Vermont news

• Bob Stannard: Solution or the problem?

  14-07-2018 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Stannard, an author, musician and former lobbyist. This piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner. This month marks his 13th anniversary as a regular, bimonthly columnistfor the Bennington Banner.
  You and your toddler daughter are walking through a shopping center parking lot on your way to go buy groceries. Your daughter really likes shopping with you, because she almost always gets a treat; well, if she’s good, that is. But she is a good
  
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• Samantha’s road to a brighter future

  18-02-2026 16:32 via vtdigger.org
  Samantha’s been behind the wheel since she graduated from high school. First for her own small business, Little Taxi LLC in Franklin County, and later for Special Services Transportation Agency (SSTA), she drives those who don’t or can’t drive from here to there and back again—to medical appointments, the grocery store, or the pharmacy. Several years ago, Samantha was struggling with a tough relationship, parenting, and her own health. She was sinking into mental he
  
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• Vermont-schooled Mikaela Shiffrin wins gold, Ben Ogden a second silver in Olympic skiing

  18-02-2026 15:32 via vtdigger.org
  Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning a gold medal Wednesday in the women’s Alpine slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/Associated PressThe Green Mountain State has two more winners at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games in Italy.Vermont-schooled skier Mikaela Shiffrin continued her redemption tour after a 2024 crash at the Killington World Cup by winning gold Wednesday in the women’s slalom.Shiffrin, a 30-year-old Burke Mountain Academy graduate, is
  
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• Dana Fowler: Wake boats shouldn’t push others off the water

  18-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is in the middle of yet another rulemaking process, proposing to revise its Use of Public Waters Rules as they relate to wakesports on Vermont’s inland lakes. I thought we had finished this process two years ago, and yet here we go again. As the DEC has reopened the process, wakesports proponents have mobilized to prevent any changes to the rules the DEC adopted in 2024. They have brought in a lobbyist, boating industry repre
  
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• It’s not just state government facing transportation funding challenges. Ask Morristown.

  18-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  Catlin and Keshia Passonno, who are married, remove line striping targets along South Street in Woodstock on July 7, 2021. The street was recently resurfaced as part of the town’s paving project.Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsIt’s common sense that changing your oil is more cost-effective than waiting for your engine to seize and replacing it wholesale. So why do we handle roads differently? That was the metaphor Jordan St. Onge, Morristown’s highway superintendent, u
  
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• Vermont skier Mac Forehand wins Olympic silver in big air 

  18-02-2026 00:20 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont skier Mac Forehand celebrates his silver medal Tuesday in the men’s freestyle big air finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Associated PressVermont skier Mac Forehand, offering what the New York Times deemed “a sport-defining performance,” won a silver medal Tuesday in the big air event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.The 24-year-old Stratton Mountain School graduate from Winhall has a history of amazing spectators each time he
  
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• Mike Fry: The naked truth about Vermont’s nudity bill

  17-02-2026 23:47 via vtdigger.org
  The Vermont legislators who introduced H.683 have the best of intentions, no doubt. If passed, the bill would make public nudity throughout Vermont illegal — as it already is in Burlington — and punishable by a $500 fine. But it wouldn’t solve any real-world problems, and would exacerbate the scourge of body shaming, which is associated with issues like low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorders and many other challenges. That is one
  
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• Allen Gilbert: Police shootings are rising — again

  17-02-2026 23:43 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Allen Gilbert, a former journalist, teacher and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Vermont. In 2014, when I worked at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), I was surprised when an Associated Press reporter, Wilson Ring, called me and asked if I knew anybody who kept a list of police fatalities in Vermont. This was at the time of the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which became a national issue.&n
  
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• Hancock man turns himself into police, denies murder charge

  17-02-2026 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  A hearing on the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in Bristol concluded Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury. Photo by Alan Keays/VTDiggerA Hancock man pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of another man earlier this month in Addison County.Tanner Leary, 23, appeared in handcuffs in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury after turning himself into authorities hours earlier. 
  
