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Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
Real Estate
“Treat yo self” was Retta’s tagline in “Parks and Recreation.”
And that’s just what a New England couple did when they won a $150,000 home renovation from HGTV after their Vermont home was deemed the “ugliest” in America.
Hosted by Retta, HGTV’s “Ugliest House in America” sees the comedian travel across the country to “tour properties nominated by their owners as the ugliest home around,” per the show description. In the finale, HGTV designer Alison Victoria surprises the winners with a total home renovation.
On the season 7 finale, which aired Feb. 4, homeowners Brooklyn and Dylan teared up when they saw their remodeled Vershire, Vermont, home. (HGTV did not provide last names.)
The couple and their three sons were introduced in episode four when Brooklyn explained the house “is our nightmare.”
Retta named the home “Mishmash Hodgepodge.”
The bright orange and blue house— three stories high, built on stilts, and 3,344 square feet, per the show description — may have been deemed the ugliest in America by HGTV, but the view is gorgeous. It sits on 14 green acres, with panoramic views of the White Mountains.
“Is there a significance to the colors?”Retta asked of the bright exterior.


“At least you never get lost when you’re driving up to it,” Dylan quipped. The family said they had lived in the home for 10 months when they appeared on the show.
As for the chaotic inside, Dylan said, “We definitely want to make it less circus-like.”
There were green monkeys carved into the cabinets and birds carved into the staircase railing. The primary bedroom and bathroom ceiling was thatched. Parts of the interior were painted in blocks of yellow, orange, and blue.
“I feel like I need to center myself,” Retta said.
She pointed out that the living area had built-in couches made of stone and concrete. “I look at your couches and I think: hemorrhoids,” she joked.
After looking into their mirror-filled bathroom, Retta remarked, “This is sensory overload. This is a fifth-grade project.”
Retta pointed to the thatched ceiling in the primary bedroom: “You’re asking for mice.” Walking into the upstairs bathroom, her eyes popped, as she took in another thatched ceiling. The couple shared that spiders kept them out of the bathtub.
At the end of the episode, Retta dubbed the home a “mishmosh hodgepodge color-block animal sanctuary.” She scored the Vermont house a 6 out of 6 for appearance on the “Ugly Meter.”




In last night’s finale, we learned that of the 15 houses Retta toured this season, the Vermont house was “uniquely ugly.”
She and Victoria announced to the New Englanders: “You have the ‘Ugliest House in America!’” as confetti rained down.
Victoria pointed out that the land they sit on is “amazing…This could be very picturesque… The view’s ridiculously beautiful,” the designer said. “I want the outside of your home to be as beautiful as the property it sits on.”
Walking inside, Victoria suggested leveling out “wonky weird” floors in the conversation pit area, taking out the bird carving on the stair handrail, taking down the plastic sheeting wall of the primary bedroom, and redoing and thatched “tiki-hut-kind-of-feel” ceiling, among other things.
“I don’t know where to start,” she told the camera. “This is seriously one of the wildest, craziest, ugliest houses that I’ve ever taken on.”
After demolition and remodeling, the couple was brought blindfolded before the house for the big reveal.

Gone was the orange and blue paint. “It’s like a painting behind your house,” Victoria said of the green woods and hills. “And now your house is part of the painting.”
“This doesn’t even look like the same house,” Brooklyn said touring the interior.
The primary bedroom, totally redone, now boasts sliding glass doors to an outdoor hot tub. They also see a madeover patio area with a new walkway.
“I am blown away,” Dylan said.
“It reminds me of a fairy forest house,” Brooklyn added. “And I love that.”
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.


Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots: What to know in case you win
Here’s what to know in case you win the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The Vermont Lottery offers several draw games for those willing to make a bet to win big.
Those who want to play can enter the MegaBucks and Lucky for Life games as well as the national Powerball and Mega Millions games. Vermont also partners with New Hampshire and Maine for the Tri-State Lottery, which includes the Mega Bucks, Gimme 5 as well as the Pick 3 and Pick 4.
Drawings are held at regular days and times, check the end of this story to see the schedule.
Here’s a look at April 20, 2026, results for each game:
09-17-36-47-64, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 3
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
16-17-25-33-36
Check Gimme 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Day: 0-5-8
Evening: 6-1-9
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Day: 7-8-3-4
Evening: 0-0-4-9
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
04-11-23-32-41, Megaball: 04
Check Megabucks Plus payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
For Vermont Lottery prizes up to $499, winners can claim their prize at any authorized Vermont Lottery retailer or at the Vermont Lottery Headquarters by presenting the signed winning ticket for validation. Prizes between $500 and $5,000 can be claimed at any M&T Bank location in Vermont during the Vermont Lottery Office’s business hours, which are 8a.m.-4p.m. Monday through Friday, except state holidays.
For prizes over $5,000, claims must be made in person at the Vermont Lottery headquarters. In addition to signing your ticket, you will need to bring a government-issued photo ID, and a completed claim form.
All prize claims must be submitted within one year of the drawing date. For more information on prize claims or to download a Vermont Lottery Claim Form, visit the Vermont Lottery’s FAQ page or contact their customer service line at (802) 479-5686.
Vermont Lottery Headquarters
1311 US Route 302, Suite 100
Barre, VT
05641
Vermont’s 2nd Chance lottery lets players enter eligible non-winning instant scratch tickets into a drawing to win cash and/or other prizes. Players must register through the state’s official Lottery website or app. The drawings are held quarterly or are part of an additional promotion, and are done at Pollard Banknote Limited in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Vermont editor. You can send feedback using this form.
ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (Aging Untold) — For 10 days, the Champlain Valley Fair, a county fair in Vermont, becomes its own little town with thousands of people, hot afternoons and the occasional emergency.
Charlene Phelps, 74, runs the fair’s emergency response team.
“We have a lot of seniors that come and people don’t drink enough water,” Phelps said.
The team handles sprains, bee stings, heat exhaustion and whatever comes through.
“I like taking care of people, I like helping people,” Phelps said.
It’s also a childhood dream.
Phelps wanted to be a nurse, but college wasn’t possible, so she found another route into care and has been showing up year after year at the fair.
Aging Untold expert Amy O’Rourke said living out your purpose can improve mental and spiritual well-being.
“When you tap into that, you’re tapping in on a place that’s a risk, that’s a challenge that inevitably creates growth inside you, gives you confidence so that if you’re in another situation you can build on that,” O’Rourke said. “Or, if you’re in an everyday situation where you’re a little anxious, it’ll help create stabilization in that place as well.”
Sometimes it’s bigger than a bandage.
“Over on there near the swings way over there is Gustovo, and we saved his life,” Phelps said.
Gustovo had gone into cardiac arrest at the fair a few years ago.
“I mean he was gone,” Phelps said.
Now he’s back and working the rides.
“Came for my hug, Gustovo,” Phelps said.
O’Rourke said stories like this are also why some people keep working past retirement age. Purpose isn’t a number, it’s a role.
“I’ve seen a 92-year-old still working as a nurse’s aid. I’ve seen people in my neighborhood chilling out and loving it,” O’Rourke said. “So, I think it’s being really self-aware of what you need and making sure that you’re getting those needs met.”
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A plan by Gov. Phil Scott’s administration to make all of the state’s lottery games, including scratch-off tickets, available on a person’s phone never got off the ground at the Statehouse this year.
Lottery Commissioner Wendy Knight told lawmakers in January that the plan was a way to modernize the lottery “because you need to keep pace with technology — you need to meet your players where they are.”
Fifteen states have created a “digital” lottery system, and many have discovered there’s a distinct market of people who don’t buy lottery tickets at retail outlets but will do so on their phones, according to Knight. “We’re trying to ensure the future of the Vermont Lottery, ” the commissioner said.
But state lawmakers have not been persuaded.
Vergennes Rep. Matt Birong, the Democratic chair of the House government operations committee, said members of the panel felt this year was not the time to move forward with this plan, especially given the recent legalization of sports betting.
“It is digitizing a current system and after moving forward with the sports wagering — people just wanted to take their time with it — so my committee decided to tap the brakes on further testimony.”
The administration estimated that the plan would have raised roughly $5 million a year for the state’s education fund after two years of implementation.
The prospect of that additional revenue is appealing to lawmakers, and Birong said they may reconsider the plan next year.
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