Vermont news

• Regulators consider CoverageCo Catch 22

  31-05-2018 03:34 via vtdigger.org
  CoverageCo microcell devices expanded cellular service to rural parts of Vermont. Courtesy photo
  The state Public Utility Commission has set deadlines of Friday and Tuesday for lawyers to file arguments on whether Vermont’s largest landline phone company should be required to reconnect the troubled cellular phone company CoverageCo despite more than $100,000 of unpaid bills.
  The deadlines – legal briefs by Friday and reply briefs four days later – were set after a four-hour eme
  
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• Three years after flooding, Vermont Studio Center receives federal recovery funding, supporting an economic driver in Johnson 

  19-06-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson sits on the banks of the Gihon River. Seen on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe river that runs through the Vermont Studio Center has for years been a source of inspiration and solace for the thousands of artists and writers who have filtered through its residency program, one of the largest in the U.S. But three years ago, the Gihon River’s currents were instead the source of damage and destruction when catastrophic floods inu
  
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• Black Vermonters celebrated in new South Burlington exhibit

  19-06-2026 23:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  From left: René Rentería, Amina Rhoads and Rajnii Eddins. Photo by Emily Rodin.Emily Rodin is an intern for the University of Vermont’s Community News Service through Report for America’s Local News Internship Program.SOUTH BURLINGTON — When Rajnii Eddins and René Rentería met at Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library in 2024, neither knew the encounter would lead to an oral history project documenting the stories of Black Vermonters.Eddins, a poe
  
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• ‘Act 46 all over again’: Gov. Phil Scott signs education reform bill, kick-starting a familiar process for voluntary school mergers

  19-06-2026 22:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Buses pick up students at the end of the day at the Westford School in Westford in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe year’s landmark education reform proposal is now law.Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday signed into law H.955, the legislative session’s signature bill that launches a new but familiar round of voluntary school district mergers.The bill’s signing brings some closure to what has been a long year for educators, administrators and legislators. Or looked
  
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• Who’s policing Vermont’s e-moto riders?

  19-06-2026 18:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Having read a recent article in VTDigger about electric motorcycles — or e-motos — and as the owner of a registered, licensed, street-legal electric motorcycle, I’m perplexed why Vermont police are not enforcing current statutes on unregistered, unlicensed, unhelmeted e-moto riders on public streets and bike paths. Electric motorcycles capable of traveling at speeds greater than 30 mph or having a motor output above 750 watts — such as the Sondors Metacy
  
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• ‘I tried so hard to stop Jack’: Woman denies manslaughter charge in dog attack on her father

  19-06-2026 17:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington in July 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerIn a case that may test criminal liability for dog owners, a Vermont woman faces charges including manslaughter after police said her pit bull killed her father after injuring two other people in earlier attacks. Janna Campbell, 43, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington to a felony count of voluntary manslaughter. That charge stems fr
  
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• State and employees’ union butt heads over telework in Vermont’s highest court

  19-06-2026 00:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont State Employees Association attorney Alfred Gordon O’Connell, right, speaks as the Vermont Supreme Court considers the union’s suit against the Scott Administration’s back-to-office order in Montpelier on Thursday, June 18, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — The state of Vermont and the Vermont State Employees’ Association presented oral arguments to the Vermont Supreme Court Thursday over whether the state had the right to change employees&r
  
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• State police seeking ICE raid protester, even as earlier arrests yielded no charges

  18-06-2026 23:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont State Police cruisers seen in Burlington in January 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMonths after a chaotic immigration raid at a South Burlington home, state police are asking the public to help identify a man they say smashed a police van window and injured a trooper, even as a Vermont prosecutor declined in April to charge any of the six protesters arrested that day.State police sent out the request this week, alongside body camera footage of the incident and two photos of t
  
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• Vergennes battery project raises red flags

  18-06-2026 23:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Carrie Hathaway is a senior financial advisor at Howard Center and owns a home in Vergennes.As the nearest, most affected property owner to Lightshift’s proposed battery energy storage system in Vergennes, I would like to point out that the recent article in VTDigger about the project being put on hold left out some important information.The article says that “while the 4.99-megawatt, five-shipping-container-sized facility could reduce electric bills for Vergennes residents and Verm
  
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• Thunderstorms hit Vermont, downing powerlines and causing a flash flood warning in Bennington County

  18-06-2026 23:33 via vtdigger.org
  
  A crew from Green Mountain Power works on a line in Charlotte in Nov. 2019.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerHeavy thunderstorms hit Vermont on Thursday, triggering a flash flood warning for part of Bennington County and causing power outages across the state. Storms began rolling over the state early Thursday morning, and by the afternoon, the National Weather Service had issued severe thunderstorm warnings for the area around Rutland, Middlebury, Montpelier and much of Windsor County.
  
