Vermont news

• Bill Schubart: What lies beneath?

  09-08-2017 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bill Schubart, who lives, works and writes in Hinesburg. He is a former board member of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the umbrella organization for VTDigger.org. His latest book is “Lila & Theron.”
  I’m losing my war against field mice. This time they chewed through the power cord to the freezer. So, with the freezer thawing, it’s time for a family cookout.
  I’m pulling chunks of hoarfrost-covered packages out and sorting
  
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• UVM president says school’s budget deficit is closed despite declining enrollment

  25-08-2026 23:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  University of Vermont President Marlene Tromp delivers her State of the University address in Burlington on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — The University of Vermont has closed its $12 million projected budget deficit, President Marlene Tromp reported just days before first-year students are set to arrive on campus. Tromp delivered the first “State of the University” address to trustees and hundreds of staff Tuesday with one resoundin
  
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• As Trump tries to curtail mail-in voting, Vermont officials clean up errors on state voter rolls

  25-08-2026 23:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott and Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas announce that 900 people who were wrongly registered to vote have been cut from Vermont’s voter rolls on Tuesday. Photo by Shaun Robinson/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Vermont officials have removed just shy of 900 people from the state’s voter rolls who they said were wrongly registered to vote due to human error at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.None of those 900 people actually cast a ballot and the state wrongly r
  
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• Abuse claimants fight Vermont Catholic Church plan to sell Rice Memorial High to supporters

  25-08-2026 22:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  The grade 9-12 Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerCreditors in the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s Chapter 11 financial reorganization case are fighting a church plan to sell Rice Memorial High School to supporters to protect the grade 9-12 South Burlington campus from potential liquidation.In a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing Monday, lawyers for a creditors’ committee that represents more than 100 clergy abuse claimants questioned the
  
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• Burlington looks to the state for help combating homelessness and drug use downtown

  25-08-2026 22:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak listens as the City Council discusses a resolution requesting more help from the state to battle homelessness, substance use disorder and the mental health crisis on Monday, August 24, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON— Burlington city councilors are requesting the governor take new steps to help the Queen City address homelessness and drug use downtown. The request from city officials comes in the form of a resolution, which Burlin
  
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• Rudulfo “Rudy” Gomez

  25-08-2026 21:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 04/04/1932Montpelier, VermontDied: 02/06/2026St. Johnsbury, VermontDetails of service:There are no calling hours.  Dad’s interment will be at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery, September 11, 2026 at 1 pm.Please consider memorial contributions to:Vermont Veterans Place220 Vine Street,Northfield, VT 05663Rudulfo “Rudy” Gomez, 93, of Hardwick, VT, our dad, Poppy, Grandpa, Great Poppy, uncle and brother, passed on February 6, 2026.Born to immigrant parents, Santiag
  
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• Vermont could save Brattleboro’s birthing center — if it does the math

  25-08-2026 20:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Lucas Farrell, a farmer and writer in Townshend. He is the treasurer of the board of Grace Cottage Family Health and Hospital. These views are his own.Defenders of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s birthing center need to say this out loud, because our case is worthless without it: The hospital’s finances were catastrophically mismanaged, and the community deserves to be angry.The record is in BMH’s own filings: nine years of losses — $33.6 million si
  
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• A Vermont teenager is holding the U.S. to its own law

  25-08-2026 18:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Zoya Bianchi, a 14-year-old student from Waterbury, recently wrote in VTDigger that U.S. law bars aid to Israel or any other country that commits human rights violations. Continuing U.S. aid to Israel is now well into the billions. Bianchi’s letter underscores two recent United Nations reports: the finding by the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory in September 2025 that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip
  
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• Why Vermont’s housing shortage can’t be explained by population size alone

  25-08-2026 11:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  A mismatch between Vermont’s home sizes and household sizes is one factor in Vermont’s current housing crunch.Laura Nakasaka / Vermont Public
  Carly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger.For two decades, Dave Felcan had a full house. He and his wife bought their three-bedroom Burlington home with red shutters on a quiet neighborhood street in the early 2000s. The house felt like just the right place to raise their two young kids.But
  
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• A Vermonter is running for treasurer as a Progressive. The party says he’s not their candidate.

