Vermont news

• For Those With Physical Mobility Issues, Winter Weather Brings Icy Challenges dlvr.it/QBVwxm https://t.co/VtXNs3VBt3

  16-01-2018 23:19 via twitter.com
  
  For Those With Physical Mobility Issues, Winter Weather Brings Icy Challenges dlvr.it/QBVwxm https://t.co/VtXNs3VBt3
  
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• Peak foliage arrives in Vermont, and next week could bring year’s first flakes

  01-10-2026 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  Fall foliage in Warren, Vermont on September 29, 2026. Photo by Henry’s Weather Channel
  This year, VTDigger is teaming up with Henry’s Weather Channel to help answer the annual question of when and where peak foliage will make its appearance across the state.Each week, we’ll bring you an updated look at how foliage is unfolding statewide, paired with a weekend forecast, so you can plan your drive, hike or porch-sitting accordingly. Henry brings meteorological experience and on
  
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• Jack Sawyer, accused of foiled school shooting plot 8 years ago, is back in court on unrelated charges

  01-10-2026 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Vermont Superior Court building and the Orleans County Court House in Newport in March 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Vermont man who spurred gun reform legislation eight years ago, after he was accused of plotting to shoot up a high school, was back in court — this time after allegedly breaking into the now-closed Sterling College.Jack Sawyer, 27, of Craftsbury, pleaded not guilty Tuesday during his arraignment in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport to counts of g
  
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• One vote I’m proud of

  01-10-2026 20:29 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Conor Casey, who represents Montpelier in the Vermont House and is a co-chair of the Vermont Legislature’s Working Vermonters Caucus. You cast a lot of votes in the Vermont House. Some are easy. Some keep you up at night. And, if I’m being truthful, there are plenty I probably won’t remember 10 years from now.I’ll remember my vote for the Workers’ Rights Amendment.This November, Vermont voters will have the final say on Proposal 3, which
  
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• Can Vermont afford Proposal 3?

  01-10-2026 20:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Elizabeth Brown, who is the Vermont state director of the Fiscal Alliance Foundation.Vermont workers already have the right to bargain. Proposal 3 would lock in a system that costs us jobs, investment and taxes.According to a new analysis published by our organization, the Fiscal Alliance Foundation, Vermont’s population fell last year by a larger share than that of any other state. From 2015 to 2025, private-sector jobs grew 12.6% nationally. In Vermont, they fell 0
  
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• In a surprise move, Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese seeks to dismiss its 2-year-old bankruptcy case

  01-10-2026 15:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  The steeple of St. Charles Catholic Church in Bellows Falls. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerVermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese is marking this week’s second anniversary of its request for a Chapter 11 financial reorganization plan by asking a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to dismiss its case, which so far has cost $2 million in legal fees “with no end in sight,” church lawyers said.The state’s largest religious denomination had filed its initial call for help on
  
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• 1 in 5 Vermonters say they have struggled to keep up with rent and mortgage payments

  01-10-2026 11:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  Homes in Williston on Sept. 29. The median sale price of a primary home in Vermont has nearly doubled over the last decade. Photo by April McCullum/Vermont PublicCarly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger. One in five Vermonters report that they have struggled to keep up with housing payments in the last year.That’s according to the Vermont Public 2026 Poll. Twenty percent of people surveyed in September said they have been late or
  
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• Texas company presents ideas for future Vermont Yankee property use

  01-10-2026 00:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  A worker cuts apart a beam during the deconstruction of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon in October 2023. The salvaged metal from the plant, which is not radioactive, is being recycled. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Olga Peters was first published in The Commons on Sept. 29, 2026. VERNON — PowerTransitions officials who held another community meeting on Sept. 23 faced community members who filled a meeting room, expressing skepticism and con
  
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• Court orders Dairy Farmers of America to keep paying its share of union employees’ health insurance after shuttering the St. Albans Creamery

  01-10-2026 00:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Members of the Teamsters local 597 union picket outside the Dairy Farmers of America plant in St. Albans on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA U.S. District Court judge has mandated that Dairy Farmers of America keep contributing its portion of the union workers’ health insurance after idling the St. Albans Creamery plant in August.The employees at the plant, which is a subsidiary of the Dairy Farmers of America co-operative, have been out of work since the plan
  
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• Putney affordable housing project opens after clearing court battles

  01-10-2026 00:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Developers held a ribbon cutting event for a new affordable housing project in Putney on September 30, 2026. Photo by Carly Berlin/Vermont PublicCarly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger. When Stormy Gammon got the call that she and her family had been approved for an apartment at a new affordable housing complex in Putney, she cried. Gammon, her husband, and their son had been homeless, living in a shelter unit in Springfield, she
  
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• Vermont Medicaid braces for new rules coming for nearly 50,000 Vermonters

  30-09-2026 23:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  The People’s Health and Wellness Clinic in Barre in July 2020. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe first of a series of changes to Medicaid is set to take effect Oct. 1, put in motion by the federal budget bill passed in July 2025. The next round of changes begins in January.Combined, the changes to the state-federal health insurance program are expected to affect nearly 50,000 Vermonters, but that doesn’t mean that all will lose coverage, say healthcare advocates and Medicaid o
  
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• Vermont Conversation: ‘Gradually, then suddenly.’ Bestselling author Richard North Patterson on how American democracy was undermined.