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• Hancock man turns himself in to police, denies murder charge

  17-02-2026 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  A hearing on the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in Bristol concluded Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury. Photo by Alan Keays/VTDiggerA Hancock man pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of another man earlier this month in Addison County.Tanner Leary, 23, appeared in handcuffs in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury after turning himself in to authorities hours earlier.&nbs
  
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• Burlington mayor signs executive order outlining local ICE protocols

  17-02-2026 23:17 via vtdigger.org
  Burlington’s Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak signed an executive order pertaining to ICE actions in City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Photo by Auditi Guha/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak signed an executive order Tuesday to establish citywide protocols in response to potential surge in ICE activity as has been seen throughout the country.Cities like Minneapolis and Portland, Maine have seen large-scale and violent immigration crackdowns in recent weeks.“There is no in
  
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• Gov. Scott says he’ll meet with Trump in DC — but only if event is bipartisan

  17-02-2026 22:06 via vtdigger.org
  Gov. Phil Scott pauses before speaking after a meeting of the Emergency Board at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Thursday, November 13, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday morning that he was heading to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with other governors and President Donald Trump.But soon after, Vermont’s Republican leader looked poised to possibly reverse course, with his office saying Scott was considering staying home. This morning, Scott&r
  
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• Immigration judge rules Mohsen Mahdawi can’t be deported

  17-02-2026 22:01 via vtdigger.org
  Mohsen Mahdawi speaks after being released in Burlington on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Caleb Kenna/VTDiggerAn immigration judge has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested by federal agents in Colchester last year during a U.S. citizenship interview. The federal judge, Nina Froes, ruled Friday that evidence the Trump administration had submitted to show why Mahdawi should be removed
  
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• Kelly Stoddard Poor: Don’t leave older Vermonters stranded

  17-02-2026 13:00 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Kelly Stoddard Poor, associate state director of AARP Vermont. As Vermont lawmakers confront a projected $33 million deficit in the state’s Transportation Fund, the Legislature faces tough decisions about what to cut. But one thing should be off the table: public transit. Cutting transit funding — especially at a time when reductions to Medicaid are imminent — would put thousands of Vermonters at risk and ultimately cost the state far more than
  
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• Thousands of Vermonters could lose food assistance as new work requirements take effect next month

  16-02-2026 23:28 via vtdigger.org
  A client visits the HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects) food shelf in Middlebury on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.New federal work requirements limiting eligibility for the nation’s largest food assistance program will take effect for many in Vermont on March 1. Roughly 3,000 people may lose benefits on that day, according to Ivy Enoch, director of policy a
  
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• This justice system experiment has seen little use in Vermont. Will lawmakers expand it?

  16-02-2026 23:01 via vtdigger.org
  Prosecutor Zach Weight, right, speaks with public defender Sandra Lee during a break at the Chittenden County Community Accountability Court in Burlington on Friday, November 21, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Lawmakers are grappling with whether to continue a program designed to prevent defendants awaiting trial from committing more offenses. Two years ago, Vermont lawmakers noticed competing issues. State prisons were filling up with more detainees who were held
  
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• Michael Snyder: Vermont’s forests need management, not mandates

  16-02-2026 22:51 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Michael Snyder, a forester and former commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation.Vermonters care deeply about forests — for clean water, wildlife, recreation, climate resilience, locally sourced wood, and the very character of the places we call home. That shared concern helps explain the appeal of H.276, a proposal to designate large areas of state land as “wildlands.”But as introduced, the bill would move Vermont in the
  
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• Lake Champlain fully freezes for the first time in 7 years

  16-02-2026 22:21 via vtdigger.org
  Lake Champlain froze fully for the first in seven years and was declared closed last week. People were spotted walking on the frozen lake downtown Burlington on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. Photo by Auditi Guha/VTDiggerFrigid temperatures have caused Lake Champlain to fully freeze for the first time since March 2019. On Friday, the National Weather Service declared the lake officially iced over and closed.Aerial photography and high-resolution satellite imagery were used to determine full ice co
  
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• Health department urges caution after rabid bat bites Strafford resident

  16-02-2026 20:27 via vtdigger.org
  A sign posted at upper left at the Strafford General Store, in South Strafford, Vermont, provides information about the recent discovery of a rabid bat in the Town of Strafford on Feb. 13, 2026. The Strafford Volunteer Fire Department also advertises a rabies vaccination clinic to take place on March 7. Photo by James M. Patterson/Valley NewsSTRAFFORD — Vermont Department of Health officials are urging residents to exercise caution after a person was bitten by a rabid bat in town.The indi
  
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• Vermont’s sole Olympic-sized ski jump caps annual competition with a surprise

  16-02-2026 18:19 via vtdigger.org
  Henry Loher, 17, of Lake Placid, New York, jumps at Brattleboro’s Harris Hill over the Presidents Day weekend in 2026. Photo by Dana SpragueBRATTLEBORO — The Slovenian at the top of this town’s Harris Hill — Vermont’s sole Olympic-sized ski jump — was one leap away from a historic trophy win.If only the high school senior from Lake Placid hadn’t shown up this Presidents Day weekend with a surprise.Urh Rosar, who previously won the annual February contes
  
