Vermont news

• City Market recognized with workplace awards

  16-02-2018 16:55 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — City MarketFebruary 13, 2018
  Contact:John TashiroGeneral [email protected]
  Allison HopeDirector of Community [email protected]
  Burlington – City Market is pleased to announce that they’ve been recognized with two workplace awards, Best Places to Work in Vermont 2018 and a Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award.
  Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce recently announced the t
  
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• Owner of Friesian horse facility ordered to pay care costs for seized animals

  23-04-2024 01:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Two horses rescued from Friesians of Majesty. Photo courtesy of Dorset Equine Society
  A southern Vermont resident is on the hook for $38,600 that an animal rescue organization spent to care for numerous horses that the state seized from him last year.At an April 18 hearing, Vermont Superior Court Judge John Treadwell ordered Robert Labrie to repay the Dorset Equine Rescue for the medical care and boarding costs of 11 horses.They were among 13 horses the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department se
  
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• Cross-Vermont canoe organization seeks input on accessibility

  22-04-2024 22:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kayakers on a portion of the Connecticut River on the Vermont-New Hampshire border, part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, on September 23, 2023. Photo by K. Fiegenbaum/VTDigger.
  The Northern Forest Canoe Trail — 145 miles of which runs through Vermont — is beginning a project to understand and improve accessibility for people with mobility challenges.The paddlers’ organization is seeking input via an online survey to help it identify needs and target future infrastructure i
  
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• New ‘incentive calculator’ launches to help Vermonters electrify their homes

  22-04-2024 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  An electric vehicle plugged into a fast charger in Rutland on Feb. 17, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  To celebrate Earth Day, two nonprofits have announced the launch of a Vermont-specific incentives calculator to electrify everything from your car to your water heater. Rewire America, a national electrification nonprofit, worked with Efficiency Vermont on a version of Rewire’s “savings calculator” that gives Vermonters a customized breakdown of the incentives
  
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• Sen. Bobby Starr to retire after 46 years in Vermont Legislature

  22-04-2024 21:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Essex/Orleans. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
  Longtime Northeast Kingdom state senator Bobby Starr will close a 46-year legislative career when his current term expires in January.At a legislative breakfast with constituents Monday morning, the Orleans County Democrat announced his impending retirement. Pointing to his “hair and wrinkles,” the 81-year-old said he and his wife “have come to the conclusion that maybe it’s time that I retire.&rdqu
  
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• Joe Biden unlocks FEMA aid for January storm in Vermont

  22-04-2024 16:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  A deputy sheriff orders a motorist not to cross under live power lines that closed Pleasant Valley Road in Underhill on January 10, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  President Joe Biden has signed a major public assistance declaration for five Vermont counties to help people there recover from a severe winter storm in early January that caused thousands of homes and businesses to lose power. Local governments and utilities in Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Lamoille and Orleans count
  
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• Tree planting divides Charlotte; 3 officials resign from volunteer board

  22-04-2024 14:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published by the News & Citizen on April 18.A stir over tree planting at recent Charlotte Selectboard meetings has left the town without a tree warden and two deputy tree wardens as all three resigned recently from their positions.What began as an effort to plant trees along State Park Road has turned into a chaotic debacle over process, contracts and how exactly the funds used to plant trees should be doled out.Typically, money used for trees planted on
  
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• Allie Cohen: Vermont’s youth mental health crisis

  22-04-2024 13:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Allie Cohen of South Burlington. She is a third-year social work student at the University of Vermont.
  The state of Vermont is in the grips of a severe mental health crisis. Inpatient pediatric floors, such as those at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, are being compelled to admit pediatric psychiatry patients, leaving little room for other sick children in need of admission. This crisis stems directly from the shortage of inpatient pediatric psychi
  
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• Elizabeth Bridgewater: BIPOC homeownership matters

  22-04-2024 12:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust.
  Every April, communities and housing organizations across this country recognize Fair Housing Month, commemorating the 1968 passage of the landmark civil rights law, which outlawed discriminatory housing practices. Yet, despite nearly six decades of fair housing efforts and advocacy, people of color continue to face challenges in realizing the American dream of homeownership. Our cou
  
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• There are still children’s books waiting to be sent …

  21-04-2024 22:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,We fell short of our goal of inspiring 3,000 people to support our free public service journalism this spring. That means we also fell short of our goal of sending 3,000 books to Vermont children at risk of growing up with low literacy skills. It’s not too late to support these two worthy causes with one donation in any amount. We wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t important. There are still 1,041 books waiting to be sent.Donate & send a book
  Why join?VTDigg
  
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• There are still children’s books waiting to be sent…

