Vermont news

• SLIDESHOW: Vigils mark Sandy Hook anniversary

  15-12-2017 01:56 via vtdigger.org
  About 40 people gathered in front of Montpelier City Hall at dusk Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
  The incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, which claimed the lives of 20 students ages 6 and 7, as well as six adults, is one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
  The advocacy group Gun Sense Vermont organized the Montpelier vigil and nine other events this week in locations around the state.
  Kelly McCracken, a former Gun Sense
  
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• BETA Technologies—the coolest thing in Vermont (and the coolest place to work!) 

  21-01-2026 16:19 via vtdigger.org
  BETA Technologies, headquartered in South Burlington, made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in November. At home, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce named Alia, its electric airplane, the Coolest Thing in Vermont. Reflecting on the incredible achievements of 2025, BETA is moving swiftly to grow its most valuable asset—team talent. BETA employees are builders and pilots, designers and inventors, flying what they build themselves. And, culture is everything. All employees, regardl
  
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• Lydia’s close-knit family inspired her to pursue a future in nursing

  21-01-2026 15:47 via vtdigger.org
  The youngest of seven, Lydia Ste. Marie describes her family as loving, full of energy, and busy. She learned early the value of care, connection, and responsibility—lessons that ultimately led her to pursue a degree in nursing.“I’ve always known I was meant to help people,” she said. Initially, that interest showed up as an interest in teaching. Her mother, Cathi, works as a childcare provider, and two of Lydia’s sisters are teachers. It’s clear Lydia admire
  
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• PHOTOS: Hundreds of Vermonters protest ICE in Williston

  21-01-2026 12:55 via vtdigger.org
  About 300 protesters gather outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Williston on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerWILLISTON — Braving below-freezing temperatures and a stiff breeze, about 300 people protested outside an Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility here Tuesday evening. Chanting demonstrators blocked traffic before gathering in front of the ICE building to demand an end to the federal agency’s presence in Vermont.Speakers r
  
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• John Bossange: Using TIFs to fund growth is a big risk

  21-01-2026 01:10 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by John Bossange, the president of the board of directors of Better (not Bigger) Vermont.For taxpayers in Vermont, the success of designating Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to promote commercial and residential development must be understood as a program with inherent risks. In many cities and towns across America, TIF has been a tool used by municipalities to finance public infrastructure, including streets, sidewalks, public water, public sewage treatment and
  
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• Vermont lawmakers consider the tricky legality of unmasking ICE 

  21-01-2026 00:33 via vtdigger.org
  A person confronts a U.S. Border Patrol officer on Wednesday, Jan. 14 in Minneapolis. Photo by Adam Gray/AP
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  Senators in the Judiciary Committee are trying to thread a needle, hashing out a bill that could stop law enforcement officers — including federal agents operating in Vermont — from
  
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• Gov. Scott forecasts comeback for nuclear

  21-01-2026 00:29 via vtdigger.org
  Spent nuclear fuel casks stored at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon on July 11, 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott, long a proponent of nuclear energy, threw his weight behind a bill Tuesday that could usher in a comeback for nuclear in 2026.“There’s a better way to lower energy prices and reduce emissions much faster if you’re willing to work with us to change course,” Scott told lawmakers in his budget address on Tuesday.The gov
  
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• Northfield fills key vacancies with interim hires, signs agreement for police coverage

  20-01-2026 23:57 via vtdigger.org
  The Northfield municipal building on Aug. 1, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNorthfield started the year with some key interim hires and signed an agreement with Montpelier for police coverage in the small Washington County town of about 5,900.Steven Mackenzie, an engineer and former city manager in Barre, came out of retirement this month to serve as the interim town manager on a part-time basis. Introduced at a Jan. 13 selectboard meeting, Mackenzie said he learned about the vacancy
  
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• Gov. Scott pushes for ‘disciplined’ spending with $9.4 billion state budget proposal

  20-01-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  Gov. Phil Scott delivers his budget address at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated at 6:38 p.m.MONTPELIER — Vermont Gov. Phil Scott proposed a $9.4 billion budget to state lawmakers on Tuesday that he called a “disciplined” spending plan in the face of waning support — and more cuts likely to come — from the federal government. Scott’s proposal, which lays out spending for a one-year period st
  
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• Gov. Phil Scott unveils $9.4 billion state budget proposal

  20-01-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  Gov. Phil Scott delivers his budget address at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Vermont Gov. Phil Scott proposed a $9.4 billion budget to state lawmakers on Tuesday that he called a “disciplined” spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year in the face of wavering support from the federal government.Scott’s proposal is about 3% larger than the budget he and the Legislature put in place for the current ye
  
