Vermont news

• Final Reading: Many repairs to flood-damaged state office buildings are still on hold

  25-01-2025 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Pavilion Building in Montpelier undergoing remediation on July 18, 2023, after flooding the previous week. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFew in Montpelier need reminders of the damage the downtown complex of state offices suffered in summer 2023’s devastating flooding. In all, 22 state buildings took a hit — with at least one inundated with some 7 feet of water spilling out of the nearby Winooski River.As of Friday, all but five buildings in the complex were back in use, accordi
  
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• Ex-Addison County Sheriff Peter Newton, accused of sexual assault, pleads guilty to lesser charges

  25-01-2025 00:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former Addison County Sheriff Peter Newton appears for a change of plea hearing before pleading guilty to two sexual assault charges in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington on Friday, Jan. 24. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — Former Addison County Sheriff Peter Newton, accused in 2022 of sexually assaulting and unlawfully restraining a woman, pleaded guilty to lesser charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and simple assault during a court appearance Friday.Dur
  
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• Cold temperatures persist in Vermont ahead of Free Ice Fishing Day on Saturday

  24-01-2025 23:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  A family celebrates their catch with a picture on Lake Elmore. Photo by Sophie Acker/Community News ServiceThe state Fish & Wildlife Department on Saturday plans to open Vermont’s frozen lakes and ponds to ice fishing for all. Anglers without a fishing license will be able to fish at any legal fishing locations on Saturday, and the state plans to host a festival at Silver Lake State Park in Barnard from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is scheduled to feature information on how to ice
  
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• Vermont reports progress on $600M of investments in clean water projects

  24-01-2025 22:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  A family celebrates their catch with a picture on Lake Elmore. Photo by Sophie Acker/Community News ServiceVermont has poured $603 million, from state and federal sources, into improving water quality in the state, according to a report released by the Agency of Natural Resources last week. However, the agency is only a fraction of the way towards achieving its pollution reduction goals.In fiscal year 2016, as part of Vermont’s Clean Water Act, the state agency outlined a plan to reduce po
  
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• Animal research watchdog points to botched practices at Middlebury College lab

  24-01-2025 22:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Middlebury College campus on June 23, 2018. Photo by Kenneth Burchfiel/Wikimedia CommonsFollowing a report that Middlebury College sent to federal authorities last year disclosing its own lapses in laboratory research work and outlining a remediation plan, an animal research watchdog group is calling on the college to take tougher measures. In a lab at Middlebury College last fall, researchers repeatedly botched animal research protocol and practices, particularly while performing castratio
  
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• Federal prosecutors file charges in probe of fatal shooting of border patrol agent in Vermont

  24-01-2025 19:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  A hearse carrying U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland travels in a procession to Ready Funeral and Cremation Services on Shelburne Road in Burlington on Thursday, Jan. 23. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFederal prosecutors have filed two criminal charges against a 21-year-old Washington state woman in connection with the investigation into Monday’s fatal shooting of a border patrol agent  during a traffic stop in Coventry.Court paperwork unsealed Friday morning in support of the cha
  
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• Editor-in-chief Paul Heintz to leave VTDigger in February

  24-01-2025 19:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Paul Heintz, editor-in-chief of VTDigger. Seen on Thursday, June 15, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerPaul Heintz, who has led VTDigger’s newsroom for the past four years, plans to leave the nonprofit digital news organization next month to return to reporting and writing. Heintz was named managing editor of VTDigger in December 2020 and was promoted to editor-in-chief in November 2022. In those roles, he has overseen close to two-dozen journalists at the state’s leading dai
  
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• Eli Harrington: Vermont’s pearl-clutching over cannabis and deification of alcohol is embarrassing and unsustainable