  21-04-2024 22:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,We fell short of our goal of inspiring 3,000 people to support our free public service journalism this spring. That means we also fell short of our goal of sending 3,000 books to Vermont children at risk of growing up with low literacy skills. It’s not too late to support these two worthy causes with one donation in any amount. We wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t important. There are still 1,041 books waiting to be sent.Donate & send a book
  Why join?VTDigg
  
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• From small-town Vermont to Taylor Swift and ‘Barbie,’ two brothers stay busy in creative careers

  21-04-2024 14:47 via vtdigger.org
  Joe Fiorillo, left, and Anthony Fiorillo, brothers from Randolph, each at work. Photos courtesy of Joe and Anthony Fiorillo
  Rebecca Olshan is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. She wrote this story on assignment for the White River Valley Herald.Student theater technicians clad in black skitter backstage at Randolph Union High School, their spring show about to start. Anthony Fiorillo moves confiden
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘The bottom of the wishing well’

  21-04-2024 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  “Tree in the Sunset,” by Chloe Deliso, YWP Media Library
  Young Writers Project is a creative online community of teen writers, photographers and artists, which has been based in Vermont since 2006. Each week, VTDigger features the writing and art of young Vermonters who publish their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for 12- to 18-year-olds. To find out more, visit youngwritersproject.org, or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproje
  
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• Ahead of this summer’s Olympics, a Vermonter prepares to defy the odds one more time

  21-04-2024 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Oliver Bub and Billy Bender rowing in the USRowing Olympic Trials for the pair, a boat class crewed by two people each with one oar. Photo credit: Ed Hewitt, row2k.com, courtesy of USRowing
  His life is spare, almost monastic in its simplicity. Rowing on the water in the mornings. Working the rowing machine on land in the afternoons. Two weeks ago, lifelong Norwich resident Billy Bender fulfilled his dream — he qualified for this summer’s Olympics — but success has not int
  
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• Then Again: The State of Vermont vs. Earl Woodward

  21-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Earl Woodward was locked up in the Addison County jailhouse while awaiting trial for kidnapping. Image via Newspapers.com
  This is the second in a two-part series on a 1925 case that drew national attention. Read the first part here.The public assumed the worst when Earl Woodward and Lucille Chatterton disappeared one evening in April 1925 from the Granville farm where they both lived. It seemed obvious that the 27-year-old farmhand had kidnapped Lucille, who was only 11. Newspapers specula
  
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• Ross Connelly: A broken system

  21-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Ross Connelly of Hardwick. Now retired, he was the editor and co-publisher of The Hardwick Gazette from 1986 to 2017. He is a past president of the Vermont Press Association and the New England Press Association.
  A quick look at the internet provides ample evidence that a lot of people in Vermont and around the country don’t have a place to live or enough food to eat. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports about 653,000 Americans experience
  
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• Marshfield couple in 3rd year of spreading sunflower seeds for Ukraine

  21-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sunflowers. Stock photo via Pexels
  Husband and wife Dale and Janet Newton are almost finished distributing sunflower seeds this season for their homegrown solidarity initiative, Vermont Plants Sunflowers for Ukraine, which they started more than two years ago to show support for Ukrainians after Russia’s invasion. They selected the sunflower both because it is the country’s national flower and because it has a long symbolic history in the country as a message of peace. Thi
  
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• LAST DAY: 3X your gift and send a children’s book

  20-04-2024 03:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,Today is the last day of our spring member drive and we urgently need your help to close the gap. We’re only about halfway to our goal, but we have exciting news. Three Vermont donors are tripling every single dollar donated to VTDigger today!VTDigger’s journalism is made possible by member donations. Will you triple your gift and send a brand-new children’s book to a Vermont child today?
  TRIPLE your gift & send a book
  Every dollar invested in local journalism
  
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• Roger Ormiston

  20-04-2024 01:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Nov. 8, 1939Lockport, New YorkDied March 1, 2024Montpelier, VermontDetails of servicesA service of remembrance will be held at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 130 Main St, Montpelier, VT at 2PM. Anyone wanting to join the choir for the service should arrive by 12:30.Roger Ormiston was born November 8th, 1939 in Lockport, NY and grew up there on a farm among fruit tree orchards. He died in his home at the Lane Shops in Montpelier, VT sometime between February 29th and March 2nd, 2024. He
  
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• Final Reading: In the Vermont Senate, Friday afternoons are for budget building

  20-04-2024 01:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, center, hands Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a computer tablet before the start of a committee meeting at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, April 19. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerCue the Jeopardy music. Over the course of numerous hours Friday afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee inched its way toward a vote on its version of the state’s $8-point-something billion Fiscal Year 2025 bu
  
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• Becca Balint to vote in favor of aid to Ukraine, against aid to Israel 

