Vermont news

• Vermont Tech gets pushback for ICE contracts

  27-07-2018 02:07 via vtdigger.org
  Jeb Spaulding (left), chancellor of Vermont State Colleges. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
  Vermont Technical College is the latest school to get blowback for its contracts with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement amid nationwide protests over President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies.
  VTC received nearly $50,000 from the agency this year for assorted training courses for ICE employees. It’s worked with ICE before, and the relationship bet
  
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• Six years in, long Covid is still with many Vermonters — and they say the system is failing them 

  22-02-2026 13:00 via vtdigger.org
  Mary Kate Shanahan has long covid.Seen in South Burlington on Friday, February 13, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAli knew something was wrong with her body. She’d always been an active Vermonter and a full-time nurse. But in 2024, she began experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain or sheer exhaustion after the slightest exertion. So she went to the emergency room — twice. Both times, the doctors performed a battery of tests: a chest CT scan, an echocardiogram, b
  
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• More cash-strapped Vermont communities seek local taxes on rooms, meals, alcohol and sales

  22-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  Signs posted in many Vermont communities call for property tax changes. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerAs Vermont municipalities aim to pinch pennies this March Town Meeting season, a rising number are seeking to pull in more spare change by piggybacking on state taxes and proposing their own 1% local charges on rooms, meals, alcohol and sales.Voters in almost 20 cities and towns will be asked to join the nearly 40 now accessing some combination of such fees, according to a VTDigger surv
  
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• Erica Fuller: AmeriCorps opens doors

  22-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  After reading VTDigger’s recent article highlighting an impressive new, young Vermonter, Matthew Carey, I want to commend him for the determination and resilience he’s shown in defying the odds. What stands out to me is the notable impact that AmeriCorps and other federally and state-funded programs have had on his life. Matthew describes the doors opened by his AmeriCorps service, such as the educational award that helps make college more affordable, and the career pathway tow
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘Dear New York City’

  22-02-2026 11:00 via vtdigger.org
  “I Know a Spot,” by Bradee Traverse, 17, of West Rutland.Young 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 sr
  
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• ‘Craftivism’ makes a comeback as local knitters spin yarns about ICE resistance

  22-02-2026 11:00 via vtdigger.org
  South Burlington resident Kathy Wilder works on a new “Melt the ICE” red hat. Photo by Sophia Balunek/Sheburne NewsKathy Wilder and Anne Morgan were peacefully seated in the Marabella KidSpace at the South Burlington Public Library last Thursday, a knitting needle in each hand, yarn twined through their fingers.Wilder had already gotten to work on a project — a red triangular hat with a braided tassel — by the time the clock struck 2 p.m., when others were due to join th
  
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• As Vermont lawmakers work to consolidate schools, how will they handle school district debt?

  21-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, speaks as the committee is briefed on the proposed 2026 state budget at the Statehouse in Montpelier in February 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont school districts are more than $480 million in debt from the costs of renovating school buildings, according to data from the State Aid for School Construction Advisory Board. That might sound pretty steep, but experts say it’s not necessarily a bad t
  
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• After 16 days in ICE custody, Steven Tendo is heading back to Vermont

  21-02-2026 00:18 via vtdigger.org
  Steven Tendo, a refugee from Uganda seeking political asylum in the U.S., speaks with supporters after receiving a letter announcing a year-long stay of his deportation in St. Albans on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUgandan minister, health care worker and asylum-seeker Steven Tendo is expected to return home to Vermont on Friday after being detained for 16 days, his lawyer said.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Tendo, 41, into custody on Feb. 4 outside
  
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• Vermont settles lawsuits over foster case licenses denied due to anti-LGBTQ beliefs 

  20-02-2026 23:11 via vtdigger.org
  Officials with the Department for Children and Families at a legislative meeting. Photo by Peter D’Auria/VTDiggerThe state of Vermont has settled two lawsuits brought over the Department for Children and Families’ policies surrounding care for LGBTQ foster children.The state has now revised its policies prohibiting those with anti-LGBTQ beliefs from receiving a foster license, according to court documents filed Friday.The settlements come less than a week before plaintiffs in the tw
  
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• Gov. Scott appoints Jack Brigham to the Vermont House

  20-02-2026 18:51 via vtdigger.org
  The House of Representatives chamber at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott appointed Jack Brigham to a vacant House seat Friday.Brigham will represent part of St. Albans City and St. Albans Town, replacing Casey Toof, a Republican who was serving as assistant minority leader when he resigned last month. “Jack has been active in his community and understands the issues of his constituents well,” Scott said in a s
  
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• Vermont Senate President Phil Baruth says he won’t run for reelection

  20-02-2026 18:25 via vtdigger.org
  Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, pictured on February 3, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated 12:31 p.m.Phil Baruth, the president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate, will not run for reelection this year.Baruth, a Democrat/Progressive from the Chittenden Central district, announced his decision to retire at the end of this year’s legislative session on the Senate floor Friday.
  The pro tem lives in Burlington. He has served in the Senate since 2011.
  