  30-09-2026 23:46 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.Author Richard North Patterson, left, and his new book “Tripwires: 15 Twenty-First-Century Events That Undermined American Democracy — and How to Reclaim It.” Courtesy photos“Gradually, then suddenly, America reached the precipice
  
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• UVM awarded record $38M to create ‘AI twin’ of sick patients

  30-09-2026 23:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dr. Gary An discusses a record-breaking award for his research on AI “twins” at UVM’s Robert Larner College of Medicine on Sept. 30, 2026. Photo by Charlotte Oliver/VTDigger.BURLINGTON — For doctors struggling to treat patients with severe burns or infections, researchers at the University of Vermont are developing a not-so-human solution. They’re working to create an artificial intelligence “twin” of a patient, allowing doctors to test individuali
  
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• More cops can’t help downtown

  30-09-2026 19:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Brian Clifford, an abolitionist mutual aid organizer working in and around Burlington.We can’t police our way to making downtown Burlington feel safe. I do not mean we shouldn’t. I’m not saying we should choose a higher path rooted in care and healing. I mean we can’t, as in, it is literally not possible at this time.The idea that increased police presence will deter scary behaviors downtown makes logical sense. It’s been Burlington Police Dep
  
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• Burlington only has itself to blame for its decline

  30-09-2026 18:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Michael Pill, a lawyer who lives in Burlington.We recently bought a house in Burlington to age in place with younger family who live in the city. I am a confirmed leftist, a staunch anticapitalist with a doctorate in Marxian economic theory, a supporter of gun control and a Jew who believes that every human being is charged with the social mission of repairing the world in which we live. The struggle to eliminate all forms of prejudice that divide us is both an individual
  
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• Nettie Morse focuses on a future in pediatric occupational therapy

  30-09-2026 15:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Aneta “Nettie” Morse is a senior at Oxbow High School in Bradford, Vermont. She’s a three-season athlete and is one of the founding members of VSAC GEAR UP Leads, the first-ever student-led leadership club in VSAC’s GEAR UP, a federally funded program that helps students access college and careers after high school. Recently, Nettie was named the national GEAR UP Student Leader of the Year at an award ceremony in Washington DC. This award recognizes a student who go
  
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• Woodstock police chief resigns after demotion overturned

  29-09-2026 23:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former Woodstock Village Police Chief Joe Swanson, stands and stretches during his appeal hearing in Vermont Superior Court on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 in Woodstock, Vt. On the left is Woodstock attorney John H. Klesch, representing the village. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by Sofia Langlois was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 29, 2026.WOODSTOCK — A judge ruled Tuesday in favor of the Woodstock police chief who town officials have now failed twice to demote.But
  
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• A rising cohort of vets is giving Vermonters new ways to say goodbye to beloved pets

  29-09-2026 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  Finnegan and Duffy sit on a chair. Photo by Laura CadmusLaura Cadmus’ cat, Duffy, used to sit on the edge of her table and a CD rack with his front legs dangling off the side. Now, the same spots are decorated with photos of him in those odd positions, her way to hold onto his memory after he died of cancer earlier this year at age 8. “(It) was absolutely so devastating to me,” said the Barre native. “I mean, it’s probably just in the last couple months t
  
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• A bear broke into my kitchen. Then I watched him die.

  29-09-2026 23:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rachel Lee Stoll, an antiquarian bookseller.There is much conversation right now about bears in Vermont, about their increasing numbers and how and when we hunt them down. I have a dog in this bear fight, because my son and I came home a few weeks ago to find that our house had been visited in our absence by a hungry bear.  The bear — terrifically nimble — opened a window I had not firmly latched, fell into my son’s room, clambered all about the
  
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• Vermont is losing the people who keep us alive

  29-09-2026 22:41 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Matt Swenson, the founder of Omnidex Solutions, an independent research and strategic analysis company. He lives in Vermont.Vermont’s healthcare debate has spent years arguing about prices. I think the scarier question is simpler: Can you actually get care when you need it? For me, that’s not some abstract policy question. It’s personal. I moved to Vermont partly for its reputation for good medical care, after a rough career in environmental toxicolo
  
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• ‘If you can’t do it, I’ll do it’: Judge seeks to settle disputes in case of fatal shooting of border agent

  29-09-2026 20:41 via vtdigger.org
  
  U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss speaks in Essex in Oct. 2021. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — A federal judge said she plans to advance the slow-moving case against a former Washington state resident accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent in northern Vermont in January 2025.Teresa Youngblut faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted in the fatal shooting of David Maland that took place after a traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry on Jan.
  
