Vermont news

• Join our Spring Member Drive and send a brand-new book to a Vermont child

  27-03-2024 19:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,VTDigger shines a light in dark places and tells important stories that make a real difference in people’s lives. Democracy needs this sunlight to flourish.This spring, I’m writing to ask you to support our local journalism and brighten the world of a Vermont kid by sending them a brand-new children’s book. 
  Donate now
  As a parent, I can see firsthand how reading opens young minds to different possibilities and new ways of seeing the world. I think journalism
  
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• Libby Bennett and Rita Ramirez: Groundworks reimagines Morningside House

  28-04-2024 15:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Libby Bennett, executive director of Groundworks Collaborative, and Rita Ramirez, board chair of Groundworks Collaborative.
  This has been a most challenging year for Groundworks, for the people we serve and for the greater Brattleboro community. The staff and board at Groundworks are committed to resiliency and to building and maintaining caring relationships — understanding that we all must do our part to build a stronger community. “Our part” at Gr
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘Carefree honeybee’

  28-04-2024 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  “Imagine,” a chalk drawing by Grace Weinstein, from the YWP Media Library
  Young Writers Project is a creative online community of teen writers, photographers and artists, which has been based in Vermont since 2006. Each week, VTDigger features the writing and art of young Vermonters who publish their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for 12- to 18-year-olds. To find out more, visit youngwritersproject.org, or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@
  
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• Rep. Mike Mrowicki: Mr. Schubart, please learn about the Vermont Youth Council

  28-04-2024 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,A VTDigger column by Bill Schubart laments that: “We don’t include our young people in our decision-making that affects their future. There’s no formal recognition that provides agency for the voices of our young.”Schubart may be pleased to know about the Vermont State Youth Council.From their website: “The Vermont State Youth Council is a diverse group of 28 Vermont youth from each county responsible for annually advising the Governor and the Vermont Ge
  
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• Rep. Mike Mrowicki: Mr. Schubart, please learn about the Vermont State Youth Council

  28-04-2024 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,A VTDigger column by Bill Schubart laments that: “We don’t include our young people in our decision-making that affects their future. There’s no formal recognition that provides agency for the voices of our young.”Schubart may be pleased to know about the Vermont State Youth Council.From their website: “The Vermont State Youth Council is a diverse group of 28 Vermont youth from each county responsible for annually advising the Governor and the Vermont Ge
  
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• Shelburne’s farming community voices concern over zoning regulation proposals

  28-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jim Maille and his son, Benjamin, stand in their barn originally built in 1939 that houses the last family-owned dairy farm in Shelburne. Photo by Liberty Darr/Shelburne News
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published by the Shelburne News on April 25.With Shelburne in the thick of regulatory reform, members of Shelburne’s farming community — some of whom have called the town home for more than 100 years — are concerned over what some proposed changes could do to their lan
  
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• Immigrant restaurateurs hit by July floods face continued hurdles to recovery

  28-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Canoeists paddle past the flooded KSherpa Dinner House in Montpelier on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  BARRE — First, a devastating flood damaged their home and business. Then they faced barriers to accessing recovery funds because of their immigration status. Now they’ve been dealing with a disruptive tenant for whom they haven’t been receiving rent payments and a housing entity that didn’t help until a state senator intervened.Eight months afte
  
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• Bill Schubart: Save the children and prohibit cellphones in our schools

  28-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  S.284, “phone-free school legislation,” which is now sitting in the House Education Committee, is winding its way through the Legislature and should garner the attention of all legislators who care about the future well-being of our children.
  A recent advisory from the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, warns parents about the mental health risks of social media usage among our young, including sleep deprivation, depression and anxiety. Children as young as 10 are actively usin
  
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• Howard Dean weighs (another) run for governor

  27-04-2024 17:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former governor Howard Dean endorses Democratic Chittenden County state senate candidate June Heston in Burlington on Monday, July 13, 2020.Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Vermont’s longest-serving governor is thinking about getting back in the saddle. Howard Dean, a Burlington Democrat who led the state from 1991 to 2003, has been discussing whether to challenge Republican Gov. Phil Scott in this fall’s election, WCAX first reported Friday.  Dean confirmed
  
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• JAG Productions to close, citing ‘crisis facing the arts’

  27-04-2024 02:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jarvis Green, founder and artistic director of JAG Productions, in his dressing room at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, in April 2023. File photo by Alex Driehaus/Valley News/Report For America
  This story by Nicola Smith was first published by the Valley News on April 24.JAG Productions, the White River Junction theater company that has championed the work of Black and LGBTQ+ artists, has announced that it is closing in June after eight years of bringing groundbreaking work to t
  
