Vermont news

• Edward William Eckman

  09-03-2026 22:37 via vtdigger.org
  Born: 11/11/1939Lancaster City, PADied: 03/03/2026Lebanon, NHDetails of service:Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Bradford Evangelical Free Church, with Pastor Brian Bailey officiating. Calling hours are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 12, 2026 at the Hale Funeral Home in Bradford, VT.In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Edward to the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon
  
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• Loralee Tester: When ‘protection’ becomes exclusion

  10-03-2026 23:51 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Loralee Tester, the executive director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.A year and a half ago, I attended the Vermont Solutions Summit, hosted by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce in Burlington, which brought together business, education and policy leaders to discuss solutions to the state’s workforce and economic challenges. It was an important event, and I was glad to be there. However, one moment from the final panel has stayed with me: when Sen. Al
  
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• Family of Vermont National Guard member deployed to Middle East calls Trump’s orders ‘unconscionable’

  10-03-2026 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  F-35 jets are seen on display during an Open House held by the Vermont Air National Guard at the airbase in South Burlington on Sept. 11, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA woman whose great nephew serves in the Vermont National Guard and, she said, is currently deployed to the Middle East called the Guard’s operations there in support of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran “unconscionable” in a statement presented at the Statehouse Tuesday.“We are really
  
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• Vermont flood watch issued as warming causes ice jams

  10-03-2026 21:18 via vtdigger.org
  The remnants of an ice jam line the banks of the Mad River in Waitsfield on Monday, March 9, 2026, Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA flood watch has been issued for much of Northern Vermont by the National Weather Service as warming temperatures create conditions for ice jams.  “It basically becomes a dam, and water can flood behind it very, very quickly,” said Maureen Hastings, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Burlington office. “It c
  
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• Vermont flood watch issued as warming cause ice jams

  10-03-2026 21:18 via vtdigger.org
  The remnants of an ice jam line the banks of the Mad River in Waitsfield on Monday, March 9, 2026, Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA flood watch has been issued for much of Northern Vermont by the National Weather Service as warming temperatures create conditions for ice jams.  “It basically becomes a dam, and water can flood behind it very, very quickly,” said Maureen Hastings, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Burlington office. “It c
  
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• First Democratic challenger to Phil Scott enters governor’s race

  10-03-2026 20:40 via vtdigger.org
  Amanda Janoo, of Burlington, announced her candidacy for governor on March 10, 2026. By Mayellen Matson
  The first Democrat has announced her candidacy for governor. Amanda Janoo, an economist raised in Strafford and now living in Burlington, is a first-time candidate for statewide office. She faces the daunting task of unseating Gov. Phil Scott, the long-running, most popular governor in the country, according to polls. “We’re all being called to step up in ways maybe we n
  
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• First Democratic candidate enters governor’s race

  10-03-2026 20:40 via vtdigger.org
  Amanda Janoo, of Burlington, announced her candidacy for governor on March 10, 2026. By Mayellen Matson
  The first Democrat has announced her candidacy for governor. Amanda Janoo, an economist raised in Strafford and now living in Burlington, is a first-time candidate for statewide office. She will presumably face the daunting task of unseating Gov. Phil Scott, the long-running, most popular governor in the country, according to polls. “We’re all being called to step up in
  
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• Why are some rural Medicare patients paying more than patients at bigger hospitals? 

  10-03-2026 19:27 via vtdigger.org
  Owen Foster, chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, on Nov. 30, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerIn November, a public comment sent a Green Mountain Care Board analyst on a curious quest: Why were some Medicare recipients paying more out of pocket for outpatient services at rural, “critical access hospitals” than they’d have paid for the same service at the state’s bigger, “acute care hospitals” — even if the hospitals’ costs for th
  
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• Drusilla Beach Powden

  10-03-2026 16:27 via vtdigger.org
  Born: 12/29/1930Rutland, VermontDied: 03/05/2026Peacham, VermontDetails of service:There will be a graveside service at the Peacham Village Cemetery on May 27th at 2:00 p.m. with a reception to follow at Drusilla’s home.Drusilla Powden, a long-time resident of Peacham, passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, March 5th.The youngest of five children, Drusilla was raised during the Great Depression by her widowed mother. While life was difficult, she had many fond memories of growing
  
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• Vermont ski lift workers left out in the cold with no action from legislature, regulators

  10-03-2026 11:55 via vtdigger.org
  It’s been a banner year for Vermont’s mountain resorts but for Okemo ski lift operator, Casey Jennings, it’s been business as usual: getting a quick break to warm up from the extreme cold or to visit the bathroom can involve slowing down the lift — leaving guests on long cold lift rides — in order to recruit cover for his post.  Casey’s dilemma and the grueling job of enduring the cold as a ski lift operator has been a long-standing worker protectio
  
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• Bob Stannard: If you love Vermont, help pay for it