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• When a state agency loses its way

  18-06-2026 23:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,A recent letter to VTDigger regarding the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s failure to represent Vermonters pointed to a culture that is not reflective of the state at large. It suggested a hiring practice that ensures Vermont values are not reflected in the makeup of staff. To add to these issues comes the department’s decision to embark upon a greenwashing campaign on Vermont Public. While there are countless sound reasons that businesses and individuals shou
  
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• UVM Health is downsizing. Here’s what those cuts mean for services.

  18-06-2026 23:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Union members and their supporters attend a press conference in Burlington in July 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerWhen the University of Vermont Health network laid off more than 140 employees last week, it sent shock waves through the state’s largest healthcare provider.As some staff try to make sense of the sudden news, others weigh just how much the estimated $9.5 million in annual savings can help the hospital meet its goal of cutting expenses by $300 million in three years
  
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• Ralph Wright, ‘revered and feared’ longest-serving Vermont House speaker, dies at 91

  18-06-2026 19:33 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Ralph Wright, D-Bennington, waves after his election as Vermont House speaker in 1985. Photo by Ron MacNeil/UPI, courtesy Vermont Historical SocietyWhen Montpelier journalist Chris Graff wrote his 2006 memoir, “Dateline Vermont,” he recounted the rise of such 20th-century politicians as the state’s first woman governor, Madeleine Kunin; its chief executive who died in office, Richard Snelling; and its physician turned presidential candidate, Howard Dean.Then came a second
  
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• Vermont Conversation: ‘Going to where the silence is.’ Journalist Amy Goodman on 30 years of speaking truth to power

  18-06-2026 00:27 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.Amy Goodman is the host, executive producer and co-creator of Democracy Now! Photo by Wolfgang SchmidtFor 30 years, journalist Amy Goodman has been “going to where the silence is” to report stories that the powerful would rather you not know
  
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• Protecting public lands means protecting them from us

  18-06-2026 00:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I’d like to respond to the recent letters and commentaries in VTDigger about public land use and remind their authors that the overarching goal of setting aside lands for protection is, well, protecting these natural resources for the future, leaving them as wild as possible. No one can predict all the treasures that nature holds until science advances enough to discover them. 
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  For example, we’re still learning about mycorrhizae — symbiotic fungi tha
  
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• Freedom is not free for everyone

  17-06-2026 23:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Devon Thomas, the new pastor serving Bethany Church in Montpelier and the United Church of Northfield. He is also a proud Black Vermonter.On June 19, 1865, the U.S. Army proclaimed to the people of Galveston, Texas, that the enslaved Black people of Texas were emancipated.The fact that this proclamation came nearly three years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had freed all enslaved people of the Confederacy, and that this freedom had to be won by force throu
  
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• Vernon community and the state grapple with potential redevelopment of Vermont Yankee site

  17-06-2026 23:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Spent radioactive fuel is seen stored at the site of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon in Oct. 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAfter 40 years in operation, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon shuttered in 2014, leaving over 100,000 tons of nuclear waste. More than a decade later, the developer that holds the lease, PowerTransitions, is in the midst of envisioning the site’s future. Now, the local community and state are mulling the poten
  
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• Scott vetoes Legislature’s latest attempt at healthcare reform

  17-06-2026 22:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott listens to an economic briefing at the Statehouse in Montpelier in July 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott has vetoed S.190, a healthcare bill designed to fast-track premium savings for two groups of insurance customers: public school employees and people buying plans on Vermont’s Affordable Care Act marketplace. The bill was one of the few healthcare reform initiatives the Legislature passed this session.  It would have sped up the st
  
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• Dairy Farmers of America to ‘idle’ its St. Albans plant, affecting 80 employees

  17-06-2026 18:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Members of the Teamsters local 597 union picket outside the Dairy Farmers of America plant in St. Albans in Sept. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDairy Farmers of America will “idle” its St. Albans milk processing plant and close the adjoining St. Albans Creamery & Supply, the group announced Wednesday, putting roughly 80 employees out of work.“Both the plant and store have been foundational parts of the St. Albans community for generations,” DFA said in a
  
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• Public weighs in on roadmap for state land planning

  17-06-2026 16:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mike DeBonis, executive director of the Green Mountain Club speaks at Camel’s Hump State Park in October 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermonters trek state forests, set up camp at state parks and hunt and fish in wildlife management areas on the sprawling 375,000 acres of the lands the Agency of Natural Resources manages in Vermont. Now, proposed rules governing the management of those state lands are up for public comment until June 18. The rules will help adopt a
  
