Vermont news

• U.S. Rep. tours Putnam Block, pledges support to redevelopment project

  27-10-2016 04:08 via manchesterjournal.com
  
  BENNINGTON >> U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., pledged his support this week to a local investment group's plan to purchase and redevelop the Putnam Block.
  Welch was briefed on the plan to turn the properties at the Four Corners intersection into
  
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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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• Vermont confirms first measles case since 2018

  23-04-2024 23:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  A representation of a measles virus particle. Image via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  State officials have confirmed a case of measles in Vermont, officials announced Tuesday, the first confirmed case in the state since 2018.   The individual who was confirmed to have the disease had come to Vermont for an “international group program,” according to a Department of Health press release, and had stayed at the Hampton Inn in Colchester earlier this mont
  
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• Senate committee holds confirmation hearing for Education Secretary Zoie Saunders

  23-04-2024 23:46 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/VTDiggerIn a small and crowded room, the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday held a more than 90-minute confirmation hearing for Zoie Saunders, Gov. Phil Scott’s pick for the next secretary of education.Despite the contentious nature of Saunders’ nomination, particularly over her prior work experienc
  
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• Bald eagles are back, but great blue herons paid the price

  23-04-2024 20:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  Two bald eagles nesting in a tree. Photo courtesy John Hall/Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
  Olivia Wilson is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.After years of absence, the most patriotic bird in the sky returned to Vermont — but it might’ve come at another’s expense.Vermont finally took the bald eagle off of its endangered species list in 2022 following years of reintroduction e
  
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• Helen Riehle: Intentional planning and investment drives South Burlington’s housing strategy 

  23-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Helen Riehle, former South Burlington City Council member and chair.
  The availability, affordability, and yes, safety, of housing will make or break a community, its economic vitality and its social vibrancy. If there is one thing that unites us, it’s that we all recognize the affordable housing crisis in Chittenden County and in Vermont. We all recognize that people need housing that matches their individual and family circumstances, and that quality homes must be a
  
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• Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman: Vermont is not for sale 

  23-04-2024 12:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman.
  It’s no secret that we’re facing a massive affordable housing shortage in Vermont. Over the past few decades, we have not built enough new units to keep up with our growing demand. This scarcity, along with the significant increase in second home ownership and short-term rentals, has driven up the cost of available housing, making it out of reach for many low- and middle-income working Vermonters. There is a lot of debate abo
  
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• Amid empty storefronts, Brattleboro asks a statewide question: What’s the future of downtown?

  23-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The 150-year-old former Vermont National turned Chittenden, People’s United and finally M&T Bank is one of several currently empty downtown Brattleboro properties. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
  BRATTLEBORO — Five years ago, this community received an early Christmas present with the November 2019 news of a proposed $30 million arts and apartment block for downtown.“This project,” Brattleboro Museum & Art Center director Danny Lichtenfeld said then of the
  
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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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