  10-03-2026 02:41 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor, I do not know Peter Rinaldi, who recently sent a letter to VTDigger complaining about Vermont property transfer taxes, and I’m sure that he’s a perfectly delightful chap. However, it’s clear to me that he and I come from very different worlds. Unlike Mr Rinaldi, a Florida resident who enjoys living in Vermont six months a year, I’m a generational Vermonter who still lives here. Like Mr Rinaldi, I am also fairly well-to-do and could afford to do as he ha
  
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• David Moats: Bernie Sanders and the long river of history

  10-03-2026 02:26 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by David Moats, who lives in Salisbury. He is editorial page editor emeritus at the Rutland Herald, where he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials on Vermont’s civil union law.The story of Bernie Sanders’s rise from couch-surfing, penniless single dad to mayor of Burlington, the U.S. Senate and presidential politics is both familiar and astonishing.It’s astonishing for what it says about the capacity of the political system to make room for
  
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• Beta Technologies selected for federal pilot program, set to fly in Vermont this year

  10-03-2026 00:53 via vtdigger.org
  A team meets on the floor of a BETA Technologies manufacturing facility in South Burlington on Thursday, February 12, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Beta Technologies announced Monday that the company had been selected for a federal pilot program that will allow the South Burlington-based electric airplane maker and its partners to begin medical flights to and from Vermont this year.In a call with inves
  
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• Audit finds gaps in Vermont child care oversight pose risks to children, threaten federal dollars

  09-03-2026 23:33 via vtdigger.org
  Kalie Wolf helps a youngster with their lunch at a Capstone Community Action daycare in Barre on Dec. 1, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Gaps in the state’s child care oversight processes pose potential risks to both child safety and federal funding, a report from Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer found last week. Problems with monitoring, inadequate background check practices and obsolete IT
  
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• Judge tosses key DNA evidence that helped crack cold case in Danby double-murder more than three decades ago

  09-03-2026 23:26 via vtdigger.org
  Rutland District and Family Courthouse, where Rutland Superior Court meets. Photo by Andrew Kutches/VTDiggerRUTLAND – A Vermont judge has thrown out key evidence against an 83-year-old New York state man who faces two counts of murder in the death of his wife’s parents in Danby in 1989, prompting a move by his attorney to toss out the entire case.Rutland Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones’ ruling is the latest twist in a cold case that led eventually to charges more than t
  
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• One close election, two vocal sides and a dog leash debate Montpelier can’t shake

  09-03-2026 22:55 via vtdigger.org
  A person walks their leashed dogs in Hubbard Park in Montpelier on Friday, March 6, 2026, Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNeil Herrick and Ryker used to avoid Hubbard Park.The trails through the wooded hills outside of Montpelier had become the center of too much conflict. So he and his rescue dog stayed away. “There was a lot of yelling and a lot of accusations,” Herrick said. “So we just didn’t come.”But that was back when leashes were optional throughout the
  
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• Richard Owen Davis

  09-03-2026 22:30 via vtdigger.org
  Born: 10/20/1949Washington DCDied: 02/16/2026South Hero, VTDetails of service:A celebration of life will be held May 31, 2026 in South Hero.Rick was a true Renaissance man. Over the course of his 76 years he lived an active and involved life.Fresh out of the Quaker Friends School in Baltimore, he became involved in the peace movement in NYC in the late 1960s, counting a number of activists such as Abby Hoffman, Igal Roodenko, and Bayard Rustin as his friends. At 19, Rick was clubbed by a police
  
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• New shelter addresses ‘real gap in our system’ for unhoused people in recovery from addiction

  09-03-2026 21:52 via vtdigger.org
  The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Howard Center opened the Bridges Recovery Shelter for people experiencing homelessness and substance-use disorder in downtown Burlington on Monday, March 9. Photo by Zoe McDonald/Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.BURLINGTON – A new shelter is opening for unhoused people seeking recovery from addiction.Located in the Queen C
  
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• New Vermont State University president appointed

  09-03-2026 21:32 via vtdigger.org
  Sherry Kollmann is the new president of Vermont State University. Courtesy Vermont State UniversityVermont State University’s Board of Trustees appointed Sherry Kollmann as the university’s new president and system vice chancellor Monday.Kollmann, currently the chancellor of the New Mexico State University Global Campus, will succeed outgoing President David Bergh, who announced his retirement last year.Since her 2020 appointment in New Mexico, Kollmann helped grow online enrollment
  
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• Jordan Elias Kurker-Mraz

  09-03-2026 19:30 via vtdigger.org
  UPDATED: March 9, 2026, at 2:25 p.m.Born Feb. 16, 1992Burlington, VermontDied Sept. 21, 2025Tucson, ArizonaDetails of servicesDate: Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EDTLocation: First Congregational Church, 38 S. Winooski Avenue, Burlington, VTParking: on the street or in the nearby parking garageReception to follow at the churchIf you would like to attend but cannot be there in person, the service will be live streamed on the church’s YouTube channel. Click here
  