  20-04-2024 00:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, speaks in Williston on January 18, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Vermont’s sole delegate to the U.S. House plans to split her votes Saturday when a series of long-debated foreign aid bills are expected to reach the floor of the closely divided chamber. U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said in a written statement Friday that she would back legislation providing roughly $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine as it seeks to fend off R
  
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• Future of Goddard College campus uncertain as group puts bid forward

  19-04-2024 23:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Goddard College in Plainfield on June 22, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  A week after Goddard College announced plans to close its private college, alumni and community groups with ideas for the property are feeling shut out.At the time, Goddard President Dan Hocoy said the trustees were looking to sell the 117-acre campus and that they were “entertaining all proposals, ideas and conversations currently about property.”Cooperation Vermont, an organization based in Marshfield
  
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• Feds to reimburse Vermont $22M for cleanup costs following July floods

  19-04-2024 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Movie theater seats destroyed in last summer’s flooding sit on the sidewalk outside the Capitol Theater in Montpelier on July 18, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending Vermont $22 million to cover its costs of cleaning up debris and stabilizing state buildings in Montpelier following last summer’s historic flooding.The bulk of the federal reimbursement to the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services — $21 million &
  
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• Progressive, Democratic parties nominate candidates to replace Emma Mulvaney-Stanak

  19-04-2024 23:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak,right, listens during a meeting of the City Council on Monday, April 15. Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad is on the left. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont’s Progressive and Democratic parties have each sent Gov. Phil Scott a list of candidates to fill the seat vacated by former state Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who was sworn in as Burlington’s mayor earlier this month.Jason Maulucci, Scott’s press secretary, said that inte
  
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• Basil Dixon

  19-04-2024 21:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Oct. 20, 1936Lowell, MassachusettsDied March 22, 2024Lowell, MassachusettsBasil Dixon, a native of North Chelmsford, died on March 22, 2024, at Lowell General Hospital after a brief illness. He was 87 years old.Basil is survived by his daughter, Emily North, of Brattleboro, Vermont; grandchildren Violet Zarriello, Miles Goldenbird, Jonah Goldenbird, and Maria Zarriello; and his lifelong friend and cousin, George Dixon, of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Basil was predeceased by his grandmo
  
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• Vermont Supreme Court reinstates law license of Addison County’s top prosecutor 

  19-04-2024 20:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos appears in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury on Feb. 12. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Credit: Glenn RussellThe Vermont Supreme Court has reinstated the law license of Addison County’s top prosecutor roughly three weeks after suspending it for her failure to cooperate with an investigation about her paid leave that followed a drunken driving charge.The high court issued the ruling in favor of state’s attorney Eva V
  
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• Luke Miller: The new renewable energy standard would cement Vermont’s reputation as an environmental trailblazer

  19-04-2024 14:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Luke Miller, an executive committee member of the Vermont Sierra Club.
  This March, the Vermont House of Representatives voted to pass a new renewable energy standard, H.289, a policy that sets requirements for energy providers throughout the state. At the moment, H.289 is being considered by the Senate. H.289 is the product of an agreement between the regulated utilities and environmental and energy advocates. The new renewable energy standard would institute a number
  
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• Suzanna Jones: The hidden costs of ‘climate progress’

  19-04-2024 13:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Suzanna Jones of Walden.
  In a recent VTDigger commentary, Sen. Becca White and Rep. Gabrielle Stebbins touted the “progress on climate” accomplished by the state Legislature. They claim, for example, that bill H.289 — requiring all Vermont utilities to provide 100% renewable electricity to their customers by 2035 — will “dramatically cut climate pollution.”Vermont’s grid currently contributes such a small fraction of total U.S. gre
  
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• David Blittersdorf: H.289 has good intentions, but one big flaw

  19-04-2024 12:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by David Blittersdorf, founder and CEO of All Earth Renewables.
  The Vermont General Assembly, in an attempt to move the state to 100% renewable energy, is making changes to how its utilities buy energy. The Senate Natural Resources Committee will soon consider H.289, a bill to require the state’s utilities to buy 100% renewable energy. This is known as the Renewable Energy Standard law. States near Vermont have been updating their own laws in this area, and Vermont
  
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• After a flood and a pandemic, Montpelier businesses continue to struggle

  19-04-2024 04:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  City Center in Montpelier on Monday, April 1. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns has sublet some of its space in City Center as more organizations move to the remote working model. Photo by Juan Vega de Soto/VTDigger
  This story by Phil Dodd was first published by The Montpelier Bridge on April 16.Downtown Montpelier businesses that survived the pandemic and the flood have been facing a continuing aftershock from both catastrophes: a decline in foot traffic that is being attributed to r
  
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