Vermont news

• Rep. Larry Satcowitz: Gov. Phil Scott should sign the Flood Safety Act

  20-05-2024 17:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rep. Larry Satcowitz, D-Randolph. He is a member of the House Committee on Environment and Energy.
  The Flood Safety Act, S.213, makes changes to Vermont’s statues to help Vermont become more resilient to future flooding. The massive flooding of recent years caused billions of dollars in damage, destroying homes, businesses, roads and other infrastructure. This bill is a response to those events by addressing flood management in our river corridors, floodplains a
  
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• Dinah Yessne: Remembering Robert Hall and Island Pond’s island

  03-06-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,It brought a big smile to my face this morning to read about the state’s purchase and conservation of the island in Island Pond. One of the first people I met when I moved to Vermont in 1970 — and soon settled in Derby — was Robert Hall, who lived nearby. Robert was the last of his family — which owned the island — to live in Vermont, and he was immensely proud of the island’s heritageJust say the word and off you’d go to Island Pond, be
  
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• Dan Galdenzi: Opponents of S.258 fostered division and avoided facts

  03-06-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Dan Galdenzi of Stowe. 
  In a tired platitude of inaction, Rep. Katherine Sims has said representatives didn’t want to move S.258 forward because the bill “might divide their community.” Is this the same Katherine Sims who recently appeared in a pro-trapping propaganda film alongside the lobbyists for sportsman groups who spread misinformation about S.258?If you want to talk about dividing communities, how about those Vermonters who took personal risk
  
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• Acquisition, conservation makes ‘Greatwoods’ forest whole

  03-06-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The acquisition and conservation of a 356-acre portion of woodlands in Eden (orange) will expand a broader 5,720-acre tract that has been conserved since 2010 (yellow) and abuts the Long Trail to the northwest (green). Map courtesy of Trust for Public Land
  This story by Aaron Calvin was first published by the News & Citizen on May 30.The acquisition and conservation of a 356-acre portion of woodlands in Eden will expand a broader 5,720-acre tract that has been conserved since 2010.Greatwood
  
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• Bennington County Senator Dick Sears has died at 81

  02-06-2024 18:33 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks on January 3, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerLongtime Bennington County Senator Dick Sears has died at age 81, Vermont Senate leadership announced Sunday morning. A Democrat, he was remembered by colleagues as an indefatigable advocate for at-risk youth with drive and compassion developed through personal and professional experience.Sears died over the weekend, according to a statement from Senate President Pro
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘Papa Simmons’

  02-06-2024 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  “Farm House,” by Claire Zandstra, 13, of Topsham.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 [email protected] a
  
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• Moving and shaking at Montpelier’s Latin dance nights

  02-06-2024 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Latin dance nights in Montpelier. Photo by Juan Vega de Soto/VTDigger
  That Sunday, the train was late leaving New York City. Loaded with passengers, it followed a long curve northwards. Floodplains flashed outside the window; the cars rattled past church spires and houses; we crossed over into Vermont and the snow began. All along the journey, people descended, were received by families, became smaller in the distance behind us. By nightfall, it had become a ghost train, lurching
  
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• Then Again: The trial of Thomas Chittenden

  02-06-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Late in his tenure, Vermont’s first governor, Thomas Chittenden, was put on trial for violating federal liquor laws. Image from the Vermont Historical Society
  Thomas Chittenden must have known the knock was coming. Weeks earlier, on May 20, 1797, a federal judge had issued a summons for him to appear in court in Windsor to face trial. Word of the indictment likely reached Chittenden quickly. Vermont was, after all, a small place, with only a quarter of its population today, and Chittenden
  
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• Leaving Big Pharma for mushroom farming, Wiseman family finds purpose in Worcester

  02-06-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The metal-lined growing room at Peaceful Harvest Mushrooms in Worcester. Photo by Cedulie Benoit-SmithCedulie Benoit-Smith is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. Chickens moseyed around the yard of Karen and Brian Wiseman’s Worcester house on a warm May afternoon. But the free-range flock is only one piece of the couple’s homestead just down the road from the town center. The focal p
  
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• Vermont state prisons open door to community-based addiction recovery services

  02-06-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Mike Daly, a peer coach with the Turning Point Center of Rutland, facilitate a recovery group meeting with residents of Marble Valley correctional facility in Rutland on Wednesday, May 29. Photo by Tiffany Tan/VTDigger
  RUTLAND — Over coffee on Wednesday, five men detained at the Marble Valley correctional facility talked about how to turn away from criminal thinking.Armed with worksheets from Mike Daly and Lewis Nielson, visiting addiction recovery coaches, the prison residents discussed
  