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• Second home tax appeals to majority of Vermont poll respondents

  29-09-2026 11:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  A drone photo captures fall foliage on Oct. 9, 2023, in Moretown. Photo by Kyle Ambusk / Vermont PublicCarly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger. Katie Mandych thought she’d be in a financial position to try to purchase her first home by now. But as rent for her Waterbury apartment has continued to escalate, the 31-year-old career coach has had little opportunity to save.That has informed Mandych’s opinion that Vermont shoul
  
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• Mental health urgent care center coming to Brattleboro

  29-09-2026 00:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  In 2023, Health Care & Rehabilitation Services opened its Youth Stabilization Program building on Canal Street in Brattleboro. File photo by Brattleboro ReformerThis story by Chris Mays was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Sept. 24, 2026. Starting in January, 24/7 walk-in services at a new mental health urgent care center are expected to be offered at a location in Brattleboro. Health Care & Rehabilitation Services will receive $3.6 million in grant funding from
  
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• New book traces Twin States’ cultural split to the soil itself

  28-09-2026 23:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brian Porto at his home in Windsor, Vt., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Porto spent the past four years of his retirement writing a book about the politics of Vermont and New Hampshire. “I was expecting differences between the two states, but there really are a lot of similarities,” he said. Alex Driehaus/Valley NewsThis story by Molly Hughes was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 24, 2026.New Hampshire puts “Live Free or Die” on its license plates. Vermont&rsquo
  
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• One-year contracts won’t help Vermont’s schools

  28-09-2026 23:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,This time of year, I trade in the cup of coffee for a mug of warm apple cider. The leaves are starting to turn, mornings are colder, and schools are settling into familiar late September rhythms.It is a beautiful time to be a school leader in Vermont. It is also a strange one.Vermont is embarking on the widest transformation of its education system in decades. And now we face a new wrinkle: School boards have been instructed by the Agency of Education to hire superintendents on one-
  
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• Shelter isn’t charity. It’s public safety.

  28-09-2026 23:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Paul Dragon, the executive director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity.Six years ago, as Covid-19 tore through Vermont, the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity was asked to do something we’d never done before: open a shelter. What began as low-barrier, family and recovery shelters quickly became the state’s largest pandemic shelter, welcoming people experiencing homelessness from communities across Vermont.Our staff worked around
  
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• New poll shows Gov. Phil Scott leading Amanda Janoo by 10 points

  28-09-2026 23:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Republican Gov. Phil Scott, left, and Democratic nominee for governor Amanda Janoo. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott holds a 10-point lead over progressive Democrat Amanda Janoo in a poll released Monday, a striking reversal from a separate survey last week that showed the race in a statistical tie.Vermont Public’s 2026 Poll reported Scott is leading Janoo by 10 points, 42% to 32%. These results reflect a 16-point swing from Friday’s Green Mountain State Poll by the U
  
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• Vermont man dies in custody

  28-09-2026 22:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield in Oct. 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Vermont man died in custody at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield Sunday.Trevis Gembarowski, 44, from Newfane, was taken into custody on Saturday, Sep. 26 and died the following day, according to a press release from the Vermont Department of Corrections. He had a medical event on Sunday morning, and correctional and medical staff began emergency medical response proc
  
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• Vermont farmers feel impacts of staffing cuts at USDA

  28-09-2026 13:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  A cow in a field in Lowell in June 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSeveral years ago, Ben Haigh, a small-scale dairy farmer in Shoreham, received $50,000 in federal funding from an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to put up fencing around his farm, infrastructure he felt was essential for his operation. But lately it’s been a different story for Haigh: In more recent years, he applied again for the same kind of financial assistance and got turned down twice, withou
  
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• Grant funded initiative seeks sustainability for regional birthing services

  27-09-2026 16:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Deidra Razzaque of Brattleboro, whose son was born at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s Birthing Center, holds a sign while attending a hospital board meeting on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. File photo from Brattleboro ReformerBRATTLEBORO — A new grant will help Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and other hospitals, community health organizations, social service providers and other regional partners plan for the future of maternity and newborn care in Southeast Vermont. BMH said it receiv
  
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