U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who drew the ire of pro-Palestine activists, will not speak as planned at the University of Vermont's commencement this month. University president Suresh Garimella delivered the news in a campus-wide email late Friday that offered no explanation for the change. He did write, however, that graduating students deserve to be able to celebrate their achievements. It was part of a message discussing the administration's response to a pro-Palestine encampment set up on Sunday on a campus green to demand, among other things, that t ..read more

Three committees in the Vermont House have signed off on a bill intended to speed up the search process for a secretary of education and ensure the search had enough money to be properly carried out. The proposed changes in state law come after the most recent search for an education secretary took nearly a year. That process ended in controversy this week when the Senate rejected Florida administrator Zoie Saunders, Gov. Phil Scott's pick for the post. Immediately after the vote, the governor indefinitely appointed Saunders interim secretary, a designation that does not require legislative a ..read more

Adi Oasis was on hand at the Flynn in Burlington on Friday morning to help announce the lineup for the 2024 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in a press conference. In March, Flynn executive director Jay Wahl handpicked the French Caribbean funk and R&B artist to curate the 41st iteration of the annual festival. Oasis follows Lakecia Benjamin and Michael Mwenso, nationally known musicians who performed similar roles at the festival the past two years in what's become a new tradition. Following an introductory performance from the Edmunds Middle School Band, Wahl and Oasis r ..read more

Chemist and UVM professor made numerous contributions to science, including co-discovery of an anticancer drug Dr. Andrew Paul Krapcho passed away, peacefully, at the University of Vermont Medical Center at the grand old age of 92. Born in Alden, Pa., to Martin and Anna Krapcho, Paul was the youngest of four children, all of whom were encouraged to attend college to avoid a coal mining career which ended his father’s life when Paul was only 11 years old. His older brother John, a PhD chemist, served as his mentor, and father figure, encouraging him to pursue chemistry as a career. After earni ..read more

Brave warrior fiercely and creatively adapted to his life in an electric wheelchair This obituary is written in honor of Kaleb’s life and memory. Kaleb Asher Bates-Wolcott was born at home in Elmore, Vt., on June 17. 1982. He died peacefully in the early morning on April 18, 2024, at Central Vermont Medical Center in Barre, Vt., at the age of 41. He had bravely, as the warrior he was, coped with muscular dystrophy throughout his lifetime. Kaleb was an amazing human being. He was strong-willed, intelligent, kind and generous, with a great sense of humor — a good listener who patiently listened ..read more

Middlebury College president Laurie Patton will leave her post next year to helm the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a prestigious honorary society and research center based in Cambridge, Mass., that was founded during the American Revolution. Patton has led Middlebury since 2015 and is the only woman to serve as president in its 224-year history. The private liberal arts college announced her forthcoming departure on Thursday. She will continue in her role through the end of 2024. "I have no words to describe my gratitude for and joy about Middlebury, and who we have become together ..read more

Prompted by the pending sale of the building in which Nunyuns Bakery & Café has operated since 2008, Kristine Harbour and Paul Bonelli have announced they will close their Old North End business at the end of May. Harbour initially told Seven Days that the couple would wait to announce the bakery's closure until their landlord, Ken Axelson, found a buyer for 139-143 North Champlain Street. However, after more than two months of waiting for the building to sell, she and Bonelli decided to go ahead with their plans. "The timing just felt right for us," Harbour wrote by email. "After 16-plus ..read more

In 2022, the Lanpher Memorial Library in Hyde Park installed a "wind phone" — a nonoperational rotary phone with a heart in the center of the dial — to allow patrons to "call" those who have died. Originating in Japan, wind phones have spread around the world. Many community members have utilized the cozy space, including Emily Neilsen and former representative Kate Donnally. In 2010, garden designer Itaru Sasaki of Japan installed a telephone booth in his garden that he called a “phone of the wind.” The rotary phone line was not connected to anything, but the booth gave Sasaki a meaningful p ..read more

Burlington woman had an uncanny ability to sense what others needed and would generously provide a meal, a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen Mary Lou (Merola) Lafayette peacefully passed away on April 29, 2024, at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, surrounded by her family. She was born in Burlington on July 16, 1955, the daughter of Robert and Ruth Merola. As one of six children in a large, extended Italian family, Mary Lou learned early on the importance of family. From baptisms to graduations to weddings, her life centered around food, conversation and community. She was ..read more

A bill that would pave the way for a facility to help people use illegal drugs more safely advanced in the Vermont Senate on Wednesday. H.72 was approved on second reading by a 21-8 vote, suggesting it would have sufficient Senate support to overcome a likely veto by Gov. Phil Scott. Supporters say they fully expect the House to also be able to muster the two-thirds majority required to make the bill become law over Scott’s objections. The bill would create a pilot program for a single overdose-prevention center, most likely in Burlington. A previous version of the bill called for two sites ..read more