This Week’s News
Hard Tellin’: In Defense of Scandalous Family Christmas Letters
Each Christmas season I experience a strange and uncomfortable irony as an English teacher.
Letter to the editor: This is what makes Brandon such a special place
Last Sunday, after a two-year Covid hiatus, Brandon was once again treated to a marvelous holiday concert by the Festival Singers, their 40th!
Time Machine: Prohibition-era smugglers on thin ice in bungled mission over Lake Champlain
On December 19, 1922, two smugglers loaded a car with ale in New York and attempted to drive over the frozen surface of Lake Champlain.
‘Tis the season for Christmas trees
In the days after Thanksgiving, thoughts turn toward Christmas: lights, candles, stars, Christmas trees, wreaths, kissing balls, mistletoe, perhaps even ‘boughs of holly.’
‘Scrappy’ Otter girls’ basketball team down but not out
Early on the visiting Otter Valley girls’ basketball team on Friday looked determined to take it to Middlebury, using tough man-to-man defense to force a batch of turnovers and a balanced attack to bolt to a 11-4 lead after one period.
Photos of the Week
Sports
OV’s Brooke Kimball named Unified Basketball Coach of the Year by Southern VT League
What really matters about sports? 2025 Southern Vermont League Unified Basketball Coach of the Year Brooke Kimball of Otter Valley said, “I love how much joy it brings.”
Nesobe Golf Club is no longer a “Hidden Gem”
Neshobe Golf Club hosted the 96th New England Amateur Championship with the best golfers in New England competing over three days.
A new generation of duckies takes the podium
The last few racing seasons, and all their attendant scandals, have left the local duckie community feeling unsettled.
Nifty Thrifty sponsors swim lessons for July 4th Duckies
Every July, hundreds of rubber duckies from all over the world descend upon Brandon for the Independence Day Duckie Race on the Neshobe River.
Brandon’s Jim Leary finishes his 36th Burlington Marathon
When Jim Leary ran in the first-ever Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, Bernie Sanders had finished his fourth (and last) term as mayor.