Vermont news

• Burlington reduced energy usage during peak days, data shows

  27-07-2017 16:39 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Burlington ElectricJuly 24, 2017
  Contact:Mike Kanarick802.735.7962
  Burlingtonians Answered Call to Reduce Energy Usage
  Community Proved Readiness for Upcoming Peak Days; Humane Society Awarded $1,000
  Burlington, VT – The Burlington community answered the call last Thursday by reducing its energy usage in response to the first peak day alert issued by the Burlington Electric Department as part of its newly-launched Defeat the Peak program (view prior news releases here
  
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• All gifts matched in final stretch of VTDigger Fall Member Drive

  17-09-2026 15:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  VTDigger reporter Ethan Weinstein at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Monday, June 16, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDear Reader,There are only a few days left in our Fall Member Drive. Right now, every gift is being matched dollar for dollar. Will you make a gift that will go twice as far before Saturday at midnight?
  Double your impact
  Your donation gives our reporters the time to ask another question, track down another document, travel across the state and stay focused on a complicated
  
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• ‘Go stop them now,’ Burlington man says a voice told him before shooting three Palestinian students, recording reveals in trial

  17-09-2026 01:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jason Eaton appears during his trial in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Monday, September 14, 2026. Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students in November of 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON – Jurors heard from Jason Eaton saying that he was acting under the direction of  voices he was hearing through his FM radio from CIA and government intelligence agencies before authorities allege he opened fire and injured three Palestinian student
  
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• ‘Go stop them now,’ Burlington man says a voice told him before shooting 3 Palestinian students, recording reveals in trial

  17-09-2026 01:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jason Eaton appears during his trial in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Monday, September 14, 2026. Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students in November of 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON – Jurors heard from Jason Eaton saying that he was acting under the direction of  voices he was hearing through his FM radio from CIA and government intelligence agencies before authorities allege he opened fire and injured three Palestinian student
  
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• Cold shoulder: Brattleboro won’t be welcoming ICE

  17-09-2026 01:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  A couple hundred people march from Plaza Park to the Wells Fountain in Brattleboro during a locally organized No Kings march on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. Photo by Kristopher Radder/Brattleboro ReformerThis story by Chris Mays was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Sept. 15, 2026.BRATTLEBORO — Local police aren’t planning to work with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers if they come to town. At a special selectboard meeting Monday, Brattleboro Police
  
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• Barre schools eye cuts to sports and other activities after budget fails on third attempt

  17-09-2026 00:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Signs advocating for and against the Barre school district’s budget stand outside the Barre Town Middle and Elementary School on Sept. 15, 2026. Photo by Charlotte Oliver/VTDiggerBARRE — Board members in the Barre Unified Union School District will look at making cuts to winter sports, school transportation and extracurricular activities after voters rejected the district’s annual budget for the third time Tuesday. “It’s definitely a heartbreaking result becau
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Filmmaker Bess O’Brien on connection, resilience and joy after tragedy

  16-09-2026 23:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues. Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.Filmmaker Bess O’Brien. Courtesy photoBess O’Brien is best known for making award-winning documentary films that take deep dives into difficult issues like addiction, hunger and homelessness. With her latest film, she is taking a differe
  
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• Training doctors is worth every dollar

  16-09-2026 23:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,In defense of my profession, I wish to clarify what lies at the core of medicine: using a distinct skill set to care for people. Have you ever seen a skilled obstetrician deliver twins? Or an orthopedic or emergency medicine provider set a broken humerus? A primary care doctor identifying and treating depression, truly a life-saving clinical skill?The practice of medicine begins with hands-on education and training, just like nursing, dental and social work professions. This is simi
  
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• Homeless in Vermont? The path to housing is harder than it should be

  16-09-2026 23:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Maryellen Griffin, a staff attorney at Vermont Legal Aid.Homelessness is complicated, but for each person the solution is the same: a home. Vermont needs a clear, coordinated path connecting people experiencing homelessness with the affordable housing the public has already funded.Vermont recently reduced the number of motel rooms available for emergency housing during most of the year from 1,100 to 700. For the roughly 4,000 Vermonters experiencing homelessness, including
  
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• Fall foliage varies from year to year, for leaf-peepers and trees

  16-09-2026 22:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  Leaves show their fall colors in Jericho in September 2020. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJosh Halman flew over Vermont’s woods late last summer and saw something that surprised him.Swaths of trees had already gone brown, scorched by an extreme drought that affected more than 64,000 acres. This year, from the same vantage, things are looking up.“We haven’t seen anything even close to the level of damage we were seeing in the foliage last year,” said Halman, wh
  
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• State restricts new superintendent hires to one year