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• Purpose, dignity, and joy through supported employment: connecting Vermonters experiencing mental health and substance use challenges with meaningful employment in their communities

  09-03-2026 15:04 via vtdigger.org
  Pictured: CMC’s Supportive Employment Team with Executive Director Melanie Gidney, presenting Bethel Mills staff with the 2025 Vocational Services Award.For most of us, work is part of our identity. When we feel good about having a job, we often see ourselves in a more positive way. Work provides income, structure, routine, and contributes to our overall health. For individuals navigating mental illness, substance use disorders, or both, the path back to meaningful employment can feel imp
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘New Forest’

  08-03-2026 11:00 via vtdigger.org
  “Cold & Bright,” by Phoebe Gresham, 16, of Huntington.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 sr
  
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• After a Covid-19 boom, Vermont is once again losing residents. What changed?

  08-03-2026 11:00 via vtdigger.org
  A sign in Colchester points toward a house for sale in July 2025. Photo by April McCullum/Vermont PublicJenny Hopkins moved to Hinesburg from Austin, Texas, just weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world.
  So when she first struggled to find a primary care doctor or reach a gynecologist with a health emergency, she chalked it up to Covid-era challenges with the health care system. But years down the line, she found herself in the middle of a post-partum mental health crisis. Sh
  
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• New leader to take charge of Vermont National Guard as war in Iran looms large

  07-03-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  Uniformed participants stand in formation during a Saturday change-of-command ceremony in South Burlington in which Maj. Gen. Henry “Hank” Harder was sworn in as Vermont’s adjutant general.Photo by Emma Cotton/VTDiggerMaj. Gen. Henry “Hank” Harder was expected to take command of the Vermont National Guard on Saturday during a ceremony at the 158th Fighter Wing in South Burlington.Harder succeeds Maj. Gen. Gregory C. Knight, who is retiring after seven years as adju
  
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• New leader takes charge of Vermont National Guard as war in Iran looms large

  07-03-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  Hank Harder, second from right, prepares to be sworn in as the next Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard at a South Burlington ceremony Saturday, March 7, 2026. Photo by Emma Green/VTDiggerUpdated at 4:15 p.m.Maj. Gen. Henry “Hank” Harder took command of the Vermont National Guard on Saturday during a ceremony at the 158th Fighter Wing in South Burlington.Harder succeeds Maj. Gen. Gregory C. Knight, who is retiring after seven years as adjutant general. Harder assumes
  
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• More than 500 attend ceremony for new leader of Vermont National Guard

  07-03-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  Hank Harder, second from right, prepares to be sworn in as the next Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard at a South Burlington ceremony Saturday, March 7, 2026. Photo by Emma Green/VTDiggerUpdated at 6:47 p.m.SOUTH BURLINGTON – On a makeshift stage flanked by a Black Hawk helicopter and an F-35, Maj. Gen. Henry “Hank” Harder took command of the Vermont National Guard on Saturday. The ceremony in a cavernous metal hangar at the 158th Fighter Wing marked his assum
  
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• Gov. Scott signs Vermont’s midyear budget increase of $111 million

  07-03-2026 00:03 via vtdigger.org
  Gov. Phil Scott speaks after a meeting at the Statehouse in Montpelier on November 13, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerRepublican Gov. Phil Scott approved lawmakers’ midyear budget tuneup Thursday, signing their updated plan to increase state spending for the remainder of the fiscal year by more than $111 million over the original budget. Potential federal funding shortfalls continued to cast a shadow over lawmakers’ budget decisions for this year, with their review of sta
  
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• Vermont attorney general joins lawsuit against new wave of Trump tariffs

  06-03-2026 23:54 via vtdigger.org
  Attorney General Charity Clark speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on June 18, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration Thursday, challenging new wide-ranging tariffs the president announced following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked a similar previous effort.On Feb. 20, the Supreme
  
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• In search of forever homes

  06-03-2026 22:55 via vtdigger.org
  Williston young adults, from left, Jack Savage, Bennett Townley, Justin McQuiston and Emily Scott, are hoping to find a place where they can live together as peers within a staff supported group home. Photo courtesy of the Williston ObserverThis story by Jason Starr was first published in the Williston Observer on March 6, 2026.For Donna Savage and other parents of Vermont’s young adults with developmental disabilities, the day-to-day challenges of helping their kids find their way in the
  
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• Doris Tennant: Who decides when we go to war?

  06-03-2026 22:27 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,Trump has unleashed the dogs of war, and the Vermont National Guard has been deployed to the Middle East under federal rules, with F-35 fighters from Vermont having been positioned for attack and now likely in play.  The Defend the Guard Act, introduced in the Vermont House by Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, would prohibit the Guard from being deployed to combat unless Congress has declared war. Not only would the bill protect the Guard from being placed into combat to f
  
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