EAST BURKE — The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) hosted the 7th Annual Vermont Outdoor Economy Summit in November at Burke Mountain Resort last month, convening 155 outdoor industry businesses, organizations, and policymakers for a day of collaboration, education, and business development.

Kellyann Davis, Director of Research for the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), kicked off the Summit with a keynote providing crucial insights into data on outdoor consumer trends. “Snowsports continue to dominate as the activity outdoor enthusiasts spend the most on,” said Davis. “With snow on the ground, this puts the Vermont outdoor sector in a strong position going into the holiday season – but the data also shows only 14.5% shoppers get their gear at independent outdoor retailers, with Amazon overwhelmingly capturing the outdoor gear dollar.”

“Currently, Vermont resorts and retailers are reporting a strong start to the season, but the OIA data is a clear call to action, highlighting the need for outdoor consumers to support the places and people they care about by shopping at local businesses and visiting our outdoor downtowns,” said Kelly Ault, Executive Director of VOBA. “With so many challenges affecting the industry, including financial risks due to fluctuating federal policy and the hurdles of climate resilience, supporting your local gear shop is one way to support the economic prosperity of the outdoor sector and our State”

The outdoor industry was intentional about convening in the recreation epicenter of East Burke. Northeast Kingdom leaders offered up decades of lessons learned from the success of local communities and partnerships that have balanced ecological values and commerce. In opening remarks, Jon Schaefer, COO and Co-Owner of Bear Den Partners’ Burke Mountain Resort, emphasized Burke Mountain’s deep connection to the success of the local economy, “Rising tides for us is when the whole community does better. Our business is successful when our community does better.”

Governor Phil Scott, who oversaw the creation of the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative in 2017, addressed the Summit and maintained his belief in the return on investment of directing public funding to Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy, “The outdoor economy is something that defines who we are as Vermonters. Using outdoor recreation as a tool to attract people to come to Vermont, and stay, has, and can, pay real dividends.”

The founders pitching in the 2nd Annual Outdoor Pitch Fest brought down the house with Thicket Adventure taking home the Overall Resilience award and Sluff Wax the Climate & Circularity and the People’s Choice award. The annual event gives outdoor entrepreneurs the opportunity to present best practices for resilience, and values-led climate and circularity strategies to judges and industry peers.

This year, VOBA honored Donna Carpenter, Owner of Burton Snowboards, and the Carpenter family with the 5th Annual Sen. Patrick Leahy Trailblazer Legacy Award. The award recognizes lifetime contributions to Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy with a special focus on sustainability, equity, community investment, and economic growth. “[Vermont] is where the Burton story started, and where it will continue into the next generation,” said Carpenter. “Next year, Burton turns 50, half a century. Most of the world thought we were crazy, Vermont didn´t. Vermont supported us, gave us a sense of community, and helped install the kind of stubborn optimism that I think is hardwired into this state. To survive here, especially through a hard winter, you need grit and perseverance. But you also need your neighbors.”

Marc Sherman, Owner of Burlington’s Outdoor Gear Exchange (OGE), agrees that starting a business in Vermont requires perseverance and support for and from your neighbors. “At the OGE, we have always considered ourselves as part of the neighborhood. We invest in our staff and our community and hope that this helps inspire our customers to think of us when they’re getting ready for their next adventure or simply in support of their outdoor lifestyle. Thanks to ongoing support from Vermont’s outdoor community we have built OGE into a thirty-year old economic cornerstone of friends and neighbors. When you choose to shop local this holiday season you are supporting Vermonters, the benefits of which ripple through your community and all of Vermont.”

VOBA would like to recognize the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s Departments of Economic Development and Tourism and Marketing, Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative, Northern Border Regional Commission, Sevenpair Studios, Merritt & Merritt, Burke Mountain Resort, Cabot Hosiery Mills, Northeast Vermont Development Association, Vermont Economic Development Authority, Vermont Community Loan Fund, The Richards Group, Green Up Day, The Wildflower Inn, and SB Signs.

The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) is a state-wide organization established in 2018 to educate Vermonters on outdoor recreation and businesses on business development, collaboration initiatives, and outdoor recreation policy. VOBA and its 155 members strengthen Vermont’s outdoor economy through networking & learning, business development & technical assistance, research & branding, workforce development, and advocacy. VOBA supports investment in the state’s natural and recreation resources and equitable access for all in the outdoors. www.vermontoutdoorbusinessalliance.org

Brian Walshe, the 50-year-old Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife after uncovering an affair between her and a friend in Washington, D.C., returns to court Tuesday for the second day of his murder trial, as a state trooper testified about damning internet searches found on his devices after Ana Walshe vanished without a trace.

Walshe’s defense attorney, Larry Tipton, said during his opening statement Monday that Walshe found his wife dead in her bed but did not kill her. Tipton said evidence would show a “sudden, unexplained death” and that such a thing “happens.” He denied the prosecution’s allegation that his client was aware of Ana’s suspected affair.

Walshe is accused of killing Ana, dismembering her and hiding her body — after searching the internet for information about the man she was seeing behind his back. 

