Issue: August 2016
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Eggs, farms and the law
Mass. ballot question launches debate on agricultural practices By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass. Sara Housman, the marketing manager at Wild Oats Market in Williamstown, shows off some of the co-op’s locallly sourced eggs. The store only sells eggs from cage-free hens under a policy adopted in 2006. A November ballot question aims to read more
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Amid cool marble, a hotbed of creativity
Dorset estate finds new life as retreat for artists By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer DORSET, Vt. The Marble House Project has transformed a massive old home in Dorset, Vt., into a retreat for visual artists, dancers, musicians, writers and other creative people. Eight artists at a time share three-week residencies at the property from May read more
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Gun shows may vanish from Saratoga scene
Longtime promoter says City Center won’t let him book future dates By THOMAS DIMOPOULOSContributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. A crowd jams the Saratoga Springs City Center in 2013 for a gun show, one of three or four that have been staged annually at the center by New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates Inc. The show’s read more
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Decision on refugees now months away
Rutland aldermen seek more discussion, decline to endorse program By C.B. HALLContributing writer RUTLAND, Vt. The federal government appears to have put off a decision on whether to resettle 100 Syrian refugees in Rutland after city aldermen chose last month not to endorse the resettlement effort.The U.S. State Department had been expected to render a read more
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Counterculture lives on as Rainbow Gathering visits Vermont
By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer MOUNT TABOR, Vt. More than 10,000 people are estimated to have set up camp last month in the Green Mountain National Forest near Mount Tabor for the national Rainbow Gathering, an experiment in alternative living that traces its roots to the anti-war counterculture of the late 1960s.Tracy Frisch photo When read more
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Finding color and light in the Green Mountains
Modernist painter Milton Avery’s work in Vermont is focus of exhibit By TELLY HALKIASContributing Writer BENNINGTON, Vt. Milton Avery’s “Blue Trees” (1945) became one of his best-known paintings and was among those inspired by his visits to southern Vermont in the 1930s and ‘40s. It is featured in a new exhibit at the Bennington read more
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Lawmakers pledge multiple inquiries on PFOA
After several months in which their pleas seemed to fall mainly on deaf ears, local activists appear to have succeeded in triggering at least three separate legislative inquiries into the water contamination crisis affecting northeastern Rensselaer County. In early July, both the state Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives announced plans to hold hearings read more
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A victory for labeling that keeps us in the dark
It was probably only a matter of time. Two years ago, legislators in Montpelier voted overwhelmingly to make Vermont the first state in the nation to require labeling of foods with genetically modified ingredients. For several years before that, Vermonters had spoken out loudly – and jammed legislative hearings – to demand the right to read more