The new year dawned on Jan. 1 for the rest of us, but for one little girl the whole shebang kicked off on Jan. 2, when Porter Medical Center welcomed its first baby of 2025. Raigan Sanborn arrived at 9:42 p.m. to parents Brittanie Loso Sanborn and Donald Sanborn of Pittsford, weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces.

The start of 2025 saw area homeless shelters full, with waiting lists. Service providers said that most of the former Bakery Lane encampment residents, which Middlebury officials cleared in December 2024, were able to secure some kind of housing, though several continued to survive outdoors amidst cold temperatures. Advocates said that in 2024 there were approximately 156 houseless persons in Addison County, including 41 children, and that many others remained at risk of losing their housing.

Middlebury’s Ilsley Library spent the month preparing for a $17 million expansion and renovation project at its 75 Main St. location. At a special budget meeting, the Middlebury selectboard decided to dip into the community’s local option tax reserve fund to pay for the project and plug a $1.8 million revenue shortfall.

Addison County legislators decamped to Montpelier for the new biennium, where several area representatives were appointed to leadership positions. Rep. Robin Scheu of Middlebury was chosen to lead the powerful Appropriations Committee, Rep. Peter Conlon of Cornwall continued to helm the Education Committee, Rep. Amy Sheldon of Middlebury continued to chair the Environment Committee, and Rep. Matthew Birong of Vergennes became the new chair of the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee.

While President Donald Trump took his oath of office in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, a crowd of more than 100 Addison County residents gathered amid freezing temperatures in Middlebury’s Court Square to publicly oppose many of the environmental, immigration and economic policies Trump pledged to implement during the next four years. The warmly dressed participants — many of them holding signs bearing messages like “only love can drive out hate” — voiced concerns about the Trump administration’s potential to erode the nation’s democratic principles while removing protections for its most vulnerable people.

Middlebury College announced that Ian Baucomb would serve as the institution’s 18th president. Baucomb, at the time executive vice president, provost and Robert C. Taylor Professor of English at the University of Virginia, was chosen to succeed Laurie Patton, who stepped down from Middlebury at the end of 2024 to become president of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The college said that Baucom would take office on July 1, 2025.

On Jan. 7 the Addison Northwest School District fell victim to a ransomware cyberattack that compromised district data, locked employees out of servers, and shut down internet and email service at Vergennes-area schools  for several days. Addison Central School District also discovered a cybersecurity breach that allowed an unauthorized party to access ACSD student and employee demographic data from the 2023-24 school year. That breach did not affect district operations.

Vergennes added a non-binding referendum to its Town Meeting Day ballot advising the city council to declare Vergennes an “apartheid-free community” that is committed to “freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people” and is opposed to “all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression.” The measure was proposed by a citizen petition and adopted by the council, 5-2, after debate at the Jan. 14 meeting. Ferrisburgh opted not to include a similar referendum on its ballot.

In sports, Lincoln runner and high school senior Estella Laird, who previously crossed the finish line as Vermont’s Division I state champion cross country runner, was named the 2024-25 Gatorade Vermont Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. VUHS wrestlers took top local honors at the Commodore Invitational Tournament on Jan. 18.

January saw several nail-bitingly close high school basketball games. On Jan. 14, the Middlebury Union High School boys’ basketball team appeared poised to upset the host Otters. But the Otters then outscored the Tigers in the fourth quarter to win, 63-52. On Jan. 21, the Mount Abraham girls’ basketball team ratcheted up the intensity of its defense to finally pull away from host Vergennes in the final few minutes and claim a 45-39 victory.

In almost ideal conditions at Rikert Outdoor Center on Jan. 11, with gently falling snow adding to the atmosphere, the Division II Middlebury Union High School boys’ Nordic ski team finished third in an eight-team, 5-kilometer classic-style race against mostly D-I competition. The Tiger girls took fourth in a six-team race that included four D-I schools. MUHS senior Beth McIntosh won the girls’ race, with junior teammate Mary Harrington close behind in third place in a 52-skier field. The two-day state meet would wrap up a couple days into February.

And finally, U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders visited Vergennes Union Elementary School for a basketball clinic promoted as “Free Throws with Bernie”; it was one of several he has held around Vermont. Dozens of kids from grade school to high school turned up to shoot baskets under the watchful eye of Vermont’s senior senator. They all went home with a new basketball.