The Mill Pond Dam project in Knowlton has officially been given the green light by the provincial government. The project has been in the works for almost a decade, having first been proposed by town council in 2013.

The current dam will be torn down completely and replaced in hopes of bringing the water level of the dam back to what it was in its early beginnings.

The Town of Sutton has been crowned the most active community in Quebec after taking first place in ParticipACTION's Community Better Challenge. Throughout the month of June, the Community Better Challenge invited communities across Canada to get active and to have residents record their minutes in an application downloaded to their phones.

Frelighsburg is getting set to host Festi’Bois 2022 over Labor Day weekend. Launched in 2019 and organized under le Réseau foresterie Frelighsburg and Vitalité Frelighsburg, Festi’Bois provides a platform for artisans that transform wood and professionals that work with forests to show off their craft. Having attracted over 2,000 visitors last year, Festi’Bois will have tons of activities on site to educate the public on the important role that forests play in our daily lives.

Over the last couple of weeks, CIDI 99.1 FM has been following up on the changes that were recently made to the Secondary 3 timetable at Massey-Vanier High School that consequently resulted in not offering French Immersion for the 2022-2023 school year; a decision that has caused some concern in the local community.

L’Église de Sainte-Étienne-de-Bolton is celebrating 150 years of serving the community. Built by five of the first settler families that came to the area from Saint-Charles, the Catholic church has been the centre of the community, physically and literally, since 1873. The church is overseen by the Sherbrooke and Diocese and the Notre Dame du Mont Carmel parish. They recently approached to the municipality to see if it would be interested in purchasing the historical structure for $1. The municipality has yet to make a decision, but they are hoping to preserve the structure and make it a viable space for the community.

Last Saturday, around 1000 pounds of trash was removed from Brome Lake as a result of a collaboration between Renaissance Lac-Brome (RLB) and volunteer divers from Faisons notre part, a Shawinigan based group that organizes scuba diving cleanups across Quebec. Volunteers from the community and RLB came together to oversee the safety of the divers as they collected items at the bottom of the lake, such as tires and beer bottles dating back as far as the 80s.

Changes were recently made to the Secondary 3 timetable at Massey-Vanier High School (MVHS) that consequently resulted in not offering the French Immersion program for the 2022-2023 school year. In a previous interview with CIDI 99.1 FM, chairman for the Eastern Townships School Board Michael Murray said that the decision came down to wanting to provide students with more options to help them pursue their interests and taking students out of their classroom bubbles. The decision, however, has left some parents feeling uneasy.

Female Entrepreneurs Offering Mentorship and Support (FEMS) is back with its financial award and guidance for 2022. Started by a group female entrepreneurs scattered around the Eastern Townships in 2021, FEMS provides aspiring female identifying entrepreneurs with 6 months of mentorship and financial support to help them on their entrepreneurial journey. The group has officially launched its call for applications for 2022 and they are encouraging those with a passion to follow their instincts and apply.

Blue-green algae blooms made an appearance in Brome Lake on July 7, resulting in the closure of Douglass Beach for the day. Anaïs Renaud, biologist for Renaissance Lac-Brome (RLB), said that its presence in Brome Lake came after a stormy couple of days in the area, resulting in rainwater runoff increasing the level of phosphorus in the lake. Depending on the forecast for this summer, it may not be the last that Brome Lake sees of the cyanobacteria.

Quebec has found its first “wine house” in Maison des vins de Brome-Missisquoi. Maison des vins is a project led by the Town of Dunham and it will provide Brome-Missisquoi winemakers with a space to introduce their products, connect with residents and visitors, and show off their craft. The goal of Maison des vins isn’t to replace the vineyards, but to peak people’s curiosity in the region’s viticulture to encourage them to visit the vineyards and discover the unique world of wine.

