Vermont news

• The only licensed prosecutor leaves Addison County office

  31-07-2026 17:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury. File photo by Alan Keays/VTDiggerThe only state prosecutor with a law license in Addison County is leaving the job next week. Without a deputy state’s attorney, embattled State’s Attorney Eva Vekos — who has been temporarily barred from practicing law — would be the only state prosecutor in the county. In the absence of a deputy attorney in Vekos’s office, the Vermont Attorney General’s Offic
  
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• Data: Only 3% of Vermont registered voters have cast their ballots ahead of the primary election

  07-08-2026 23:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  A voter enters the polling place at the Barre Municipal Auditorium in Barre City in 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerWith the primary election taking place Tuesday, Aug. 11, only 3% of registered voters had cast their ballot as of Thursday. The statistic is a new initiative, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said, to remind voters of the upcoming election and encourage them to get out and vote. “I think it’s a good idea to give people a little bit o
  
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• Compensate Vermonters for the cost of coexisting with beavers

  07-08-2026 23:10 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Luke Briccetti, a Ph.D. candidate in the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, and a fellow at the Gund Institute for Environment. There has been no shortage of commentaries about beaver management in VTDigger over the past decade. Many Vermonters may have heard about the broad benefits that beavers provide across our landscape. At one time, beavers numbered between 60 million and 400 million in the U.S. As we systematically removed
  
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• UVM Health says big change is afoot — but is it enough to balance the budget?

  07-08-2026 22:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  The University of Vermont Medical Center complex. Photo courtesy of UVM Health NetworkIt’s been a long year for the University of Vermont Health network.Last year, regulators took a particularly critical view of the network finances, which prompted a leadership change at the highest level of the organization, followed by significant slimming of its executive level positions. As it carried out those regulatory budget orders, charged less for certain pharmaceutical drugs and inked a 2026 co
  
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• New affordable multi-family housing opens in Rutland

  07-08-2026 22:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  Kathy Becker, senior vice president of real estate at Evernoth, Mary Cohen, executive director of Cornerstone Housing Partners, and Rutland City Mayor Tom Donahue cut ribbon at newly opened Maplewood Commons. Aug 6, 2026. Photo by Greta SolsaaRutland City — The Marble City gained a 30 unit housing complex near the downtown, including six units for people transitioning out of homelessness. The multi-family housing will remain affordable in perpetuity, said Kathy Beyer, senior vice presiden
  
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• Windsor County Sheriff candidate placed on administrative leave from Bellows Falls PD

  07-08-2026 22:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Bellows Balls Police Department vehicle seen in 2020. YouTube photoThis story by Susan Smallheer was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Aug 6, 2026.BELLOWS FALLS — The village of Bellows Falls has placed one of its police officers running for Windsor County Sheriff in Tuesday’s Democratic primary on administrative leave in the wake of a letter from both the Windham County State’s Attorney and the Vermont attorney general’s office, raising questions about hi
  
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• ICE agents arrest several in Londonderry operation

  07-08-2026 21:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Federal law enforcement agents in South Burlington on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested several individuals Friday morning during an enforcement operation in Londonderry, the agency’s Boston Field Office, which covers New England, confirmed to VTDigger. The people arrested were targeted at a traffic stop while traveling to a construction job site in the small Windham county town at around 9 a.m., accor
  
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• Vernon wants input on the future of the Vermont Yankee site

  06-08-2026 23:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vernon Selectboard member Jim Pinkerton questions representatives from PowerTransitions as they discuss plans for the redevelopment of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant during a meeting in Vernon on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story by Susan Smallheer was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Aug 5, 2026.VERNON — The chairman of the Vernon Selectboard told townspeople Tuesday evening that he believes that PowerTransitions, the Texas comp
  
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• Blaming addicts for Burlington’s problems misses the point

  06-08-2026 23:32 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Hannah Riley Fernandez, the director of programming at the Center for Just Journalism. A recent feature in the Atlantic argues that treating addiction as a health crisis instead of a crime has turned cities like Seattle and Burlington into wreckage, and that the fix is more policing and forced treatment. It’s a well-written story. It’s also completely wrong, and the timing is bad: Burlington’s city council is debating a resolution on downtown public
  
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• A walk through downtown Burlington shows a city in crisis

  06-08-2026 23:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,My husband and I were in downtown Burlington recently to enjoy lunch with friends at the new Italian cafe, Alimentari, on St. Paul Street.We parked our car on the corner of St. Paul and Main streets. Within the three blocks, we saw an encampment of at least seven people sitting in front of Trattoria Delia actively using drugs. Across the street, three other individuals were getting supplies out to use drugs, and on our way back to our car after lunch, we saw one of those individuals
  
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• Annual recovery summit aims to explain the unexplainable

