Vermont news

• Waiting for prior authorization almost killed me

  07-06-2026 13:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,The recent commentary in VTDigger regarding prior authorization was spot on. Prior authorizations are indeed “prior aggravations” for both patients and physicians. As a patient who nearly lost his life from such aggravations 20 years ago, I know firsthand what this means.  Thousands of other Vermonters know it too: Insurance companies are practicing a very real form of healthcare rationing, not based on medical need, but on corporate profits, even as they try to con
  
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• One UVM lab’s surprise discovery led to flu science breakthrough

  07-06-2026 14:23 via vtdigger.org
  
  Emily Bruce, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, at the University of Vermont in Burlington in April 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerIt was by accident that Emily Bruce’s lab upended a long-held understanding of how the flu virus infects humans and stumbled across a finding that could set the stage for better prevention.That chance discovery evolved into a paper out this week in the Journal of Virology that details how different flu viruses enter and infe
  
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• Down the tubes: Vermont volunteers crawl culverts to outsmart the next flood

  07-06-2026 13:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  UVM students help clear leaves from a culvert as part of the Culvert Crawlers program. Photo courtesy Charis BokeA tube of corrugated metal running under a road might not look like much. But when the rain comes, these structures can mean the difference between a road that survives and one that washes out. Vermont has over 100,000 culverts doing the quiet daily work of protecting a vast network of state and town roads, including many gravel and dirt byways. Small towns in particular can str
  
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• Notch-blocker fines to increase tenfold

  07-06-2026 13:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  From 2009 to 2021, an average of 8.6 trucks have gotten stuck in the Notch each year, according to data from the Vermont Agency of Transportation. That number decreased in 2021 to only five stuck semis. File photo by Greg Popa/Stowe ReporterThis story by Tracy Brannstrom was first published in The News & Citizen on June 4, 2026.A new Vermont law will sharply increase penalties for oversized vehicles that illegally travel through Smugglers Notch.S.326, a wide-ranging motor vehicle bill passe
  
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• Play it again, Sam: A Vermont picture palace reels in new money with old movies

  07-06-2026 12:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  A coming-attractions poster for the 1950 film “Sunset Boulevard” looks over the lobby of Brattleboro’s historic Latchis Theatre. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — Ever since the Latchis Theatre debuted the day after the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, its operators have aimed to take the town by storm with one splashy film premiere after another.Consider “That Certain Age,” a now forgotten musical comedy “rushed from Hollywood by
  
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• South Burlington Planning Commission discusses data centers

  06-06-2026 12:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Other Paper on  June 4, 2026.As the conversation around digital data centers stirs strong emotions across the entire country, Vermont and some of its municipalities, including South Burlington, have hopped onto the conversation to get at least a bit of a handle on the rapidly evolving industry.That’s at least the initial approach South Burlington is taking. The city’s planning commission has outlined some initial land use re
  
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• Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center birthing pavilion to establish drug treatment program for patients

  06-06-2026 00:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Patient Pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in May 2025. Photo by James M. Patterson/Valley NewsThis story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on June 4, 2026.LEBANON, N.H. — Dartmouth Health recently announced plans to use $900,000 in federal funds to establish an inpatient substance use treatment program in the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.More babies born at DHMC have been exposed to substances in
  
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• County prosecutor and sheriff who rebuffed calls to resign don’t file for reelection

  05-06-2026 23:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos, left, and Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer have not filed paperwork to run for their current positions again. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTwo elected county law enforcement officials in Vermont who rebuffed calls to resign that came from political leaders across parties, including Gov. Phil Scott, did not file for reelection.Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos and Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, both Democrats, did not submi
  
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• ‘Swatting’ incidents becoming more common for school districts, law enforcement officials

  05-06-2026 22:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Law enforcement officials leave Montpelier High School in Feb. 2023, after giving the building the all-clear. Vermont police agencies responded to threats reported at multiple schools, which appeared to be hoax calls.File photo by Riley Robinson/VTDiggerThe calls arrived all the same: a garbled, AI-generated voice, speaking from the same script, warning seven Vermont schools of a bomb threat.In Burlington, Newport, Winooski and Montpelier, school buildings were cleared, classes were evacuated,
  
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• All gifts matched Saturday, June 6: Help send final books during VTDigger member drive

  05-06-2026 21:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Reader,We’re just 53 books away from our goal of sending 400 books to Vermont children through the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF).On Saturday, June 6, all gifts before midnight will be matched by a generous Vermont donor, doubling the impact of your donation for trusted Vermont news.
  Donate & send a book
  Your donation will:• Put a brand-new book into the hands of a Vermont child
  • Go twice as far to power independent reporting across the stateFor some child
  
