Vermont news

• Jonathan Elwell: An effective plan for carbon pricing

  22-01-2018 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jonathan Elwell, who is from Brattleboro and a junior political science/international relations major at Carleton College in Minnesota. He volunteers as a campus representative for Our Climate, a carbon pricing advocacy group.
  Climate change debates are often framed in the context of tipping points — temperature benchmarks where global warming and all its effects will accelerate and become significantly more difficult to mitigate or reverse. Fortu
  
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• A choice ‘on a scale from environmental to spiritual’

  10-07-2026 22:33 via vtdigger.org
  
  Michael Mayer, director and resident steward of Higher Ground and one of the nonprofit’s three founding board members, stands at the entrance of the new natural burial cemetery on the Manitou Project’s conserved land in Williamsville. Courtesy photo from Kelly FletcherThis story by Annie Landenberger was first published in The Commons on July 7, 2026.WILLIAMSVILLE — After several years of gestation, Higher Ground Conservation Burial will finally be celebrated this weekend when
  
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• Benjamin “Ben” Huffman

  10-07-2026 21:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 11/08/1937Lewisburg, OhioDied: 07/08/2026Montpelier, VermontDetails of service:No service planned. Contact Kristin Glaser for more information.Benjamin “Ben” Huffman, 88, died July 8, 2026 at his Montpelier home, from polycystic kidney failure.Ben was a worker, and a thinker, sustained by his marriage of 50 years to Kristin Glaser, and by the pleasure of his children. Ben had a three decade career in Vermont helping the state’s political leaders analyze public polic
  
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• Vermont’s public schools could benefit from a new federal school choice tax credit program, but skeptics abound

  10-07-2026 21:23 via vtdigger.org
  
  Students outside of the Westford School in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont may soon opt into a federal school choice tax credit program that would allow parents to make tax deductible payments toward private school tuition and possibly public school programs.The program, and whether to opt in, was a quiet point of contention this legislation session. But news that the Trump administration may allow the tax credit dollars to flow to public afterschool and summer school pr
  
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• Vermont’s public schools could benefit from a new federal school choice tax credit program, but skeptics abound.

  10-07-2026 21:23 via vtdigger.org
  Students outside of the Westford School in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont may soon opt into a federal school choice tax credit program that would allow parents to make tax deductible payments toward private school tuition and possibly public school programs.The program, and whether to opt in, was a quiet point of contention this legislation session. But news that the Trump administration may allow the tax credit dollars to flow to public afterschool and summer school pr
  
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• When did school boards stop answering to the public?

  10-07-2026 20:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rebecca Foster, a former Champlain Valley Union High School parent who lives in Hinesburg.For an hour at the Champlain Valley School District board meeting on June 30, district residents took the microphone, one after another, to deliver reasoned, well-researched arguments against the contentious artificial turf proposal for Champlain Valley Union High School. In aggregate, it was a damning financial, legal, environmental, ethical and health verdict. After public comm
  
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• July 10 is synonymous with flooding in Vermont. Here’s a look back at VTDigger’s coverage.

  10-07-2026 12:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brady Gervais uses a kayak to navigate flooded Route 5 in Lyndonville. File photo by Ethan Weinstein/VTDiggerFriday marks three years since the devastating floods of 2023 — and two years since 2024’s repeat in some towns. For many Vermonters, July 10 resurfaces memories of communities under water, homes inundated and neighbors supporting neighbors through disaster. At VTDigger, we’ve worked to bring comprehensive coverage of Vermont’s years of severe flood
  
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• Content creator ‘Planet Hank’ sues Vermont attorney general over AI video probe

  09-07-2026 23:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  Hank Poitras, better known as “Planet Hank,” speaks during a social media livestream in May 2026. ScreenshotA new Vermont law regulating political media that’s generated with artificial intelligence is facing an early legal challenge from a content creator in Brattleboro.  Hank Poitras, better known by his social media moniker “Planet Hank,” filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday against the Vermont attorney general’s office, arguing that the la
  
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• Gov. Scott names new secretary of commerce and community development as Kurrle exits for Vermont Gas

  09-07-2026 22:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  Tayt Brooks was appointed secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development in July 2026. Courtesy photoTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Gov. Phil Scott has announced a change in leadership at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, which oversees economic growth initiatives, housing development and tourism, among other responsibilities.Lindsay Kurrle, who has served as the agency’s secretary for seven years, w
  
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• ‘Substantial concerns’: new filing in border patrol agent’s killing challenges law enforcement version of events

  09-07-2026 21:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  Teresa Youngblut appears at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington in June 2025. Sketch by Don DrakeAn attorney for the person charged with killing a border patrol agent in northern Vermont says evidence disputes a version of events from federal authorities about what led to the traffic stop and deadly shootout.Teresa Youngblut, 22, of Seattle, faces federal charges including murder in the fatal shooting of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland. The shooting occurred during a traffic st
  