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• Andy Phelan: Let’s encourage our bears to eat what’s theirs

  02-06-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Andy Phelan of Fayston.
  There has been a recent uptick in reports of our black bears across Vermont getting into trash that people have left out and entering cars and homes in search of food. It is prime season for our bears to put on the weight essential for cub survival and for bears to build up the reserves needed this winter.Black bears are an “umbrella” species in Vermont, meaning that our efforts to protect them and their habitats in turn protects numerou
  
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• 2 dead, 3 injured following police chase in Colchester

  01-06-2024 17:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Colchester Police Department. Photo via Colchester Police
  Two men died and three were injured Friday evening after a stolen vehicle overturned in Colchester following a local police pursuit from Burlington, according to Vermont State Police. The crash took place near Malletts Bay on East Lakeshore Dr. around 7:35 p.m., state police said in a press release issued early Saturday morning. Police did not immediately identify the five men in the vehicle. They said the injuries to the three
  
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• ‘A sense of urgency’: Sen. Bernie Sanders pushes Vermont health care players on high costs

  01-06-2024 01:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, speaks during roundtable on health care costs he hosted in Burlington on Friday, May 31, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerEarlier this month, health insurance companies asked state regulators for permission to increase their premiums by roughly 9% to 19% — among the highest increases in recent history.That request drew alarm from residents, officials and lawmakers across the state — including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “Indivi
  
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• I-89 study focuses on South Burlington exit

  01-06-2024 00:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  The exit 14 interchange off Interstate 89 in South Burlington. Photo courtesy I-89 2050 Study
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Other Paper on May 30.South Burlington residents and those passing through the city on a busy workday are all too familiar with the bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion near exit 14 on Interstate 89.This area is now the basis of a study called I-89 2050, which takes a long view of what this 37-mile stretch of highway could look like in 25 years. But
  
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• Former St. Albans police officer permanently banned from police work in Vermont

  01-06-2024 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Former St. Albans police officer Jason Lawton. Pool photo by Gregory Lamoureux/County Courier
  A former St. Albans police officer convicted of assault for punching a handcuffed woman in the face has been decertified to work as a police officer in the state. The Vermont Criminal Justice Council last week approved a stipulated agreement resulting in the permanent decertification of Jason Lawton, who, according to council records, no longer works in law enforcement. Lawton did not contest the
  
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• Bear euthanized in Underhill displayed ‘exceptionally rare’ predatory behavior

  31-05-2024 23:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  A bear digs in an unsecured trash can in Stowe. Photo courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife and Samara Chambers.
  Vermont game warden Jeremy Schmid got a call last Friday about an aggressive bear in Underhill. When he arrived at the scene, Schmid easily recognized the 100-pound animal. It was a repeat offender, attracted that morning by recycling outside the front door of the house.“Warden Schmid decided to euthanize the bear for concerns with public safety,” said Lt. Robert Currier,
  
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• Vermont House members hope to clinch Senate seats in open races

  31-05-2024 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, reads a copy of a bill before signing it at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  In an election year in which five of Vermont’s 30 state senators have opted to leave their seats, several members of the Vermont House are seeking to make the jump to the Senate.In a chamber that historically values seniority and has only in recent years begun to see significant turnover, a handful of open races present an opport
  
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• Vermont home prices spiked more than any other state last year while sales slowed down

  31-05-2024 22:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.As states across the country struggle to loosen their tight housing markets, the gridlock consuming Vermont’s stands out.A recent nationwide analysis of home prices from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that Vermont saw the highest year-over-year home appreciation rate of any state, at 12.8%. That’s markedly higher than the national averag
  
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• Vermont home prices spiked more than any other state last year while fewer homes sold

  31-05-2024 22:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.As states across the country struggle to loosen their tight housing markets, the gridlock consuming Vermont’s stands out.A recent nationwide analysis of home prices from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that Vermont saw the highest year-over-year home appreciation rate of any state, at 12.8%. That’s markedly higher than the national averag
  
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• Burlington mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak reappoints Jon Murad as police chief

  31-05-2024 19:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad speaks at a press conference in Burlington. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak will reappoint Jon Murad as police chief for a yearlong term, according to a memo sent to city councilors on Thursday.Murad is one of more than a dozen department heads that the newly-elected mayor will keep in their positions for a one-year reappointment. The police chief’s reappointment, first reported by Seven Days, puts an end to spec
  
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• Bob Bick: Howard Center will continue to adapt and thrive