Local athlete Xavier Lemaître has dominated the national U20 men’s track and field scene after taking home a gold and silver medal at the 2022 Bell National Track and Field Championships. Lemaître was involved in athletics from a young age, with both of his parents being active runners, and originally played elite soccer before transitioning to cross country and track and field only two years ago. Looking ahead, Lemaître hopes to bring down his time for a spot at the world championships in Columbia in August and to run at the university level.

The Town of Brome Lake has officially decided not to go ahead with a referendum for Bylaw 596-12, an attempt to regulate short-term rentals in the municipality, after gathering almost 380 signatures against the bylaw at a registry held at the end of May.

Instead, they are forming a committee made up of Brome Lake citizens who are for and against the bylaw, some of the town’s staff, and elected officials, who will work together to come to a consensus and present its recommended changes to the bylaw to town council. Richard Burcombe, mayor of Brome Lake, said that he hopes the process will be completed before March 2023.

Appalachian Corridor, a non-profit conservation organization, is marking its 20 year milestone. The organization was founded in 2002 by Francine Hone, Louise Gratton, and Terri Monahan all of whom shared a vision to preserve, in perpetuity, the natural landscape of the Appalachian region in southern Quebec. Appalachian Corridor works alongside various other conservation organizations, private land owners, and municipalities in the Eastern Townships to ensure that the ecology, biodiversity, the ecosystem, and the species that thrive on the region’s natural landscape are protected. With two decades under its belt, the group hopes to carry out its mission for another 20 years to come.

Le Comité de sauvegarde du bassin versant du Lac Davignon has launched a water quality sampling campaign for the Lac Davignon watershed. The Lac Davignon watershed touches eight municipalities in Brome-Missisquoi. The committee hopes to work alongside each of the municipalities to get a better understanding of the current state of the watershed and what actions should be taken moving forward to protect the watershed. The last water sampling campaign was undertaken 10 years ago in 2012 and the committee is striving to get a new report published.

Motorcycle club Cerberus Saints is in the midst of helping organize the “Tournoi de Balle pour Zoé” fundraiser and club member Joey Deschênes wants to spread the word in support of the cause.

Deschênes and other club members jumped at the chance to be involved in the fundraiser in support of Zoé and her family. Zoé was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times.

Massey-Vanier High School (MVHS) has made changes to the Secondary 3 timetable that resulted in cutting the French Immersion program for the 2022-2023 school year. The decision has caused concern amongst some parents who feel that they were not properly consulted or informed of the decision. The French Immersion program offers MVHS students from Secondary One to Secondary Three with the opportunity to do their studies in French with limited help in English. Michael Murray, chair of the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB), said that the decision came down to wanting to provide students with the opportunity to broaden their horizons.

The Sutton Jazz Festival ("Sutton Jazz") is back for its 21st edition and with a new program in store. The Sutton Jazz Fest is running from July 2 to Sept. 3 and it will be offering workshops, music at Sutton’s Saturday market, and performances that will fill the streets with jazz at different locations around the village. Dedicated to promoting local and regional jazz, the Sutton Jazz Fest provides musicians with the opportunity to take centre stage and an educational experience for all those who attend.

Frédéric Gauld, owner of Round Top Bagels in Sutton, has set up a ride-sharing service through the business that he hopes will help address the challenges of accessing public transportation in the Eastern Townships. Having noticed the difficulties surrounding transportation in rural areas, Gauld now wants to give citizens an opportunity to work together to help people get from point A to point B.

Han-Logement has inaugurated eight new apartment dwellings in Cowansville that are adapted to the needs of someone living with a physical and/or intellectual disability and/or an autism spectrum disorder. For 20 years, Han-Logement, a non-profit organization based in Magog, has been supporting affordable housing projects in the Eastern Townships and it shows no signs of slowing down.

The Centre local de développement de Brome-Missisquoi (CLD Brome-Missiquoi) has launched its new project “Nurturing Community.” Working with eight different municipalities in the Brome-Missisquoi region, including Brome Lake, “Nurturing Community” is about creating a stable food system that strives on local produce for a better quality of life for residents.