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• Vermont seeks to join 5 states in drug-purchasing consortium

  20-02-2026 14:30 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak pictured on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe pathway a prescription drug takes from a manufacturer to a pharmacy to a patient’s hands — and how its cost is determined along the way — is often an opaque and confusing one.Vermont’s state treasurer, backed by some health care-focused lawmakers, wants to make that process more transparent and make the drugs more affordable by introducing a bulk buying prescriptio
  
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• Vermont students are ‘well below’ proficiency goals in math and English, according to state report

  20-02-2026 12:30 via vtdigger.org
  Champlain Valley School District school busses in Hinesburg on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA majority of Vermont’s students are “well below” math and English language arts proficiency goals, while the state’s public education system “is not yet consistently delivering strong and sustained outcomes for all students.”That’s according to the Vermont State Report Card, the Vermont Agency of Education’s annual assessment of stu
  
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• Michael M. Cohen: Build bridges, not walls

  20-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Rabbi Michael M. Cohen, rabbi emeritus of the Israel Congregation and Director for Community Relations for the Friends of the Arava Institute. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the organizations with which he is affiliated.A Jewish sage and leader of ancient Israel who lived and worked in Jerusalem during the decades before 100 B.C., Yehoshua ben Perachyah, said, “Judge every person favorably.” We should not preju
  
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• Why people incompetent to stand trial could receive treatment in Vermont’s prisons

  20-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  Part of the security fence at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield seen on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerEveryone is innocent until proven guilty, right? If someone charged with a violent crime is deemed a threat to public safety, they might be held without bail. And if that person is also incompetent to stand trial, they could remain in prison for years until they pass a competency evaluation. But the state currently lacks a process to resto
  
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• Jordana Churchill and Kate Paarlberg-Kvam: You don’t get to choose the facts 

  19-02-2026 23:23 via vtdigger.org
  This letter is from Jordana Churchill, an educator and member of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, and Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, who has spent time in the West Bank as a human rights observer.Dear Editor,As Vermonters, we write to agree with the title of Mark Treinkman’s recent opinion piece. Facts do matter in Vermont’s discourse about the actions of the State of Israel.As people of conscience whose tax dollars and elected officials have made these actions possible, the
  
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• Poultney man charged with first-degree murder in deadly quarry beating

  19-02-2026 22:56 via vtdigger.org
  RUTLAND — Two men have been arrested in a monthslong investigation into the beating death of a Rutland County man at a West Pawlet quarry, with one of the suspects facing a charge of first-degree murder.Court records made public following the arrests over the past week show that police say the beating stemmed from a drug robbery turned deadly on the quarry property where the man who was killed lived in a camper and worked for over 20 years. Richard Mattison, 42, of Poultney, pleaded
  
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• Former Caledonia County victim’s advocate charged with sexually exploiting crime victim

  19-02-2026 19:28 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont State Police cruiserThe Vermont State Police arrested on Thursday a former Caledonia County victim’s advocate on charges he used his position to sexually exploit a crime victim and then tried to cover it up.State Police say that last May, Anthony Jackson-Miller, 39, allegedly entered into a sexual relationship with a victim he was assigned to represent and then took steps to cover up that relationship. At the time, he was employed by the Caledonia County State’s Attorney&rsq
  
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• Beta Technologies board member resigns after appearance in Epstein files

  19-02-2026 18:21 via vtdigger.org
  Dean Kamen. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/APTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.Dean Kamen resigned from the Beta Technologies board of directors Wednesday, following revelations surrounding his relationship with Jeffery Epstein.“Dean Kamen has voluntarily stepped down,” read a statement from the South Burlington-based electric airplane company in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday morning. “
  
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• Vermont legislators elect Henry ‘Hank’ Harder to lead state’s National Guard

  19-02-2026 17:53 via vtdigger.org
  Hank Harder, a retired general and candidate to be the next Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard, speaks before a joint meeting of the House and Senate government operations committees at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — Henry “Hank” Harder was elected to serve as the next leader of the Vermont National Guard on Thursday by the state House and Senate. Harder is a retired Air National Guard genera
  
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• Bernie heads to California to talk AI with tech leaders

  19-02-2026 16:45 via vtdigger.org
  U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, speaks during a press conference with U.S. Senator Peter Welch, D-Vermont,at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, February 6, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story was produced in partnership with NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute. VTDigger has partnered with NOTUS to cover federal actions affecting Vermont.U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, is in California this week during the Senate’s r
  