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• Why Vermonters who leave can’t stay away

  05-06-2026 18:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Justin Neuman, who is a professor of literary studies at Eugene Lang College, The New School.  Everyone who makes the drive north on Interstate 91 knows the feeling. The chaos of Connecticut, funneled into the inevitable snarl at the hard turn in Springfield, Massachusetts — and then the hills appear, the billboards vanish, the traffic melts away, and you can breathe. You’re home.When I was growing up in Vermont, I looked at the Massachusetts, Connect
  
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• Cynthia S. Ross

  05-06-2026 17:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 11/22/1938Mount Jewett, Pa.Died: 06/01/2026Berlin, Vt.Details of service:Ceremony and burial will be at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph, Vt. for her family, military family and close friends on June 16 at 1 p.m.Cynthia Stimmel Ross of Barre, Vt., passed away peacefully on Monday June 1, 2026, at the age of 87. Born on November 22, 1938, she was the daughter of Eugene and Leocadia Stimmel. Cynthia led a life defined by dedicated service to her country and a compassionate
  
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• Musical chairs: Many Vermont House and Senate leaders won’t seek reelection

  05-06-2026 12:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  Senators bid farewell to each other after the Senate adjourned for the year at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, May 29, 2026. From left to right are Sen. Chris Mattos, R-Chittenden North; Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison; Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central; Sen Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor; Sen. Robert Norris, R-Franklin; and Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerLeadership in the Vermont Legislature is going to look a lot different next year.The top lawmakers in bo
  
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• Burlington officials defend police actions during ICE raid, but Police Commission pushes back

  05-06-2026 00:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Protesters scuffle with federal law enforcement agents and Vermont State Troopers in South Burlington on March 11, 2026. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA Burlington Police Department report released this week concluded that its officers didn’t use excessive force during an immigration enforcement action in South Burlington earlier this year.But in a response to the department’s report, the city’s Police Commission challenged some claims on which that determination was bas
  
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• Ex-deputy accused of short-circuiting murder trial now faces obstruction charge

  04-06-2026 23:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Lamoille County Courthouse in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA former Lamoille County deputy sheriff who was accused of improperly questioning a murder suspect while transporting him to trial has been indicted on three felony charges.Christopher Turner, 43, of Johnson, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lamoille County Superior criminal court in Hyde Park to two counts of obstruction of justice and a single charge of false swearing. It appears from the three-count indictm
  
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• 80-hour weeks and drowning in debt: UVM Medical Center resident doctors rally for a new contract

  04-06-2026 23:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Union doctors and staff workers at the University of Vermont Medical Center, along with their supporters, call for a fair contract during a rally in Burlington on Thursday, June 4, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerNearly 70 early-career doctors rallied outside UVM Medical Center in Burlington on Thursday to put pressure on the hospital’s administration to agree to a contract that’s been in negotiations since January. Many doctors and union activists marched, chanted and wav
  
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• Margaret Harrington Tamulonis

  04-06-2026 22:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 01/25/1943New York, NYDied: 05/29/2026Burlington, VTDetails of service:Margaret Harrington Tamulonis, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, actress, activist, volunteer, and storyteller, passed away peacefully on May 29, 2026 at the UVM Medical Center in Burlington after a long illness, surrounded by the love of her family. She was 83.She was a loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend whose intelligence, humor, strength and warmth enriched the lives of everyone who knew her. Sh
  
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• Vermont eyes South Burlington for new youth facility. A state advocate calls it a ‘detention center.’

  04-06-2026 22:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  A rendering of the proposed Green Mountain Youth Campus when it was considered in Vergennes. Image courtesy of Vermont Department for Children and Families
  Vermont plans to build a permanent locked facility for young people involved in the state’s justice system in South Burlington, the state announced this week. The 14-bed facility, called the Green Mountain Youth Center, would hold youth ages 12 through 18, according to an announcement from the Vermont Department for Children and F
  
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• Vermont’s governing class is destroying the state it claims to serve

  04-06-2026 22:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Matt Swenson, who is the founder of Omnidex Solutions, a risk diagnostics company. He lives in Vermont.Vermont is dying by its own hand.Not dramatically, not all at once, but steadily, in the way ideological rot always works. It hollows things out from the inside while the surface still looks functional. The farms are still here. The mountains are still here. But the people who built this place — who worked it, paid for it, defended it — are being pushed out by
  
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• Vermont’s proposed school mergers aren’t really voluntary