  31-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Bob Bick. He has served Howard Center for over 30 years, including the past decade as CEO.
  With my retirement from Howard Center just days away, I should be daydreaming about bike rides and dog walks, but instead find myself thinking about what the future will hold for the agency. Years of trying to anticipate and prepare for the next organizational challenge will be a hard habit to break, but I’ll have time for that.Today I’m thinking about how important the n
  
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• Lisa Ford: Short-term rentals are a scapegoat for every state housing issue

  31-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Lisa Ford. She has operated a vacation rental in Guilford for 11 years. In 2019, she organized a statewide Short Term Rental Summit. The first of its kind, it led to the creation of the Vermont Short-Term Rental Alliance, a member-based nonprofit association for vacation rental managers and short-term rental hosts operating in the state.
  Short-term rental owners are not the evil housing tycoons we are sometimes made out to be. Vacation rentals peppered around our state mak
  
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• Island purchase expands state park in the Northeast Kingdom 

  31-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The island in Brighton’s Island Pond has been conserved and added to Brighton State Park. Photo courtesy Vermont Land Trust
  For $1.1 million, a state park in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom just got bigger. Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, along with the Vermont Land Trust, announced Wednesday that they had raised the funds to add the 15-acre island in Island Pond Lake, as well as a 3-acre stretch of lakeshore, to the adjacent Brighton State Park. T
  
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• In a post-session flurry, Gov. Phil Scott signs bills on crime, open meetings, PFAS and more

  31-05-2024 03:39 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, May 3, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Over the past two days, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed more than two dozen bills into law — some big and some relatively small — including changes to criminal justice policies and the state’s Open Meeting Law, as well as new restrictions on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.” Scott, a Republican, also vetoed legislatio
  
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• Gov. Phil Scott vetoes overdose prevention center bill

  31-05-2024 02:34 via vtdigger.org
  
  Ed Baker is a social worker and harm reduction advocate in Burlington. Seen on Monday, November 6, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday vetoed a bill that would lay the foundation for an overdose prevention center — often referred to as a safe injection site — in Burlington, calling it a “costly experiment” that would use up funds better spent elsewhere. Such a site would “divert financial resources from proven prevention,
  
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• Vermont set to become first state in the nation to ‘make big oil pay’

  31-05-2024 02:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont has seen more frequent and intense flooding in recent years, and climate change is expected to cause increased flooding in the state. Photo by StoryWorkz for VTDigger
  Gov. Phil Scott has allowed two of the session’s most consequential bills related to climate change to become law without his signature. One holds big oil companies accountable for the damage climate change has caused in Vermont, and another is designed to protect Vermonters from the impacts of more frequent flooding
  
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• As filing deadline passes, Vermont appears set for a sleepier statewide election season

  31-05-2024 01:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  From left: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Becca Balint and Gov. Phil Scott. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
  After a red-hot election cycle two years ago, Vermont is due for a significantly sleepier campaign season, according to unofficial filings with the Secretary of State’s Office.Major party candidates were due to submit petitions to appear on the primary election ballot by 5 p.m. Thursday, though it may take days for the candidate list to be finalized. In stark contrast to 2022, all
  
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• Unearthed by accident: a plant lost to Vermont for a century is discovered in Addison County

  30-05-2024 22:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department Botanist Grace Glynn examines a patch of false mermaid-weed in Addison County.” Courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
  Molly Parren had no intention of rediscovering a native plant believed to be extinct in Vermont for over a century. As a turtle technician with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department, she had simply set out to survey habitats in Addison County.But when Parren sent a picture of some rare wild garlic to Grace Glynn, a
  
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• Mike Fisher: Thank you, legislators, for listening to Vermonters’ voices and improving Medicare affordability 

  30-05-2024 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Mike Fisher, Vermont’s health care advocate.This year, low-income Vermonters on Medicare shared their stories about struggling to afford health care and other basic needs and implored the Legislature for help. One Vermonter described their transition onto Medicare:  “The premiums are more with much less coverage. I just don’t go to the doctor anymore because of the deductible and copays. I never know what they will be and can’t take the cha
  
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• Putney fire services return after turmoil, two-month hiatus

  30-05-2024 12:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Putney Fire Department. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
  This story by Virginia Ray was first published by The Commons on May 29.PUTNEY — Nearly two months after the fire department collapsed, the town has a plan — and the department is back in action.On May 24, the Selectboard held a special meeting to discuss the strategies outlined by the town and the interim fire chief and voted unanimously to un-suspend the fire department side of services at noon on May 25.The town h
  
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