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• Maureen Larkin Seiple

  20-01-2026 15:33 via vtdigger.org
  Born Aug. 13, 1926Northhampton, MassachusettsDied Jan. 18, 2026Pasadena, CaliforniaDetails of servicesThe family will hold a celebration of Maureen’s life this summer. Maureen Larkin Seiple, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, teacher and world traveler, passed away peacefully, at the age of 99, on Jan. 8, 2026. She touched many lives in her near-century on this planet, and left it a better place.Maureen was born in Northampton, Massachusetts on Aug. 13, 1
  
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• Linda Smith: Education reform requires hard choices

  20-01-2026 02:31 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,I am a school board member, but I write today as a past teacher. I am a Democrat, but I support the governor’s efforts to change our education system because we will be in crisis otherwise.Almost three years ago, the Joint Fiscal Office Report identified possible options to contain educational costs, including encouraging or mandating more mergers, consolidating administrative services and moving education spending decisions to a statewide level. But there was very little
  
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• Struggling South Royalton deli prepares for new ownership

  20-01-2026 00:02 via vtdigger.org
  Brenda Cohen, 78, of Tunbridge, adds a bucket on Thursday, Jan. 15, to the 30 yard dumpster she filled with the help of friends and family as they cleaned out RB’s Deli over a ten day period in South Royalton. Daisey Darling, who had leased the business from Cohen, closed the deli and convenience store abruptly in December. Cohen said she will keep ownership of the building, which also has two apartments upstairs, but has a buyer for the business who hopes to be opening in April. Photo by
  
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• Burlington music venue Radio Bean seeks new owner 

  19-01-2026 23:39 via vtdigger.org
  The crowd at Radio Bean on Nov. 8, 2025. Photo by Charlotte Oliver/VTDigger.After owning Radio Bean for more than 25 years, Lee Anderson announced Sunday that he’s ready to hand off the downtown Burlington bar and music venue and let what he calls “the spirit of the Bean” live on with someone else. The news comes only six months after Nectar’s, a fixture of the Queen City’s music scene, announced it would close in July. The business was floundering as a result
  
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• After three decades of work, Randolph housing organization to shutter

  19-01-2026 23:23 via vtdigger.org
  Peter Reed, executive director of Randolph Area Community Development Corporation, visits the Salisbury Square construction in April 2025. RACDC successfully completed phase one of its plan for the site, erecting a set of apartment buildings, but phase two will be left to future developers as the organization winds down. Photo by Maryellen Apelquist/The Herald
  This story by Tim Calabro was first published in The Herald on Jan. 15, 2026.After more than 30 years of developing and managing afforda
  
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• After 3 decades of work, Randolph housing organization to shutter

  19-01-2026 23:23 via vtdigger.org
  Peter Reed, executive director of Randolph Area Community Development Corporation, visits the Salisbury Square construction in April 2025. RACDC successfully completed phase one of its plan for the site, erecting a set of apartment buildings, but phase two will be left to future developers as the organization winds down. Photo by Maryellen Apelquist/The Herald
  This story by Tim Calabro was first published in The Herald on Jan. 15, 2026.After more than 30 years of developing and managing afforda
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘The Brave’

  18-01-2026 12:55 via vtdigger.org
  “Above the Clouds,” by Juniper Franks, 14, of FairfieldYoung Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at srei
  
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• Hinesburg and new police union agree to three-year contract

  18-01-2026 12:54 via vtdigger.org
  The Hinesburg Community Police Department seen on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Briana Brady was first published in The Citizen on Jan. 15, 2026.The Hinesburg police union, recognized by the town last June, has officially inked a contract with the town of Hinesburg.The contract, which will go into effect in July, is set to last until June 2029 and outlines a slew of worker protections and benefits along with a step system for annual pay raises. The co
  
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• Hinesburg and new police union agree to 3-year contract

  18-01-2026 12:54 via vtdigger.org
  The Hinesburg Community Police Department seen on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Briana Brady was first published in The Citizen on Jan. 15, 2026.The Hinesburg police union, recognized by the town last June, has officially inked a contract with the town of Hinesburg.The contract, which will go into effect in July, is set to last until June 2029 and outlines a slew of worker protections and benefits along with a step system for annual pay raises. The co
  
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• Capping a historic career, Stratton-trained skier Jessie Diggins is anything but retiring

  18-01-2026 12:53 via vtdigger.org
  Jessie Diggins meets with members of the Bill Koch Youth Ski League this past summer at Stratton Mountain. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
  Many teenagers wallpaper their bedrooms with pinups of hot celebrities. Jessie Diggins, the most-awarded U.S. cross-country skier in history, instead tacked up an “Endless Winter” poster of a less-recognized hero: Vermonter Bill Koch, the first American Nordic racer to win an Olympic medal.“He looked like he was having fun,” Di
  
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• In Lamoille, school enrollment projected to decline by decade’s end

