Vermont news

• Morgan Walker Brown

  24-12-2025 18:09 via vtdigger.org
  Died Dec. 16, 2025Colchester, VermontMorgan Walker Brown died peacefully surrounded by love on Dec. 16. A person of enduring determination and wise compassion, to the very end he used his prose and his voice to advocate for people in need. Morgan inspired many to follow in his example of empathy, kindness and compassion. Among the many hats that Morgan wore, he was primarily a writer and activist in the Montpelier community. In recent years, he even began to show up around the communi
  
  Read more

• Top court rules in favor of Green Mountain Power in lawsuit over child injured at substation

  09-06-2026 22:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Vermont Supreme Court building on State Street in Montpelier in June 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Supreme Court has sided with Green Mountain Power in a lawsuit stemming from a child who suffered severe burns after entering a fenced and locked substation in Springfield more than a decade ago.The state’s highest court in its decision Friday ruled that Green Mountain Power was not liable for the child’s injuries. Windsor County Superior Court Judge H.
  
  Read more

• UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9.5 million in staff positions

  09-06-2026 20:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center complex. Photo courtesy of UVM Health NetworkUpdated 4:21 p.m.The University of Vermont Health cut 142 positions across its Vermont and New York hospitals and hospice care network Tuesday. The positions affected are largely administrative, a spokesperson for the hospital told VTDigger.UVM Health laid off 76 staff members and is reassigning the remaining 66 in new roles. UVM Health, which consists of three hospitals in Vermont, three in New York and a hom
  
  Read more

• UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9 million in staff positions

  09-06-2026 20:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center complex. Photo courtesy of UVM Health NetworkThe University of Vermont Health cut 142 positions across its Vermont and New York hospitals and hospice care network Tuesday. The positions affected are largely administrative, a spokesperson for the hospital told VTDigger.UVM Health laid off 76 staff members and is reassigning the remaining 66 in new roles. UVM Health, which consists of three hospitals in Vermont, three in New York and a home health and hosp
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Vermont is talking. Is Montpelier listening?

  09-06-2026 19:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Loralee Tester, the executive director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.A few weeks ago, my 17-year-old son published a commentary in VTDigger. His high school assignment was to write about something overrated. He chose Vermont.He wrote about the beauty, and then about everything behind it: the cost, the lack of opportunity, the missing infrastructure. He is a straight-A student, a competitive swimmer, a Poetry Out Loud finalist — exactly the kind of youn
  
  Read more

• A career as an art gallery curator is in Rose’s future

  09-06-2026 19:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  A career in art as a gallery curator is Rose’s calling. She’s creative, thoughtful, and observant, and is interested in inspiring others.  And she knows she can do a lot in the art world with the bachelor’s degree she just got from Vermont State University, and the master’s degree she is pursuing next year. “I know how to do every job,” she says. “My professors here taught me all of it. And I’m able to aspire to this dream because of the
  
  Read more

• Pleading for routine purchases: Inside the chaos at the Forest Service in Vermont.

  09-06-2026 14:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo illustration by Greta Solsaa/VTDigger. Photo by Ellen Bartlett/VTDiggerHundreds of pages of records obtained by VTDigger reveal internal confusion in the U.S. Forest Service in Vermont during the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term, with federal cutbacks and budget slowdowns leaving research and conservation projects hanging in the balance.  The documents provide a look inside the agency as staff responsible for the Green Mountain National Forest — h
  
  Read more

• Hybrid town meeting benefits to be studied in Charlotte

  09-06-2026 01:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jack Grossman, Lauren Ecock and Kristen Lupini at Town Meeting in Charlotte. Photo by Sophie MacMillan/VTDigger
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Citizen on June 4, 2026.Since Charlotte’s Town Meeting Day in March, folks have wondered how to keep the annual event at least somewhat traditional.The topic of a traditional in-person Town Meeting Day has largely been one of the most debated topics in town in recent months, particularly since 106 people voted by paper ballot
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New roadside marker celebrates Ann Story, ‘Mother of the Green Mountain Boys’

  09-06-2026 00:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  The new Ann Story marker will go up at the intersection of Story Drive and Shard Villa Road in Salisbury. Photo by Kyle Neece/Community News ServiceKyle Neece is a reporter with the Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.SALISBURY — On the morning of May 30, Vermonters gathered at the site of a cabin belonging to Revolutionary War hero Ann Story. Known as the “Mother of the Green Mountain Boys,” Story
  
  Read more

• The state can’t fix Vermont’s hospitals by telling them what to do

  08-06-2026 23:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by James Hodge, who is a member of the board of trustees of Copley Hospital.In a recent article, VTDigger reported on the lack of progress by two lead state agencies, the Green Mountain Care Board and the Agency of Human Services, in developing a consistent, workable hospital transformation plan. The reason for the problem is simple. The approach the state is following will not work. The state wants to implement a top-down plan in which AHS coordinates all transformation
  
  Read more

• Montpelier’s former post office is up for auction this month. Its lead contender has doubts about the property’s condition.

