Vermont news

• Winooski school district rallies to help 2nd-grader detained by ICE

  02-12-2025 02:44 via vtdigger.org
  A federal agent wears a badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Photo by Yuki Iwamura/APThe Winooski School District is calling for the rapid release of a second-grade student who was allegedly detained, with his mother, by federal immigration agents during the Thanksgiving break last week.“They were traveling out of state, they made a wrong turn and were stopped and taken into ICE custody,” said Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria, who has since received information they are bein
  
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• Steven Gaarder: Moving Vermont school taxes into the modern era

  10-12-2025 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Editor,The latest Education Finance Update from the Joint Fiscal Office projects a school property tax hike of nearly 12% that is, for many, unwelcome, but unsurprising given that costs are going up for everything. So it’s been proposed that we move money from the general fund into the education fund, which we did last year and have done in some previous years as well. I say: good plan.The use of property taxes to pay for education made good sense when most of people’s income c
  
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• Parents and providers fear Rutland Regional Medical Center’s planned pediatric closure would jeopardize patient health and drive up costs

  10-12-2025 00:00 via vtdigger.org
  Rutland Regional Medical Center. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerFor Ned Coletta, the potential closure of pediatric beds at Rutland Regional Medical Center is not a question of regulatory power and hospital autonomy. It’s a question of whether his 4-year-old will have an appropriate place to stay while doctors manage and monitor his airway condition. It’s a question of how he and his wife could balance the two-hour drive back and forth to another hospital with caring for their
  
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• As Vermont’s referees step down, their spots remain largely vacant

  09-12-2025 23:27 via vtdigger.org
  South Burlington High School Girls Basketball practice on Nov. 18, 2025. Photo by Annalisa Madonia/CNSBusy Anderson is a reporter with the Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.Vermont is in the midst of an alarming referee shortage — a problem unfolding nationwide, but one that has hit hard in a state with a small and aging workforce.Between 2018 and 2023, the National Federation of State High School Association
  
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• Stowe EMS raises its rates to offset the hassles of insurance

  09-12-2025 22:51 via vtdigger.org
  Stowe Emergency Medical Services is raising its rates to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of aiding people in the area. Photo by Gordon Miller/Stowe ReporterThis story by Patrick Bilow was first published in the Stowe Reporter on Dec. 4, 2025.Stowe Emergency Medical Services is raising its rates to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of aiding people in the area.According to Assistant EMS Chief Scott Brinkman, the gap between billed revenue and the cost of providing services ha
  
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• Fire triggers sprinkler flooding, displacing dozens of Rutland residents in frigid weather

  09-12-2025 21:57 via vtdigger.org
  Sheldon Towers on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. Photo by Greta Solsaa/VTDiggerRUTLAND CITY — On a freezing Monday morning, around six dozen people were forced out of their Sheldon Towers apartments after an isolated stove top fire set off the sprinkler system, causing significant water damage throughout the building.The Rutland City Fire Department responded to the scene Monday morning around 11 am, and found the sprinkler system extinguished the fire on the sixth floor, said Fire Department Chi
  
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• Vermont Democratic Party head calls for resignation of Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos

  09-12-2025 00:28 via vtdigger.org
  Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos is arraigned on a DUI charge in Addison County Superior criminal court in Middlebury on Feb. 12, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Credit: Glenn RussellThe head of the Vermont Democratic Party is calling on Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos to resign after VTDigger published a story Monday in which sexual assault survivors criticized her handling of their cases and described ethics complaints filed against her.“Eva Vek
  
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• Winooski School District inundated with racist and violent messages after raising Somali flag, superintendent says

  09-12-2025 00:09 via vtdigger.org
  A Somali flag was raised next to a U.S. flag at the Winooski school campus on Friday, Dec. 5. Photo courtesy of Winooski School DistrictThe Winooski School District took down its website and disconnected many of its office phones Monday after receiving what its superintendent described as a flood of racist and violent messages in response to the district’s decision to raise a Somali flag.Many of the messages appear to be part of a coordinated effort to target the district, where about 9%
  
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• Superior Court judge dismisses former Brattleboro principal’s wrongful termination lawsuit

  08-12-2025 23:58 via vtdigger.org
  A tent for pandemic-era outdoor learning stands in front of Brattleboro Union High School. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerA Vermont Superior Court Judge dismissed a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former Brattleboro Union High School principal against his former school district.Principal Steve Perrin was fired in November 2022 after the Windham Southeast School District accused him of mishandling an investigation into a sexual assault. A former student also accused him of harassi
  
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• Different roads, same roots: Twins from Pownal forge independent futures

