Vermont news

• Can we trust the polls?

  26-10-2026 22:18 via VTDigger
  
  This commentary is by Geoffrey Skelley, chief elections analyst for Decision Desk HQ, which provides independent results and analysis for U.S. elections.Can we trust the polls? As an election analyst, I often get this question. That’s understandable. Polls underestimated Donald Trump’s support in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. This November, Democrats are clearly favored to capture the U.S. House of Representatives and have a realistic shot at flipping the U.S. Senate.The a
  
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• State senator from Rutland County arrested, jailed on domestic assault charge

  28-10-2026 13:58 via VTDigger
  
  Sen. Terry Williams, R-Rutland, at the Statehouse in Montpelier in Feb. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Vermont state senator from Rutland County has been jailed on a charge of domestic assault, according to Vermont State Police.Terry Williams, 74, of Poultney, is set to appear Wednesday at 12:30 in court for an arraignment on the misdemeanor charge. Williams, a Republican, has served as a state senator since 2022 and is facing re-election on Tuesday. Williams was arrested after st
  
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• Build or tax? Vermont’s governor candidates emphasize different elements of housing policy.

  28-10-2026 10:15 via VTDigger
  
  Republican Gov. Phil Scott, left, and Democratic/Progressive challenger Amanda Janoo have starkly different ideas about what’s driving the state’s housing problems – and how to fix them. Photos by Brian Stevenson and Joey Palumbo / Vermont Public
  Carly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger. The high cost of housing is squeezing Vermonters. One in five people have struggled to come up with rent or mortgage payments in the last year, acco
  
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• As flooding increases and federal aid shrinks, Vermont is not prepared to manage disaster recovery

  28-10-2026 09:55 via VTDigger
  
  This story is part of The Coming Storm, a yearlong investigation by VTDigger, in partnership with FRONTLINE (PBS), into Vermont’s ability to help communities recover from natural disasters.BARRE CITY, VT — Shayd Pecor loves his home, but he wants to leave. For good.On July 10, 2023, up to nine inches of rain pummeled Vermont. Pecor and his wife, Laurie, evacuated as the water overtook their front porch. That night, floodwaters inundated more than 130 towns across the state, killing two peo
  
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• After probe, concerns over Barre City officer’s credibility puts dozens of criminal cases in limbo

  27-10-2026 23:44 via VTDigger
  
  The Barre City Police Department. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerA county prosecutor has issued a Brady letter against a Barre City police officer accusing him of having sexual relations with a woman he had arrested while that criminal case remained pending.Orange County State’s Attorney Colin Seaman wrote in a two-page letter issued Friday that his office “has reason to believe” that Barre City Police Officer Matthew Frey “committed acts that create substantial issues pertaining
  
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• Pownal will consider a 5-year permitting pause on data center facilities

  27-10-2026 22:50 via VTDigger
  
  Some in the Pownal area are concerned the former Green Mountain Race Track site is being eyed for a data center. The selectboard is considering a moratorium on such projects. File photo by Holly Pelczynski/Bennington BannerThis story by Jim Therrien was first published in the Bennington Banner on Oct. 26, 2026.POWNAL — The Pownal Select Board is considering a town moratorium on data center facilities amid concerns the former Green Mountain Race Track site is being eyed for a center.Other town
  
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• Southwestern Vermont rail gets an upgrade to help the region’s economy

  27-10-2026 22:26 via VTDigger
  
  West Street looking East in Rutland. Seen on Thursday, September 1, 2022. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Agency of Transportation is acquiring $60.3 million in federal dollars to replace 60 miles of rail for freight travel between Rutland and North Bennington, according to an announcement earlier this week.The funding comes from the federal Department of Transportation, and was supported by U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-
  
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• Blunder over legal process impedes school merger studies in some regions

  27-10-2026 22:23 via VTDigger
  
  A school bus in Vermont pictured in January 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSchool board members who met in St. Albans expected to kick off the process of discussing district mergers under this year’s education reform law. Instead, the Sept. 29 meeting devolved into a public information session because members didn’t think the meeting was properly warned, according to local facilitator John Everitt. The kerfuffle among districts in the Group 17 region was just a preview of how co
  
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• Voter voices from east to west

  27-10-2026 21:59 via VTDigger
  Susan and Mark Boutwell of Hartland sit in a booth at Snap’s Restaurant in Bristol on Sunday Oct. 25. Photo by Theo Wells-Spackman/VTDiggerVTDigger reporters visited a variety of sites across Vermont in recent weeks, asking voters directly about the issues they care most about this election season. This week we’ll bring you those voices as we approach Election Day on Nov. 3.BRISTOL — Beaming sun illuminated the remaining red leaves on Sunday, bringing a steady stream of Vermonters to two
  
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• Proposal 3 protects the rights earlier generations fought for

  27-10-2026 19:47 via VTDigger
  
  This commentary is by Larry Moquin Jr., president of the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. I’ve heard people say that when we work, we’re selling our labor. But I think it’s more than that.  I think that when we work, we’re selling our most precious commodity: time. We can’t control how much of it we have and when it will be up, but it’s everything: time for family, friends, hobbies, passions and for yourself. All too often we spend it working until we die.  This thought wei
  
