by Tena Starr If you happen to run across a shoe, a rat, and a corkscrew, all stuck together in a glue trap, get in touch with me. They’re all mine. Well, maybe not the rat. And don’t get feeling too bad for the rat, because it had been living the high life... More »
Perhaps the Newport City Council is simply bashful. It is hard to think of another reason its members seem so averse to carrying out their duties under the watchful eye of their constituents. Week after week the board shoos observers out of the council cham... More »
by Tena Starr For the most part, Vermont cultivates a vanilla image — a small, pretty state, full of cows, skiers and maple syrup. But if you poke it a little, Vermont is weird. It used to be weirder, but there are still remnants of eccentricity and odd cha... More »
by Tena Starr I’m a fan of James Lee Burke, who writes gritty crime novels based in New Orleans and the bayou country of Louisiana. Mr. Burke’s books are punctuated by alligator growls in the night, by the life of the bayous and the Atchafalaya, the biggest r... More »
by Tena Starr I’m a convert to train travel. Steve and I were going to New Orleans and points south — as far south as we could in Louisiana, until the road ran into the ocean. More than once, when we said we were going to Venice, a Louisiana resident said, ... More »
Notes from a newbie by Joseph Gresser I wake up every morning surprised and pleased to remember that I am the editor of the Chronicle. I’ve been here for a while now, but when I look around at my wonderful colleagues, I see people who have worked here for dec... More »
by Tena Starr I’d been puzzling about the recent lack of scammers to mess with when I got a call last week from a robot that was trying hard to sound like a reasonable person. Congratulations, it said. I’d won second place in Powerball, and was about to be ... More »
Part II by Tena Starr I once had an editor, at a different paper, who believed a reporter could find a good story in any random person — a mini-mart clerk, a housewife, a construction worker — that we all have something to tell. Traveling this country ofte... More »
With its changes to the city manager’s job description it appears Mayor Linda Joy Sullivan and the four other council members plan to take over the job of supervising city employees. This is a terrible idea. In the best of circumstances it would be a bad idea... More »
If the people of Newport aren’t fed up with their city council, they ought to be. Since Town Meeting the council has tied itself in knots, hiding as much as possible from public view, and failing to accomplish a single thing. As anyone spending time in the ci... More »
Transparency was the watchword in Newport’s mayoral campaign and the victor, Linda Joy Sullivan, before the first session of the city council she chaired, pointed out that council meetings are meant “to promote transparency and accountability in government.” I... More »
by Tena Starr Maybe it’s because I grew up on the Missisquoi, which routinely flooded fields on our farm, the road and bridge as well, so we were sometimes stranded with the road under water on both sides. Maybe it was because Dad didn’t seem particularly... More »
