Cassandra Hemenway

I leased a Hyundai Kona electric vehicle in October 2023, and — despite the inconvenience of charging on an underdeveloped network — I’ll never go back to a gas-powered car. Until I leased the Kona, I’d gotten by on jerry-rigged decades-old vehicles that occasionally required duct tape and special knowledge (I’m thinking of that old truck […]

Yestermorrow Design/Build School (www.yestermorrow.org) is hosting a series of free lectures called “Connected Communities” on the topic of transportation and livable communities.  Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. between Oct 23 and Nov 20. Local experts will present important information on the state of transportation in Vermont: from walkable communities to interconnected trail systems, […]

When Britt Richardson started leading fitness classes in the year 2000, she didn’t expect that 24 years later she’d be a size-inclusive registered dietician, nutrition coach, and local leader in the body liberation movement. As a seasoned instructor teaching everything from Zumba to CrossFit, the Montpelier resident saw early on that her clients wanted more […]

Parts of Montpelier’s bike path have become dangerous, according to a planning commission member who started logging incidents.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a flood watch for central Vermont from Wednesday, Dec. 11, through Thursday morning, Dec. 12, according to a press release from Montpelier City Manager William Fraser.  Both river and flash flooding caused by rain and snowmelt is possible, Fraser noted in the release. The release stated that the Winooski River at Montpelier is anticipated to crest at 10.3 feet, which is 0.7 feet below the 11-foot Action Stage. For context, the Winooski River at Montpelier crested at 16.15 feet on Dec. 18, 2023. The action stage is the level at which action is

Montpelier’s Department of Public Works (DPW) has been busy repairing water main breaks in the past several weeks; there were three in the same location at the corner of Barre and Main streets just before Thanksgiving; a break on Liberty Street the following week, and then several in a row on Derby Drive last week. On top of that, the DPW staff is getting ready for a major pipe replacement project on East State Street and State Street. So far in 2024 there have been 23 water main breaks in the capital city, according to DPW Director and Engineer Kurt

After a five-year hiatus, Montpelier’s three-day roots music festival is back. Montpelier Alive and the Summit School of Traditional Music and Culture are bringing back the “Spice on Snow Winter Music Festival” starting Friday, Jan. 17, through Sunday, Jan. 19. The event features a wide range of performers, and will come to a close on Sunday, Jan. 19, with a rousing “MLK Jr. Commemorative Concert” featuring more than 55 performers at the Lost Nation Theater in City Hall. The festival kicks off on Jan. 17 with featured band Rose and the Bros at the Capitol Plaza ballroom, from 7 to

Amid frigid temperatures this week and growing concern about funding for housing under a new presidential administration, Good Samaritan Haven will participate in an annual national point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 22. This year’s count is happening across the U.S. and comes as central Vermont continues to grapple with an unprecedented homelessness crisis. Good Sam (as it is known locally) conducted a local count Nov. 1, 2024, at the request of the Vermont Agency of Human Services. That count revealed a staggering 312% increase in central Vermont homelessness compared to 2020. It found 592 individuals without stable

Recently, the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) announced to its members, of which The Bridge is one, that it has signed onto a coalition statement led by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. The statement calls on the Trump administration to restore the Associated Press’ longstanding access to the White House media pool. In a March 3 email, INN wrote “The AP has been denied access because of its refusal to update the widely used AP Style Guide to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. In the latest

We asked and you answered. We put out the call on our social media to hear from readers about how our community is adapting to challenging garden sites, be it minimal land, lead in the soil, oddball corners, garden hacks, steep inclines, and more. A lot of you are making do with what you got, gardening on steep hillsides, some for food, some for flowers, and some as an attractive alternative to mowing. Below is a sampling of your responses. Eating from the Hillside Two people told us about how they have terraced their steep “lawns” with vegetable and flower