Abigail Chang

Piper Boss ’23 was working at a carrel in Davis Family Library on Sunday night when she received a text from her friend, Molly Grazioso ’23.5, at 10:41 p.m. "Theres a shooter. Or something,” Grazioso wrote. “Piper stay where u r. Get udner something now. Now. Im serious please stay where u are. Im with the pilice. Im safe. Can u confirm youre ok?"

Brattleboro cannot impose an indoor masking mandate, Gov. Phil Scott’s office said. Only the governor can do that. Brattleboro Selectboard members, acting as town health commissioners, voted Aug. 17 to adopt an indoor masking mandate in the town as Covid-19 cases were rising in Windham County. On Tuesday, Scott’s office contacted Elwell, recommending that the selectboard consider withdrawing its request to Levine and that town officials review the laws on what municipalities are allowed to do.

More than half of Vermont is in a state of drought, with dry conditions that date back at least to June 2020. The persistence of the dry conditions has prompted reactivation of the Vermont drought task force, which held its first meeting Thursday to discuss ways to deal with a drought that has persisted for more than a year.

With a warmer and wetter climate in Vermont’s future, severe weather events are projected to increase in frequency, and the property and casualty insurance industries may face new challenges as a result, says a report issued Monday by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.

With a short sugaring season and low sugar content in sap, Vermont’s maple syrup producers have had a tough year. Now, many small sugarmakers face a new challenge: a shortage of plastic maple syrup jugs. When sugarmakers tried to place their orders at the beginning of the year, they discovered their usual suppliers had 40-week lead times. And now, as their stores of plastic jugs run low, they are trying to figure out how to stick it out until the fall.

No one has ever created a comprehensive catalog of the more than 300 species of bees native to Vermont — until now. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and the Vermont Center for Ecological Studies are planning a three-year survey of the state’s wild bee population.

Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation sent a letter to President Biden on Monday, urging that he work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to expand essential travel for crossing the U.S.-Canada border.

At the height of midterm season, 50 people joined a Zoom webinar titled “Can We Reasonably Believe in God?” featuring Christian apologetic and Boston College professor Peter Kreeft. The event became a source of controversy after students — both inside and outside of Newman Catholic Club, which organized the event with co-sponsorships from the Department of Religion, Middlebury College Activities Board and Middlebury InterVarsity Christian Fellowship* — discovered Kreeft’s views about the transgender community.

Out-of-state students who are attending college in Vermont are ineligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, Gov. Phil Scott said during a press conference today. Students also cannot use their college addresses to claim Vermont residency, according to Scott’s response to a Vermont Cynic reporter’s question in the same conference.

Students returned to Middlebury this month — many during “senior week,” a time usually dedicated to pre-graduation festivities and traditions — despite initial calls by the college that students vacate the town of Middlebury. Although a May 19 email from the Vice President of Student Affairs reaffirmed that returning violates state and college safety protocols, residents spotted students congregating and celebrating on campus and in town during the following days.