  18-01-2026 12:50 via vtdigger.org
  The one-room Elmore School. Courtesy photoThis story by Patrick Bilow was first published in News & Citizen on Jan. 15, 2026.A study commissioned by the Lamoille South Supervisory Union predicts that school enrollments in Stowe, Morristown and Elmore will decline 10% by the 2030 school year, reflecting trends in rural towns throughout Vermont as the state ages and grows increasingly expensive.At recent Stowe and Elmore-Morristown school board meetings, Lamoille South Supervisory Union Super
  
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• Emilie Tenenbaum and Sharron Harrington: Why Vermont must stay committed to child care

  18-01-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Emilie Tenenbaum, the executive director of Let’s Grow Kids Action Network, and Sharron Harrington, the executive director of the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children.Across political lines and communities, most Vermonters agree that young families should be able to afford to live and work here. The good news is that the long-term investments in child care arising from Act 76 (Vermont’s landmark child care law passed in 2023) are moving
  
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• Narain Batra: Growth is pushing the Upper Valley to breaking point

  17-01-2026 02:35 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Narain Batra, a professor, historian, journalist and author whose work spans freedom, artificial intelligence, media and geopolitics. The Upper Valley, a most extraordinary economic and cultural heartbeat of the vast twin-state region, is currently at a turning point where outstanding institutional growth is colliding with a bucolic infrastructure that’s pushing against its limits and raising the question of affordability.The colossal footprint of Dartmouth Heal
  
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• Hartford justice center helps people get on their feet after prison

  17-01-2026 00:40 via vtdigger.org
  Isaiah Taylor, of White River Junction, rotates pizzas on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. Taylor is the assistant manager at the LISTEN Dining Hall in White River Junction. Taylor has been helped by the Hartford Community Restorative Justice Center. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by Sophia Langlois was first published in Valley News on Jan. 13, 2026.WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Isaiah Taylor recalls growing up in Woodsville in an extended family beset by violence and drugs. When he sough
  
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• Final Reading: It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ Vermont lawmakers want to investigate

  17-01-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, speaks before the House Government Operations Committee at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, Jan. 16. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerHe started with an apology.“If your inbox looks at all like mine since the introduction of this bill, I think I owe you all an apology,” Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, told the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee.Why had Headrick’s bill — one of more than 600 in play in the H
  
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• Stowe resorts lobby for short-term rental cap carveouts

  16-01-2026 23:36 via vtdigger.org
  A snow bank at von Trapp Lodge. File photo by Gordon Miller/Stowe Reporter
  This story by Aaron Calvin was first published in the Stowe Reporter on Jan. 15, 2026.As the Stowe Selectboard continues to consider a cap on the number of short-term rentals, the town’s major resorts are arguing that they should be exempted from further regulation.Consideration of a short-term rental cap began last fall, when the planning commission sent a letter to the selectboard recommending such a re
  
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• Lawmakers take up stopgap funding for Section 8 housing vouchers 

  16-01-2026 22:20 via vtdigger.org
  Kathleen Berk, executive director of the Vermont State Housing Authority, speaks to lawmakers about financial challenges related to the Section 8 federal housing voucher program on Nov. 5, 2025 in Montpelier. David Littlefield / Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.With federal funds dwindling for a key housing assistance program, Vermont lawmakers are looking at using state money to slo
  
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• BlueCross BlueShield’s new CEO takes over as insurer faces federal and statewide challenges

  16-01-2026 21:53 via vtdigger.org
  On Saturday, Beth Roberts officially took the helm as the new president and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont.Less than a week later, the window closed on open enrollment for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, without any extension of the federal tax credits that made those plans affordable for thousands of Vermonters.It’s no secret that Roberts assumes the role as the health care industry — and her new employer, specifically — faces dire straits.
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• Vermont’s top economists say state revenue on track despite fears of downgrade

  16-01-2026 17:40 via vtdigger.org
  Economists Jeff Carr, right, and Tom Kavet brief the Emergency Board on the forecast for state revenues at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, January 16, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — The economists tasked with diagnosing Vermont’s fiscal health every six months kept their top-line revenue estimates almost unchanged in a new report to a panel of lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott on Friday.However, Tom Kavet and Jeff Carr told the state’s Emergency Board, t
  
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• Vermont’s top economists say state revenue is steady as tight budget cycle nears

  16-01-2026 17:40 via vtdigger.org
  Economists Jeff Carr, right, and Tom Kavet brief the Emergency Board on the forecast for state revenues at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, January 16, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated 5:05 p.m.MONTPELIER — The economists tasked with diagnosing Vermont’s fiscal health every six months kept their top-line revenue estimates almost unchanged in a new report to a panel of lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott on Friday.At the same time, Tom Kavet and Jeff Carr told the state&
  
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