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5 days ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
GLOVER- The Shadow Lake dam was found to be leaking with sinkholes undermining the dam’s infrastructure. It was in July, 2024 when the sinkholes were discovered, leading the Vermont Dam Safety Program (DSP) to inspect the dam. Engineers from Dubois & King originally inspected the dam and offered recommendations to mitigate the leakage. The selectboard then hired Weston & Sampson engineering firm to develop five options to present to the DSP.
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5 days ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
MONTPELIER- A legal issue over the use and maintenance of legal trails has led Vermont’s municipalities to petition their legislators to incorporate protection against lawsuits. The original bill, S.4, was folded into S.488, but later removed. Municipalities are lobbying for the language in S.4 to be incorporated into another bill, S.123 (Department of Motor Vehicles). The effort failed, according to Representative Ken Wells.
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6 days ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
DERBY- One of the topics at the North Country Union Junior High School board meeting last Tuesday evening was setting a fee schedule for the use of the soccer, baseball, and softball fields. The proposed field rental fees could cost teams a substantial sum by the end of the summer, which concerns some of the school board members.
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6 days ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
MONTPELIER- The end of the legislative session is drawing close and Governor Phil Scott and legislative leaders are at odds over H.454, the school reform bill. Governor Scott used his weekly press conference to urge legislators to refrain from increasing property taxes and implement structural changes in how education is delivered. Last year the legislature passed a substantial (more than 13 percent) increase in the education property tax.
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
GUILDHALL- Governor Phil Scott has signed the Capital Construction bill, which has $3.6 million earmarked for a major renovation of the Essex County courthouse, the Meeting House, and one other building. It has been decades since the buildings were upgraded, and that happened in the 1980’s with an addition of running water and a bathroom in the Meeting House. Former Senator Vince Illuzzi said there was a bathroom off the main courthouse, with a curtain used for a door.
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
GUILDHALL- The Essex County Courthouse is set to undergo a major renovation, and students at Canaan School are helping by creating a judge’s bench, tables, and posts. Industrial Arts teacher Kim Sweatt is spearheading the project. Over the last couple of years, students at Canaan High School have participated by building a bench (in progress), a stool, two tables and two posts, using recycled and repurposed wood from the historic buildings.
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
WESTMORE- A group of Westmore residents became alarmed when they learned Internet Telecommunications Wireless (ITW) proposed constructing a 140 foot tower near the north beach at Lake Willoughby. The tower will be located on Peter Hyslop’s 59 acre lot on Frog Hollow Lane. They organized and started to participate in the Certificate of Public Good (CPG) process before the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC).
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
GLOVER - The conversation over who owns Rodgers Road came to an abrupt end last Thursday when the selectboard moved to keep Rodgers Road (Town Highway 48) open for the public, continue to maintain the road and retain its status as a Class 4 town road. The decision puts the ball in Lt. Governor John Rodgers’ court in terms of his next move, which may include filing a lawsuit in court for a determination of who owns the road on his property.
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
DERBY- The Provost Farm on Provost Road was a dairy farm operated by generations of the Provost family. Currently Thomas Provost and Jamie Manzi are renovating Provost’s grandparents’ home; the cows are long gone, but the farm remains. Josh Poulin hays the fields and the family has switched to raising poultry and selling eggs. Manzi said that after the dairy herd was sold, her partner and his father raised beef cows and had a few horses. After Provost’s father passed away, they sold the beef cows.
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1 week ago | 
newportvermontdailyexpress.com | Ed Barber
CHARLESTON- The headline is the sage advice of Charleston Selectboard Chair Patrick Austin, who was referring to a brook that crosses the Hudson Road. During last summer’s storm, the volume of water from the brook caused an overflow, leading to runoff damage to the road and property owned by Seth and Jennifer Phair. The selectboard met with the Phair family at a meeting in March, who complained during the repair work.
