sided dialogue in Part #3 is with the same individual who discussed the events surrounding the implementation of the Vermont Sales Tax in 1971. When asked one question about the Hinsdale Raceway, the twenty-six hundred word response revealed an incredible detailed description of what transpired during a three hour timeframe fifty-four years ago. This is a very personal and poignant remembrance about growing up in Brattleboro.