  24-01-2025 13:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Eli Harrington of Burke. He is owner and president of the Vermont Cannabis Convention and was formerly a licensed Tier 2 outdoor cannabis cultivator producing Vermontijuana brand sun-grown cannabis products. He was co-founder of Heady Vermont and the Vermont Hemp Fest and also worked independently in the cannabis industry as a licensed lobbyist and communications consultant.Just a quick note about the exciting recent news that Zero Gravity Brewery is partnering with the Uni
  
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• Seth Steinzor: ‘Blowin’ in the wind’

  24-01-2025 13:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Seth Steinzor of South Burlington. He is a retired attorney, and the author of a trilogy, “In Dante’s Wake,” and a collection of poems, “The Dragon of Sassafras Mountain.”This past Saturday morning I saw something shocking while walking in downtown Burlington. I hadn’t been down to the Church Street area for months. I was prepared to see a lot of new stores in place of similar, previous stores: businesses cycle through this area; the
  
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• Allen Gilbert: Fatal police encounters continued in 2024

  24-01-2025 13:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Allen Gilbert of Worcester. He is a former journalist, teacher and ACLU-VT executive director. Following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, and the revelation that records of police encounters that end in death were scant or nonexistent, he joined efforts around the country to ensure accurate data was collected every year. In 2019, he researched fatal police shootings in Vermont over the 50 years from 1970 to 2019. He followed that in 2020 by
  
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• Final Reading: Defender general warns public defenders are harder and harder to hire

  24-01-2025 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Public defenders Sarah Varty, left, and Margaret Jansch speak in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Nov. 27, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger“We don’t even get applicants.”Matt Valerio, Vermont’s defender general, had reached the end of his slide deck, rounding out a morning of testimony before the House and Senate judiciary committees Thursday on “access to justice,” a fancy title for a discussion on the state’s persistent cou
  
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• Vermont to get $22 million in new Purdue Pharma opioid settlement, if approved by court

  24-01-2025 00:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Attorney General Charity Clark in Dec. 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont would receive $22 million for opioid treatment and prevention programs as part of a proposed $7.4 billion settlement between more than a dozen states and the Sackler family and the company they once owned, Purdue Pharma, according to the Vermont Attorney’s General Office.The settlement was announced Thursday by the 15 state attorneys general who accused the Sackler family and their company, which made
  
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• Law enforcement honors fallen border patrol agent as investigators provide few new details of Coventry shooting

  23-01-2025 23:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Law enforcement personnel salute as a hearse carrying U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland arrives at Ready Funeral and Cremation Services in Burlington Thursday, Jan. 23. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAs a law enforcement procession paid honor Thursday to a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was fatally shot this week in northern Vermont, few details about the circumstances of his death had been released by the federal agency heading the probe.On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection identifi
  
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• UVM Health Network executives made $3 million in bonuses in 2024

  23-01-2025 23:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sunny Eappen, president and CEO of the University of Vermont Health Network, speaks at an event in South Burlington on Dec. 15, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTop executives at the University of Vermont Health Network received bonuses worth a combined $3 million at the end of last year, according to the hospital network.That sum, which the network referred to as “variable pay,” was paid out to the network’s top 19 senior leaders — including President and CEO Su
  
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• Police: Investigation continues into Quechee shooting of 21-year-old man

  23-01-2025 21:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  Facebook photo This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on Jan. 22QUECHEE — The person who died after being transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the head on Sunday was a 21-year-old man, Hartford Police Chief Greg Sheldon said on Wednesday.But exactly what occurred that led to the Sunday afternoon shooting at a residence on Fairbanks Turn in Quechee remains unclear as police have released few details about the incident.Meanwhile
  
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• ‘An unconscionable betrayal’: Vermont groups scramble in wake of Trump order to halt refugee resettlement

  23-01-2025 18:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt the country’s refugee resettlement program as of Jan. 27 has Vermont organizations ramping up efforts to support newcomers and those still expected to arrive in the state.While the January arrivals are already here, the future is uncertain for 17 refugees — four from Afghanistan, five from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and eight from Sudan — who were scheduled to arrive in February, according to Sonali Samarasinghe,
  
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• Alan H. Davis, Sr.