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• Big Labor isn’t playing straight with Vermonters about Prop 3

  27-10-2026 18:58 via VTDigger
  
  This commentary is by Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee.For 233 years, the Vermont Constitution has done two essential things: set up the framework of state and local government, and safeguard the individual rights of every citizen — free speech, due process and more — often more comprehensively than the U.S. Constitution. Many Green Mountain Staters would agree that’s exactly what a constitution is for.Unfortunately, Big Labor special interests strongly disagree
  
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• Hadley Kistler is gearing up for a career as an early childhood educator

  27-10-2026 14:36 via VTDigger
  
  Hadley Kistler is committed to working with kids, now and in the future. A senior at St. Johnsbury Academy, she’s already employed per diem at a local childcare center in her free time. As she develops her college applications, she’s narrowed her sights to early childhood education and set a goal to get into a competitive academic program that’s also close to home. Hadley describes herself as “a bit of a homebody.” She lives with her mom and stepdad in St. Johnsbury and she likes spe
  
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• Local Fairlee developers want to build an apartment block. Their neighbors are standing in the way.

  27-10-2026 00:13 via VTDigger
  
  Réal Hazen Construction co-owner Jonah Richard, center, talks to carpenters Larry Hatch, left, and Randy Welch about the finishing touches remaining on a building rehabilitation project that will create four units of workforce housing inside a home built in 1836 in Bradford, Vt., on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. Richard hopes to build a new mixed-use project in Fairlee, but several residents have been vocal about their opposition to the project and to the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program
  
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• Judge extends anti-stalking order for Burlington mayor’s protection

  26-10-2026 23:25 via VTDigger
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak speaks at a press conference in August 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Chittenden Superior criminal court judge extended the anti-stalking order designed to protect Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak — the latest development in a case that encompasses both First Amendment rights and the safety of politicians in the current political environment.Aryeh “Ari” Moskowitz was criminally charged with stalking and harassment in June after Mulva
  
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• Voter voices from the Upper Valley

  26-10-2026 22:57 via VTDigger
  
  Shoppers at the Norwich Farmers Market on Oct. 17, 2026 react to sudden snow flurries. Photo by Olivia Gieger/VTDiggerVTDigger reporters visited a variety of sites across Vermont in recent weeks, asking voters directly about the issues they care most about this election season. This week we’ll bring you those voices as we approach Election Day on Nov. 3.NORWICH — Between snow showers on an otherwise sunny Saturday, tourists, locals and hordes of Dartmouth College students filtered through t
  
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• Vermont officials raise concerns over ‘heated’ confrontations between voters, town clerks ahead of Election Day

  26-10-2026 22:35 via VTDigger
  
  Vermont’s Democratic Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas and Republican Gov. Phil Scott speak at a press conference on Monday in Montpelier about the upcoming 2026 general election. Photo by Shaun Robinson/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Top state officials on Monday urged Vermonters to turn down the temperature amid an uptick in what one called “heated” confrontations between voters and local city and town clerks about the integrity of next week’s general election.The rhetoric from people
  
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• Burlington mayor picks new chief of police

  26-10-2026 22:26 via VTDigger
  
  The Burlington Police Department on North Avenue in Burlington on Thursday, August 13, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBurlington’s mayor has selected a longtime New York police official to be the city’s next police chief. Anthony Geraci served in various New York police departments throughout his career, beginning with the New York City Police Department in 1998. He later moved upstate to Albany, and served as police chief in Watervliet and Newburgh, according to Seven Days and Vermo
  
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• Inside the confidential contest to lead Vermont’s most powerful healthcare regulator

  26-10-2026 22:19 via VTDigger
  
  Emily Brown, the executive director of the Green Mountain Care Board, leads the work of the regulator, under the direction of the chair. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger.A confidential contest to see who will assume one of the most powerful seats in Vermont’s healthcare landscape is now taking shape.  When Green Mountain Care Board chair Owen Foster announced in July that he would be stepping down, it kicked off the formal process to find his replacement. Vermont law stipulates that a nine-
  
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• Guard families deserve an answer

  26-10-2026 22:03 via VTDigger
  
  Dear Editor,As a veteran of the Vermont Air National Guard, I understand that military service is not simply about following orders. It also involves sacrifices by those who serve and the families who stand behind them.I served four years in the Guard. My husband also served while we were raising our family. I chose to leave because I did not want to risk an overseas deployment and its impact on our family. My husband continued to serve.That experience is one reason I am concerned about Gov. Ph
  
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• Supporters raise offer for Rice Memorial High in hopes of spurring court approval of sale

  26-10-2026 21:18 via VTDigger
  
  The football field at the grade 9-12 Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerSupporters wanting to save the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s flagship Rice Memorial High School from potential liquidation in the church’s ongoing Chapter 11 financial reorganization case have upped their offer from $4.3 million to $5.9 million.The state’s largest religious denomination asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge this summer for permission to privately offer th
  
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• Teen food pantry tackles food insecurity