  25-08-2026 00:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  Zachary Hampl, the Vermont Progressive Party’s nominee for state treasurer, speaks during a candidate forum in June. ScreenshotTypically, the political party labels on a ballot can give voters a sense of where each candidate stands on the biggest issues. But in at least one case in this fall’s election in Vermont, it won’t be that simple.Zachary Hampl, an author and financial account manager from Rutland Town, won the Vermont Progressive Party primary for state treasurer earli
  
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• 15 years after Irene, plucky business owners recall the monster storm and its aftermath

  25-08-2026 00:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  After the floodwaters receded, the extent of the damage to the Wilmington business community became apparent. File photo by Mike Eldred/Deerfield Valley NewsThis story by John Hurdle was first published in The Deerfield Valley News on Aug. 20, 2026.WILMINGTON — Lisa Sullivan recalled the morning of Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, when raging floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene threatened to destroy the building that houses Bartleby’s Books.Water pressure on the building was so great from t
  
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• PHOTOS: A day at the rodeo in Vermont’s wild west

  24-08-2026 23:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  A rider leaps off his horse during the steer wrestling competition at the Pond Hill Ranch Pro Rodeo in Castleton on Saturday, August 22, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerCowpokes and crowds gathered at the Pond Hill Ranch Pro Rodeo in Castleton for an afternoon of barrel racing, bareback riding, steer wrestling, and more. VTDigger photographer Glenn Russell attended the rodeo on Saturday, August 22, and captured the energy, exhaustion, and excitement, in and out of the ring.Spectators take
  
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• Prosecution pushes efforts to ‘restore’ competency for suspect in arson at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office

  24-08-2026 23:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Trucks are parked outside the building where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has his offices on Church Street in Burlington in April 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON – More than two years after authorities allege that a former California man set a fire outside the Burlington office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a federal judge ordered Monday that he remain in custody while issues regarding his competency to stand trial play out. Judge William K. Sessions III last year fou
  
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• Vermont cannot spend its way into affordability

  24-08-2026 21:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Elizabeth Brown, who is a state director at the Fiscal Alliance Foundation.Despite six years of skyrocketing state spending, with increases at twice the rate of inflation, for many the answer to Vermont’s affordability crisis continues to be more revenue, higher taxes and an expansion of government programs. With the third-highest total tax burden in the nation, why should taxpayers believe spending even more will make Vermont more affordable?New revenue proposals ha
  
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• Dear Vermont, I’m leaving

  24-08-2026 19:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jim Suriano, who lives in Montpelier.I’m leaving. And I’m writing to share my experience living here in the hope of effecting some changes for you all.I moved here in the fall of 2019. For years, I’d been determined to live in Vermont. I loved the Green Mountains and all the encounters I had with people in the state. I through-hiked a section of the Long Trail between Rutland and Waterbury and hitchhiked into Burlington back in 2016. The experience left l
  
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• Veterans Affairs to open clinic in South Burlington

  24-08-2026 13:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Brattleboro Community Based Outpatient Clinic on GSP Drive is one of seven in the Vermont Veterans Affairs system. File photo by Mike Faher/VTDiggerThis story by Briana Brady was first published in The Other Paper on Aug. 20, 2026.The Department of Veterans Affairs signed a 20-year lease for a new outpatient clinic at Technology Park in South Burlington.The VA White River Junction Healthcare System expects the new clinic, which will replace the services it currently offers at its clinic in
  
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• The catch in Noah Kahan’s charity concert for Vermont

  23-08-2026 15:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I have been a Noah Kahan fan since 2021. I heard a Vermont Public feature about him on the radio in the car with my grandma and have been hooked ever since. I got my mom into him. I cried on my bedroom floor listening to the original “Stick Season” album and again, even harder, when I heard “The Great Divide.” All of this is to say that I really love Kahan. As someone who grew up in Vermont and now goes to Providence College in Rhode Island, I love havin
  
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• Meet three Vermonters whose histories are lesser known

  23-08-2026 15:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  An illustration of a mass revival during the Second Great Awakening. The image is a depiction of what Charles Bowles’ congregation might have looked like. Image courtesy of American History CentralKyle Neece is a reporter with the Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.This summer marked the 250th anniversary of the United States, and many Vermont towns and cities celebrated residents who played important roles in
  
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• Vermont Secretary of State urges voters to update state records before ballots get mailed out

  23-08-2026 14:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  A ballot drop box outside the Randolph Town Clerk’s office in October 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Secretary of State’s office is urging voters to make sure they have a current address on file with the state before ballots get mailed out for this fall’s general election.After Sept. 1 — which is in less than two weeks — whatever voter addresses the secretary’s office has listed will be used to mail ballots. The state will start sending
  
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• What’s next for Vermont? Meet the reporters covering politics, elections and health care

  23-08-2026 14:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  VTDigger’s Shaun Robinson and Ethan Weinstein at an event with historian Jill Lepore at the Manchester Community Library on Thursday, September 5, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerState government can be difficult to follow. Major policy decisions take shape through legislative debates, agency actions, elections and negotiations that often happen far from public view.On Thursday, September 10, VTDigger is bringing the journalists who follow those decisions to Manchester for a candid c
  
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• Vermont wants to train the next generation of physicians. How much should insured Vermonters be paying for it? 