  23-01-2025 17:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Birth Jan. 22, 1927Boston, MADeath Jan. 13, 2025Berlin, NHDetails of serviceA celebration of life will be held on Friday, February 7, 2025, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Barn on The Pemi, 341 Daniel Webster Highway (Route 3), Plymouth, NH.  Heavy appetizers will be provided, and there will be a cash bar.In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Al’s memory to the New England Ski Museum or to the Mt. Washington Avalanche Center Foundation.Alan Hale Davis, Sr., of Guildhall,
  
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• The Able House: Northwestern Counseling & Support Services

  23-01-2025 17:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Care Partners (VCP) is a statewide network dedicated to supporting individuals with I/DD, as well as those with mental health and substance use needs, to maintain independence and well-being. While not housing providers in the traditional sense, VCP agencies play an essential role in addressing the housing crisis by helping individuals find appropriate housing, navigate complex systems, and developing innovative solutions to ensure individuals can live healthy and satisfying lives in the
  
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• Family settles with Smugglers’ Notch resort following son’s drowning death

  23-01-2025 16:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  After conducting an investigation, the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Smugglers’ Notch Resort for workplace safety violations related to the water tank where Tate Holtzman drowned. Photos courtesy of the News & CitizenThis story by Aaron Calvin was first published in the News & Citizen on Jan. 21. The parents of Tate Holtzman, the 3-year-old who died by drowning at Smugglers’ Notch Resort in 2023 while attending a licensed daycare program, ha
  
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• Jon Groveman: Ensuring clean water for all is essential for healthy communities and a vibrant economy

  23-01-2025 15:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jon Groveman, policy and water program director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council.As we head into the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers must keep in mind the importance of clean water to Vermonters’ health, economy and quality of life. With the dual climate and economic crises rapidly escalating, we cannot afford to slow our efforts to clean up and protect Vermont’s waters. This includes continuing to fund clean water projects, reducing pollution to La
  
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• Lissa Weinmann: Vermont Yankee’s Nuclear Citizens Advisory Panel does an adequate job publicizing its work

  23-01-2025 13:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I share Ann Darling’s sentiments regarding a desire for more public participation around the decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. From what I understand, it is and has been the largest, most costly industrial project in all of Vermont for the past several years. But Darling provides no specific direction on what she thinks Vermont Yankee’s Nuclear Citizens Advisory Panel should do to fulfill its statutory obligation to “provide a forum for public e
  
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• Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: The Winooski school district should pass the proposed sanctuary school policy

  23-01-2025 13:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver of Moretown. She is an English, history and reading teacher at Winooski High School, and 2025 Vermont teacher of the year.It’s been my greatest honor and privilege to work as a high school teacher for nearly 15 years, and with Winooski youth for the past six years. We do many things in my English and history classes: read diverse books, engage in critical discussion on complex issues, study the past, write strong arguments, perform poetry, make
  
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• ‘A ball of sunshine energy’: Vermonters remember rights activist Brenda Churchill

  23-01-2025 12:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brenda Churchill. Photo courtesy of Jessica BantaFriends and colleagues are still coming to terms with the recent death of prominent Vermont LGBTQ+ advocate Brenda Churchill, remembered as an empathetic and passionate activist and as a vibrant, fun-loving compatriot. A Bakersfield resident and transgender woman, she was a beloved member of the Vermont Commission on Women and the state’s LGBTQ+ community. Churchill died on Jan. 13 at age 67 from natural causes, according to her family,
  
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• Feds OK use of Medicaid funds to cover rent for unhoused people

  23-01-2025 11:00 via vtdigger.org
  The Bonvouloir House served more than 200 people experiencing homelessness until it shut down in July 2023. Photo by Lexi Krupp/Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The federal government has given Vermont the green light to use funds from the low-income health care program Medicaid to pay for housing programs for people experiencing homelessness who have high medical needs. The fede
  
