Vermont news

• Vermont Technology Alliance holding Lunch & Learn Session Nov. 16

  14-11-2017 21:50 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Technology AllianceNov. 9, 2017
  Contact:Jeff CoutureVermont Technology Alliance
  [email protected]
  Vermont Technology Alliance Lunch & Learn Session Nov. 16: R&D Tax Credits for Vermont Tech Businesses and Startups
  The Vermont Technology Alliance is presenting a Lunch & Learn session on how Vermont tech and other businesses and start-ups can qualify for federal R&D tax credits, saving tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.
  The Federal Research and Developm
  
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• ‘A sense of urgency’: Sen. Bernie Sanders pushes Vermont health care players on high costs

  01-06-2024 01:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, speaks during roundtable on health care costs he hosted in Burlington on Friday, May 31, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerEarlier this month, health insurance companies asked state regulators for permission to increase their premiums by roughly 9% to 19% — among the highest increases in recent history.That request drew alarm from residents, officials and lawmakers across the state — including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “Indivi
  
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• I-89 study focuses on South Burlington exit

  01-06-2024 00:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  The exit 14 interchange off Interstate 89 in South Burlington. Photo courtesy I-89 2050 Study
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Other Paper on May 30.South Burlington residents and those passing through the city on a busy workday are all too familiar with the bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion near exit 14 on Interstate 89.This area is now the basis of a study called I-89 2050, which takes a long view of what this 37-mile stretch of highway could look like in 25 years. But
  
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• Former St. Albans police officer permanently banned from police work in Vermont

  01-06-2024 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former St. Albans police officer Jason Lawton. Pool photo by Gregory Lamoureux/County Courier
  A former St. Albans police officer convicted of assault for punching a handcuffed woman in the face has been decertified to work as a police officer in the state. The Vermont Criminal Justice Council last week approved a stipulated agreement resulting in the permanent decertification of Jason Lawton, who, according to council records, no longer works in law enforcement. Lawton did not contest the
  
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• Bear euthanized in Underhill displayed ‘exceptionally rare’ predatory behavior

  31-05-2024 23:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  A bear digs in an unsecured trash can in Stowe. Photo courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife and Samara Chambers.
  Vermont game warden Jeremy Schmid got a call last Friday about an aggressive bear in Underhill. When he arrived at the scene, Schmid easily recognized the 100-pound animal. It was a repeat offender, attracted that morning by recycling outside the front door of the house.“Warden Schmid decided to euthanize the bear for concerns with public safety,” said Lt. Robert Currier,
  
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• Vermont House members hope to clinch Senate seats in open races

  31-05-2024 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, reads a copy of a bill before signing it at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  In an election year in which five of Vermont’s 30 state senators have opted to leave their seats, several members of the Vermont House are seeking to make the jump to the Senate.In a chamber that historically values seniority and has only in recent years begun to see significant turnover, a handful of open races present an opport
  
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• Vermont home prices spiked more than any other state last year while sales slowed down

  31-05-2024 22:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.As states across the country struggle to loosen their tight housing markets, the gridlock consuming Vermont’s stands out.A recent nationwide analysis of home prices from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that Vermont saw the highest year-over-year home appreciation rate of any state, at 12.8%. That’s markedly higher than the national averag
  
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• Vermont home prices spiked more than any other state last year while fewer homes sold

  31-05-2024 22:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.As states across the country struggle to loosen their tight housing markets, the gridlock consuming Vermont’s stands out.A recent nationwide analysis of home prices from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that Vermont saw the highest year-over-year home appreciation rate of any state, at 12.8%. That’s markedly higher than the national averag
  
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• Burlington mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak reappoints Jon Murad as police chief

  31-05-2024 19:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad speaks at a press conference in Burlington. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak will reappoint Jon Murad as police chief for a yearlong term, according to a memo sent to city councilors on Thursday.Murad is one of more than a dozen department heads that the newly-elected mayor will keep in their positions for a one-year reappointment. The police chief’s reappointment, first reported by Seven Days, puts an end to spec
  
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• Bob Bick: Howard Center will continue to adapt and thrive

  31-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Bob Bick. He has served Howard Center for over 30 years, including the past decade as CEO.
  With my retirement from Howard Center just days away, I should be daydreaming about bike rides and dog walks, but instead find myself thinking about what the future will hold for the agency. Years of trying to anticipate and prepare for the next organizational challenge will be a hard habit to break, but I’ll have time for that.Today I’m thinking about how important the n
  
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• Lisa Ford: Short-term rentals are a scapegoat for every state housing issue

