Vermont news

• Don Keelan: The residential rental crisis

  15-07-2019 00:05 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Don Keelan, a retired certified public accountant and resident of Arlington.
  Other than in Chittenden County, there are not many, workforce residential housing units being developed in Vermont. We hear of the dire need for such housing from federal, state, county and local officials. Housing conferences are held throughout the state addressing the issue.
  What is being addressed can be summed up by several statistics that appeared in a June 20 Rutland He
  
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• Brianne Goodspeed: VTDigger’s story on the sale of Chelsea Green lacked depth and perspective

  26-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Brianne Goodspeed, senior editor at Chelsea Green.
  As one of the employee owners who will benefit from the sale of Chelsea Green Publishing to “international publishing behemoth” Mondadori, I found your story about the sale (“Chelsea Green to be sold to international publishing behemoth”), as well as your characterization of the company and the company’s cofounder and publisher, Margo Baldwin, to be lacking in depth and perspective. I’d
  
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• Liz Medina: ‘Same old rich man strategy’ used to oppose workers’ rights — with a new twist

  26-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Liz Medina, executive director, VT AFL-CIO.
  What keeps the few in power over the many?It’s simple: divide and conquer. The “same old rich man strategy” — in the words of the artist collective the Peace Poets – is as old as the institutions of colonization and slavery. The British Empire and the emerging plantation class in the United States stoked racial resentments to prevent landless Europeans and enslaved Africans from standing together acr
  
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• Final Reading: New USDA program aims to help towns access federal disaster relief

  26-04-2024 01:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Boaters paddle through the flooded intersection of Main and State Streets in Montpelier on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  As head of the Center for an Agricultural Economy in the Northeast Kingdom, Sarah Waring was surprised by the number of rules the federal government had for a grant to build a simple wooden pavilion in a park in Hardwick. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told staff, “‘oh, but you actually need to separate the design from the build.
  
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• Vermont’s new fair and impartial policing policy aims to reduce bias based on citizenship

  26-04-2024 00:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo via Adobe Stock
  The Vermont Criminal Justice Council has unanimously approved a selection of long-debated changes to Vermont’s fair and impartial policing policy in an attempt to curtail biased treatment of people by law enforcement based on personal characteristics.The changes, many of which centered on citizenship status, earned qualified applause from an immigrants’ rights group, which said they were a step in the right direction but did not go far enough.Last updated in Ja
  
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• Mike Pieciak announces reelection bid for Vermont state treasurer 

  26-04-2024 00:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mike Pieciak speaks at a Vermont Democratic Party press conference in Montpelier on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. File photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger
  Mike Pieciak will run for a second term as state treasurer, his campaign announced on Thursday. The 40-year old Winooski Democrat — who is widely seen as a contender for higher office — has raked in more campaign contributions than any other statewide incumbent, according to his last campaign filing in mid-March. “I&rsquo
  
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• Senate’s version of budget would reduce motel program room capacity by a third

  25-04-2024 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Autumn Inn, a motel in Bennington that shelters unhoused people through the state’s motel voucher program, pictured in January. Photo by Carly Berlin/VTDigger and Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The capacity of Vermont’s motel shelter program for unhoused people could shrink by a third for much of the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.The Vermont Senate pass
  
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• Senate passes budget that would reduce motel program room capacity by a third

  25-04-2024 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Autumn Inn, a motel in Bennington that shelters unhoused people through the state’s motel voucher program, pictured in January. Photo by Carly Berlin/VTDigger and Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The capacity of Vermont’s motel shelter program for unhoused people could shrink by a third for much of the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.The Vermont Senate pass
  
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• Bennington lawmaker pleads not guilty to DUI charge

  25-04-2024 22:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Jim Carroll, D-Bennington, listens at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Jan. 7, 2020.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Rep. Jim Carroll, D-Bennington, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to driving under the influence of alcohol, first offense. The hearing had earlier been postponed because he was undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation facility.Public defender Avi Springer entered the plea on Carroll’s behalf at the Washington County Superior criminal court in Barre. Carroll appeared v
  
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• Vermont Senate passes $8.6 billion state budget, teeing up negotiations with the House

  25-04-2024 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, pictured on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday April 2, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a key vote Thursday, Vermont’s state budget is on its way to the final stages of negotiation.The Senate voted 26-2 for an $8.6 billion budget, which would take effect at the start of the fiscal year beginning in July. Having passed its own version of the budget last month, the House can now sign off on the Senate’s rewrit
  
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• Senate passes $8.6 billion budget, teeing up negotiations with the House