  08-06-2026 22:39 via vtdigger.org
  
  The buidling that used to house the U.S.Post Office in Montpelier is up for auction. Seen on Monday, June 8, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe former Montpelier post office, vacant since the July 2023 flood, will go up for federal auction starting June 15, finally putting within reach the fate of one of downtown’s most prominent buildings.The most interested buyer, however, still has major questions about what could be hidden inside.“We’re talking about a stone’s
  
  Read more

• Spent fuel is the nuclear elephant in the room

  08-06-2026 19:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Over the past months, there have been several letters to the editor advocating nuclear power’s return to Vermont. Various reasons are given for this view.Not one of these letters has addressed the issue of what to do with the spent fuel. The casks of spent fuel — otherwise known as high-level nuclear waste — from the decommissioned Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant are still lining the bank of the Connecticut River in Vernon. If anything were to cause one to ruptu
  
  Read more

• When Vermonters want more from their careers, The Curtis Fund helps make it happen

  08-06-2026 15:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  Nikki Howard could see the kind of work she wanted long before she had the certification to do it. At Vermont Orthopedic Clinic, she was working as a licensed nursing assistant, close to patients every day, and watching the medical assistants do tasks she hoped to learn herself someday. She liked the job she had, but she also knew she wanted more.That next step meant going back to school for a medical assistant certification, and that is where things got hard. Nikki was working full-time and ba
  
  Read more

• Vermont’s public lands are costly to maintain. And soon, many may be more expensive to visit.

  08-06-2026 13:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  Anglers travel the water near the Lamoille River fishing access in Milton on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.MILTON —  Standing on a dock at a Lamoille River fishing access last week, Andrea Shortsleeve said that ballooning expenses and high demand are making state land and infrastructure harder and harder to manage.Moments later, Shortsleeve, who is the Vermont Fish and Wild
  
  Read more

• One UVM lab’s surprise discovery led to flu science breakthrough

  07-06-2026 14:23 via vtdigger.org
  
  Emily Bruce, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, at the University of Vermont in Burlington in April 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerIt was by accident that Emily Bruce’s lab upended a long-held understanding of how the flu virus infects humans and stumbled across a finding that could set the stage for better prevention.That chance discovery evolved into a paper out this week in the Journal of Virology that details how different flu viruses enter and infe
  
  Read more

• Down the tubes: Vermont volunteers crawl culverts to outsmart the next flood

  07-06-2026 13:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  UVM students help clear leaves from a culvert as part of the Culvert Crawlers program. Photo courtesy Charis BokeA tube of corrugated metal running under a road might not look like much. But when the rain comes, these structures can mean the difference between a road that survives and one that washes out. Vermont has over 100,000 culverts doing the quiet daily work of protecting a vast network of state and town roads, including many gravel and dirt byways. Small towns in particular can str
  
  Read more

• Waiting for prior authorization almost killed me

  07-06-2026 13:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,The recent commentary in VTDigger regarding prior authorization was spot on. Prior authorizations are indeed “prior aggravations” for both patients and physicians. As a patient who nearly lost his life from such aggravations 20 years ago, I know firsthand what this means.  Thousands of other Vermonters know it too: Insurance companies are practicing a very real form of healthcare rationing, not based on medical need, but on corporate profits, even as they try to con
  
  Read more

• Notch-blocker fines to increase tenfold

  07-06-2026 13:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  From 2009 to 2021, an average of 8.6 trucks have gotten stuck in the Notch each year, according to data from the Vermont Agency of Transportation. That number decreased in 2021 to only five stuck semis. File photo by Greg Popa/Stowe ReporterThis story by Tracy Brannstrom was first published in The News & Citizen on June 4, 2026.A new Vermont law will sharply increase penalties for oversized vehicles that illegally travel through Smugglers Notch.S.326, a wide-ranging motor vehicle bill passe
  
  Read more

• Play it again, Sam: A Vermont picture palace reels in new money with old movies

  07-06-2026 12:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  A coming-attractions poster for the 1950 film “Sunset Boulevard” looks over the lobby of Brattleboro’s historic Latchis Theatre. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — Ever since the Latchis Theatre debuted the day after the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, its operators have aimed to take the town by storm with one splashy film premiere after another.Consider “That Certain Age,” a now forgotten musical comedy “rushed from Hollywood by
  
  Read more

• South Burlington Planning Commission discusses data centers

  06-06-2026 12:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Other Paper on  June 4, 2026.As the conversation around digital data centers stirs strong emotions across the entire country, Vermont and some of its municipalities, including South Burlington, have hopped onto the conversation to get at least a bit of a handle on the rapidly evolving industry.That’s at least the initial approach South Burlington is taking. The city’s planning commission has outlined some initial land use re
  