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• Final Reading: Lawmakers contemplate the end of expanded federal health insurance subsidies

  23-01-2025 00:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex, speaks as Lori Houghton, D-Essex Junction, listens in the House Health Care Committee on on Feb. 14, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Credit: Glenn RussellShould Vermont lawmakers take action to help pay for Vermonters’ health insurance … in 2026?During the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress expanded tax credits to help Americans pay for health insurance plans sold on states’ Affordable Care Act marketplaces — here, it’s Vermont Healt
  
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• Vermont Supreme Court hears challenge to education secretary’s interim appointment

  23-01-2025 00:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Education Secretary Zoie Saunders speaks at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Education Committee at the Statehouse in Montpelier on April 23, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Vermont’s Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case challenging Gov. Phil Scott’s appointment of Zoie Saunders to be the state’s interim education secretary last year after lawmakers rejected her.Last March, Scott tapped Saunders — then a Florida school a
  
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• Middlebury College announces its next president

  23-01-2025 00:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  Ian Baucom. Photo courtesy of Jeneene ChatowskyIan Baucom is set to become Middlebury College’s 18th president after a unanimous recommendation from the college’s presidential search committee, the university announced Wednesday. Baucom has served as executive vice president, provost and English professor at the University of Virginia since 2022. “There are a handful of defining colleges and universities across the globe,” Baucom said in the college’s anno
  
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• Feds award $8 million to promote STEM research in southern Vermont

  22-01-2025 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  A student and professor in a science lab at Landmark College. Photo courtesy of Landmark College
  Landmark College — the first institution of higher education that serves exclusively neurodiverse individuals — will receive the bulk of an $8 million federal grant intended to promote STEM education and research in southern Vermont.The Putney-based school will see $6.1 million of the National Science Foundation award, according to a Wednesday press release. Other partners on the initiati
  
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• State economists tout strong economy but warn of uncertainty under Trump

  22-01-2025 23:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Economists Tom Cavet, right, and Jeff Carr update fiscal forecasts for the Emergency Board on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at the Statehouse in Montpelier. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Vermont’s economy, and the country’s as a whole, is in “exceptional” shape, the state’s economists told a panel of top fiscal lawmakers Wednesday — but cautioned their outlook was tempered by uncertainty over the actions President Donald Trump has pledged to tak
  
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• Scott administration unveils education plan with just 5 school districts statewide

  22-01-2025 23:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Education secretary Zoie Saunders briefs a joint session of the legislature Wednesday, Jan. 22 on Gov. Phil Scott’s education funding plans. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/VTDiggerUpdated at6:53 p.m.MONTPELIER— State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal Wednesday, a plan that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s dozens of school districts to just five and adopting a foundation formula. “We know that the wo
  
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• Administration officials unveil education plan with just 5 school districts statewide

  22-01-2025 23:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Slide from Vermont Agency of EducationMONTPELIER— State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal Wednesday, a plan that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s dozens of school districts to just five and adopting a foundation formula. “We know that the work that we’re describing here is going to be really challenging,” Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s secretary of education, said. “I ask you to join u
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Bill McKibben on fighting for change under the new Trump administration

  22-01-2025 22:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Bill McKibben speaking toa Sierra Club meeting in Montpelier in December 2024. Photo David Goodman/VTDiggerThe 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.Donald Trump launched his second term as president thi
  
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• Central Vermont faces soaring homelessness as annual count begins

  22-01-2025 21:23 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brandon, 31, rewraps a wound on his elbow at the Barre Auditorium warming center on Monday, Jan. 20. As temperatures dipped below zero this week, Barre officials set up a warming shelter open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday to Thursday. Four people slept in the low-barrier shelter on Sunday, Jan. 19. One man who has been spending nights without a tent, with only a quilt for warmth, welcomed the spare facility. Photo by Terry J. Allen/The BridgeThis story by Cassandra Hemenway was first published in
  
