Vermont news

• Judge tosses charge that off-duty state trooper gave false information to another officer during traffic stop

  23-11-2022 19:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont State Trooper Dylan LaMere appears in Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington on July 19. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA judge has thrown out a charge against an off-duty Vermont State Police trooper who was accused of providing false information to another police officer during a traffic stop.The ruling issued Tuesday by Judge John Pacht in Chittenden County Superior criminal court stated that, while Vermont State Police Trooper Dylan LaMere may not have provided truthful information
  
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• 3 days left! All gifts matched today

  18-04-2024 03:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,There are only 3 days left in our critical spring member drive and right now, all gifts will be matched by three generous donors. Your gift in any amount will have double the impact and you’ll also send a brand-new book to a Vermont child. Now is the time to show your support and make it go twice as far! Will you join us?
  Double your impact & send a book
  As a digital-first organization dedicated to original reporting, VTDigger doesn’t have high printing costs or
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Father Michael Lapsley on becoming a healer after assassination attempt

  18-04-2024 02:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  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 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, hopes were high that apartheid was in its dying days. Father Michael Lapsley, an Anglican pr
  
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• Final Reading: Bill in Senate proposes removing barriers to professional licensing for new immigrants

  18-04-2024 01:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  Members of the Senate Government Operations Committee listen to testimony at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday. From left to right are Sen. Tanya Vyhofsky, P/D-Chittenden Central; Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison; Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor; Sen. Alison Clark, D-Windsor. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Ian Hefele wants the services people receive in his Brattleboro-area community to be culturally appropriate to the backgrounds from which they come. Case in point, he told lawmakers earli
  
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• With looming vote to close Roxbury’s school, town sues Montpelier Roxbury school district

  18-04-2024 00:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  Roxbury Village School.
  The town of Roxbury has sued the Montpelier Roxbury Public School District alleging the district violated election law and needs to revote on its original budget, which failed on Town Meeting Day.The legal action comes as the school district is scheduled to vote at the end of April on a revised budget that would close Roxbury Village School, which currently serves about 40 students. That plan would mean bussing Roxbury’s students to Montpelier starting next school
  
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• Disagreement and lobbying threaten passage of Vermont’s landmark data privacy bill

  17-04-2024 23:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kesha Ram Hinsdale and Michael Marcotte. Photo by Mike Dougherty/Courtesy photo
  As Vermont legislators filtered back into the Statehouse early this year for the 2024 legislative session, several set their sights on a new target for regulation: Big Tech.With the federal government unable or unwilling to set parameters around the collection, sharing or sale of Americans’ data, state lawmakers said they would step up to the plate to establish state-level digital rules by which corporations w
  
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• Chelsea Green to be sold to international publishing behemoth

  17-04-2024 23:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Chelsea Green. Photo by Andrew Nemethy
  One of Vermont’s best-known independent publishers is expected to be sold to an international publishing consortium. Rizzoli International, a New York City subsidiary of the Italian publishing giant Mondadori Group, announced Monday that it had agreed on a deal worth $5 million for Chelsea Green Publishing. Chelsea Green, based in White River Junction, has carved out a reputation for publishing titles on progressive politics, sustainability
  
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• James Moffatt

  17-04-2024 22:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born July 14, 1937Craftsbury, VermontDied April 13, 2024
  Craftsbury, VermontDetails of servicesThe family is planning to publicly remember Jim with an informal gathering in the summer months, details still to be determined. We will post information on the Moffatt’s Tree Farm Facebook page (which can be accessed without having an account), on our website moffattstreefarm.com, and on Front Porch Forum locally. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Jim’s name to the T
  
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• Aubuchon to boost its Vermont hardware stronghold by acquiring Bibens stores

  17-04-2024 21:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  Bibens Ace Hardware opened its original store in Springfield in 1949. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
  SPRINGFIELD — Vermont’s biggest locally owned group of hardware stores is set to be purchased by what bills itself as the country’s oldest and largest family-held chain in the field.Bibens Ace Hardware has agreed to sell its seven locations in Brattleboro, Burlington, Colchester, Essex, South Burlington, Springfield and Woodstock to the Massachusetts-based Aubuchon Comp
  
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• Hannah Heinchon of Lowell helps young people thrive in stable housing

  17-04-2024 18:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  As a graduate student pursuing her master’s in social work, Hannah Heinchon thought she wanted to become a child counselor. But an internship in family counseling uncovered a far greater need, that turned into a passion and a calling. “I remember I was working with a family who was homeless and living in a shelter at the time. We met weekly, but the kids continued to be dysregulated, and they couldn’t make progress. Although the dad attended all the meetings, he seemed ex
  
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• Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky: I’m opposed to Phil Scott’s education secretary pick, and not for the reasons he claims

