Vermont news

• USDA Seeks Grant Applications for Community Development Efforts

  02-06-2017 21:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  News Release — USDAJune 1, 2017
  Contact:Pollaidh Major(802) 828-6080
  MONTPELIER, Vt. (June 1, 2017) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) invites grant applications for projects supporting economic and community development in rural areas. Grant funding is available to non-profits and public bodies through two programs: the Rural Community Development Initiative Program and the Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program.
  “USDA Rural Development h
  
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• Vermont legislators hear the benefits — and costs — of road crossings for wildlife

  14-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  A young moose crosses Route 100 in Troy on Friday, June 7, 2019. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger“What you see on screen is really my worst nightmare,” Jens Hawkins-Hilke, a planner at Vermont’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the House Transportation Committee on Friday.“A foggy road, a large moose and a vehicle moving very quickly.”Hawkins-Hilke was pitching the committee, with a slideshow behind him, on the utility of building dedicated crossings for wildli
  
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• Vermont students protest ICE in coordinated walkouts

  14-02-2026 00:19 via vtdigger.org
  About 200 students at South Burlington High School protest against ICE during a walkout on Friday, February 13, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSOUTH BURLINGTON—Holding placards and shouting slogans, scores of South Burlington High School students formed a line along Dorset Street during an organized walkout Friday afternoon to protest actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the nation.“A lot of my aunts and uncles have immigrated from Chile and Peru,”
  
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• Mary Just Skinner

  13-02-2026 20:58 via vtdigger.org
  Born: July 7, 1946
  IndianaDied: Jan. 9, 2026
  CaliforniaDetails of service:
  There will be no funeral or calling hours, but there will be a celebration of Mary’s life at the Old Labor Hall in Barre on Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 2:00pm. Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the Barre Historical Society or the Vermont ACLU. Condolence notes can be sent to the Skinner family at P.O. Box 412, Montpelier, VT 05601. Mary’s ashes will be interred in Middlesex at a small fa
  
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• Priscilla R. Baker

  13-02-2026 20:22 via vtdigger.org
  Born: Sept. 7, 1946Lancaster, OhioDied: Feb. 5, 2026Middlebury, VermontDetails of servicesThere will be celebration of Priscilla’s life in the spring.Living life intentionally, building networks and connections(“Obituaries are not about the dead, but about the living and giving a person a second life.” Obit.  2016 documentary about the NYTimes Obituary Dept. )At Priscilla Baker’s preschool in Ferrisburgh, Otter Creek School, in the 1980s, a girl, maybe 4 y
  
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• A rare condition can send kids into fits of rage. Treatment could help — if insurance covers it. 

  13-02-2026 19:12 via vtdigger.org
  Elizabeth Bechard arm-wrestles with her son as his twin sister looks on at home in Essex on Thursday, February 5, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerJust days before Christmas in 2023, Elizabeth Bechard’s 7-year-old son woke in the middle of the night, screaming. He and his twin sister had been battling winter strep infections, Bechard said, but this was different from the discomfort of a scratchy throat and fever.In the weeks that followed, he became wracked with obsessive compulsive d
  
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• Records: Palmer left first police job after poor performance, policy violations

  13-02-2026 16:47 via vtdigger.org
  CLAREMONT — Nearly two decades before Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer would face sexual misconduct charges, which led to the temporary suspension of his law enforcement certification last week, he had a short, troubled tenure with the Claremont Police Department in New Hampshire.Documents recently obtained from Claremont police shed light on the beginning of a law enforcement career mired in controversy.In September 2006, at 19 years old, Palmer was hired as a patrol officer with the C
  
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• Ray Pelletier: Connectivity is just the beginning

  13-02-2026 13:04 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Ray Pelletier, an adjunct professor at Norwich University who served on the CVFiber Communication Union District board of directors for more than four years. Vermont has invested enormous public resources into connectivity, creating Communications Union Districts and committing more than $100 million in state and federal broadband funding to expand last-mile fiber infrastructure so Vermonters can get online.That work matters. It is necessary. But it is no longer suffi
  
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• Should students have voting power on Vermont’s school boards?

  13-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, chair of the House Education Committee, speaks as the committee takes testimony from Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Feb. 4, 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe sea change underway in Vermont’s public education system will affect many — school boards, administrators, teachers and (of course!) taxpayers.But perhaps no other demographic is more affected than, well, the kids themselves.A new bill introduce
  
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• Norm Etkind: Act 250 expansion risks rural housing

  13-02-2026 00:20 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,What will rural Vermont be like after implementing the new Act 250 requirements? From Dec. 31, 2026, Act 250 permits will be required for any development, including single-family homes, in areas that meet certain criteria.  These are contained in Act 181, which reduced some Act 250 requirements in developed areas and increased them in the rest of the state.
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  These include habitat connectors, headwater streams and other areas that meet the act’s environmental
  