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• VTSU admissions leader and VSAC alum finds valuable lessons in his own college experience

  22-01-2025 18:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Patrick Rogers graduated from high school in the year 2000—“you know, when we all thought the world was ending,” he says. While it’s funny to think about now, Patrick still finds relevance in it. As the Associate Director of Admissions for Vermont State University (VTSU), he’s always looking for ways to connect his own experience to today’s students. “Almost all students feel that way to some degree at the end of high school, because it’s hard
  
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• Rob Riley: The rural housing crisis needs bold solutions now

  22-01-2025 13:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rob Riley of Canterbury, New Hampshire. He is president of the Northern Forest Center, a regional innovation and investment partner creating rural vibrancy by connecting people and economy to the forested landscape.In their inaugural addresses, Govs. Phil Scott of Vermont and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire highlighted the urgent need to address housing challenges in our states. Gov. Scott called for regulatory reform, while Gov. Ayotte proposed an “all-of-the-above&rdq
  
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• Trine Bech: Scott’s proposed legislation for harsher punishment of young people

  22-01-2025 13:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,It is disheartening to hear old, tried and failed policies coming back. As a person who has watched the crime debate for more than 40 years in Vermont, and been part of analyzing the data about what works, Gov. Scott proposing harsher punishment for young people is the wrong approach.The data on which research is based show that criminal punishment only puts people in expensive jails and does nothing to change criminal behavior. We have seen that providing housing, social supports an
  
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• Katherine Sims: Make your voice heard this legislative session

  22-01-2025 13:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Katherine Sims, former Democratic state representative for the Orleans-4 district in the Vermont House of Representatives.The start of a new legislative session in Montpelier always feels like the first day of school — new faces, fresh energy and the sense that anything is possible. This year, it’s a little different for me personally: it’s the first time in four years that I haven’t been there on opening day. Though I’m on the sidelines, I&rsq
  
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• Vermonters who work from home tend to earn more, data shows

  22-01-2025 12:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermonters who work mostly from home earned 28% more than the average employee in the state in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau released in December. Remote workers reported a median income of about $65,000 per year, well above the $51,000 median for all workers 16 and older, according to the bureau’s American Community Survey, which surveyed people from roughly 14,000 Vermont households in 2023. The estimated 55,000 workers, 16% of the state’s workforce,
  
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• Final Reading: Advocates urge lawmakers to solidify authority over farm wastewater

  22-01-2025 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Scott Sanderson of the Conservation Law Foundation testifies before the House Environment Committee at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe manure stream created by Vermont’s largest farm contains “four times as much phosphorus” as the sewage stream that comes from Burlington, before it’s treated at a wastewater plant.Wait what?That’s what Scott Sanderson with the Conservation Law Foundation told lawmakers in the House
  
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• Vermont, other states sue to block Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship

  22-01-2025 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Attorney General Charity Clark speaks about small donation campaign finance reform during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on June 18, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont Attorney General Charity Clark is joining top prosecutors in 19 other states and cities across the country in a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to end birthright citizenship, Clark said on Tuesday. The lawsuit, which was filed in Massachusetts, ar
  
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• Phil Scott outlines proposal for making it ‘faster, easier and less expensive’ to build housing 

  21-01-2025 22:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Alex Farrell, Commissioner of Housing and Community Development, speaks during Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.During the first days of his fifth term in office, Gov. Phil Scott has emphasized a familiar priority: creating more housing across Vermont. At a Tuesday pre
  
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• Vermont officials identify U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday in Coventry

  21-01-2025 20:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Donna, Texas, on May 2, 2019. Photo by Eric Gay/APVermont officials on Tuesday identified the U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday afternoon in Coventry as David Maland.The incident occurred on Interstate 91 at around 3:15 p.m., according to Vermont State Police. The FBI said Monday that a Border Patrol agent was fatally shot and that one “subject” was also killed. A third person was injured and in custody, according to the FBI. U.
  