  25-04-2024 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, pictured on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday April 2, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a key vote Thursday, Vermont’s state budget is on its way to the final stages of negotiation.The Senate voted 26-2 for an $8.6 billion budget, which would take effect at the start of the fiscal year beginning in July. Having passed its own version of the budget last month, the House can now sign off on the Senate’s rewrit
  
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• Jonathan Elwell: A new prison is nothing new

  25-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jonathan Elwell of Brattleboro. He organizes with FreeHer VT and VTJustJustice and volunteers (and formerly worked) with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center.
  “The traditional closed institution has a consistent record of failure over the last 200 years. With increasing caseloads and steadily rising costs, Vermont cannot afford programs that are proven failures and will only become more wasteful of money and human potential.”These words were written not by
  
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• Jessica Barquist: Overdose prevention centers would provide options when people need them the most

  25-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  To the editor: Vermont faces an escalating opioid overdose crisis with increasing fatalities each year.  Our current care system falls short — and we must consider new research-backed ways to save lives. Next week, the Vermont Senate will vote on H.72, which would launch a pilot of an overdose prevention center, filling a crucial gap in our care framework. OPCs serve as  vital links to treatment and recovery, offering much-needed immediate support during  cris
  
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• For Kevin Jones ‘everything was geared toward helping other people succeed’

  25-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kevin Jones, of Chittenden, commutes to work in his electric car, a Chevy Bolt, in Royalton on July 12, 2017. File photo by Geoff Hansen/Valley News
  This story by Frances Mize was first published by The Valley News on April 22.SOUTH ROYALTON — Nicole Lepre, a former student at Vermont Law and Graduate School, told her professor Kevin Jones that she was interested in some of the more nuanced policy related to electric vehicles. “Then Kevin was like, ‘Well, why don’t
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Surviving and escaping the Twelve Tribes cult

  25-04-2024 04:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Tamara Mathieu and her new book, “All Who Believed: A Memoir of Life in the Twelve Tribes.” Courtesy photos
  The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues with politicians, activists, artists, changemakers and citizens who are making a difference. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify to hear more.
  In August 2000, 23-year-old Tamara Math
  
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• Final Reading: House panel taking up major labor reforms passed last year in Senate

  25-04-2024 00:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, and chair of the committee that created a bill that apologizes for Vermont’s eugenics movement. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  For close to a century, workers across the backbone of Vermont’s economy — agriculture — have been barred under federal and state laws from joining a union. A bill that passed the Senate last year, and is now being marked up in the House, would change that. S.102 would authorize a workplace of five or more agr
  
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• Lawsuit accuses Norwich University, former president of creating hostile environment, sex-based discrimination

  25-04-2024 00:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  Col. Mark Anarumo in January 2020. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  A longtime Norwich University employee is accusing school leaders of sexual harassment, sex-based discrimination and creating a hostile environment, according to a lawsuit filed this week.Elizabeth Kennedy, Norwich’s former vice president of development and alumni relations, accused top university leaders — including former president Mark Anarumo — of years of inappropriate and sexist behavior, according t
  
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• Incarcerated man dies in palliative care at New Hampshire facility 

  25-04-2024 00:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  A 73-year-old man incarcerated by the state of Vermont died on Monday while receiving palliative care at a hospice facility in New Hampshire, according to the Vermont Department of Corrections.Roy Patten, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, had been taken April 9 from Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield to the Springfield Hospital emergency department “after exhibiting signs of medical distress,” the corrections department said in a press release Wednesday evening. He was
  
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• Mitch Wertlieb to take over as host of ‘Vermont This Week’

  25-04-2024 00:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mitch Wertlieb. Photo courtesy of Vermont Public.
  Veteran broadcaster Mitch Wertlieb will become the new host of Vermont This Week, according to Vermont Public, ending the station’s nearly year-long search for a moderator. Since longtime host Stewart Ledbetter stepped down last May after nearly 17 years, the weekly television show has relied on a rotation of guest hosts, including Wertlieb, to helm the program.Wertlieb’s first show in his new role is expected to be Friday, May
  
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• In divided decision, Senate committee votes to recommend Zoie Saunders as education secretary

  24-04-2024 23:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Education Secretary Zoie Saunders speaks at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Education Committee at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, April 23. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  The Senate Education Committee voted 3-2 on Wednesday to favorably recommend Zoie Saunders as the next education secretary.The Senate is expected to vote on Saunders’ confirmation next week. She needs the support of a majority of the 30-member body, though the chamber currently has one vacancy due t
  
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• Kurn Hattin Homes for Children fined for water system violations

  24-04-2024 23:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  The original building of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Westminster. File photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerThe state has fined Kurn Hattin Homes for Children $6,750 for regulatory violations related to the operations of its in-house water system. During a routine inspection in March 2022, the Agency of Natural Resources’ Department of Environmental Conservation found that Kurn Hattin had not completed a mandatory testing of its water filter vessels, nor had it updated the sys
  