  31-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Lisa Ford. She has operated a vacation rental in Guilford for 11 years. In 2019, she organized a statewide Short Term Rental Summit. The first of its kind, it led to the creation of the Vermont Short-Term Rental Alliance, a member-based nonprofit association for vacation rental managers and short-term rental hosts operating in the state.
  Short-term rental owners are not the evil housing tycoons we are sometimes made out to be. Vacation rentals peppered around our state mak
  
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• Island purchase expands state park in the Northeast Kingdom 

  31-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The island in Brighton’s Island Pond has been conserved and added to Brighton State Park. Photo courtesy Vermont Land Trust
  For $1.1 million, a state park in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom just got bigger. Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, along with the Vermont Land Trust, announced Wednesday that they had raised the funds to add the 15-acre island in Island Pond Lake, as well as a 3-acre stretch of lakeshore, to the adjacent Brighton State Park. T
  
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• In a post-session flurry, Gov. Phil Scott signs bills on crime, open meetings, PFAS and more

  31-05-2024 03:39 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, May 3, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Over the past two days, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed more than two dozen bills into law — some big and some relatively small — including changes to criminal justice policies and the state’s Open Meeting Law, as well as new restrictions on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.” Scott, a Republican, also vetoed legislatio
  
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• Gov. Phil Scott vetoes overdose prevention center bill

  31-05-2024 02:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  Ed Baker is a social worker and harm reduction advocate in Burlington. Seen on Monday, November 6, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday vetoed a bill that would lay the foundation for an overdose prevention center — often referred to as a safe injection site — in Burlington, calling it a “costly experiment” that would use up funds better spent elsewhere. Such a site would “divert financial resources from proven prevention,
  
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• Vermont set to become first state in the nation to ‘make big oil pay’

  31-05-2024 02:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont has seen more frequent and intense flooding in recent years, and climate change is expected to cause increased flooding in the state. Photo by StoryWorkz for VTDigger
  Gov. Phil Scott has allowed two of the session’s most consequential bills related to climate change to become law without his signature. One holds big oil companies accountable for the damage climate change has caused in Vermont, and another is designed to protect Vermonters from the impacts of more frequent flooding
  
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• As filing deadline passes, Vermont appears set for a sleepier statewide election season

  31-05-2024 01:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  From left: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Becca Balint and Gov. Phil Scott. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a red-hot election cycle two years ago, Vermont is due for a significantly sleepier campaign season, according to unofficial filings with the Secretary of State’s Office.Major party candidates were due to submit petitions to appear on the primary election ballot by 5 p.m. Thursday, though it may take days for the candidate list to be finalized. In stark contrast to 2022, all
  
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• Unearthed by accident: a plant lost to Vermont for a century is discovered in Addison County

  30-05-2024 22:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department Botanist Grace Glynn examines a patch of false mermaid-weed in Addison County.” Courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
  Molly Parren had no intention of rediscovering a native plant believed to be extinct in Vermont for over a century. As a turtle technician with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department, she had simply set out to survey habitats in Addison County.But when Parren sent a picture of some rare wild garlic to Grace Glynn, a
  
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• Mike Fisher: Thank you, legislators, for listening to Vermonters’ voices and improving Medicare affordability 

  30-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Mike Fisher, Vermont’s health care advocate.This year, low-income Vermonters on Medicare shared their stories about struggling to afford health care and other basic needs and implored the Legislature for help. One Vermonter described their transition onto Medicare:  “The premiums are more with much less coverage. I just don’t go to the doctor anymore because of the deductible and copays. I never know what they will be and can’t take the cha
  
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• Putney fire services return after turmoil, two-month hiatus

  30-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Putney Fire Department. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
  This story by Virginia Ray was first published by The Commons on May 29.PUTNEY — Nearly two months after the fire department collapsed, the town has a plan — and the department is back in action.On May 24, the Selectboard held a special meeting to discuss the strategies outlined by the town and the interim fire chief and voted unanimously to un-suspend the fire department side of services at noon on May 25.The town h
  
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• Ed Baker: Supporting overdose prevention centers is a moral imperative

  30-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Ed Baker of Burlington. He is a person with lived experience of injection drug use, and has been in recovery for 39 years. He is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and an activist.
  Something has been seeded in each and every one of us. Many would call this “something” a soul. It is the root of morality, the vine of integrity, the fruit of our lived lives. It’s sweet with what we call unconditional love, unconditional safety, deep reg
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Are the kids all right? Vermont high school students speak out

