Vermont news

• Rob Roper: Allowing illegal votes is voter suppression

  27-07-2017 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Robert Roper, the president of the Ethan Allen Institute. He lives in Stowe.
  We can all agree that barring someone who is eligible to vote from doing so is a grave injustice. It robs a citizen in our representative republic of their voice in the process of governance. This is unacceptable.
  However, allowing somebody to vote who is not a legally eligible voter has the exact same effect and is equally unjust. Allowing an ineligible voter to cast a ballot
  
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• Lincoln residents seek public hearing as state board weighs proposed airstrip

  18-09-2026 00:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Lt. Gov. John Rodgers speaks to the crowd at a Sept. 14 forum at Burnham Hall focused on the proposed airstrip Lincoln residents Kyle and Katie Clark have been seeking approval to site at their property since 2022. Photo by Marin Howell/Addison IndependentThis story by Marin Howell was first published in the Addison Independent on Sept. 17, 2026.LINCOLN — The fate of a proposed personal aircraft strip in Lincoln no longer rests in the hands of that municipality, but some residents
  
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• Scott administration: Expect tighter state budget to make room for tax cuts

  17-09-2026 23:48 via vtdigger.org
  
  Commissioner of Finance and Management Adam Greshin speaks as a House and Senate budget conference committee discusses the budget bill at the Statehouse in Montpelier in 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott is planning to propose a state budget that features little new spending if he gets reelected in November, one of his top deputies told a panel of Vermont House and Senate leaders Wednesday.That’s in part because the governor also plans to propose new — but as
  
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• The challenge for Vermont hospitals: Keep costs low, care accessible and their doors open.

  17-09-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  Springfield Hospital in Springfield in June 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe state’s most powerful healthcare regulator thinks Vermont’s 14 hospitals can keep costs low, provide care and find financial sustainability. Not all the hospitals agree.In budget orders handed down Monday, the Green Mountain Care Board built on its efforts last year to shrink hospital budgets.This year, the independent state regulator focused on not only reducing hospital revenue, but how much
  
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• Feds’ lawsuit demanding Vermont voter data tossed by federal judge

  17-09-2026 23:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier in June 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Vermont does not have to provide sensitive voter registration data to the Trump administration, a federal judge ruled Thursday, tossing a lawsuit filed over the issue by the U.S. Department of Justice against Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont’s secretary of
  
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• Southern Vermont healthcare provider to pay more than $390,000 over allegations it mishandled Medicaid funds

  17-09-2026 22:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  Health Care & Rehabilitation Services Headquarters in Springfield. Courtesy photo.A nonprofit that provides mental health, substance use and developmental disability-related services in Windham and Windsor counties will pay the state more than $390,000 to settle claims that the organization kept Medicaid funds that it should have returned to the state, the attorney general’s office said. Health Care & Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont, which is based in Springfi
  
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• I’m a former second-home owner. We should tax second homes higher. 

  17-09-2026 21:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Alden Wicker, a homeowner, journalist and author who lives in Windham.In 2014, I bought an income-restricted co-op in Brooklyn for $250,000. The market price for that apartment would have been around $650,000, but it was under New York City’s Housing Development Fund Corporation, a low-income housing cooperative with rules to prevent these units from becoming investments instead of homes. If your income is below the neighborhood’s median and it will be your pri
  
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• Stop taxing Vermonters out of their own homes

  17-09-2026 20:58 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,A real solution to the property tax problem is to abolish property taxes on homestead property. Tax sales of homestead property should also be banned. The lost revenue could be made up in other ways that are less impactful on most residents. State income tax could make up a large share of the revenue, with a bigger increase for high earners. Nonhomestead property would need to be classed under some new categories.Property with structures on it should be divided into suitable for hab
  
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• All gifts matched in final stretch of VTDigger Fall Member Drive

  17-09-2026 15:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  VTDigger reporter Ethan Weinstein at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Monday, June 16, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDear Reader,There are only a few days left in our Fall Member Drive. Right now, every gift is being matched dollar for dollar. Will you make a gift that will go twice as far before Saturday at midnight?
  Double your impact
  Your donation gives our reporters the time to ask another question, track down another document, travel across the state and stay focused on a complicated
  
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• ‘Go stop them now,’ Burlington man says a voice told him before shooting three Palestinian students, recording reveals in trial

  17-09-2026 01:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jason Eaton appears during his trial in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Monday, September 14, 2026. Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students in November of 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON – Jurors heard from Jason Eaton saying that he was acting under the direction of  voices he was hearing through his FM radio from CIA and government intelligence agencies before authorities allege he opened fire and injured three Palestinian student
  
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• ‘Go stop them now,’ Burlington man says a voice told him before shooting 3 Palestinian students, recording reveals in trial

