Vermont
Vermont’s 2024 apple crop bounces back after last year’s frost
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – In 2023, a frost in May decimated the region’s apple crop. This year, growers are enjoying a complete rebound.
“This is 180 degrees out from last year,” said Phil Murdock of Chapin Orchards.
Last year, bloomless and bare branches forced Murdock to import apples from out of state to sustain his business. A late May freeze decimated what experts say was around 90% of the region’s harvest, but the apples we missed picking last year are back. As Murdock describes it, it’s a once-in-a-decade crop.
“I think the trees last year didn’t have to work to produce anything, a lot of pent-up energy, so they produced with vigor this year,” said Murdock.
The trees are full of apples, with so many of them that even apple expert Terence Bradshaw was excited by their almost logic-defying abundance and size.
“We didn’t really have flooding issues in the orchards, but we had plenty of water, so of the fruit we have it’s really good sized, so that’s nice. Because often when we have these big heavy years, the fruit are smaller, but these are a decent size,” said Bradshaw.
And with nights getting colder, Bradshaw tells me the apple starches turn sweet, and the first batch of cider at Adam’s Apple Orchard was pressed Friday.
“We’re happy to be making our own cider with our own apples again. We didn’t make much last year, so it feels like we’re back to normal,” said John Adams from Adam’s Apple Orchard.
With the apple industry back to business as usual, the only thing these growers asked for was good weather for the pick-your-own season.
Orchard owners tell me that this year’s apples should be good until November, so go out and pick your own.
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Vermont
21-year-old killed in wrong-way crash on I-89 in Vermont; other driver cited
A 21-year-old is dead after a pickup truck slammed head-on into her vehicle on Interstate 89 Wednesday evening in Bolton, Vermont, and the other driver involved has been cited.
State police say they responded around 5:22 p.m. to reports of a wrong-way driver in the area of mile marker 71. As troopers were responding, a multi-vehicle crash on the interstate was reported to dispatchers.
A preliminary investigation shows 45-year-old Timothy Wooster was driving a Toyota Tundra in the northbound lane when he crossed the median into the southbound lane, where he continued traveling the wrong way until he collided head-on with a Kia Sportage that was being driven by 21-year-old Hailey Westcot, police said.
A third vehicle, a Cascadia Freightliner, was traveling southbound when the head-on collision happened ahead, causing the vehicle to strike Westcot’s car and then rollover.
Westcot, of Northfield, Vt., was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Wooster, of Jericho, Vt., was taken to University of Vermont Medical Center to be treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The third driver who was involved, 50-year-old Douglas Bailey, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, was evaluated on scene and did not report any injuries, police added.
Officials haven’t said what led Wooster to allegedly drive in the wrong direction on the highway. Wooster was cited on a charge of grossly negligent operation with death resulting. Further charges will be determined as the investigation continues, according to police.
Any witnesses are asked to contact Trooper Shawn Morrow at 802-878-7111. Anonymous tips can be submitted online here. The investigation remains ongoing.
It’s unclear if Wooster has obtained legal representation at this time. He’s due in Chittenden County Superior Court on Jan. 29, 2026.
Vermont
UVM men’s rugby team wins first-ever national championship – VTDigger
The University of Vermont men’s rugby team romped the University of Chicago last weekend, 71-5, to win its first-ever national championship. It’s the second time, notably, that a UVM sports team has won a national-level title in the past year.
Rugby is not a varsity sport at UVM — such as soccer or basketball — which means the school’s men’s and women’s teams play outside of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. The men’s team plays in National Collegiate Rugby’s Division II, which has more than 100 teams in different regional conferences across the country.
The team’s win Sunday capped an undefeated season that also saw it dispatch rivals in earlier rounds of the Division II tournament by double-digit margins.
“It really hasn’t even set in yet, still. Every time I see a picture or something, I’m like, holy — I can’t believe it,” said Jack Worobel, a senior mechanical engineering major at UVM who plays in the No. 4, or “lock,” position. “It’s awesome.”
In UVM’s rugby league, 15 players are on the field for each team at a time. Players advance the ball by running or kicking it but aren’t allowed to pass the ball forward. Points come primarily through “tries,” which are worth five points each and scored by bringing the ball into the opponent’s in-goal area and touching it to the ground.
Worobel credited UVM’s win to strong bonds that he said he and his teammates have built up over the past four years. A number of the players, including himself, have been on the team every year since they were first-year students, he said.
UVM has had a men’s rugby team since 1970, according to a school press release.
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“We all do anything for each other. Anyone would do a favor for anyone else on this team — I think that’s where the win comes (from),” Worobel said Wednesday. “It’s not from the skill or the talents. Really, it’s what’s off the field.”
The rugby team’s win comes about a year after UVM’s men’s soccer team — which competes at the highest level of collegiate athletics — won the NCAA Division I championship last December. UVM has also won six NCAA championships in skiing, with the most recent coming in 2012.
Vermont
Police investigating after ATV stolen from Vt. driveway
Police are asking for the public’s help in their ongoing investigation into a stolen all-terrain vehicle in Derby, Vermont.
State police say they were notified around 4 p.m. on Oct. 31 that a Camouflage 2008 Yamaha Rhino 700 ATV had been stolen from a driveway on Main St. The theft occurred some time between 10 p.m. on Oct. 30 and 7 a.m. on Oct. 31.
No other details were immediately available. Police did released two photos as part of the investigation.
Anyone with information about this theft is encouraged to call Vermont State Police at 802-334-8881, or leave an anonymous tip online.
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