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• Final Reading: Vermont House, Senate may be at odds over a proposed fee on electric vehicles

  27-04-2024 01:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Sara Coffey and Sen. Andrew Perchlik. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerOne of the biggest questions facing transportation policymakers today — not just in Vermont, but across the country — is about balance. As more people switch to electric vehicles, how should states make up the lost gasoline tax revenue, while still keeping EV adoption attractive? Vermont’s Agency of Transportation is working up a replacement for the money that EV users don’t pay at the pump:
  
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• ‘Provider burden’ bill passes Senate, despite last-minute effort to pump the brakes

  27-04-2024 00:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, listens to discussion on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 17. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Vermont’s Senate passed a bill Friday aimed at streamlining interactions between health care providers and insurers, after a flurry of last-minute back-and-forth over the legislation. Lawmakers rejected a push to delay some of the provisions of the bill, H.766, but adopted an 11th-hour amendment changing the
  
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• Windham school lawsuit moves ahead but most claims dismissed

  26-04-2024 22:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Windham Elementary School. File photo by Mike Faher/VTDigger
  Parents in the tiny Windham School District, who sought through a lawsuit to have the district pay tuition to send students elsewhere, have had a majority of their claims dismissed. But Windham Superior Court Judge David Barra allowed a central part of the suit to continue on allegations that Windham Elementary School, which while operating last spring had fewer than 20 students, failed to meet the state’s educational quali
  
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• Court officer fired over alleged comments to jurors leading to tossed verdict in sexual assault case

  26-04-2024 20:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  Stock photo by Sora Shimazaki via Pexels
  A court officer has been fired over comments he reportedly made to jurors that prompted a judge to throw out a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case.Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer said Thursday that Cpl. Mark Belisle, who had been suspended pending the results of an investigation, was terminated from the sheriff’s department on April 19.Palmer said Barre City Police Chief Brad Vail conducted the probe into Belisle’s conduct during the t
  
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• Judge rejects another bid by Ariel Quiros to shorten his prison sentence in EB-5 fraud scandal

  26-04-2024 20:41 via vtdigger.org
  
  Ariel Quiros leaves U.S. District Court in Burlington after being sentenced to five years for his role in the EB-5 fraud case on April 29, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  A bid by former Jay Peak Resort owner Ariel Quiros seeking to reduce his five-year prison sentence in the largest fraud case in Vermont’s history has been denied for a second time.Judge Geoffrey Crawford, who sentenced Quiros in April 2022 for his role in the EB-5 scandal that rocked the state, issued a ruling
  
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• Burlington budget deficit grows to $13 million

  26-04-2024 18:33 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak listens during a meeting of the City Council on Monday April 15. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBurlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak on Thursday said the city’s $9 million budget deficit has now swelled to nearly $13 million due to a miscalculation of employee benefit costs and other increasing expenses.The new deficit forecast comes after a more accurate analysis of employee benefit costs was completed for the next fiscal year. Salary growth and emp
  
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• Brianne Goodspeed: VTDigger’s story on the sale of Chelsea Green lacked depth and perspective

  26-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Brianne Goodspeed, senior editor at Chelsea Green.
  As one of the employee owners who will benefit from the sale of Chelsea Green Publishing to “international publishing behemoth” Mondadori, I found your story about the sale (“Chelsea Green to be sold to international publishing behemoth”), as well as your characterization of the company and the company’s cofounder and publisher, Margo Baldwin, to be lacking in depth and perspective. I’d
  
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• Liz Medina: ‘Same old rich man strategy’ used to oppose workers’ rights — with a new twist

  26-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Liz Medina, executive director, VT AFL-CIO.
  What keeps the few in power over the many?It’s simple: divide and conquer. The “same old rich man strategy” — in the words of the artist collective the Peace Poets – is as old as the institutions of colonization and slavery. The British Empire and the emerging plantation class in the United States stoked racial resentments to prevent landless Europeans and enslaved Africans from standing together acr
  
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• Final Reading: New USDA program aims to help towns access federal disaster relief

  26-04-2024 01:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Boaters paddle through the flooded intersection of Main and State Streets in Montpelier on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  As head of the Center for an Agricultural Economy in the Northeast Kingdom, Sarah Waring was surprised by the number of rules the federal government had for a grant to build a simple wooden pavilion in a park in Hardwick. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told staff, “‘oh, but you actually need to separate the design from the build.
  