  16-09-2026 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Zoie Saunders, interim secretary of education, listens during Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference held at the Central Vermont Technical Center in Barre in June 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Sophia Keshmiri was first published in the Addison Independent on Sept. 11, 2026.VERGENNES — As the Addison Northwest School District gets the search for a new superintendent underway, the secretary of education confirmed to its board on Friday that going forward s
  
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• New York Times investigative reporter Eric Lipton to speak in South Burlington

  16-09-2026 18:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Headshot courtesy of Eric Lipton; illustration by Taylor Haynes/VTDiggerAs the midterm elections approach, VTDigger and Seven Days will co-host a public talk with Eric Lipton, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative reporter for The New York Times.
  When: Friday, Oct. 9. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the program begins at 6 p.m.Where: Delta Hotels, South BurlingtonTickets: Tickets are $15 and must be purchased online in advance. The event is expected to fill quickly.Accessibility and park
  
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• Step by step, Stacy Emerson is achieving her dream of becoming a registered nurse

  16-09-2026 15:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Stacy Emerson at graduation with her instructor and mentor, Nancy Noble.Stacy Emerson describes herself as “a bit of a mother hen.” She’s on the older end of her classmates in her nursing cohort at Vermont State University (Vermont State), and she’s always looking out for her friends and coworkers. The friendships she’s formed among her nursing peers are so strong that, with their encouragement, she’s continuing on to complete her associate degree and plans t
  
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• Fatal crash case relocated amid concerns over an impartial jury

  16-09-2026 00:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kyle Hunt, second from left in the front row, sits with his attorney Timothy Fair during Hunt’s arraignment at the Orange County Courthouse in Chelsea, Vt., in March 2026. Hunt pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of vehicle operation-gross negligence/fatal and to a misdemeanor charge of giving false information to a law enforcement officer. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by Alex Ebrahimi was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 14, 2026.CHELSEA — On the eveni
  
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• Potential sale brings the former Sterling campus closer to new beginnings

  16-09-2026 00:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Sterling College campus in Craftsbury. Photo courtesy of Sterling CollegeWhen Sterling College graduated its last student in May, its trustees faced a hard question. With the school closing for good, what happens to the campus? This week, they got closer to an answer.The former school and Headwaters Community Trust, an organization that provides affordable housing and land in the Northeast Kingdom, signed a sale purchase agreement. The two sides have not finalized the expected transiti
  
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• Hundreds of layoffs announced at the two largest healthcare networks Vermonters rely on

  15-09-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  TeleED hub: Alison Kapadia, MD, and Daryl Holthoff, RN, providing emergency care to patients via the TeleED hub. Photo courtesy of Dartmouth HealthHundreds of layoffs are underway at the two major healthcare networks Vermonters rely on.Facing similar financial challenges, both Dartmouth Health and the University of Vermont Health network announced the cuts Tuesday ahead of the Oct. 1 start to hospitals’ fiscal year. UVM Health is in the process of laying off 199 staffers, according t
  
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• Hundreds of layoffs announced at the 2 largest healthcare networks Vermonters rely on

  15-09-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  TeleED hub: Alison Kapadia, MD, and Daryl Holthoff, RN, providing emergency care to patients via the TeleED hub. Photo courtesy of Dartmouth HealthHundreds of layoffs are underway at the two major healthcare networks Vermonters rely on.Facing similar financial challenges, both Dartmouth Health and the University of Vermont Health network announced the cuts Tuesday ahead of the Oct. 1 start to hospitals’ fiscal year. UVM Health is in the process of laying off 199 staffers, according t
  
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• My friend is being crushed for one sentence spoken to a president

  15-09-2026 23:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Benjamin Hoffer, an environmental engineering master’s student at École Polytechnique de Paris.On Sept. 8 I traveled to a tribunal in Paris to testify in a criminal case brought on behalf of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, against a 22-year-old student. I never got the chance. I was sequestered with the other nine witnesses, waiting to be called one at a time — and the next thing we knew, the courtroom was emptied. We were physically forced out of
  
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• Stowe man sentenced to life in NEK double murder

  15-09-2026 23:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Federal Building in Burlington in Sept. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Stowe man who avoided the death penalty was handed two consecutive life sentences in the 2023 fatal shootings of two men in the Northeast Kingdom.“This crime shocked Vermont in its callousness and left the families of two young men with a grief that will never end,” Vermont State Police Criminal Division Commander Major Ashley Barnes wrote in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office
  
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• Prosecutors present gun, cellphone evidence they say links Burlington man to shooting of three Palestinian students

  15-09-2026 22:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Harry Jeppe, a firearms examiner with the Vermont Forensic Laboratory, testifies in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Pool photo by Paul Heintz/Boston GlobeBURLINGTON — The state rested its case against the Burlington man accused of shooting and wounding three Palestinian students, presenting law enforcement and forensic witnesses whose testimony prosecutors say tied him to the crimes. The move by the state comes on the second day of the
  