WATCH A DEADLY MARRIAGE ON FOX NATION

“The defense can argue that the search shows the awareness of a name, not that he knew about a romantic relationship,” said Randolph Rice, a Maryland attorney and legal analyst who is following the case. “That distinction matters because without clear knowledge of an affair, the state’s motive theory gets a lot weaker.”

Walshe already pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misleading police and unlawful conveyance of human remains.

Cohasset Police Sgt. Harrison Schmidt came back to the stand as prosecutors played additional excerpts from his interviews with Walshe prior to the defendant’s arrest. 

Prosecutors played more than an hour of similar recordings Monday, in which Walshe spoke calmly with detectives with sporadic interruptions from his three children as their mother was unaccounted for in early January 2023.

BRIAN WALSHE DEFENSE SAYS HE FOUND WIFE DEAD IN BED, DENIES UNCOVERING AFFAIR AS MURDER TRIAL BEGINS

“I would never do anything to my wife,” he told Schmidt at one point, after Ana’s death. “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my wife. I’m still going to.”

Massachusetts State Trooper Nicholas Guarino, an expert on digital forensics, took the stand next to discuss Walshe’s alleged Google searches, which included the name of the man involved in an affair with Ana, 39, and for information on how to dispose of human remains, including searching the internet for the phrase, “Best ways to dispose of body parts after murder.”

Walshe’s searches went on for days, Guarino testified. He said he found searches about cleaning up blood, dismembering a body, tools and chemicals that could help cover up a crime scene and getting rid of digital evidence. Prior to Ana’s disappearance, her husband allegedly looked up divorce lawyers. 

KAREN READ AND ANA WALSHE: LOVE-TANGLED MURDER CASES INTERTWINE WITH STATE TROOPER LINKED TO SULTRY TEXTS

“How long does DNA last?” Walshe allegedly searched, on Google. Two minutes later, Guarino said he found a search for, “Is it possible to clean DNA off a knife?”

He didn’t just use Google. On Yahoo, he searched for, “How long someone missing until inheritance,” Guarino testified.

Under cross-examination, Guarino testified that he sought search warrants to check Walshe’s search history from Christmas Day in 2022 until early January 2023. He conceded that he did not seek a warrant to check earlier search history, which may or may not have shown searches about dead body disposal prior to Ana’s disappearance and suspected murder. 

Guarino testified earlier this year in another high-profile Massachusetts murder trial, reading text messages sent between Karen Read and John O’Keefe. Read was acquitted of all homicide-related charges in the death of her former boyfriend, O’Keefe, and convicted of drunken driving. 

Prosecutors have alleged two possible motives in the case. 

The first is that Walshe allegedly uncovered an affair between his wife and a Washington, D.C., realtor, who is expected to take the witness stand Thursday. 

The other is that Walshe allegedly believed that if his wife was out of the picture, and he was the only caretaker for their three children, he could have a chance of avoiding prison in connection with a federal art fraud conviction.

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He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted in Ana’s death. Her remains have not been found.

The discovery of an endangered whale sighted off the coast of Boston gave researchers an incredibly unique “tail” to tell.

Observers from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) Right Whale Ecology Program spotted a North Atlantic right whale off Boston’s coast Nov. 19 while conducting an aerial survey, according to a CCS press release. What made this already rare sighting extraordinary was that the whale apparently traveled 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to get there.

“The first sighting of the year is always exciting, but we didn’t yet realize just how remarkable this one would turn out to be,” CCS researcher Ryan Schosberg said in the release.

Noting unique scarring on the right side of the whale’s head, researchers in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life matched it to a whale that had been seen near Donegal Bay, Ireland, in July 2024, as reported by the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group.

“While the photos from the 2024 Ireland sighting showed some unique features, we were unsure the quality of the photos would be sufficient to identify the whale in the future,” said Lindsey Jones, a scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center. “After a flurry of matching effort and emails, we were excited to discover the first ever photo-ID match between Ireland and the U.S. East Coast.”

Though right whales have been seen traveling from the western Atlantic to the eastern Atlantic and back, the CCS said this appears to be the first documented case of a whale initially traveling east to west. This discovery has led researchers to believe that right whale habitats on the western side of the North Atlantic may still be suitable, according to the press release.

North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered, with an estimated population of 384, according to the CCS. While sightings of whales from European waters happen every few years, these events are rarely photographed well enough to be compared to the New England Aquarium’s catalogued record.

“Securing any international photo ID matches of large whales requires a lot of effort and a fair bit of luck,” said Pádraig Whooley, sightings officer at the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group. “When these matches are made across ocean basins, you need to get even luckier. So, we had zero expectation of matching this solitary right whale from Donegal Bay in July 2024, the first validated Irish record with photographic evidence in over a century.”

Researchers investigated further and found catalog data showing that six more right whales first photographed along the North American coast have appeared in European waters, according to the CCS. Dr. Daniel Palacios, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program, said that the discovery shows how right whales have endured despite their endangered status.

“Seeing a whale photographed in Ireland reappear off Boston is extraordinary,” Palacios said. “Encounters like this highlight both their resilience and the importance of international cooperation to support their recovery.”