  23-08-2026 13:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington in Nov. 2020. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTeaching and training the next generation of physicians is expensive work. And commercial insurers are footing more than half that bill in Vermont through their payments for care, according to an independent analysis. Nearly $82 million of commercial insurance dollars went toward the $161 million cost for UVM Medical Center to run its medical education programs last year, analysts said
  
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• Vermont’s statewide ban on cellphones in schools starts this year

  23-08-2026 12:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sam Blair demonstrates the use of a magnetically-sealed cell phone pouch at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury in August 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerKids across Vermont will be banned from using smartphones during the school day this year as a new state law takes effect. Although schools are newly required to have policies on banning phones from the classroom, many schools around the state have tried out the ban for the last year or two. And staff in those districts say stu
  
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• Middlebury submits state’s first CHIP application

  22-08-2026 13:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  A rendering of townhomes at a groundbreaking event for Stonecrop Meadows, a mixed-income housing project in Middlebury, in Feb. 2025. File photo by Carly Berlin/VTDigger and Vermont PublicThis story by John Flowers was first published in the Addison Independent on Aug. 20, 2026.MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury last week became the first community to dip its toe into Vermont’s new Community & Housing Infrastructure Program. Through CHIP the town would be able to borrow money to build muni
  
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• Fed-up White River Junction bar owner posted explicit security footage, then apologized

  21-08-2026 23:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Patrons visit Putnam’s vine/yard in White River Junction, Vt., on Thursday, March 23, 2023. (Valley News / Report For America – Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to [email protected]. Credit: Valley News / Report For AmericaThis story by Marion Umpleby was first published in the Valley News on Aug. 21, 2026.WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — In the early hours of Aug. 5, Kelsey Rush awoke to an alert from a secur
  
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• As heating oil prices remain volatile, Vermonters prepare cautiously for winter

  21-08-2026 21:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  The reflective side of an Energy Co-op of Vermont fuel delivery truck is seen in Colchester on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.For Danny McGibney, a Barre Town resident who heats his home with oil, the price cap plan he uses to lock in his fuel costs is substantially more expensive this year than last. Nonetheless, renewing it this summer in preparation for the chilly months ahead was clea
  
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• Law enforcement governance council holds first meeting

  21-08-2026 21:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Windham County Sheriff’s Office building on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro. File photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerThis story by Olga Peters was first published in The Commons on Aug. 18, 2026. The newly formed Windham County Law Enforcement Governance Council convened for its inaugural meeting Aug. 7, ready to tackle how the Windham County Sheriff’s Office should provide collective policing for rural towns that lack their own police departments.Selectboards from the ini
  
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• Defund Israel’s decimation of southern Lebanon

  21-08-2026 21:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Oscar Vulte, a rising sophomore at Brattleboro Union High School and a fellow with Action Corps.Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., introduced a resolution on June 24 requesting a report on Israel’s human rights practices in Lebanon since Feb. 28, 2026, under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act, which allows Congress to request a human rights report on any country receiving U.S. military aid. This is a fantastic piece of legislation, and Welch was right to introduce it
  
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• ‘USPS isn’t delivering for Vermont’: Congressional delegation complains to postmaster general about mail issues

  21-08-2026 19:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Drive-by mailboxes bearing the logo of the United States Postal Service on Elmwood Avenue in Burlington. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont’s congressional delegation has received more than 2,000 complaints from constituents about mail service so far this year, the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner on Friday. “As you know, the Postal Service’s Delivering for America ten-year plan was launched in 2021, supposedly to modernize and supp
  
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• Neema starts at Saint Michael’s College to pursue a career in social work

  21-08-2026 16:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Neema Isidore will be the first person in her family to attend college. She’s the middle of five siblings, a 2026 graduate of Winooski High School, and she starts at Saint Michael’s College this week.Neema has known she wanted to go to college since she started high school. The path was challenging; Neema was born in Burundi. She came to Vermont when she was in the 7th grade, speaking Swahili and Kirundi. As she got used to a new community and a new school, she was also learning a n
  
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• After a nearly six year saga, Burlington’s new high school opens its doors

  21-08-2026 13:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  The atrium the new Burlington High School building is seen on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBatula Kassim sat in front of a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in her school’s new library, the sunlight a welcome contrast to the refurbished Macy’s department store where she spent her freshman year. Kassim, an incoming sophomore at Burlington High School, is one of a cohort of students who spent part or all of their high school years attending classes at
  
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