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• Brian Powell

  19-02-2026 16:28 via vtdigger.org
  Born: Aug. 27, 1951Montpelier, VermontDied: Feb. 8, 2026Berlin, VermontDetails of service:Visitation will take place at Guare & Sons Funeral Home on Feb. 25, 2026, beginning at 10a.m. An informal memorial service will begin at 11:30 a.m. His interment will be private at the family’s lot at Green Mount Cemetery, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, please do something kind for someone, as Brian was a pillar of such kindness.Brian Powell, a strong member of the Montpelier commun
  
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• Peggy Stevens: Keep poison out of our water

  19-02-2026 12:00 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,H.652, a bill banning landfill leachate disposal in the Lake Memphremagog watershed, is an important piece of legislation. Sponsored by Reps. Woodman Page, R-Newport City, and Larry Labor, R-Morgan, and co-sponsored by 19 bipartisan representatives — Republicans, Democrats, Progressives and Independents — the bill would prohibit the disposal of landfill leachate, treated or not, anywhere in the Memphremagog watershed. The current experimental leachate treatment
  
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• Vermont’s county fairs are thriving. Now they worry updated water rules could threaten that.

  19-02-2026 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  The 4-day-long Tunbridge World’s Fair’s first day on Thursday, September 11, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNine million dollars: That’s how much Vermont’s county fairs bring in, Vermont Farm Bureau lobbyist Jackie Folsom told the Senate Institutions Committee Wednesday afternoon. That’s a whole lot of creemees. It’s such an influx of cash that, in Bondville, fairgoers completely wipe out the two local ATMs and organizers have had to import two add
  
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• How the Rev. Jesse Jackson helped shape Vermont’s progressive moment

  19-02-2026 00:04 via vtdigger.org
  Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson speaks in St. Albans during a 1984 bus tour of the state. Photo by Glenn Russell“We are nothing, here in Vermont, if not tenacious.” So began a letter to the Rev. Jesse Jackson from Ellen David Friedman, then-committee member of the Rainbow Coalition of Vermont, asking him — for the second time — to visit the state for his 1988 presidential campaign. Jackson eventually agreed, speaking in Montpelier in December 1987, and at
  
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• How the Rev. Jesse Jackson helped shape the Vermont’s progressive moment

  19-02-2026 00:04 via vtdigger.org
  Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson speaks in St. Albans during a 1984 bus tour of the state. Photo by Glenn Russell“We are nothing, here in Vermont, if not tenacious.” So began a letter to the Rev. Jesse Jackson from Ellen David Friedman, then-committee member of the Rainbow Coalition of Vermont, asking him — for the second time — to visit the state for his 1988 presidential campaign. Jackson eventually agreed, speaking in Montpelier in December 1987, and at
  
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• Lawrence Ross Simmons

  18-02-2026 23:42 via vtdigger.org
  Born: July 22, 1943Kenmore, New York
  Died: Feb. 16 2026Colchester, VermontDetails of service:
  There is no service planned at this time.Lawrence Ross Simmons of Jericho, Vermont, died on Feb. 16, 2026, from complications related to Crohn’s disease. He is survived by his wife of 65 years Marjorie Lynde Simmons; daughter Lori Hollander; brother David and sister-in-law Pam and their daughters Lauren Gray and Megan O’Donnoghue; sister-in-law Sue Simmons, her son Drew Simmons and daughter
  
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• Senator’s school consolidation proposal would allow 2-year period for voluntary mergers

  18-02-2026 23:17 via vtdigger.org
  Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, waits for the Senate to convene at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Monday, June 16, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, the Senate Education Committee chair, introduced a school consolidation proposal Tuesday that would create a two-year on-ramp period for school districts to voluntarily merge.Bongartz’s map overlays 11 new supervisory unions over the state’s existing supervisory unions, and seeks to halve the stat
  
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• MaryDiane Baker: No war vote, no Guard

  18-02-2026 22:50 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,There’s a bipartisan state-level effort in the Vermont House for the Defend the Guard Act, H.355. This bill declares that our Guard can only be deployed to participate in an armed conflict when the U.S. Congress has used its constitutional power to declare war. This power resides solely with Congress, not the White House. Two recent events bring this to the forefront and underscore the need to pass H.355 now. The White House deployed Vermont Air National Guard units to Pu
  
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• Can Vermont lawmakers ease the housing crisis by helping renters — and also landlords?

  18-02-2026 22:20 via vtdigger.org
  Tenant Nora Aronds outside her home in Burlington on Monday, February 16, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.Each time the nonrenewal notice came, Nora Aronds felt the same sinking feeling. The 29-year-old social services worker has lived in seven Burlington apartments in the nearly eight years since she graduated from the University of Vermont. Three of tho
  
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