  Read more

• Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center birthing pavilion to establish drug treatment program for patients

  06-06-2026 00:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Patient Pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in May 2025. Photo by James M. Patterson/Valley NewsThis story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on June 4, 2026.LEBANON, N.H. — Dartmouth Health recently announced plans to use $900,000 in federal funds to establish an inpatient substance use treatment program in the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.More babies born at DHMC have been exposed to substances in
  
  Read more

• County prosecutor and sheriff who rebuffed calls to resign don’t file for reelection

  05-06-2026 23:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos, left, and Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer have not filed paperwork to run for their current positions again. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTwo elected county law enforcement officials in Vermont who rebuffed calls to resign that came from political leaders across parties, including Gov. Phil Scott, did not file for reelection.Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos and Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, both Democrats, did not submi
  
  Read more

• ‘Swatting’ incidents becoming more common for school districts, law enforcement officials

  05-06-2026 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Law enforcement officials leave Montpelier High School in Feb. 2023, after giving the building the all-clear. Vermont police agencies responded to threats reported at multiple schools, which appeared to be hoax calls.File photo by Riley Robinson/VTDiggerThe calls arrived all the same: a garbled, AI-generated voice, speaking from the same script, warning seven Vermont schools of a bomb threat.In Burlington, Newport, Winooski and Montpelier, school buildings were cleared, classes were evacuated,
  
  Read more

• All gifts matched Saturday, June 6: Help send final books during VTDigger member drive

  05-06-2026 21:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Reader,We’re just 53 books away from our goal of sending 400 books to Vermont children through the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF).On Saturday, June 6, all gifts before midnight will be matched by a generous Vermont donor, doubling the impact of your donation for trusted Vermont news.
  Donate & send a book
  Your donation will:• Put a brand-new book into the hands of a Vermont child
  • Go twice as far to power independent reporting across the stateFor some child
  
  Read more

• Why Vermonters who leave can’t stay away

  05-06-2026 18:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Justin Neuman, who is a professor of literary studies at Eugene Lang College, The New School.  Everyone who makes the drive north on Interstate 91 knows the feeling. The chaos of Connecticut, funneled into the inevitable snarl at the hard turn in Springfield, Massachusetts — and then the hills appear, the billboards vanish, the traffic melts away, and you can breathe. You’re home.When I was growing up in Vermont, I looked at the Massachusetts, Connect
  
  Read more

• Cynthia S. Ross

  05-06-2026 17:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 11/22/1938Mount Jewett, Pa.Died: 06/01/2026Berlin, Vt.Details of service:Ceremony and burial will be at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph, Vt. for her family, military family and close friends on June 16 at 1 p.m.Cynthia Stimmel Ross of Barre, Vt., passed away peacefully on Monday June 1, 2026, at the age of 87. Born on November 22, 1938, she was the daughter of Eugene and Leocadia Stimmel. Cynthia led a life defined by dedicated service to her country and a compassionate
  
  Read more

• Musical chairs: Many Vermont House and Senate leaders won’t seek reelection

  05-06-2026 12:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  Senators bid farewell to each other after the Senate adjourned for the year at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, May 29, 2026. From left to right are Sen. Chris Mattos, R-Chittenden North; Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison; Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central; Sen Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor; Sen. Robert Norris, R-Franklin; and Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerLeadership in the Vermont Legislature is going to look a lot different next year.The top lawmakers in bo
  
  Read more

• Burlington officials defend police actions during ICE raid, but Police Commission pushes back

  05-06-2026 00:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Protesters scuffle with federal law enforcement agents and Vermont State Troopers in South Burlington on March 11, 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Burlington Police Department report released this week concluded that its officers didn’t use excessive force during an immigration enforcement action in South Burlington earlier this year.But in a response to the department’s report, the city’s Police Commission challenged some claims on which that determination was bas
  
  Read more

• Ex-deputy accused of short-circuiting murder trial now faces obstruction charge

  04-06-2026 23:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Lamoille County Courthouse in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA former Lamoille County deputy sheriff who was accused of improperly questioning a murder suspect while transporting him to trial has been indicted on three felony charges.Christopher Turner, 43, of Johnson, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lamoille County Superior criminal court in Hyde Park to two counts of obstruction of justice and a single charge of false swearing. It appears from the three-count indictm
  
  Read more

• 80-hour weeks and drowning in debt: UVM Medical Center resident doctors rally for a new contract

  04-06-2026 23:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Union doctors and staff workers at the University of Vermont Medical Center, along with their supporters, call for a fair contract during a rally in Burlington on Thursday, June 4, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNearly 70 early-career doctors rallied outside UVM Medical Center in Burlington on Thursday to put pressure on the hospital’s administration to agree to a contract that’s been in negotiations since January. Many doctors and union activists marched, chanted and wav
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!