The knot of men smoking outside Charlie O’s in Montpelier is momentarily jarring to the eyes of a visitor arriving for Guerrilla Gay Bar, a lesbian “pop-up” event happening there on a recent Sunday night.... Read more

T.J. Donovan says it’s time for change in the Vermont attorney general’s office. After 15 years under incumbent AG Bill Sorrell, Vermont needs “new ideas, new energy, new engagement on a whole host of issues.” That’s how Donovan put it last week at a packed-house campaign kickoff at Burlington’s St. John’s Club.

His campaign slogan? “Doing more for Vermont.” More than what? The unstated implication, it would seem, is more than Sorrell. ... Read more

A U.S. Air Force colonel presiding over last Monday’s hearing on the pros and cons of hosting F-35 fighter jets in Vermont asked the audience to hold its applause until the end of the evening.

The crowd did not obey orders.

In the South Burlington High School auditorium, people spilling out into the hallways hooted and hollered as a parade of citizens spoke about an Air Force proposal to base as many as two dozen of the new-generation warplanes at Burlington International Airport.... Read more

You can track down a lost pet, publicize a bake sale, rally neighbors to help a family in need. All are benefits of Front Porch Forum, a hyperlocal, web-based service that combines the functionality of classified advertisements with the small-town appeal of useful gossip.

What’s not to like about it? Plenty, according to the town of Castleton, which claims the online networking tool turned debate among local citizens into cyber feuding.... Read more

It took Robert Stiller 30 years to build Vermont’s single-serve coffee empire — and just six days to lose it. He spent three decades growing Green Mountain Coffee Roasters from a lone café in Waitsfield into a stunning commercial success, worth $17.1 billion at its peak last September. By 2011, Stiller had amassed a personal fortune worth $1.3 billion, earning him a place on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans.... Read more

The new Phoenix Books opened last Thursday at 191 Bank Street in Burlington, and it’s making a statement. One sign displayed in the window of the 5000-square-foot store reads, “A Little Less Amazon Is All We’re Asking.” Another invites shoppers to “Bring in an Amazon Box & Get 25% Off a Book.”... Read more

When Burlington filmmaker Derek Hallquist saw a Super Bowl ad touting a “zero-impact” electric car as the answer to America’s energy troubles, he wondered, Does any of this make sense? To find out, he went straight to the source — his dad, David Hallquist, CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative.... Read more

It’s said that good things — and bad things — come in threes. The trio of directors presenting “The Bake Off: Eurydice” for Vermont Stage Company this week is obviously aiming for the former. Written by Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House), this lyrical, contemporary rendering of the Orpheus myth comes conveniently in three “movements,” explains Cristina Alicea, producing artistic director of VSC and one of the directors of Eurydice.... Read more

Movement artist Tiffany Rhynard stammers out the theme song to “Cheers,” her fingers fumbling on a Casio keyboard perched on a stool. She’s in the midst of telling an autobiographical narrative featuring a young woman at a Winston-Salem, N.C., convenience store, attempting to buy food for the week with $15. The young woman is in college, we learn, and has been stripping to pay tuition.... Read more

As the owner of Image Relay in Burlington, Skye Chalmers manages customers’ digital assets. As a photographer and co-owner of the now-defunct Pursuit Gallery, he has worked with any number of artists and brands in the snowboard industry. Yet, despite these high-tech and hipster connections, the Vermont native is no stranger to cows.... Read more