Calais News

A wild card going into Town Meeting Day was how voters would react to the common scenario of property taxes in most communities going up, even while education spending, when averaged across the state, is virtually flat.

Voters in all five member towns and the city of Montpelier came out in support of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library on Town Meeting Day, providing $405,600 to keep the historic library on sound financial footing for another year.

It's tough to eat oysters standing up and in a crowd. The rough half-shells brim with briny liqueur, and the slightest jostle is enough to send dribbles down the front of one's shirt.

A modest turnout of voters breezed through town meeting Tuesday, unanimously approving both the town and elementary school budgets by voice votes, along with purchase of a new bucket loader and a number of road and building repair projects.

Residents in the five towns that make up the Washington Central Supervisory Union will face various property tax increases if they approve their proposed school budgets on Town Meeting Day.

WASHINGTON COUNTY Barre City: Polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium.

Police are asking for information about a garage burglary that was reported late last month on Bayne Comolli Road, as the victim has provided them with a more precise list of what was stolen.

A rookie Washington County deputy has been suspended and is facing a court hearing and an internal affairs' investigation after he was served with a protection from abuse order Wednesday, according to the sheriff.

Ruth Porter, of the hamlet of Adamant in Calais, has produced a gripping new novel about people in a Vermont community.

The Calais guitarist known for his work with central Vermont singer-songwriter Kris Gruen gives off a similarly mellow indie-folk vibe on this disc that also features Jay Ekis on guitar and Mike Donofrio on bass.

Up to 2,000 members of Washington Electric Cooperative were without power for roughly two hours on Sunday and crews were still scrambling to restore service to nearly 500 of them at press time.

Ran into Dennis Steele last night; dude's running for governor ... he's also an avid supporter of local music.

A state program credited with preserving millions of acres of forest and farmland from development became the first prominent example of the fiscal year 2011 budget crisis facing lawmakers, with House members Tuesday giving tentative approval to cuts in the so-called Current Use program.

A driver crashed his car at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday on County Road in Calais and fought with fire and rescue personnel who arrived on the scene Vermont State Trooper Benjamin Barton said.

Phil and Julie Tonks have figured out how to stay afloat in a struggling economy.

The last, and largest, wave of Vermont National Guard troops bound for Afghanistan left home Sunday morning.

State and local police in Washington County have witnessed a spike in the number of motor vehicles stolen in the last two months, along with a rash of cases where items were stolen from inside motor vehicles.

They know well the wages of war. Kathrine Muller lost her son, Pvt. Adam Muller, to a roadside bomb in 2007.

Several educators' positions could be in jeopardy at the U-32 middle and high schools as district officials look to hold the line on school spending next year.

A solid waste management district known mostly for its network of recycling depots will undergo an extreme makeover in coming months as it pivots away from those facilities and launches new programs that are more in tune with its "zero waste" philosophy.