  08-12-2025 22:10 via vtdigger.org
  Amara and Nick with their mom at Amara’s wedding.Amara Chester and Nick Armstrong are twins. They say that many assume they share the exact same interests—but when it came to their education and career, each followed their own path. They grew up in Pownal in the furthest southwest corner of the state. From a young age (thanks to a steady message from their mom), Amara and Nick knew that education could open doors for them. “Mom was clear she didn’t want us to stay i
  
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• Rutland County Rep. Jim Harrison resigns

  08-12-2025 21:47 via vtdigger.org
  Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, listens as the House Appropriations takes testimony at the Statehouse in Montpelier on March 30, 2023. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerRep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, plans to step down as representative of the Rutland-11 district —  comprising Killington, Chittenden, Mendon and Pittsfield — according to an announcement last week. Harrison was appointed to the seat by Phil Scott in 2017, after his predecessor, former Rep. Job Tate, resigned
  
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• VTDigger announces new partnership to keep Vermonters warm and informed

  08-12-2025 21:27 via vtdigger.org
  Dear Readers,The reality is that cold weather doesn’t affect all Vermonters equally. For families already struggling to afford heat, a single cold snap can become life threatening.This winter, VTDigger is launching a two-week campaign to keep Vermonters warm and informed through a partnership with the Warmth Support Program of Vermont’s Community Action Agencies. Donate to VTDigger by Dec. 25 and your gift will help heat a home for a day and keep our journalism free for everyon
  
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• Vermonter killed while serving as medic in war-torn Ukraine

  08-12-2025 17:53 via vtdigger.org
  A sign in support of Ukraine stands in Brattleboro, home to a medic killed while serving in the war-torn country. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerA 33-year-old Vermonter was killed this month while serving as a medic in Ukraine, according to his parents.Andrew David Mario, of Brattleboro, died Dec. 3 while assisting an international brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard in the Donetsk region’s Pokrovsky district, said his mother and father, Heidi and Michael Mario.Andrew Mario is
  
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• Finding freedom: Trail Finder expands access to the outdoors

  08-12-2025 17:01 via vtdigger.org
  Enock Glidden, an accessibility consultant, visits trails in Vermont and writes about his experiences on Trail Finder’s Trail Talk page.At Oakledge Park in Burlington, accessibility consultant Enock Glidden rolls onto the trail with measuring tools in hand. He checks the grade of the paved path, looks for tight turns near the shoreline, notes surface changes, and photographs rest areas under the cottonwoods.Soon after, those observations appear on Trail Finder, a free-to-use website used
  
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• Caitlin Macleod-Bluver: On redistricting, recognizing the nuances of an issue is a success, not a failure

  08-12-2025 13:02 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Caitlin Macleod-Bluver, of Moretown. She is an English and history teacher at Winooski High School, and 2025 Vermont state teacher of the year.In my classroom, we do a lot of challenging learning. When given a hard task, we spend time reading multiple sources, asking questions, interviewing stakeholders, listening to diverse perspectives and synthesizing multiple perspectives. A good learner revises their thinking when given new information; we will often use sentence
  
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• These Vermont sexual assault survivors sought justice. Instead, one victim said the prosecutor’s approach was “like a ‘screw you’”

  08-12-2025 12:52 via vtdigger.org
  A Bristol small business owner said she hoped she and her 15-year-old daughter would be treated respectfully when they pursued a criminal complaint against the teenager who sexually assaulted her daughter. Instead, the business owner says she was sworn at by Eva Vekos, the embattled state’s attorney in Addison County. State’s attorneys are elected in every county in Vermont to lead the office that works with police and sheriffs departments to prosecute cases in court. &ldq
  
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• Barbara Benton: Do not judge an entire group of people based on the actions of one individual

  07-12-2025 13:03 via vtdigger.org
  This commentary is by Barbara Benton. She is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in Burlington, as well as a volunteer for the Vermont Afghan Alliance and other local organizations. In light of the recent violence in Washington, D.C. and the heightened anti-immigrant sentiment being promoted at the highest levels of this country, I want to reflect to Vermonters some of my experiences with the Afghans I have come to know.My association with Afghanistan started about 16 years ago whe
  
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• Vermont’s ‘crack climbing mecca’ deep in the Northeast Kingdom gains popularity

  07-12-2025 12:56 via vtdigger.org
  Deep in the Northeast Kingdom lie the Kingdom Heritage Lands, 132,000 acres of former and current timberland conserved for public access since 1998. The remote and undeveloped area is mainly the domain of wildlife, logging trucks, hunters and snowmobilers.Recently, however, increasing numbers of rock climbers have frequented a stunning band of chiseled granite towers set in the middle of the Kingdom Heritage Lands, at a cliff 30 minutes south of the Canadian border and on the northern edge of t
  
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• South Burlington couple donate tree for Church Street holiday season

