The Brattleboro Fire Department was dispatched on a first alarm on December 13, 2024, at 10:37 a.m. to 12 Valley Road in the Mountain Home Trailer Park for a reported structure fire. Units from Station Two and Central Station responded. Engine Four arrived on the scene at 10:40 a.m. Lt. Ben Aither reported a shed fully involved with extension into the garage. Crews stretched hose lines and extinguished the fire. Command reported under control at 11:10 a.m.
V. Fiscal Report
Presentation of 1st Comprehensive Draft Budget
Petitions for Brattleboro Town Officers, Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) Board Members, and Town Meeting Members are now available at the Town Clerk’s office. Town elections will be Tuesday, March 4 at the American Legion, located at 32 Linden St., Brattleboro, VT 05301.
Annual Representative Town Meeting will begin on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 8:30 a.m. in the BUHS Gymnasium.
It is a rare Brattleboro Selectboard meeting when there is a single item of new business. Tuesday’s meeting is one of them, and the sole topic is possible budget cuts of 5%, 10%, or more.
Watch as the board struggles to tame their mighty potential FY26 budget increase of over 20%. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
The Brattleboro RTM Human Services Committee will meet on Monday, December 16, 2024 at 6:00pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room (230 Main Street, Rm. 212) and over Zoom.
The Brattleboro RTM Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 6:15pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room(230 Main Street, Rm. 211).
The Brattleboro Charter Revision Commission will meet on Thursday, December 19, 2024 in the Selectboard Meeting Room(230 Main Street, Rm. 212 and over Zoom
Crews are continuing to clean up and remove forms on the bridge under a shoulder closure as weather allows. Advance warning signs for the shoulder closure will be in place to notify the traveling public of the operation. Permanent pavement markings are tentatively scheduled on NH 119 for Wednesday, December 18th just east of the new bridge. This work is weather dependent and will result in short delays and one-way alternating traffic.
Frank walked the board through the most recent draft of the FY26 budget which includes all previously discussed topics as well as the new food service recommendation. Questions from the board were answered.
On a motion by Shaun Murphy moved that the WSESU board accept and approve the budget as presented in the amount $32,028,031.
Ding with the White pieces came out somewhat passively but certainly not as pusillanimously as Game 10.
No serious opportunities arose for either side; once many pawns and most of the minor pieces came off the board all that was left was hardly unbalanced. Ding even conceded his b-pawn as the time control approached as, with all of the few pawns left were on one side of the board, no true disadvantage came from the material deficit. Another minor slip allowed Black to confine the White king to its back rank, allowing the Black king positional superiority but in no way enough to do anything but draw.
Then like a bolt from the blue the Champion violated the cardinal rule of defending an inferior position: keep the pieces on and get the pawns off. By taking up White’s most foolish offer to trade rooks and then forcing the bishops off, Black was able to quickly achieve the most elementary of wins.
The French Defense made its reappearance, Ding having used a rarity on the way to scoring a win with the Black pieces in Game 1. In this contest Ding was first to deviate, but with a poorer concept. Gukesh missed numerous opportunities to gain a clear advantage–overlooking the killshot on move 31 may haunt the young Challenger for some time– and Black managed to escape in a well-known drawn rook-and-pawn endgame.
Enjoy the interactive game viewer below, no chess knowledge required.
Brattleboro Town Offices will be closed from 7:00am to 10:00am on Friday, December 13, 2024 for an employee event. Impacted offices include: The Municipal Center, the Gibson Aiken Center and Public Works offices. The Brooks Memorial Library will open at 10:00am.
The Historical Society of Windham County located in Newfane, Vt is selling West River Railroad Books at a discounted price in time for Christmas. The West River Railroad ran from Brattleboro to South Londonderry for the period of 1880 to 1936, the Historical Society has purchased the Newfane Depot which was one of 10 stations along the route. The depot has been refurbished and is now a museum for the railroad.
