Investor to buy Vt. Cider Company for $20M

MIDDLEBURY — Vermont Cider Company, one of Middlebury’s bigger manufacturing concerns, will be sold to a group of investors who joined forces specifically to purchase the maker of Woodchuck Hard Cider. Northeast Drinks Group LLC, a privately owned holding company, on Monday announced that it will buy Vermont Cider Company from the Irish drinks conglomerate C&C Group PLC for $20 million, according to Bridget Blacklock, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Vermont Cider Company. C&C bought Vermont Hard Ci … (read more)

NEW HAVEN — A few weeks ago Lisa Dupoise updated her picture on her Facebook page. This change drew a lot more responses than the usual Facebook update. “Everyone is asking, ‘Oh, what did you do? What’s your secret?’” Dupoise said. “So I personal messaged … (read more)

VERMONT — State health officials will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines to Vermonters age 75 and older beginning next week. Gov. Phil Scott said at Tuesday’s press conference that distribution of the vaccine to health care workers and long-term care facili … (read more)

BRANDON — The town of Brandon is looking for a new animal control officer after the selectboard on Jan. 11 voted to dismiss Margaret Kahrs, who had held the ACO job for about a year. After meeting in executive session for less than an hour to discuss the … (read more)

ADDISON COUNTY  — Along with the rest of Vermont, Addison County is caught up in a surge of COVID-19 cases stemming from an increase in a spread of the disease related to people getting together over the Christmas holidays. The Vermont Department of Healt … (read more)

VERGENNES  — After Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine singled out a Vergennes church as the source of 80 recent COVID-19 cases, the pastor of Victory Baptist Church on Route 7 says that his parishioners were following federal safety guidelines du … (read more)

ADDISON-5 — Longtime incumbent Rep. Harvey Smith said he was surprised that his margin of victory in the Addison-5 House race wasn’t closer. Smith, a New Haven Republican, defeated Bridport Democrat and first-time candidate Jubilee McGill, 1,331-1,127, fo … (read more)

ADDISON-2 — Incumbent Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall on Tuesday easily won reelection to a third term representing the Addison-2 Vermont House seat that represents Cornwall, Salisbury, Leicester, Ripton, Goshen and Hancock. Conlon, the only candidate on th … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Community promoters know that Halloween is a BIG deal for kids and they didn’t want to let the coronavirus ruin the holiday. So the folks at the Better Middlebury Partnership, in association with Addison County Home Health and Hospice, planne … (read more)

ADDISON COUNTY — In a normal election year dozens — sometimes scores — of absentee ballots come into town clerks’ offices around Addison County before the main event, Election Day — when voters stream into the polls to make their voices heard in person. 2 … (read more)

Anyone who has been to a polling place in Vermont on Election Day knows that many of the volunteers who help their fellow citizens cast votes are senior citizens. Well, that was until coronavirus came and public health officials urged everyone — especiall … (read more)

The nation is torn apart by factions haranguing their fellow citizens for wrong-headed thinking and transgressions both real and fabricated. The president, emboldened by sycophants, abuses his power, denigrates immigrants and takes on the trappings of a k … (read more)

RUTLAND TOWN — After more than 100 years in the milk business, Thomas Dairy is closing its doors.  The venerable dairy on Route 7 in Rutland town had begun scaling back production in July, saying that such tweaks were just part of doing business, particul … (read more)

If she is being completely honest, bassoonist Monica Ellis has reservations about performing online. “I miss terribly the palpable energy that comes only from live performances with my chamber music mates and from the audiences we serve,” Ellis, a foundin … (read more)

ADDISON COUNTY AND BRANDON — Anger over the precipitous decline in the quality of mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service showed itself this past Saturday when protests popped up in front of at least three local post offices. Slogans on placards and po … (read more)