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• Settlement will keep Green River Reservoir dam operating — for now  

  13-02-2026 00:08 via vtdigger.org
  Green River Reservoir dam. Photo by DEC Dam Safety ProgramA hydroelectric dam on the Green River in Hyde Park will continue operating under a settlement between the dam’s operator, state agencies and conservation and recreation groups, state officials announced at a press conference on Wednesday.”The settlement provides some certainty for the fate of the dam and Green River Reservoir State Park, although questions remain about the facility’s long-term future.“This agreem
  
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• ‘On our own’: Vermont is getting less help from the feds to keep elections secure

  12-02-2026 23:25 via vtdigger.org
  A resident scans his Town Meeting Day ballots inside the Barre Municipal Auditorium on March 1, 2022. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerVermont’s secretary of state says it could get more difficult to keep elections secure because of recent federal funding cuts and other policy changes backed by the Trump administration that have limited cybersecurity information-sharing between states. From 2022 to 2024, Vermont received a $1 million grant each year under decades-old federal legi
  
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• Barbara Mayhew-Belatski

  12-02-2026 21:54 via vtdigger.org
  Born: Sept. 23, 1954Windsor, VermontDied: Jan. 26, 2026Burlington, VermontDetails of servicesPlease join us on Feb. 7, 2026, in honoring Barbara. There will be a Memorial Service at Cabot Funeral Home from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., followed by a gathering at Norman Williams Public Library from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. An online viewing of the service will be made available through https://www.cabotfh.com.Donations in her memory can be made to Toys for Tots, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospita
  
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• Wayne Steele Darling

  12-02-2026 20:53 via vtdigger.org
  Born: Oct. 2, 1946Nampa, IdahoDied: Jan. 23, 2026Monkton, VermontDetails of servicesA Celebration of Wayne’s Life will be held at a later date in both Idaho and Vermont.Memorial donations may be made in Wayne’s honor to:Sandy Hook Promise (SHP)
  Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
  Monkton Town Forest CommitteeWayne Steele Darling, born Oct. 2, 1946, in Nampa, Idaho, died at home in Vermont on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, at age 79.Wayne grew up in Idaho and graduated from Borah High Scho
  
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• Stratton-trained skier Jessie Diggins wins Olympic bronze in 10K freestyle

  12-02-2026 15:20 via vtdigger.org
  Stratton-trained skier Jessie Diggins smiles after winning a bronze medal Thursday in the 10-kilometer cross-country freestyle race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressStratton-trained athlete Jessie Diggins, the most-awarded U.S. cross-country skier of all time, didn’t let bruised ribs stop her from winning a bronze medal Thursday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.The 34-year-old racer, set to retire at the end of this winte
  
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• Iso Bock: End the era of corporate money in politics

  12-02-2026 13:04 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,I am a freshman from Lake Region Union High School in the Northeast Kingdom. I’m 14, and elections have changed dramatically since I was born.Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowed both nonprofit and for-profit corporations to spend unlimited money in elections by recognizing corporate political spending as protected speech under the First Amendment.
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  Since then, billions of dollars — much of it from large, out-of-stat
  
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• Vermont receives $93 million in federal funds to expand broadband access

  12-02-2026 12:51 via vtdigger.org
  The NEK Broadband offices and warehouse in Danville on Sept. 3, 2025. File hoto by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Vermont will receive about $93 million in federal funding to continue constructing its broadband internet network in some of the state’s most remote rural areas, officials said Tuesday. The new resources will allow high-speed internet connections to reach over 99% of Vermonters, according to Ver
  
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• Gina Tron: Strengthen Vermont’s survivors’ bill of rights

  12-02-2026 02:30 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Gina Tron, a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Rise, an advocate for survivor-centered reforms, and a survivor of sexual assault. Sitting in the Special Victims Division of the New York Police Department (NYPD), I fought back tears as I scoured through mugshots, an effort the detective told me was pointless. Just a few minutes earlier, when I said I wanted to call a friend to be with me, he threatened to throw out what he termed my “iffy case.”At th
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Rep. Becca Balint warns state may be ‘in the crosshairs’ of Trump

  12-02-2026 00:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues. Listen below and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.When Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., traveled to Minneapolis on a Congressional oversight mission several weeks
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Rep. Becca Balint on ICE, Epstein and presidential fealty

  12-02-2026 00:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, speaks during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues. Listen below and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.When Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., traveled to Minneapolis on a Congressional oversight mission several weeks
  
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• As pilot program sunsets in Burlington, lawmakers look to bring ‘accountability court’ elsewhere 

  12-02-2026 00:31 via vtdigger.org
  Prosecutor Zach Weight, left, speaks during Chittenden County Community Accountability Court in Burlington on Friday, November 21, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger“I think we learned things that we already knew,” Defender General Matt Valerio told both the House and Senate judiciary committees Wednesday. Burlington’s accountability court pilot was successful, Valerio said, because it embedded social workers in the legal system. Before the court’s pilot beg
  