Next Stage Arts presents a double bill of good-time swing blues music from the 1930s from The Smack Dabs, and Gypsy jazz from Rhythm Future Quartet, on Saturday, January 11 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage
The Smack Dabs specialize in good-time Swing Blues music from the 1930s, featuring the songs of Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, The Harlem Hamfats, and many others. This delightful and timeless genre features a rich variety of musical styles, ranging from mournful blues to joyful celebrations, setting the stage for incredible solo and group improvisations and delighting audiences and dancers alike.
They are proud to feature some of Boston’s most compelling improvising musicians in their lineup, bringing a fresh and unique sound to each performance. The core band includes Mark Earley on guitar, vocals, and kazoo; David Sparr on piano; Jim Gray on upright bass Mark Berney on cornet; Kit Buckley on saxophone and clarinet; and Jon Kraus on washboard.
The Town of Brattleboro is announcing the resignation of Brattleboro’s Finance Director, Kimberly Frost, who served in the role since April 2022. Frost will be stepping down from the position on Jan. 3, 2025, to pursue a different opportunity.
“Starting this next chapter was a difficult decision, but I’m grateful to have served my community,” said Frost.
During her tenure with the Town of Brattleboro, Frost was instrumental in re-uniting the Finance Department with the Treasurer’s Office and thereby finding efficiencies to reduce Town staff by one position. She also supported Town departments in the transition to a new financial system through the platform OpenGov. The goal of that project was to modernize and enhance the efficiency and transparency of the Town’s finances including an online publication that provides detailed expenditure information in an interactive format.
Due to the impending icy weather, a decision has been made to hold tonight’s Windham Southeast School District Board meeting as a remote-only meeting, beginning at the regular time– 6:00 pm.
The Zoom link can be found at https://wsesu.org/wsesd-agendas/
I just sent this msg to our Governor. We should start this movement.
Dear Governor Scott,
Please consider doing this for Vermont. We cherish our freedom and our libraries.
“PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Monday to prohibit public and school libraries from banning books in the state and to enshrine protections against civil and criminal charges for librarians who comply with the law.”
Greg Lesch tells some great stories of Brattleboro’s yester-years, upcoming Holiday events by the Chamber of Commerce, and his many years as a dynamic actor.
The cops could not get their story straight about the weapon &/or “silencer”. At one point it was a farm instrument. They had a Starbucks cup with “latent” prints and came up empty. As a “retired software developer” with keen interest in legal details regarding “expert” technology, the facial recognition concerns me not.
The cops could not get their story straight on what was “meticulously” written using a Sharpie on the three recovered shell casings. They “corrected” once and then “corrected” again. The words–all alliterative, all duosyllabic–could have been quoted from a toddler.
The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Board will meet in Executive Session at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, December 11. 2024 in the Windham Regional Career Center, Room #198e, 80 Atwood St., Brattleboro, and remotely via Zoom.
Frank gave an overview of the special education budget for our 10 sites including pre-K. The current draft shows an increase of 5.9% driven by student needs (up $1.1 million). The single largest cost driver is associated with tuition costs for students that we are not able to educate in our schools. In the area of salary and benefits, the cost driver is the increase in health insurance costs.
Tate Erickson and his team have been working hard to refine the budget to be lean and efficient but have capacity for new students moving in. He walked through the number of students as well as staff to student ratios. These numbers are expected to be finalized tomorrow and will be posted. Tate discussed both the ratios for both students in our area schools and those requiring out of district placements.
Another thrilling contest at the most critical time; with three games remaining, the Champion Ding needed to at least win once and had two opportunities with the White pieces to do so.
After reaching a perfectly equal opening tableau, a most innocuous-looking positional slip foreshadowed a deeper positional deficiency in Gukesh’s handling of the position–his dark-squared bishop is best returned to its original square where it does not interfere with its fellow pieces and functions perfectly fine. This came to light with a blunder on move 16 that led to a strong advantage for Ding which he confidently converted to victory, ending with a flourish that forced resignation in the face of checkmate.