  06-08-2026 21:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  Melinda White is one of the organizers of the fifth annual “Coming Together, There is Hope” substance use addiction summit in Essex Junction on Friday, July 31, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerESSEX JUNCTION — Trying to explain substance use disorder to someone who hasn’t gone through it is like trying to explain the color red to someone who’s colorblind. That’s what David Riegel explained to a full room of about 50 people, who filled rows of chairs
  
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• In Chittenden Southeast Senate primary, incumbents and challengers alike pivot platforms to affordability

  06-08-2026 20:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Clockwise from top left: Sen. Thomas Chittenden, Joanna Grossman, Elizabeth Hunt, Sen. Ginny Lyons and Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale are candidates seeking a seat in Chittenden Southeast Senate district and competing in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger and courtesy of the Hunt and Grossman campaigns.When the three Democrats representing the Chittenden Southeast Senate district first ran as a united incumbent bloc three primaries ago, they cited a need for experience am
  
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• Local development corporation wins bid for former Montpelier post office

  06-08-2026 18:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  The building that houses the former Montpelier post office is up for auction. Seen on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA local development corporation spearheaded by the Foundation for a Resilient Montpelier has won the auction for 87 State Street, the former Montpelier Post Office building and longtime downtown staple, the foundation’s Executive Director Jon Copans said Thursday. “This is a transformational piece of property and opportunity for our commu
  
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• New details about proposed locked youth facility signals more disagreement over landmark ‘Raise the Age’ law

  06-08-2026 12:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott in Montpelier in June 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — The Vermont Department for Children and Families says it does not plan to include 18-year-olds in its design for a locked juvenile facility, raising concern from lawmakers about how Gov. Phil Scott’s administration is rolling out Vermont’s landmark juvenile justice reform initiative. Officials with the Vermont Department for Children and Families said Wednesday that its new locked
  
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• New details about proposed locked youth facility signal more disagreement over landmark ‘Raise the Age’ law

  06-08-2026 12:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott in Montpelier in June 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — The Vermont Department for Children and Families says it does not plan to include 18-year-olds in its design for a locked juvenile facility, raising concern from lawmakers about how Gov. Phil Scott’s administration is rolling out Vermont’s landmark juvenile justice reform initiative. Officials with the Vermont Department for Children and Families said Wednesday that its new locked
  
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• Vermont’s housing crisis isn’t one problem: it’s three

  05-08-2026 23:16 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Bryan Sell, who teaches in Vermont State University’s Resort and Hospitality Management program. Vermont’s housing debate is mostly treated as a problem of not enough units, with capitalist bogeymen feasting on the stock — outsiders hoarding homes, or investors gouging rents. These arguments resurrect Vermont’s old flatlander/woodchuck divide, sometimes said out loud in public forums. But look closer, and the conflict splits again: workers dema
  
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• Vermont’s GOP primary for U.S. House pits 2 different personalities against each other

  05-08-2026 23:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gerald Malloy, left, and Mark Coester, Republican primary challengers for Vermont’s U.S. House of Representatives seat. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger and VTDigger EditorIn the Republican primary this year for Vermont’s sole seat in the U.S. House, two candidates who have run for Congress before are on the ballot again. But other than the fact they’ve both sought federal office — and lost by large margins each time — Gerald Malloy and Mark Coester see differ
  
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• Vermont Conversation: ‘You have a choice on how you respond.’ Kelly Brush on thriving after a life-altering accident

  05-08-2026 22:14 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.Kelly Brush riding an adaptive mountain bike during the 2025 Kelly Brush Foundation bike camp. Courtesy photoFew people have turned adversity into opportunity as dramatically as Kelly Brush.Brush was on the Middlebury College ski team when she was paraly
  
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• A shrinking market for low-grade wood threatens Vermont’s forests

  05-08-2026 19:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rob Riley, president of the Northern Forest Center; Danielle Fitzko, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation; Dana Doran, executive director of Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast; Kate Forrer, executive director of the Vermont Woodlands Association; Jamey Fidel, vice president for Vermont at the National Audubon Society/Audubon Vermont; Steve Hardy, president of the Vermont Forest Products Association; Tracy Zschau, president
  
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• Brattleboro hospital projects more deficit spending as it reveals ‘significant deficiencies’

  05-08-2026 19:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital campus on Belmont Avenue. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is projecting a seventh consecutive year of deficit spending in its fiscal 2027 budget, even with the proposed closure of its financially ailing birthing center.“We are not financially stable at this time, but we are stabilizing,” a team of new hospital leaders wrote this week in a required state filing they said was a month late due to
  
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• ‘I’m the awakener’: Evangelist Tommie Zito plans to transform Poultney’s Green Mountain College campus into a Christian university