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• Vermont’s largest hospital needs to further cut its revenue and spending next year

  15-09-2026 19:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington on Monday, November 23, 2020. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUVM Medical Center will need to take on even more austerity measures this coming fiscal year, the Green Mountain Care Board ruled late Monday.The board ordered the hospital to cut what it charges commercial insurers by 4.4%, a $32.4 million decrease from last year. Commercial insurance will bring in $1.054 billion in revenue for the medical center — the majority of the
  
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• The housing fix hiding in Vermont’s spare bedrooms

  15-09-2026 19:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Vermont has the highest share of households unable to afford the median-priced new home, according to the National Association of Home Builders, with approximately 92% of its households falling short of the income requirement. So how can Vermont create the housing Vermonters need and can afford and do it promptly? The cost of new construction is prohibitive, and it takes too long because of the time required to design, approve and finance it.Currently, 70% of Vermont households
  
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• VTDigger launches 2026 Vermont general election guide

  15-09-2026 13:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Illustration by Taylor Haynes/VTDiggerVTDigger has launched its 2026 Election Guide ahead of this year’s general election.There’s no presidential race on the ballot, but all of Vermont’s state and county-level offices, our lone U.S. House seat and two other ballot items are up for Vermonters to vote on. Your vote will determine the balance of power in Montpelier and who occupies Vermont’s highest offices. 
  Go to the Election Guide
  The race for governor between polit
  
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• How to vote in Vermont’s 2026 general election

  15-09-2026 13:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.There are two ways to vote:
  Early voting by mail or in person, from when ballots are available to Nov. 2.In person at your polling place on Nov. 3. Bring the ballot mailed to you if you have one.
  All U.S. citizens who are residents of Vermont and will be 18 or older for the general election on Nov. 3, 2026, are eligible to register to vote in the election.Voter registrationTo vote in the general election, you must be registered to vote in Verm
  
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• Directed by voices or acting on his own? Mental state of man accused of shooting Palestinian students is focus of trial

  15-09-2026 00:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jason Eaton watches as Hisham Awartani arrives to testify in Eaton’s trial inChttenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Monday, September 14, 2026. Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students, including a now-paralyzed Awartani, in November of 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — An attorney said his client was hearing voices directing him through the radio and was legally insane when he is alleged to have shot and wounded three Palestinian students
  
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• New tech policy takes shape at Lamoille South Supervisory Union

  15-09-2026 00:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Buses pick up students at the end of the day at the Westford School in Westford on Thursday, April 17, 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Liberty Darr was first published in the News & Citizen on Sept. 10, 2026.When Stowe parent Molly Triffin Gaines attended “meet the teacher night” for her daughter’s third grade class just ahead of the new school year, she was surprised and thrilled to find that cursive writing was back on the curriculum.Parents acros
  
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• State regulators tell Brattleboro hospital to revise its proposed budget for further review

  14-09-2026 23:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Supporters of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s birthing center march in the town’s Fourth of July parade. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerState regulators will delay a decision on a proposed budget for the financially ailing Brattleboro Memorial Hospital after the southeastern Vermont healthcare hub filed its plan late and with last-minute changes — including a surprise reprieve for its set-to-close birthing center.At an online hearing Monday, Vermont’s Green Mounta
  
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• FEMA approves funding for at least 90 buyouts in Vermont, providing relief for flood survivors

  14-09-2026 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Traffic flows along a temporary bridge across the Great Brook after the original was washed away in this summer’s flooding on Mill Street in Plainfield on Monday, September 23, 2024. The floodwaters also swept away several apartments in the building on the right. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFlood recovery aid is on its way to dozens of Vermont families who have been waiting for years. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the vast majority of buyout applications th
  
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• Curt Crowell Peterson

  14-09-2026 22:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 02/05/1943Plainfield, New JerseyDied: 09/01/2026Windsor, VermontDetails of service:Curt Crowell Peterson of Hartland, Vermont, formerly of Weston, Massachusetts, passed away from prostate cancer on September 1, 2026.Born in 1943, he was the son of Carl Peterson and Gladys Crowell. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Cross Peterson; his children, Jennifer, Mark, Gretchen, Heather, and Erik Peterson; his grandchildren, Ruth Peterson, Owein Labarr, Mae Peterson, and Parker Rowley; his siste
  
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• Vermont’s new homelessness policy abandons people in crisis

  14-09-2026 22:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I read Carly Berlin’s recent story in VTDigger about Vermont’s new homelessness assistance policy with sadness. Apparently both our Republican governor and the Democratic Legislature are complicit in this. My familiarity with the subject derives mainly from the dozen years I spent in the Vermont attorney general’s office representing the Department for Children and Families in administrative hearings, often concerning denials of assistance to people in housing emer
  
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