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• Vermont’s low-barrier shelters are failing the people they were created to serve

  09-07-2026 21:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Derek Thomas, a South Burlington resident currently living in emergency housing through Vermont’s 211 program. For nearly a year, I lived at Champlain Place, a low-barrier shelter in Burlington. Low-barrier shelters are designed to minimize the conditions someone must meet before they can get a bed for the night. I entered believing it existed for one purpose: to help people experiencing homelessness regain stability and transition into permanent housing.I left
  
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• ‘Broken’ trust: Energy site redevelopment company seeks input from Vernon community on uses for former Vermont Yankee plant

  09-07-2026 12:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  Members of the Vernon Selectboard listen to representatives from Power Transitions discuss plans for the redevelopment of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant during a meeting in Vernon on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. From left to right are board members Shelli Harvey, Sandra Harris and board chair Brandon Bucossi. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVernon Selectboard members are raising concerns about being left out of the planning process for the future of a former nuclear power plant, which c
  
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• Poll: Most young Vermonters say they’re likely to leave state amid affordability concerns

  09-07-2026 00:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  University of Vermont students gather at a protest on campus in Burlington in April 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Nearly two-thirds of Vermonters ages 18 to 34 say they’re likely to leave the state within five years in search of adventure or a cheaper place to live, according to a poll from the University of New Hampshire.  Overall, the poll estimated that 86% of Vermonters find the sta
  
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• Phil Scott issues executive order that would allow age-based health insurance premiums

  08-07-2026 23:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott issued an executive order Wednesday that included a number of measures to decrease health insurance regulations in an effort to lower costs, including implementing age-based insurance premiums. “None of these ideas are radical,” Scott said in a Wednesday press conference. “In fact, they’re very mainstream, and we know th
  
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• Vermont gets $1.3 million to settle allegations Cash App did not shield users from fraud

  08-07-2026 23:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Attorney General Charity Clark speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier in June 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Vermont will receive $1.3 million as part of a multistate settlement with Cash App over allegations that the popular currency transfer platform failed to protect its users from fraud and misled them about the platform’s safety.Charity Clark, Vermont attorney general, announced the settlement with Cash App’s parent compan
  
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• Report: Norwich woman died of asphyxia

  08-07-2026 22:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  Noel Neely, the 82-year-old woman whose death at her residence at 48 Douglas Hill Road in Norwich, Vt., on May 9 remains under investigation. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story was first published in the Valley News on July 6, 2026.NORWICH — A woman who was found dead in Norwich in May died due to “asphyxia by exclusion of oxygen” as a result of “nitrogen gas delivered to face mask and plastic bag over head,” according to the Vermont Chief Medical Examin
  
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• Vermont doesn’t have a housing shortage. It has a hoarding problem.

  08-07-2026 22:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I’m responding to Mickey Nowak’s recent letter to VTDigger, which in turn was a response to a commentary by John Bossange.There was a time when housing was both affordable and aesthetically appealing. People gathered to build a structure in town, whether it be a town hall, church, covered bridge or house or barn for their neighbor, and despite primitive carpentry skills and lack of fancy tools, built some of Vermont’s most iconic structures that still stand proudly
  
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• Vermont Judge Dickson Corbett remembered for kindness and dedication to the law

  08-07-2026 21:54 via vtdigger.org
  
  Judge H. Dickson Corbett in the Windsor Superior Court in White River Junction in May 2026. File photo by Alex Driehaus/Valley NewsThis story by Alex Hanson was first published in the Valley News on July 7, 2026.THETFORD — Vermont Superior Court Judge Dickson Corbett died unexpectedly last week.Former colleagues said Corbett was found unresponsive Thursday morning and was taken to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased. Colleagues and friends said he died of
  
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• Tristram Gray Chase Jensvold

  08-07-2026 21:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 08/03/1978Burlington, VermontDied: 04/16/2026Nashville, TennesseeDetails of service:Donations in Tristram’s name may be made to Turning Point of Chittenden County, Spectrum Youth and Family Services, or The Humane Society.Tristram (aka T, Tris, TJ) Gray Chase Jensvold was born in Burlington on August 3, 1978. Shortly after birth, he and his parents moved to Danville, where T spent his first years living on the Danville Morgan Horse farm, later moving to a log cabin overlooking Joe&r
  
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• Vermont Conversation: ‘How the Democrats Screwed Bernie.’ Former Sanders chief campaign strategist Tad Devine on the 2016 presidential race