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• Vermont’s new fair and impartial policing policy aims to reduce bias based on citizenship

  26-04-2024 00:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo via Adobe Stock
  The Vermont Criminal Justice Council has unanimously approved a selection of long-debated changes to Vermont’s fair and impartial policing policy in an attempt to curtail biased treatment of people by law enforcement based on personal characteristics.The changes, many of which centered on citizenship status, earned qualified applause from an immigrants’ rights group, which said they were a step in the right direction but did not go far enough.Last updated in Ja
  
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• Mike Pieciak announces reelection bid for Vermont state treasurer 

  26-04-2024 00:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mike Pieciak speaks at a Vermont Democratic Party press conference in Montpelier on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. File photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger
  Mike Pieciak will run for a second term as state treasurer, his campaign announced on Thursday. The 40-year old Winooski Democrat — who is widely seen as a contender for higher office — has raked in more campaign contributions than any other statewide incumbent, according to his last campaign filing in mid-March. “I&rsquo
  
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• Senate’s version of budget would reduce motel program room capacity by a third

  25-04-2024 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Autumn Inn, a motel in Bennington that shelters unhoused people through the state’s motel voucher program, pictured in January. Photo by Carly Berlin/VTDigger and Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The capacity of Vermont’s motel shelter program for unhoused people could shrink by a third for much of the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.The Vermont Senate pass
  
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• Senate passes budget that would reduce motel program room capacity by a third

  25-04-2024 23:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Autumn Inn, a motel in Bennington that shelters unhoused people through the state’s motel voucher program, pictured in January. Photo by Carly Berlin/VTDigger and Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The capacity of Vermont’s motel shelter program for unhoused people could shrink by a third for much of the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.The Vermont Senate pass
  
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• Bennington lawmaker pleads not guilty to DUI charge

  25-04-2024 22:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Jim Carroll, D-Bennington, listens at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Jan. 7, 2020.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Rep. Jim Carroll, D-Bennington, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to driving under the influence of alcohol, first offense. The hearing had earlier been postponed because he was undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation facility.Public defender Avi Springer entered the plea on Carroll’s behalf at the Washington County Superior criminal court in Barre. Carroll appeared v
  
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• Vermont Senate passes $8.6 billion state budget, teeing up negotiations with the House

  25-04-2024 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, pictured on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday April 2, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a key vote Thursday, Vermont’s state budget is on its way to the final stages of negotiation.The Senate voted 26-2 for an $8.6 billion budget, which would take effect at the start of the fiscal year beginning in July. Having passed its own version of the budget last month, the House can now sign off on the Senate’s rewrit
  
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• Senate passes $8.6 billion budget, teeing up negotiations with the House

  25-04-2024 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, pictured on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday April 2, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a key vote Thursday, Vermont’s state budget is on its way to the final stages of negotiation.The Senate voted 26-2 for an $8.6 billion budget, which would take effect at the start of the fiscal year beginning in July. Having passed its own version of the budget last month, the House can now sign off on the Senate’s rewrit
  
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• Jonathan Elwell: A new prison is nothing new

  25-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jonathan Elwell of Brattleboro. He organizes with FreeHer VT and VTJustJustice and volunteers (and formerly worked) with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center.
  “The traditional closed institution has a consistent record of failure over the last 200 years. With increasing caseloads and steadily rising costs, Vermont cannot afford programs that are proven failures and will only become more wasteful of money and human potential.”These words were written not by
  
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• Jessica Barquist: Overdose prevention centers would provide options when people need them the most

  25-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  To the editor: Vermont faces an escalating opioid overdose crisis with increasing fatalities each year.  Our current care system falls short — and we must consider new research-backed ways to save lives. Next week, the Vermont Senate will vote on H.72, which would launch a pilot of an overdose prevention center, filling a crucial gap in our care framework. OPCs serve as  vital links to treatment and recovery, offering much-needed immediate support during  cris
  
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• For Kevin Jones ‘everything was geared toward helping other people succeed’

  25-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kevin Jones, of Chittenden, commutes to work in his electric car, a Chevy Bolt, in Royalton on July 12, 2017. File photo by Geoff Hansen/Valley News
  This story by Frances Mize was first published by The Valley News on April 22.SOUTH ROYALTON — Nicole Lepre, a former student at Vermont Law and Graduate School, told her professor Kevin Jones that she was interested in some of the more nuanced policy related to electric vehicles. “Then Kevin was like, ‘Well, why don’t
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Surviving and escaping the Twelve Tribes cult

  25-04-2024 04:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Tamara Mathieu and her new book, “All Who Believed: A Memoir of Life in the Twelve Tribes.” Courtesy photos
  The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues with politicians, activists, artists, changemakers and citizens who are making a difference. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify to hear more.
  In August 2000, 23-year-old Tamara Math
  
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