  17-09-2026 01:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jason Eaton appears during his trial in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Monday, September 14, 2026. Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students in November of 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON – Jurors heard from Jason Eaton saying that he was acting under the direction of  voices he was hearing through his FM radio from CIA and government intelligence agencies before authorities allege he opened fire and injured three Palestinian student
  
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• Cold shoulder: Brattleboro won’t be welcoming ICE

  17-09-2026 01:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  A couple hundred people march from Plaza Park to the Wells Fountain in Brattleboro during a locally organized No Kings march on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. Photo by Kristopher Radder/Brattleboro ReformerThis story by Chris Mays was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Sept. 15, 2026.BRATTLEBORO — Local police aren’t planning to work with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers if they come to town. At a special selectboard meeting Monday, Brattleboro Police
  
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• Barre schools eye cuts to sports and other activities after budget fails on third attempt

  17-09-2026 00:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Signs advocating for and against the Barre school district’s budget stand outside the Barre Town Middle and Elementary School on Sept. 15, 2026. Photo by Charlotte Oliver/VTDiggerBARRE — Board members in the Barre Unified Union School District will look at making cuts to winter sports, school transportation and extracurricular activities after voters rejected the district’s annual budget for the third time Tuesday. “It’s definitely a heartbreaking result becau
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Filmmaker Bess O’Brien on connection, resilience and joy after tragedy

  16-09-2026 23:32 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.Filmmaker Bess O’Brien. Courtesy photoBess O’Brien is best known for making award-winning documentary films that take deep dives into difficult issues like addiction, hunger and homelessness. With her latest film, she is taking a differe
  
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• Training doctors is worth every dollar

  16-09-2026 23:25 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,In defense of my profession, I wish to clarify what lies at the core of medicine: using a distinct skill set to care for people. Have you ever seen a skilled obstetrician deliver twins? Or an orthopedic or emergency medicine provider set a broken humerus? A primary care doctor identifying and treating depression, truly a life-saving clinical skill?The practice of medicine begins with hands-on education and training, just like nursing, dental and social work professions. This is simi
  
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• Homeless in Vermont? The path to housing is harder than it should be

  16-09-2026 23:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Maryellen Griffin, a staff attorney at Vermont Legal Aid.Homelessness is complicated, but for each person the solution is the same: a home. Vermont needs a clear, coordinated path connecting people experiencing homelessness with the affordable housing the public has already funded.Vermont recently reduced the number of motel rooms available for emergency housing during most of the year from 1,100 to 700. For the roughly 4,000 Vermonters experiencing homelessness, including
  
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• Fall foliage varies from year to year, for leaf-peepers and trees

  16-09-2026 22:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  Leaves show their fall colors in Jericho in September 2020. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJosh Halman flew over Vermont’s woods late last summer and saw something that surprised him.Swaths of trees had already gone brown, scorched by an extreme drought that affected more than 64,000 acres. This year, from the same vantage, things are looking up.“We haven’t seen anything even close to the level of damage we were seeing in the foliage last year,” said Halman, wh
  
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• State restricts new superintendent hires to one year

  16-09-2026 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Zoie Saunders, interim secretary of education, listens during Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference held at the Central Vermont Technical Center in Barre in June 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Sophia Keshmiri was first published in the Addison Independent on Sept. 11, 2026.VERGENNES — As the Addison Northwest School District gets the search for a new superintendent underway, the secretary of education confirmed to its board on Friday that going forward s
  
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• New York Times investigative reporter Eric Lipton to speak in South Burlington

  16-09-2026 18:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Headshot courtesy of Eric Lipton; illustration by Taylor Haynes/VTDiggerAs the midterm elections approach, VTDigger and Seven Days will co-host a public talk with Eric Lipton, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative reporter for The New York Times.
  When: Friday, Oct. 9. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the program begins at 6 p.m.Where: Delta Hotels, South BurlingtonTickets: Tickets are $15 and must be purchased online in advance. The event is expected to fill quickly.Accessibility and park
  
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• Step by step, Stacy Emerson is achieving her dream of becoming a registered nurse

  16-09-2026 15:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Stacy Emerson at graduation with her instructor and mentor, Nancy Noble.Stacy Emerson describes herself as “a bit of a mother hen.” She’s on the older end of her classmates in her nursing cohort at Vermont State University (Vermont State), and she’s always looking out for her friends and coworkers. The friendships she’s formed among her nursing peers are so strong that, with their encouragement, she’s continuing on to complete her associate degree and plans t
  
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• Fatal crash case relocated amid concerns over an impartial jury