  17-04-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central. In addition to representing the Chittenden Central Senate District, she is a clinical social worker and former school services clinician working within Vermont’s public schools.
  Ordinarily in Vermont, we in the Senate give the governor great deference when it comes to whom he appoints to serve in his cabinet. While we may have policy differences with an appointee, the governor was elected by the people, and he deserves the
  
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• Meet Stoph Scheer, the puppeteer behind Lost Nation Theater’s new one-person play

  17-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Stoph Scheer. Photo via Community News Service
  Jordan Barbour is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.Stoph Scheer gazes into the mirror and speaks: “I have to ignore you now.” She goes silent, searching for poise as she preps to go onstage. She will play 35 characters, by herself, for nearly two hours. Scheer sets her lashes in the glow of a makeup station, pulls every wayward ha
  
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• Laura R. Walker: Goddard College is closing. Why should we care?

  17-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Laura R. Walker, president of Bennington College.
  Last week, Goddard College in Plainfield announced it is shutting its doors at the end of this semester. It is the fifth liberal arts college to close in Vermont in as many years. As the president of Bennington College in southern Vermont, I am alarmed and sad. I mourn not just for Goddard’s students, who have lost their academic home, as well as its talented faculty, staff and alumni, but also for Vermont and fo
  
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• Final Reading: Scott administration’s 11th-hour property tax idea shot down by Vermont’s treasurer

  17-04-2024 00:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mike Pieciak, left, and Craig Bolio. Photos by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
  Last Friday Craig Bolio, Vermont’s tax commissioner, arrived in the House Committee on Ways and Means with a big idea. What if, he mused, we paid for next year’s looming increase in public school spending over time? What if we, the state of Vermont, loaned some money to ourselves, and paid off the loan with property taxes?The idea, which Bolio called a “deferred payable,” was the product of a rec
  
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• In most Vermont counties, prosecutors are managing well over 300 cases. Officials say that has to change, and soon.

  17-04-2024 00:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  John Campbell, executive director of the Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, speaks at a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on May 2, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Many Vermont prosecutors are handling more cases at a time than their bosses think is reasonable, data from the state’s judiciary shows. And without more state resources, those officials said, prosecutors could resign — or could have to turn cases away.Ian Sullivan is the
  
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• Vermont car crash fatalities begin to tick down after 10-year peak

  16-04-2024 22:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont had fewer car crash fatalities in 2023 than in the previous two years, according to data from the Vermont Agency of Transportation, but the numbers are still comparatively high. The two previous years — 2021 and 2022 — were both record 10-year highs in the state, accounting for 74 and 76 deaths, respectively. With 69 car crash fatalities recorded in 2023, it’s tied with 2018 and 2013 for the third largest number of crash fatalities since 2013. One key metric
  
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• Only a few days left! Keep VTDigger digging in pursuit of truth

  16-04-2024 22:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader,One of the first things we do every morning is sort through your tips. They arrive in the newsroom through voicemails, letters, emails, encrypted apps and, critically, the “submit a tip” function at the bottom of every story. That tip drop form alone received more than 1,680 story ideas last year.We follow these tips because we know readers rely on us as a first and last line of defense to help shine a light on important issues for Vermont. Now we are asking for your hel
  
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• Vermont’s chapter of Girls on the Run celebrates 25 years 

  16-04-2024 20:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Some of the 1,700 girls entered in the annual Girls on the Run 5K Run/Walk pass the starting line in 2012. File photo by Alexandra Ossola/The CommonsThis story by Victoria Chertok was first published by The Commons on April 10.BRATTLEBORO — In 1999, when her daughters were young, Nancy Heydinger said she “wanted to find a way to ensure that they would grow up loving themselves, feeling complete.”“I wanted them to celebrate and embrace their natural gifts, to know that wh
  
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• Bill Schubart: What are the dumbest things we do or don’t do in Vermont?

  16-04-2024 18:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  We like to think of ourselves as progressive, pioneering and aware of our neighbors’ needs. Why then do we have some of the worst socioeconomic benchmarks in America?Unsheltered: As of a January 2023 count, Vermont had the second-highest rate of homelessness in the country.Food insecurity: Twenty-seven percent of Vermonters experienced food insecurity in 2022, and families with children are more than five times more likely to be food insecure than those without.Suicide: As of 2021, Vermont
  
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• College decisions can be stressful: Take care of the FAFSA, and take care of yourself

  16-04-2024 18:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Between sports, theater productions, concerts, presentations, and holding down a part time job—senior year is stressful. Add graduation and saying goodbye to friends, and it can feel like a lot. Maybe too much. This year may feel even more overwhelming than usual. Delays caused by federal financial aid processes have made it even harder to answer that question that well-meaning people love to ask: what are you planning for next year? You’re not alone — planning for n
  
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• How a hurricane and a cardinal launched a UVM professor on a new career path

