Megan James

Data centers, which house large numbers of networked computers, servers and storage systems that process, store and distribute massive amounts of data out of sight, and out of mind, and feed the devices that run beneath our lives consume a lot of energy, rapidly adding to the climate crisis.

Good progress. That’s an apt reflection of the town of Middlebury’s effort to manage its relatively small, and mostly cooperative, houseless population.

THE CORKINS BROTHERS ran an Exxon station at the corner of West and Maple Streets in Bristol in the late 70s and early 80s, complete with a chainsaw carving of the Exxon tiger in the largest elm stump in front of the business. Photo courtesy of Claire Corkins

The Edgewater galleries in downtown Middlebury have a grand display for the December holiday season. Check out these upcoming exhibits and events!

RAISE YOUR VOICE this holiday season! Join the annual Middlebury Messiah Sing on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 2 p.m., at the Congregational Church of Middlebury. Singers, instrumentalists, and music lovers alike are invited to enjoy Handel’s “Messiah” in a joyful community tradition since 1984. Courtesy photos

Award-winning folk and roots band Low Lily will celebrate the Winter Solstice with an evening of beautiful wintry, seasonal songs and high octane fiddle tunes at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. The show will take place on Friday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m.

Otter Creek Audubon Society is announcing its annual $1,000 scholarship to the renowned Hog Island Audubon Camp, available to an Addison County educator or teen. Located off the scenic coast of Maine, the camp is run by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Bristol officials are in the midst of searching for the municipality’s next town administrator, as current Bristol Town Administrator Valerie Capels will step down from her post next week.

The document will guide the community in regulating the makeshift campsites that houseless individuals have been creating and using for shelter — primarily in the downtown and greater village areas — during the warmer months of the year.

MIDDLEBURY — Individually and in small groups they filed into the Middlebury Union High School Library on Monday evening, preparing to bare their souls to an Addison Central School District board that could, in the near future, field a request by two Middlebury parents to ban seven books used at Mary Hogan Elementary to broaden kindergarteners’ understanding of gender-identity themes ( see related story ).