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• Officials identify U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday in Coventry, disclose more details of shooting

  21-01-2025 20:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Donna, Texas, on May 2, 2019. Photo by Eric Gay/APUpdated at 7:12 p.m.Federal and state officials on Tuesday identified the U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot Monday afternoon in Vermont as David C. Maland. The FBI, meanwhile, shared new information about the circumstances of his death and the background of another person who died in the incident.In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the border
  
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• Officials identify U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday in Coventry

  21-01-2025 20:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Donna, Texas, on May 2, 2019. Photo by Eric Gay/APUpdated at 5:12 p.m.Federal and state officials on Tuesday identified the U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot Monday afternoon in Vermont as David C. Maland.In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the border patrol, said that Maland had “passed away in the line of duty” the day before and had “succumbed to injuries caused by gunfi
  
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• Colchester asylum-seeker allowed to remain in the US for 6 months, officials say

  21-01-2025 17:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  Steven Tendo greets a supporter before reporting to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Albans on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerST. ALBANS — Steven Tendo, a Ugandan asylum-seeker living in Colchester whose case has drawn widespread attention in recent years, can stay in the U.S. for at least the next six months, federal immigration officials told him Tuesday morning. Tendo had feared he would be detained at a mandatory check-in with U.S. Immig
  
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• Barbie Alsop: A response to John Bossange’s commentary about Burlington

  21-01-2025 13:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,John Bossange’s opinion piece raised my eyebrows substantially. After a fairly good start about the problems facing Burlington, he goes off the rails when he claims that the problems of the city can be laid at the feet of the Progressives.He should be challenged on his bizarre misreading of the recent history in Burlington. For 12 out of the last 13 years, the city has been helmed by a Democratic businessman, Miro Weinberger, whose priorities and programs oversaw the sinking of
  
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• Shelby Semmes: In changing times, conservation endures as a priority for voters

  21-01-2025 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Shelby Semmes of Warren. She is vice president of the New England region for the Trust for Public Land.A new federal administration is taking shape and change is in the air, particularly for many environmental initiatives launched during the last four years. However, the ongoing work happening right now in Vermont is a positive reminder of the increasingly urgent — and popular — issue of land conservation.Looking back at recent history, efforts to protect or con
  
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• Chloe Learey: Is Act 76 improving child care in Vermont?

  21-01-2025 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Chloe Learey is the executive director of Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro and serves as the steering committee chair of the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance and the vice chair of the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Board. She is also on the board of the Vermont Community Loan Fund.The passage of Act 76 in the 2023 legislative session signaled a significant new public investment in child care in the state of Vermont. This was a response to growing reco
  
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• Judge upholds state’s high-capacity firearm magazine ban in case against white nationalist 

  21-01-2025 03:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Max Misch before a court appearance in August 2019. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerA Vermont judge has rejected the latest bid by a self-professed white nationalist to toss out charges that he illegally possessed high-capacity firearm magazines in a case that stretches back nearly six years.Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady, in a ruling last week in Bennington County Superior criminal court, denied Max Misch’s challenge of the constitutionality of the state’s magazine limits.“The
  
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• John Joseph Kravetz, III

  20-01-2025 23:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  Birth Dec. 27, 1948Yonkers, NYDeath Dec. 23, 2024Saxtons River, VTDetails of serviceThere will be a Celebration of Life held on the weekend of the Summer Solstice, June 20-22, 2025. Go to www.csnh.com for updates, or to share memories, photos and comments.
  The pulsating beat of Johnny Kravetz, 75, fell silent Dec. 23, 2024, as he passed away peacefully in his home in Saxtons River, surrounded by family and close friends.Johnny was born Dec. 27, 1948, in Yonkers, NY, son of the late John J. Krave
  
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