  16-04-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Professor Trish O’Kane and participants in her course, “Birding to Change the World,” spot a spider in the forest at Derway Island in 2016. Courtesy of The University of Vermont, photo by Joshua Brown.Before Hurricane Katrina hit her newly adopted city of New Orleans in 2005, Trish O’Kane knew next to nothing about the environment — let alone birds.O’Kane had spent much of her life working as an investigative human rights journalist in Central America and a h
  
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• Alice Boutin

  16-04-2024 04:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born July 29, 1925Laconia, New Hampshire
  Died April 12, 2024Rochester, New HampshireAlice Marie Ann Boutin, 98, died on Friday, April 12, 2024, under the loving care of her two daughters, Suzanne Boutin and Elizabeth McGrath DNP, and her husband, John McGrath, in Rochester, NH, where she lived the remaining three years of life. Alice’s family was with her the week before she died. Alice was born in 1925, the daughter of William and Celanaire (Blais) Boucher of Laconia, NH where she grew up
  
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• David Kinsley Ricklefs

  16-04-2024 03:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born July 20, 1970Lafayette, IndianaDied April 12, 2024Middlebury, VermontAthletic, artistic, passionate, entrepreneurial — these are all words that describe who David was.As a youth, David was an elite junior ski and bike racer. David spent his formative years in York Pennsylvania, ski racing at Round Top and competing in local, national, and international bike races. David attended high school at Burke Mountain Academy in East Burke, VT, where he pursued his passion to become an elite sk
  
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• Chip Hedler

  16-04-2024 03:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born May 13, 1945Toledo, Ohio
  Died March 19, 2024South Strafford, VermontDetails of services
  A celebration of life will be held on June 29th 2024, additional details will be released to the website beforehand.Chip Hedler passed away in his home in South Strafford, Vermont, on March 19th, 2024. He is survived by his wife, Maria Cabri, his stepchildren Cedar Davidson and Gioia Cabri, and his siblings Susan, Martin, and Alan Hedler. He was born in Toledo, Ohio, on May 13, 1945, to Doris Sing and Ri
  
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• On the road with the salamander rescue team 

  16-04-2024 00:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sean Beckett, programs director at the North Branch Nature Center, holds a spotted salamander before helping it cross the road in Middlesex on Friday, April 12, 2024. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — The duo heard them long before seeing them, a wild cacophony from the darkness beyond the road. The throaty ribbits were wood frogs. The flighty chirps were minuscule spring peepers, small as a thumbnail. But what the pair was looking for was silent. “Here,” sai
  
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• Program to help marginalized Vermonters own their first homes expands statewide

  16-04-2024 00:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Marnie Avila Alvarez (right), her husband Osvaldo Viera Martiatu and Lucy, their German Shepherd, enjoyed a romp in the recent snowstorm outside their new home in South Burlington. Immigrants from Cuba, they bought their first home in February 2024 through the Champlain Housing Trust’s homeownership equity program. Courtesy/contributed photo
  A program in northwest Vermont that helps people from marginalized communities with down payments on their first homes is expanding statewide.The pro
  
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• Stamford officials say ‘no’ to flood-related federal buyout program

  15-04-2024 23:46 via vtdigger.org
  
  The North Branch of the Hoosic River runs beside this property in Stamford, which Debra and Robert Burchard own. Photo courtesy of Nick Burchard
  The Bennington County town of Stamford has decided not to participate in a federal buyout program for properties under threat from flooding after considering the question multiple times.A local homeowner said the Stamford Selectboard’s decision has left her family in limbo, and she is now considering asking the courts to intervene. Deb Burch
  
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• ‘Provider burden’ bill pits health care providers against insurance companies

  15-04-2024 22:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo via Adobe Stock.
  For weeks, health care providers have been telling lawmakers horror stories about dealing with insurance companies. At a press event last week, Kristen Connolly, a pediatrician at Timber Lane Pediatrics in Milton, told a story about treating a malnourished infant who needed a special formula. But the baby’s health insurer declined to approve that special formula, reversing course only after Connolly spent hours on the phone, writing letters and filling out pape
  
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• Spring Drive: Your support helps VTDigger provide trusted news and sends a children’s book

  15-04-2024 22:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  VTDigger reporters Peter D’Auria and Shaun Robinson. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerWe are so close to wrapping up our annual Spring Drive. Today we need 150 members to join VTDigger in order to stay on track. Can you help us meet our goal? Please join us with a donation in any amount today. You’ll become a VTDigger member and your gift will also send a brand-new book to a Vermont child through our partnership with the Children’s Literacy Foundation.
  Donate & send a b
  
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• Jill Martin Diaz: No more ‘border brain’

  15-04-2024 21:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Jill Martin Diaz. They are the executive director of Vermont Asylum Assistance Project and a member of the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
  “Border brain” was how one congressional staffer described Capitol Hill’s myopic focus on U.S./Mexico border fortification during the 2024 National Day of Action hosted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, also known as AILA. The staffer and their fellow congression
  
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