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• Rutland police panel drops interim from Matthew Prouty’s title, naming him permanent chief 

  11-02-2026 23:09 via vtdigger.org
  Rutland City’s new polie chief, Matt Prouty, in 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerInterim Rutland City Police Chief Matthew Prouty will soon take over the role on a permanent basis.The Rutland City Police Commission this week agreed to name Prouty to the post, effective March 1. In selecting Prouty to become the city’s next police chief, the commission opted not to conduct a wider search.“We decided this was not the time for a long, drawn-out search,” Patricia Br
  
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• Calais, Worcester residents vote against shuttering schools

  11-02-2026 22:13 via vtdigger.org
  Doty Memorial School in Worcester. Photo courtesy of Christina Pollard/The Bridge
  Calais and Worcester residents on Tuesday voted against shuttering two community elementary schools in the Washington Central Unified Union School District.In Worcester, 212 residents voted against shuttering the Doty Memorial School, while 114 approved of plans to close. In neighboring Calais, 398 residents voted against closing the Calais Elementary School, with 249 in favor.Tuesday’s results marked a reje
  
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• Marilee Kemsley

  11-02-2026 20:42 via vtdigger.org
  Born: June 3, 1954Pewaukee, WisconsinDied: Jan. 23, 2026Colchester, VermontDetails of servicesA celebration of life will be held by the family at a later date.Please share memories, stories, and photos of Marilee at www.champlaincremation.com. Marilee Conrad Kemsley (72) went home on Jan. 23, 2026, surrounded by love. She is survived by her loving husband of 38 years, Michael, and their daughter, Mae Lin Kemsley Kirn, and her husband, Spencer, and her grandson, Graham.Marilee also had many
  
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• Robert David Hepburn

  11-02-2026 19:55 via vtdigger.org
  Born: July 9, 1963Worcester, MassachusettsDied: Jan. 27, 2026Eden, VermontDetails of servicesA public celebration of Bob’s life will be held later this year. In memory of Bob, please consider donating to North Country Animal League (NCAL) in Morrisville, or making a gift in his name to benefit students at Green Mountain Technology & Career Center at Lamoille Union High School (Attn: Karen Collier, 738 Rte 15 West, Hyde Park, VT 05655).Robert “Bob” Hepburn, 62, died of natu
  
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• Audrey Graham

  11-02-2026 19:09 via vtdigger.org
  Born: Oct. 8, 1919Brooklyn, New YorkDied: Jan. 19, 2026Bennington, VermontDetails of servicesGifts in memory of Audrey may be sent to All Saints Church, Scarborough Rd, Briarcliff Manor, NY (www.allsaintsbriarcliff.org) or Hudson Link (www.hudsonlink.org). The family will be arranging a memorial service in the spring.To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Audrey Graham, please visit our flower store.Audrey Clarissa Graham died peacefully and gracefully
  
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• From homelessness to college: how Matthew Carey found his calling

  11-02-2026 18:44 via vtdigger.org
  Matthew Carey graduated from online high school using the free public Wi-Fi at Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library. The world was just emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’d recently relocated to Brattleboro from Pennsylvania. He took the bus to the library every day to finish his classes. Matthew’s family life is complicated, as he puts it. He moved to Brattleboro with his father and his three siblings. The family was homeless and struggling financially. At that
  
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• Smugglers’ Notch Resort sold to new Burke Mountain owners

  11-02-2026 17:08 via vtdigger.org
  Skiers and boarders ride up the Madonna II lift at Smugglers’Notch Resort in Jeffersonville on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSmugglers’ Notch Resort has sold.The mountain announced a “collaborative ownership transition” Wednesday that will move ownership from Bill Stritzler to Bear Den Partners, a ski resort operator that also owns Burke Mountain. The new owners will continue to honor existing season passes, and all employees are expected to
  
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• Smugglers’ Notch Resort sells

  11-02-2026 17:08 via vtdigger.org
  Skiers and boarders ride up the Madonna II lift at Smugglers’Notch Resort in Jeffersonville on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSmugglers’ Notch Resort has sold.The mountain announced a “collaborative ownership transition” Wednesday that will move ownership from Bill Stritzler to Bear Den Partners, a ski resort operator that also owns Burke Mountain. The new owners will continue to honor existing season passes, and all employees are expected to
  
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• Vermont skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle scores Olympic silver in super-G

  11-02-2026 16:29 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle, a second-generation Alpine racer from Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, repeated his Olympic medal-winning feat of four years ago by scoring silver in the men’s super-G Wednesday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.“It’s an honor,” the 33-year-old Starksboro resident could be heard saying as he received his latest medal on television after a race that combined the speed of downhill with the gate-dodging turns of giant
  
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