  04-06-2026 20:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Nina Antin, who is the parent of a Long Trail School student. They divide their time between Manchester and a farm on the Arlington border with White Creek, New York.Vermont’s new education law, H.955 — which has passed the House and Senate and is now awaiting the governor’s signature — has been described by its supporters as a voluntary framework, one that gives communities the freedom to study consolidation, vote on their future and chart their ow
  
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• Affordable housing complex opens in downtown Waterbury

  04-06-2026 11:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Local and state officials celebrate the opening of the Marsh House Apartments, a 26-unit affordable housing complex in the heart of downtown Waterbury, on June 3, 2026. Photo by Carly Berlin, Vermont Public/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.A new affordable housing complex will soon be home to more than two dozen residents in the heart of downtown Waterbury.Local and state officials celebra
  
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• The moral purpose of education

  04-06-2026 01:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Steve Deal, who is a retired naval officer living in Franklin County. He previously served as deputy chief learning officer for the Department of the Navy.Earlier this year, in a quiet decision no cable news network will cover, a small Swanton church issued a bulletin in which it said, “The steering committee for Saint Mary’s Academy regretfully announces that we are putting plans for a Catholic school in Franklin County on hold.” The committee blamed no
  
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• Don’t buy the nuclear sales pitch

  04-06-2026 00:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,In response to Louis Varricchio’s recent letter to VTDigger regarding the moratorium on nuclear energy passed 20 years ago, a few thoughts and facts might be in order. I was the lead lobbyist who worked for seven years to close the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. I learned a lot about nuclear plants and those who promote them. This plant was old and leaking. We were told not to worry, everything was just fine. It wasn’t. 
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  Today, Vermont has the du
  
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• Ex-sheriff’s deputy banned from police work over ‘trading cards’ of suspects

  03-06-2026 23:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Illuminated police lights. Photo by Adobe StockA former Lamoille County sheriff’s deputy has been banned by a state panel from police work in Vermont after being accused of using booking photos and other images to make “trading cards” of suspects who had been arrested. The same panel also agreed on a written warning to a member of the Rutland City Police Department who faced allegations of violating the state-required Fair and Impartial Policing Policy by contacting feder
  
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• At Burlington Jazz Festival, curator Jason Moran turns spotlight to youth musicians

  03-06-2026 22:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jazz musician Jason Moran rehearses with members of the Vermont Youth Orchestra in Colchester on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTo understand what’s different about this year’s Burlington Jazz Festival, note the location of Saturday afternoon’s performance featuring The Bandwagon: the A-Dog waterfront skatepark.The Skate Jam was the idea of, and stars, the festival’s new curator — pianist, composer and bandleader Jason Moran, known in the mus
  
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• At Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, curator Jason Moran turns spotlight to youth musicians

  03-06-2026 22:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jazz musician Jason Moran rehearses with members of the Vermont Youth Orchestra in Colchester on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTo understand what’s different about this year’s Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, note the location of Saturday afternoon’s performance featuring The Bandwagon: the A-Dog waterfront skatepark.The Skate Jam was the idea of, and stars, the festival’s new curator — pianist, composer and bandleader Jason Moran, known i
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Celebrating and defending protest, America’s founding principle

  03-06-2026 22:23 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 or wherever you get podcasts.Former Greenpeace leaders and authors Andre Carothers and Annie Leonard. Photo by Brooke AndersonAs the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, two veteran activists are celebrating one of the country’s foundational principles: the right to protest, as emb
  
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• Invest in journalism that makes a difference for Vermonters

  03-06-2026 21:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Reader,Our reporting begins where the official version begins to fray. A number doesn’t reconcile, an answer arrives too smoothly, officials won’t talk. And when we start asking questions, we keep digging until we find answers. Reader donations make this work possible.Until Saturday, June 6, your gift will also send a new book to a Vermont child through the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). Will you help keep local news strong and support the news readers o
  
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• William Eagan

  03-06-2026 17:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born: 12/04/1943Rutland, Vt.Died: 05/26/2026Colchester, Vt.On May 26, 2026, William (“Bill”) Edward Eagan, Jr. passed from this world. Or, as the man who prized saying things just as they are would have put it — he died.Bill entered the world on December 4, 1943, the son of Margaret Anne Garneau Eagan and William Edward Eagan. Separated by the ravages of war, like many of that era, father and son would not meet until well after Bill’s second birthday. World-defining conf
  
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• Hundreds of housing units in the works at closely-watched project in Burlington’s South End

  03-06-2026 17:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  A rendering of the South End Coordinated Redevelopment Project, courtesy of Andrew Foley, development director at Jonathan Rose Companies. Credit: GOA Architecture.This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.A long-awaited housing development that could bring hundreds of new apartments to a series of empty lots in Burlington’s South End neighborhood is beginning to come together.The first phase of the
  
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