  30-05-2024 01:44 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Harmony Devoe. Courtesy photoThe 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.
  Are the kids all right?This question is foremost on the mind of parents, educators, and young people themselves.Auishma Pradhan. C
  
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• In western Vermont, small town residents weigh large scale solar projects

  30-05-2024 00:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  A 50-megawatt solar array, which would be the state’s largest, has been proposed for parcels of land abutting West Road and Slang Road in Panton. Panels are proposed for the field in the middle distance (just between the structures in the foreground and the treeline beyond) in this view to the West from Route 22A. Seen on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerPANTON — Looking west from Route 22A, which stretches from Ferrisburgh to Fair Haven, a driver can see iconic
  
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• ‘Baby Doe’ death investigation closes after four decades with no criminal charges

  29-05-2024 23:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo courtesy of Vermont State Police
  No criminal charges will be filed in the 1982 death of “Baby Doe,” Vermont State Police announced Wednesday, bringing the long-standing investigation to a close. More than four decades after a group of schoolchildren found a deceased infant off the side of a road in Northfield, the techniques of genetic genealogy helped identify the baby’s biological parents. It is one of the first times that DNA has revived a cold case like this one
  
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• In Vermont Supreme Court case, medical marijuana user says state wrongly denied unemployment benefits

  29-05-2024 23:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rutland resident Ivo Skoric speaks during a Vermont Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday. ScreenshotIvo Skoric, a 59-year-old Rutland resident, first started working for the Marble Valley Transit Authority in 2020 as a bus fueler and washer, spending his days cleaning out the vehicles in a garage.He did this until Jan. 9, 2023 — his final day on the job. The transit authority fired Skoric, who is prescribed medical marijuana by a Vermont doctor and uses it off duty to treat chronic pain, af
  
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• Goddard College has inked a deal to sell its campus to an unnamed buyer

  29-05-2024 21:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Goddard College in Plainfield on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Goddard College has finalized a deal to sell its campus, a decision that is frustrating two community groups that had tried to purchase the property. The Plainfield-based liberal arts college, known for its nontraditional approach to education, announced that it would close down for good in April after years of winding down on-campus learning. On Tuesday, the college’s Board of Trustees iss
  
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• Bringing you home to your body

  29-05-2024 17:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Our two person team is here to support you with a range of therapeutic massage, yoga, breathwork, and visualization techniques. We strive to cultivate a sense of ease and calm, bringing you home to your body in each session. Certified Massage Therapists Sasha (Finnell) Quattrocci and Cody Quattrocci have each completed 750 hours massage therapy training and are both Certified Yoga Teachers. You’ll notice a blending of massage and yoga in our approach as we cue breathwork throughout our se
  
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• Frank Seawright: The art of maps

  29-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Frank Seawright. He has lived in Windham for 23 years and is an experienced amateur cartographer.
  A few days ago I got an email message from Vermont Rep. Becca Balint, as follows: “Each spring, a high school arts competition is held in every Congressional district to recognize and encourage the young artistic talent around the nation.” She goes on to extol the importance of arts education. Writing back to Rep. Balint, I proposed the addition to the national com
  
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• David Massell: The awkward truth about Vermont’s ‘Abenaki’

  29-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Abenaki basket sellers at their craft store in Highgate Springs, circa 1894. Left to right : Jean Wawanolett, Monique Wawanolett, Sophie Morisseau, Stanislas Panadis, Agnès Panadis and Mali Nagazoa. Photo courtesy of Annette Nolett, Odanak First Nation
  This commentary is by David Massell. He has been a member of UVM’s history department since 1997. He is director of UVM’s Canadian Studies Program and member of the Environmental Program. His research and courses explore Canadi
  
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• Program to store carbon in forests grows in the Green Mountain State

  29-05-2024 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  The view from Hazen’s Notch State Park. Photo courtesy of the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
  Cecilia Larson is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.Forged by the American Forest Foundation and the Nature Conservancy, a program that pays people to set aside forest to store carbon has been growing in Vermont over the last two years.The Family Forest Carbon Program launched in 2020 in P
  
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• Vermont Supreme Court to hear Tunbridge trails case

  29-05-2024 01:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  John Echeverria, of Strafford, speaks during an editorial board meeting in West Lebanon, N.H., in May 2018. File photo by Geoff Hansen/Valley NewsThis story by Frances Mize was first published in the Valley News on May 27.TUNBRIDGE — This spring, Tunbridge trail volunteers were inspecting Orchard Trail, favored by bicyclists, before its reopening for summer use. They found their way barred by downed trees.On May 14, the Tunbridge Selectboard unanimously passed a motion giving the town&rsq
  
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