O’Brien project
Bread winners
Town, developers craft path forward
Schoolkids hold annual gingerbread contest
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Volume 54 Number 1
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shelburnenews.com
January 2, 2025
Year in review
Shine a light
Eclipse brought magic, masses to Vermont BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
On April 8, as the moon moved in front of the sun, more than 700 eclipse-glasses-clad people looked to the sky at the Shelburne athletic fields while Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon” played over the speakers. It was a long-planned moment by Pierson Library’s Michael Hibben, who co-organized the town event at the athletic fields with the devel-
opment review board coordinator Kit Luster. The hype was well called for. The last time Vermont was in the path of a total solar eclipse, it was 1932. The next one won’t be until 2106. This was special. The town, and in particular Hibben and Luster, had been planning for months. Different reports See ECLIPSE on page 10
Year in review
Education financing shapes discourse, voter sentiment LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
The Shelburne Museum’s Winter Lights exhibit has brought flashes of color to the long nights since November. The displays will continue to shine through this weekend.
There was arguably one thing on everyone’s mind in 2024: education financing. The issue, along with the battle for affordability in a state that saw an average 14 percent property tax hike, became one of the most heated and debated topics last year for local and state leaders. Both South Burlington School District and Champlain Valley School District suffered innumerable consequences due to a law
that has become, in some ways, infamously known as Act 127. The law, while meant to further equalize education, caused massive headaches for leaders at the two school districts last year. Not only did the law not work in their favor, but it was also incredibly complex and was altered in the 11th hour by the Legislature just weeks before Town Meeting Day. Beginning last year, Act 127 employed those new pupil weights See EDUCATION on page 11
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