Vermont news

• Former Vermont man charged for alleged role in death of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger reaches plea deal

  14-05-2024 22:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sean McKinnon. Photo courtesy of Marion County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office
  A former Montpelier man charged for his alleged role as a lookout when crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was beaten to death in federal prison has reached a plea deal.A federal prosecutor filed paperwork Monday in U.S. District Court in West Virginia indicating that Sean McKinnon has “executed a binding plea agreement.” Terms of the deal, including what charges he was admitting to as well
  
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• Lawmakers pass flood disclosure requirements for home sellers, landlords

  14-05-2024 21:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  An excavator digs out access to a manufactured home that was flooded in Berlin on July 13, 2023. File photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger
  This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.A few years ago, when Corinne Cooper was considering leasing a lot at a manufactured home park in Berlin, she had some sense that the park had experienced minor flooding in the past. But, she said, she didn’t receive much in
  
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• Burlington mayor proposes closing budget gap with one-time funds, tax increases

  14-05-2024 20:44 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak speaks during a Tuesday morning press conference, where she announced the city had closed a projected $13.8 million deficit for fiscal year 2025. Photo by Corey McDonald/VTDigger
  BURLINGTON — Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak on Tuesday announced that her administration had identified a “range of revenue sources and cost saving” measures to close a projected $13.8 million budget deficit.Mulvaney-Stanak, who took office in April, is proposing rais
  
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• Welcome to Maple Mountain Homestead

  14-05-2024 20:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Join us at Maple Mountain Homestead, where a New York City native and a suburbanite from New Jersey have rewritten their lives by homesteading on a beautiful mountainside in Vermont. Stephanie, once trapped in the 9-5 grind of New York City, found her passion in nature and organic food, leading her to embrace permaculture and regenerative agriculture. José, a city dweller turned naturalist, now devotes his time to birdwatching and stewarding the land. Together, we invite you to learn, gr
  
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• Two classmates from North Country High School look to engineer their future

  14-05-2024 18:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Cooper Hodgeman and Tate Parker have been challenging each other since elementary school, particularly when it comes to building things. “My earliest memory of Tate was the fourth-grade garden trellis building contest. I was so mad when his group beat mine for first place,” says Cooper, who lives in Derby. While the two friends were separated for a while shortly after Tate’s trellis team took home the win—when Tate’s family moved to Newport—they met
  
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• Health insurers seek large premium increases 

  14-05-2024 18:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo via Adobe Stock
  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and MVP, the only insurers that sell health plans on the state’s insurance marketplace, are seeking permission to increase insurance premiums between roughly 9% to 19% for the upcoming year.Blue Cross Blue Shield is seeking an average premium hike of 16.3% for individual health plans, which consumers buy directly from the state’s insurance marketplace. Premiums for small group plans, for small employers with 100 or fewer employ
  
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• Police say masked man killed in apparent drug robbery in St. Johnsbury as search continues for suspect

  14-05-2024 15:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Vermont State Police crime scene truck is parked outside an apartment building on Summer Street in St. Johnsbury where authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that took place Monday night. Photo by Alan J. Keays/VTDiggerUpdated 5:06 p.m.
  ST. JOHNSBURY — Vermont State Police said an apparent robbery over illegal drugs turned deadly Monday night when a man wearing a mask tried to break into a St. Johnsbury apartment and was shot and killed by a person inside the residence who then
  
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• Police probe ‘suspicious’ death of man in St. Johnsbury; no one in custody

  14-05-2024 15:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont State Police say they are investigating the “suspicious” death of a man whose body was discovered following a report of a late Monday night shooting on Summer Street in St. Johnsbury.Police said in a press release issued Tuesday morning that the name of the deceased man was unknown. Nobody related to the incident was in custody at that time, police said. They called it an “isolated event with no generalized threat to the community at large.”The deceased man’
  
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• Cari Kelley: Let’s talk about mental health and how to keep each other safe 

  14-05-2024 15:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Cari Kelley of Grand Isle. She is a certified Mental Health First Aid and QPR instructor and workplace donor relations manager for United Way of Northwest Vermont.
  May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time for all of us to think about ways we can support each other while also checking in on our own mental health. Over the past year I’ve been thinking about this a lot through my experiences as a certified instructor of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and QPR, a suic
  
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• Latimer Hoke: When Green Up Day is treated as free trash pickup day

  14-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Latimer Hoke of Milton.
  In lieu of Adopt-a-Highway programs, Vermont has “Green Up Day.” It recently made WCAX news that the town of Milton had a noticeable problem with people dumping their household trash and piles of tires on the side of the road, treating Green Up Day as something of a “free trash pickup day.” I’m certain Milton was not the only town with this problem.I recently moved home to Vermont after seven years in Montana. In Montan
  
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• Vermont is planning for a new women’s prison. Critics say it’s too big.

  14-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  In an “honors” living unit at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, women are given greater liberties like doing laundry when they want. Photo courtesy Vermont Department of Corrections
  Owen Carpenter-Zehe is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. He wrote this story on assignment for Vermont Public. On a recent morning in March, Tanya Gagne talked about the building where she&rsqu
  
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• David J. Stecklare

  14-05-2024 01:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Jan. 27, 1943Burlington, VermontDied May 13, 1996Burlington, VermontMemory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. You will live in our memories forever.Your loving family
  Read the story on VTDigger here:David J. Stecklare.
  
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• Months before Vermont’s primaries, secretary of state hires new elections director

  14-05-2024 00:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Milton voter marks their ballot on Town Meeting Day, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Séan Sheehan, a veteran of several state agencies, is Vermont’s new elections director, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas announced Monday. Sheehan will head her office’s elections division, which administers state elections and oversees campaign finance reporting and lobbyist disclosures. He takes the reins in the midst of a busy election
  
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