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• Lindsey Ferris learned caregiving skills on her family’s Franklin County farm

  17-06-2026 15:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  Lindsey has known since she was a kid that she would go into the medical field. In a family of seven children ranging in age from 13 to 26, Lindsey falls right in the middle. She always knew that if she were going to go to college to pursue her dream, she’d have to figure it out herself. “It’s our responsibility,” she stated practically of herself and her siblings. “So, we all take school really seriously because our education is on our money. If we do well in
  
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• Jean Day Rubin

  17-06-2026 15:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 05/16/1939New Berlin, NYDied: 05/14/2026Sierra Vista, AZJean Mae Houghtaling was born in New Berlin, NY on May 16, 1931 to Hugh Foote Houghtaling and Beulah Elizabeth Dimorier.Jean graduated from Richfield Springs (NY) Central School in 1948, and married William Moore Day in September 1953. In January 1961, Jean and Bill bought The Economy 5-cent to $1 Store in Woodstock: a two-aisle, 1,200-square-foot variety store that carried everything from stationery to sewing goods to clothing,
  
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• Phil Scott signs bill that will restructure Vermont’s homelessness response

  17-06-2026 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott at the Statehouse in Montpelier in Nov. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.Vermont’s homelessness response system is getting a restructure.Gov. Phil Scott signed H.938 into law Tuesday evening, marking a rare moment of political agreement on Vermont’s approach to homelessness. The issue has divided the Republican governor and the
  
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• Partial rollback of Vermont’s land-use law Act 181 becomes official with Phil Scott’s signature

  17-06-2026 00:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Several hundred demonstrators gather to protest Act 181 at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.A partial repeal of the controversial land-use law Act 181 is now official.Gov. Phil Scott signed S.325 on Tuesday evening, marking a win for a broad coalition of rural landowners who organized en masse this year to
  
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• U.S. Cuba policy is cruel, incoherent and hurting ordinary people

  16-06-2026 23:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Armando Vilaseca, a former commissioner and secretary of education in Vermont. He is the president of the nonprofit Cuban American Friendship Society.I write this sitting in a darkened room without electricity, illuminated only by a small battery-powered light and the brightness of my iPad. I am in Havana, Cuba, on a humanitarian trip organized by the Vermont-based Cuban American Friendship Society.I have brought U.S. dollars, medicine, food, school supplies and other desp
  
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• Ex-Addison County sheriff: ‘You can have my certification’

  16-06-2026 23:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former Addison County Sheriff Peter Newton in the Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington in October 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFormer Addison County Sheriff Peter Newton, sentenced to probation on criminal convictions last year, now has been banned from working as a law enforcement officer in Vermont.The Vermont Criminal Justice Council, the body that regulates police in the state, voted Tuesday to permanently revoke Newton’s law enforcement certification.&
  
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• Burlington man charged with stalking, harassing Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak

  16-06-2026 22:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak speaks at a press conference with Shawn Burke, interim chief of the Burlington Police Department, not seen, in Burlington in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Burlington man was charged this week with stalking and harassing Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, after he allegedly accosted her in public on multiple occasions and made her fear for her and her family’s safety.Ari Moskowitz, 40, pleaded not guilty Monday and was released
  
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• Global budgets would free hospitals to serve patients, not profits

  16-06-2026 22:29 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,In his recent commentary for VTDigger, James Hodge was correct in his observation about proposed hospital transformation plans: Simply applying the same prices to a small hospital as a large hospital will not work in our current system.Things would be quite different, however, if we had a universal publicly financed single payer, or at least a single payer for hospitals. We would then have global budgets for hospitals, which would actually give them more freedom to do what Hodge say
  
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• Beyond education reform: Here’s a roundup of Vermont’s new school laws

  16-06-2026 17:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington High School is currently closed due to elevated levels of PCB’s. Seen on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis year’s legislative session was dominated by one issue in particular: school district consolidation aimed at education reform.But lawmakers in the House and Senate also spent hours of committee work on other consequential education bills. Legislation around chronic absenteeism, immigration protocols in schools and pre-kindergarten school c
  
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• Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund surpasses its $1 million goal year after founding

  16-06-2026 00:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at the launch of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund at the Statehouse in Montpelier in May 2025. File photo by Ethan Weinstein/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — A year ago, the thousands of residents in Vermont seeking U.S. citizenship had just two lawyers in the state who specialized in deportation defense, leaving many to face court alone. Today there are eight.That’s according to the organizers of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund, who announced Mon
  
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