  05-08-2026 12:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Evangelical preacher Tommie Zito is planning to covert Green Mountain College in Poultney into Z University.Seen on Friday, July 31, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerPOULTNEY — Tommie Zito was visiting Vermont to preach for congregations in Rutland and Burlington earlier this year when he learned of a call for the “third great awakening” from the owner of the defunct Green Mountain College.The whiskey merchant and former media personality Raj Bhakta, who bought the campus
  
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• Phil Scott administration pushes through wetlands changes, despite lawmakers’ objections

  04-08-2026 23:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  A view of Class II wetlands in Essex on May 22, 2026. Legislators have rejected Gov. Phil Scott’s proposals around wetlands regulation, including reducing the buffer zone for housing. Photo by April McCullum/Vermont PublicCarly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public, in partnership with VTDigger. Gov. Phil Scott’s administration is moving forward with rule changes that will make it easier to build housing near wetlands, despite repeated objections from lawm
  
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• Vermont’s healthcare crisis needs more than bake sales

  04-08-2026 23:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Manny Mansbach, a member of the Vermont Workers Center, which has been working for economic justice and human dignity, including healthcare as a human right.    Since Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) announced they plan to close southeastern Vermont’s only birthing center in the next six to nine months, Windham County residents and officials have begun mobilizing to find a way to keep safe birth alive in our community. It is imperative that the
  
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• Democratic Socialists of America wants to abolish the U.S. Senate. Bernie Sanders says ‘No.’

  04-08-2026 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leaves a meeting for Senate Democrats at the Capitol in Washington, in Nov. 2025. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/APThis story by Igor Bobic was first published in NOTUS on Aug. 2, 2026.Democratic Socialists of America, a group that’s gaining momentum across the country, is pushing to scrap the U.S. Senate and replace it with a unicameral legislature. Senate Democrats aren’t on board.“It’s in the Constitution, and it is a critical component of th
  
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• Drawing attention: Vermont gets its first tourism branding

  04-08-2026 21:24 via vtdigger.org
  A new Vermont tourism logo and branding was unveiled July 30, 2026. ProvidedMost Americans already like Vermont. The challenge is getting them to actually visit.State tourism officials hope a new logo and slogan, which they unveiled last week, will entice more people to book a trip by highlighting Vermont’s landscape and its many local artists. The logo is a “Vermont” wordmark with hand-drawn letters shaped after Camel’s Hump and other geographic features, and the motto
  
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• Vermont’s Catholic diocese has plenty of shame to go around

  04-08-2026 20:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,I’m writing to thank VTDigger reporter Kevin O’Connor for shining a light on corruption in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in its effort to prevent justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Vermont. There is plenty of shame to go around.Let’s start with Vermont’s former bishop, Christopher Coyne, and his once second-in-command, John McDermott. According to a whistleblower, a woman who applied for the position of chief financial officer of the d
  
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• Judge allows clergy abuse claimants to sue for parish assets in Vermont Catholic bankruptcy case

  04-08-2026 13:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  A statue watches over Rutland’s shuttered Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerA U.S. Bankruptcy Court will allow clergy abuse claimants to sue for an estimated half-billion dollars in parish assets to fund settlements under the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s current financial reorganization case.In a written order, Burlington-based Judge Heather Cooper said creditors can pursue not only the highest-level bank and building holdings of the state&rs
  
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• Pro-Aly Richards super PAC launches big ad buy late in Democratic governor primary

  04-08-2026 00:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Aly Richards, democratic candidate for governor, speaks during a housing forum in South Burlington on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Photo by Glenn RussellA political action committee backing Aly Richards in this year’s Democratic primary for Vermont governor has injected more than $200,000 into the race just weeks before election day.The PAC, called Time for a Change, is not affiliated with Richards’ campaign. But the organization spent large sums in recent days on digital advertisement
  
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• Burlington is facing a public safety emergency

  03-08-2026 23:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,As a father of two young daughters, aged 4 and 5, I never imagined that a simple walk to get ice cream would become a lesson in open-air drug use and public disorder in the heart of our city.Recently, while walking to Ben & Jerry’s on Church Street in Burlington, we passed a park where multiple individuals were openly using drugs. Moments later, we were followed by another person who appeared to be under the influence, yelling at people trying to eat dinner on Church Stree
  
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• Scott’s veto reasoning doesn’t hold up

  03-08-2026 23:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Ben Edgerly Walsh, the climate and energy program director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.Let’s start with what isn’t in dispute. The data center bill Gov. Phil Scott vetoed, H.727, was among the strongest such laws written in any state. AI data centers are driving up electricity bills across the country, and having major impacts on air, water and climate pollution in the process. And here in Vermont, that now-dead bill that would have addressed
  
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