  25-10-2026 15:39 via VTDigger
  
  Stock photo by Antoni Shkraba via PexelsThis story by Sophia Keshmiri was first published in the Addison Independent on Oct. 22, 2026.VERGENNES — Just under a year since Martha DeGraaf and her Commodore Club participants launched a teen food pantry, what was intended to be a supplement for kids in the after-school program has grown into a resource run by those very students for their peers throughout the community. As the cost of food and other basic needs rises, wages fail to keep up with i
  
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• Second-home taxes aren’t fair

  25-10-2026 14:48 via VTDigger
  
  Dear Editor,In our state, we care deeply about community and equity. There is now a clear battle over state identity when it comes to proposals to create a second-home tax. Is Vermont still Vermont if we remove the incentive for second homes? There seems to be a prevailing notion that most second homes belong to wealthy out-of-staters, driving up housing prices and pushing out Vermonters from Vermont. The emotional truth of this tax is to remove these out-of-staters so we can lower costs. 
  RE
  
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• What’s behind the Vermont Catholic Church’s ever-evolving bankruptcy case — and what’s next

  25-10-2026 14:22 via VTDigger
  
  St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls is one of more than 60 Catholic parishes in Vermont. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerLeaders of the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese said filing for Chapter 11 financial protection in the fall of 2024 promised the church stability amid a rising number of payouts to resolve priest misconduct lawsuits.So why, two years later, is the state’s largest religious denomination seeking to withdraw its request?The church’s explanation remains the same: escalating c
  
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• ‘Anti-homelessness landscaping’ in Middlebury raises questions over approaches to rural encampments

  25-10-2026 13:33 via VTDigger
  
  Middlebury officials placed a layer of uneven rock beneath a bridge where unhoused residents used to camp. Photo by Theo Wells-Spackman/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.For Josh Simon, who lived outdoors in Middlebury for a time until finding a new place to stay last fall, a spot under the large concrete supports of the town’s Cross Street Bridge had been a frequent resting place. A combination of relative quiet, shelter from the eleme
  
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• Turning tragedy into baskets: One partnership brings conservation and craft together

  25-10-2026 12:56 via VTDigger
  
  Joanne Garton, community forester with the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program, in a stand of black ash trees in Hardwick on Sept. 25, 2026. The trees marked with an orange ribbon have been treated with an insecticide, which will help protect it from an emerald ash borer infestation. Photo by Bear Savage/A slab of bark from a recently-harvested black ash tree covered one of the big picnic tables at Atkins Field in Hardwick in late September, where a basketmaking workshop was unfoldin
  
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• Manchester weighs Flock camera alternatives ahead of Vermont ban on automated license plate readers

  24-10-2026 13:16 via VTDigger
  
  A license plate reader camera on VT Route 7A in Manchester seen in June 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMANCHESTER — At Tuesday night’s selectboard meeting, members heard an update from Chief of Police James Blanchard about the town’s current contract with Flock, maker of the controversial automatic license plate recognition system, set to expire in March and what steps the town should or could reasonably make from a law-enforcement perspective in light of a new state statute. V
  
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• Vermont commits $15.3M to expand heating assistance amid high fuel prices

  23-10-2026 23:58 via VTDigger
  
  A Dead River Company fuel truck on a snowy Main Street in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont. Photo by Artaxerxes/Wikimedia CommonsTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Vermont officials approved a $15.3 million state funding package to expand home heating aid programs on Friday.The state administers lump-sum seasonal fuel assistance benefits for financially qualifying households and also directs funds to a program that provides aid in crises when eligible
  
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• Patricia Foulkes

  23-10-2026 23:29 via VTDigger
  
  Born: 01/30/1944St. Louis, MODied: 09/23/2026Burlington, VTDetails of service:
  Patricia’s friends and family will hold a celebration of her life on November 8th at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier with a reception to follow.Patricia “Pat” Foulkes of Montpelier passed away unexpectedly on September 23, 2026, at the age of 82.Born in St. Louis to Carl and Margaret Leupold, she moved at age eight to Jacksonville, Florida where she grew up alongside her two brothers. She graduated
  
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• Return of the ‘Mountain Brigade’ from training Ukrainian troops

  23-10-2026 22:54 via VTDigger
  
  Vermont National Guard soldiers wait for the start of a deployment ceremony at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho on Friday, May 29, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont National Guard’s 86th Infantry Brigade will soon touch down on Green Mountain soil as its deployment to train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany comes to an end.As the National Guard returns home, active U.S. Army units are taking over the training.“They have done a very valuable mission in their training respon
  
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• At vigil, memories of two who died while unhoused and a call for change

  23-10-2026 22:32 via VTDigger
  
  Community members form a large circle during a candlelight vigil at Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier on Oct. 16. Photo by Tracy Brannstrom/The Bridge
  This story by Tracy Brannstrom was first published in The Bridge on Oct. 20, 2026. MONTPELIER — Two people who died this fall while experiencing homelessness were remembered at a candlelight vigil Oct. 16 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier.The deaths of Faith Deuso and Jeff Santamore have reverberated through Montpeli
  
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