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• VTDigger spring members support local journalism and send 2,072 new books to Vermont children

  24-04-2024 22:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  Libbie Sparadeo, Director of Membership & EngagementMaggie Cassidy, Managing EditorPeter D’Auria, Human Services and Health Care ReporterFlorencio Terra, Membership ManagerK. Feigenbaum, Northeast Kingdom ReporterEthan Weinstein, Southern Vermont, Education and Corrections ReporterKristen Fountain, Senior EditorAuditi Guha, Northwest and Equity Reporter/EditorNatalie Williams, Senior EditorTaylor Haynes, Product Design DirectorJuan Vega de Soto, InternGlenn Russell, Photographer
  Some V
  
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• Cheryl Burghdurf

  24-04-2024 21:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born March 8, 1945Auburn, New YorkDied Middlesex, VermontApril 21, 2024Cheryl Burghdurf, 79, of Middlesex, VT, began her spiritual adventure at 12:26pm, on April 21, 2024 after a long battle with Myelofibrosis, a blood cancer. She was born March 8, 1945 in Auburn, NY. The middle child of James and Erta Burghdurf, Cheryl was grateful to her favorite older brother, Jimmy, and to her favorite younger brother, Gary, for their laughter and love.Cherie graduated from SUNY-Cortland and the University o
  
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• Judge denies delay of Montpelier-Roxbury school budget revote

  24-04-2024 20:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Washington County Superior Court judge has ruled that the April 30 revote on the Montpelier Roxbury Public School District budget should proceed as planned, denying an injunction request from the town of Roxbury. The latest version of the school budget would close down the Roxbury Village School and have the district bus students to Montpelier schools instead, according to the school district’s website. It also reduces the total budget from $32 million to $30.5 million. Plainti
  
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• Jean Waltz: To guarantee equitable education in Vermont, we must protect Act 127

  24-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jean Waltz, who serves on the Burlington School Board and is a member of the Coalition for Vermont Student Equity.
  In Vermont we hold the belief that every child should have access to an equitable education. Though this promise is a constitutional right, in reality it’s been challenging to fulfill given the outdated funding mechanisms that have historically governed our schools. As a member of both the Burlington School Board and the Coalition for Vermont Studen
  
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• Joanna Lidback: Banning neonicotinoids will put our farms and nature out of balance

  24-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Joanna Lidback. She is a dairy farmer, chief financial officer, consultant, wife and mom in the Northeast Kingdom.
  My husband and I own and operate an 80-cow dairy herd largely sustained by feed, including hay and corn silage, grown on our Wheeler Mountain farm.We, like most Vermont farmers, constantly try to maintain the delicate balance between environmental preservation and farming. We’ve all worked hard to improve the quality of Vermont’s lands and waters b
  
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• Citing devastation in Gaza, Sanders and Welch oppose aid package for Ukraine and Israel

  24-04-2024 06:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Peter Welch, left, and Bernie Sanders. File photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  The U.S. Senate voted by a wide margin Tuesday night to send a $95 billion foreign aid package to President Joe Biden for his signature. But among those who opposed it were Vermont’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate: Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Peter Welch, a Democrat.The sprawling bill would provide close to $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine; more than $26 billion in military aid to Israel and
  
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• Final Reading: Vermont lawmakers respond to “ghost guns” case addition to SCOTUS docket

  24-04-2024 01:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, speaks with fellow members of the Senate Appropriations Committee before the start of a committee meeting at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, April 19. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  On the precipice of the Vermont Legislature’s approval of a bill outlawing so-called ghost guns, a third party is slated to weigh in on the question of regulating untraceable, unserialized firearms: the U.S. Supreme Court.The nation&rsq
  
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• Poll: Majority of Vermonters want Scott, Sanders to run for reelection

  24-04-2024 01:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, and Gov. Phil Scott. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  A majority of Vermonters surveyed recently said they want to see Republican Gov. Phil Scott and independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders run for reelection this fall. But the two top politicians remain tightlipped about their reelection plans as the state’s campaign filing deadline fash approaches.According to a University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday, 58% of those surveyed said they want Scott to seek
  
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• Suspect pleads not guilty to setting fire at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office 

  24-04-2024 00:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  The damaged door at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office in Burlington. Photo via police affidavit
  BURLINGTON — A 35-year-old man has denied a federal charge accusing him of setting a fire to the entryway of the Burlington office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this month.Shant Michael Soghomonian, who previously lived in California and has more recently been living in Chittenden County hotels, appeared Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Burlington for an arraignment. He pl
  
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