  16-09-2026 00:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kyle Hunt, second from left in the front row, sits with his attorney Timothy Fair during Hunt’s arraignment at the Orange County Courthouse in Chelsea, Vt., in March 2026. Hunt pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of vehicle operation-gross negligence/fatal and to a misdemeanor charge of giving false information to a law enforcement officer. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by Alex Ebrahimi was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 14, 2026.CHELSEA — On the eveni
  
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• Potential sale brings the former Sterling campus closer to new beginnings

  16-09-2026 00:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Sterling College campus in Craftsbury. Photo courtesy of Sterling CollegeWhen Sterling College graduated its last student in May, its trustees faced a hard question. With the school closing for good, what happens to the campus? This week, they got closer to an answer.The former school and Headwaters Community Trust, an organization that provides affordable housing and land in the Northeast Kingdom, signed a sale purchase agreement. The two sides have not finalized the expected transiti
  
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• Hundreds of layoffs announced at the two largest healthcare networks Vermonters rely on

  15-09-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  TeleED hub: Alison Kapadia, MD, and Daryl Holthoff, RN, providing emergency care to patients via the TeleED hub. Photo courtesy of Dartmouth HealthHundreds of layoffs are underway at the two major healthcare networks Vermonters rely on.Facing similar financial challenges, both Dartmouth Health and the University of Vermont Health network announced the cuts Tuesday ahead of the Oct. 1 start to hospitals’ fiscal year. UVM Health is in the process of laying off 199 staffers, according t
  
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• Hundreds of layoffs announced at the 2 largest healthcare networks Vermonters rely on

  15-09-2026 23:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  TeleED hub: Alison Kapadia, MD, and Daryl Holthoff, RN, providing emergency care to patients via the TeleED hub. Photo courtesy of Dartmouth HealthHundreds of layoffs are underway at the two major healthcare networks Vermonters rely on.Facing similar financial challenges, both Dartmouth Health and the University of Vermont Health network announced the cuts Tuesday ahead of the Oct. 1 start to hospitals’ fiscal year. UVM Health is in the process of laying off 199 staffers, according t
  
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• My friend is being crushed for one sentence spoken to a president

  15-09-2026 23:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Benjamin Hoffer, an environmental engineering master’s student at École Polytechnique de Paris.On Sept. 8 I traveled to a tribunal in Paris to testify in a criminal case brought on behalf of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, against a 22-year-old student. I never got the chance. I was sequestered with the other nine witnesses, waiting to be called one at a time — and the next thing we knew, the courtroom was emptied. We were physically forced out of
  
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• Stowe man sentenced to life in NEK double murder

  15-09-2026 23:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Federal Building in Burlington in Sept. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Stowe man who avoided the death penalty was handed two consecutive life sentences in the 2023 fatal shootings of two men in the Northeast Kingdom.“This crime shocked Vermont in its callousness and left the families of two young men with a grief that will never end,” Vermont State Police Criminal Division Commander Major Ashley Barnes wrote in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office
  
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• Prosecutors present gun, cellphone evidence they say links Burlington man to shooting of three Palestinian students

  15-09-2026 22:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Harry Jeppe, a firearms examiner with the Vermont Forensic Laboratory, testifies in Chittenden Superior criminal court in Burlington on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Pool photo by Paul Heintz/Boston GlobeBURLINGTON — The state rested its case against the Burlington man accused of shooting and wounding three Palestinian students, presenting law enforcement and forensic witnesses whose testimony prosecutors say tied him to the crimes. The move by the state comes on the second day of the
  
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• Vermont’s largest hospital needs to further cut its revenue and spending next year

  15-09-2026 19:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington on Monday, November 23, 2020. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUVM Medical Center will need to take on even more austerity measures this coming fiscal year, the Green Mountain Care Board ruled late Monday.The board ordered the hospital to cut what it charges commercial insurers by 4.4%, a $32.4 million decrease from last year. Commercial insurance will bring in $1.054 billion in revenue for the medical center — the majority of the
  
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• The housing fix hiding in Vermont’s spare bedrooms

  15-09-2026 19:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Vermont has the highest share of households unable to afford the median-priced new home, according to the National Association of Home Builders, with approximately 92% of its households falling short of the income requirement. So how can Vermont create the housing Vermonters need and can afford and do it promptly? The cost of new construction is prohibitive, and it takes too long because of the time required to design, approve and finance it.Currently, 70% of Vermont households
  
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• VTDigger launches 2026 Vermont general election guide

  15-09-2026 13:18 via vtdigger.org
  
  Illustration by Taylor Haynes/VTDiggerVTDigger has launched its 2026 Election Guide ahead of this year’s general election.There’s no presidential race on the ballot, but all of Vermont’s state and county-level offices, our lone U.S. House seat and two other ballot items are up for Vermonters to vote on. Your vote will determine the balance of power in Montpelier and who occupies Vermont’s highest offices. 
  Go to the Election Guide
  The race for governor between polit
  
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