  08-07-2026 19:13 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 and Democratic strategist Tad Devine. Photo by Ellen DevineIn 2016, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was an insurgent candidate taking on Hillary Clinton, the heavily favored pick of the Democratic establishment for the presidential primary. As Sa
  
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• New Chittenden County recycling facility to remain on track after waste district recovers $2.27 million stolen in scam

  08-07-2026 00:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  The existing recycling facility will be replaced by a new one that is expected to take on more processing capacity. Courtesy photoA long-awaited Chittenden County recycling facility will see a chunk of its funding returned after it was stolen in a cyber fraud scheme early this year, federal authorities said Tuesday.The reimbursement will allow the Chittenden Solid Waste District to stay on track in funding the upgraded plant, said Sarah Reeves, the waste district’s executive director.&nbs
  
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• Platner’s last pillar of support falls as Sanders says: Drop out

  07-07-2026 23:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, right, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., join hands at an event in Orono, Maine, on May 24, 2026. File photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Credit: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty / The Associated PressThis story by Jenna Monnin was first published in NOTUS on July 7, 2026.U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called on Graham Platner to drop out of the race for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, leaving the scandal-scarred candidate without the s
  
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• Why do Vermont roots matter in a story about economic power?

  07-07-2026 22:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,The recent article in VTDigger about Beta Technologies stated that Mike Vincent, owner of J&M Avionics in Middlebury, “said his family roots in Vermont go back generations.” It also described Beta CEO Kyle Clark as “a native Vermonter.” I’m curious why VTDigger thinks such ascriptions — treated as a claim in one case and (perhaps carelessly) as a fact in the other — are pertinent to the story. Please tell me why, in this instance, family
  
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• Grand Isle prosecutor’s DUI case heading to court diversion, court records state

  07-07-2026 21:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito speaks in the Grand Isle Superior criminal court in July 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe drunken driving case against Grand Isle County State’s Attorney Douglas DiSabito is being referred to a court diversion program, according to court records. DiSabito was arrested in April after police alleged he showed up at the Franklin County Superior Court in St. Albans displaying signs of intoxication, court records stated. Later,
  
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• Judge H. Dickson Corbett

  07-07-2026 20:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 09/26/1979Died: 07/02/2026Details of service:A remembrance of life ceremony will be held to honor Dickson later this summer.Judge H. Dickson Corbett died unexpectedly on July 2nd after walking in the woods and making his family breakfast. After his passing, he will be forever loved by his wife Megan Campbell, his children Plover and Ira Corbett, his parents Adele and Henry Dickson Corbett III, his sister Taylure Corbett and her husband Andrew Salvitti, his sister Alyssa King, her husband
  
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• Burlington’s mayor says the city is ‘back.’ Is it just a blip?

  07-07-2026 13:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  People walk along Church Street in Burlington on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak stood at a podium on Church Street, flanked by city employees, and declared that “Burlington is back.” “There’s a growing sense that Burlington is turning a corner, that energy is back, the confidence is returning in this city, and that this city is moving forward,” Mulvaney-Stanak said at a press conference late
  
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• VTrans receives over $19 million in federal funds for Route 7 reconstruction

  07-07-2026 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, Rep. Becca Balint, center, and Sen. Peter Welch. File photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Agency of Transportation received $19.7 million in federal funding to help complete the reconstruction of Route 7 from Pittsford to Brandon, one of the state’s — and New England’s — busiest highways, the Vermont Congressional Delegation announced Monday. “We’re seeing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law at work here in Rutland County
  
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• Michel “Mich” Daniel Allen

  07-07-2026 00:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 10/19/1943Died: 11/17/2025Details of service:Graveside Services and Interment will be at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Archibald Street, Burlington.A Celebration of Life will be held at 12:15 p.m. at the Fellowship Hall of the First Congregational Church of Essex Jct. near the five corners. At Mich’s request, you are invited to join us for a meal and memories. Casual dress is preferred.Michel “Mich” Daniel Allen passed away peacef
  
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• In inaugural season, Vermont Green FC women win conference title

  06-07-2026 23:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Green FC Women won the USL W Eastern Conference title on July 5, 2026 in Burlington. Photo Courtesy Josh Wallace/Vermont Green FCTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.In its inaugural season, Vermont Green FC’s women’s team has still not lost a match.Following an unbeaten regular season, the squad has pushed on with two home playoff wins that saw them crowned conference champions on July 5 in front of a sold-out crowd in Burlington
  
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• Foresters adapt as insects become driving force in tree mortality

  06-07-2026 22:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  An emerald ash borer perched on a leaf. Photo courtesy Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and MarketsErika Tally is a reporter with the Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.BURLINGTON — Across Northeastern forests, natural causes now account for more tree deaths than harvesting, including in Vermont, according to a recent study from the University of Vermont. But these natural causes are still cause for co
  
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