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• John K. DeBrosse

  16-02-2026 17:43 via vtdigger.org
  Born: July 17, 1961Fort Wayne, IndianaDied: Dec. 22, 2025Colchester, VermontDetails of service:
  A memorial service is planned for Saturday, April 11, 2026, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with a service at approximately 3 p.m. at The Essex Farmhouse at the Resort & Spa, Essex Junction, Vermont.After a gallant, 10-year effort of living and dealing with the day-to-day challenges of Parkinson’s Disease, John Kenneth DeBrosse passed away on Dec. 22, 2025 quietly at his beloved home on the shores o
  
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• Gloria Boiselle Good

  16-02-2026 17:03 via vtdigger.org
  Born: July 7, 1936Burlington, VermontDied: February 12, 2026Land O’ Lakes, FloridaDetails of service:
  A celebration of Gloria’s life will be announced and held in Vermont in the spring. Memorial donations may be made to Mercy Connections, mercyconnections.orgGloria Ann Good died on Feb. 12, 2026, in Land O’ Lakes, Florida.  She was born in Burlington, Vermont on July 7, 1936, to Gertrude Goyette Boiselle and Clyde Stevens Boiselle. Gloria graduated from Cathedra
  
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• Showing up for what matters: Vermont’s path to strengthening local news

  16-02-2026 16:40 via vtdigger.org
  Community Meeting, Wallingford, Vermont
  Photo Credit: Caleb KennaVermont has long been a place where people show up for their neighbors, their towns, and their communities. From Town Meeting Day to paper pull-tab signs on library bulletin boards to volunteer fire departments, life here is rooted in participation and trust. Local news is part of that fabric.A new statewide report reveals that while Vermonters deeply value local news, and while the state has a strong foundation of locally owned o
  
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• Crossroads intensive transitional-aged youth outpatient program: a lifeline of hope and recovery for those with mental health needs

  16-02-2026 15:38 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont’s youth mental health crisis is showing up most clearly among young adults trying to transition to adulthood. Anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicidal thoughts are affecting more young people and with greater intensity than in previous generations. For many, weekly therapy isn’t enough, but hospitalization alone doesn’t create lasting change. That’s where NFI’s Crossroads Transitional-Aged Youth (TAY) Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is making a l
  
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• Tom Pelham: When property taxes outpace COLAs

  16-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,Vermonters face a disturbing — perhaps even cruel — conflict of economic forces.According to the Social Security Administration, there is an established population of 133,773 Vermonters 65 and older, nearly 21% of the state’s population, who rely on Social Security.This population, which comprised 71,968 women and 61,805 men in 2024, is clearly not positioned to absorb a big property tax increase in 2026.Last November, Social Security recipients were notified that
  
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• Police investigate suspicious death in Corinth

  15-02-2026 20:25 via vtdigger.org
  A Vermont State Police cruiser seen in Burlington on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont State Police are investigating a death after receiving a 911 call late Saturday that a man had been shot at a home on Richardson Road in Corinth.Police said troopers responded at about 11:15 p.m. and found a man unresponsive inside the residence. Emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.The death is considered suspicious, according to a state police news re
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘How many roads’

  15-02-2026 14:00 via vtdigger.org
  “Snow Day” by Amelia Van Driesche, 19, of Burlington.Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@
  
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• Then Again: In Vermont, the oldest ski patrol in the country

  15-02-2026 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  Brian Lindner has delved into the history of the Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol, which he has been a member of for more than 50 years. Photo courtesy of Brian LindnerOn a March day in 2015, ski patrollers near the summit of Mt Mansfield received an urgent call: A skier two-thirds of the way down the mountain had suffered a heart attack. The man had been standing, talking with a friend, when he collapsed. A Sugarbush ski patroller, who happened to be skiing at Stowe that day, witnessed the man fall.
  
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• March bond requests down 84% in Vermont’s biggest cities and towns

  15-02-2026 13:00 via vtdigger.org
  A sign encourages March voting in Brattleboro. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerIn a sign that public concerns about affordability aren’t limited to groceries and household goods, Vermont’s most-populated cities and towns are set to ask voters this March for nearly $44 million in capital projects — an 84% drop from last year’s $275 million wish list of proposals.Only nine of the state’s 29 municipalities with at least 5,000 people are seeking bond requests for
  
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• Vermont bill would repeal retirement mandate for professors

  15-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  Steven Zdatny, professor of history, standing in front of his classroom at the University of Vermont. Photo by Mona AbouVia Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internshipVermont lawmakers have advanced a bill that would repeal a state statute requiring college professors to retire at age 70. H.532 passed the House in late January and is now in the Senate Committee on Education. If passed, the change would take effect July 1.The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Marc Mihaly,
  
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