  07-12-2025 12:52 via vtdigger.org
  Elsie and Raymond Whitney next to what remains of the “magnificent specimen” of a blue spruce they donated to Church Street in Burlington for the holiday season. Photo by Liberty Darr/Other PaperThis story by Liberty Darr was fist published in the Other Paper on Dec. 4, 2025.Raymond and Elsie Whitney take good care of the lawn outside of their South Burlington home. In the summer months, it is alive with a blossoming display of zinnias and in the winter months, steadily manicured unt
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘Alive’

  07-12-2025 12:50 via vtdigger.org
  “Starglow,” by Taylor Crafton
  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 [email protected]
  
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• Danville residents vote overwhelmingly against shuttering high school grades at town school

  07-12-2025 01:05 via vtdigger.org
  Danville residents cast their votes on whether to shutter high school grades at a local school during a referendum on Dec. 6, 2025. Photo by Corey McDonald/VTDigger.Danville residents voted overwhelmingly on Saturday against shuttering high school grades at the Danville School.Well over 500 residents cast paper ballot votes during a townwide referendum at Danville School, with 480 votes against a measure to close high school grades versus 75 in favor, according to Danville’s moderator Tob
  
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• Finalist for Montpelier city manager job is a defendant in $5 million lawsuit 

  06-12-2025 01:16 via vtdigger.org
  Eric Duffy. Photo courtesy of the City of MontpelierThis story by Carly Ocasso was first published in The Bridge on Dec. 4, 2025.One of the three finalists to become Montpelier’s next city manager is facing a $5 million lawsuit stemming from a decision he made at his current job. After hours of interviews and some procedural controversy, Montpelier’s City Council chose three finalists on Wednesday to replace former City Manager Bill Fraser: Pinole, CA City Manager Kelcey Young,
  
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• Vermont health officials reaffirm importance of hepatitis B vaccine after federal advisory panel recommends delays

  06-12-2025 00:29 via vtdigger.org
  A parent holds his 16-month-old daughter as she receives the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 21, 2022. File photo by Rick Bowmer/APThe federal panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine recommendations made one of its biggest moves on vaccine policy to date on Friday, saying that rather than vaccinate all newborns against hepatitis B at birth, parents and caregivers should delay the vaccine series until their child is 2 months
  
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• Audit finds more Vermont voters assigned to wrong state House, Senate districts 

  05-12-2025 23:07 via vtdigger.org
  MONTPELIER — An audit of local voter rolls prompted by the error-plagued race for a Vermont House seat in Bennington County last year uncovered 100 more cases across the state in which people had been assigned to vote in the wrong legislative district.As a result, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, which conducted the review, is calling for additional checks of town-managed voter rolls each time the state conducts the decennial process of redrawing legislative districts after
  
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• Audit finds more Vermont voters assigned to wrong state House and Senate districts 

  05-12-2025 23:07 via vtdigger.org
  MONTPELIER — An audit of local voter rolls prompted by the error-plagued race for a Vermont House seat in Bennington County last year uncovered 100 more cases across the state in which people had been assigned to vote in the wrong legislative district.As a result, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, which conducted the review, is calling for additional checks of town-managed voter rolls each time the state conducts the decennial process of redrawing legislative districts after
  
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• State panel permanently bans ex-deputy sheriff from police work following road rage conviction 

  05-12-2025 22:46 via vtdigger.org
  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Chelsea on Aug. 22, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA former Orange County Sheriff’s deputy has been permanently banned from working as a law enforcement officer in Vermont nearly three years after he was sentenced to jail following his criminal convictions in a road rage case. The Vermont Criminal Justice Council voted at its most recent meeting last month to take the action against William Pine, according to Christopher Bric
  
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• Former state rep John Morley appointed to Orleans County Senate seat

  05-12-2025 22:39 via vtdigger.org
  John Morley. Photo via the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority websiteJohn Morley, a longtime village of Orleans employee and former state representative, will fill Orleans County’s vacant seat in the Vermont Senate. Gov. Phil Scott announced his appointment in a press release on Friday.Morley replaces Sam Douglass, who resigned in scandal this fall when his involvement in a national Young Republicans group chat replete with racist and bigoted messages was revealed in a Politico ex
  
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• As bitter cold hits Vermont, new shelters open for the first time this season

  05-12-2025 22:31 via vtdigger.org
  Cold settles in on Pearl Street in St. Johnsbury on Jan. 11, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTemperatures remain bitterly cold across Vermont after extreme cold hit the region on Thursday.Tyler Danzig, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington, said temperatures dropped into the negative teens on Thursday night, with negative 20s across the central and northern areas of Vermont. Wind chills reached -25 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of Caledonia County and -13 degre
  
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• Tyler Baker: Why Putney is an epicenter of progressive education in America

  05-12-2025 18:20 via vtdigger.org
  Tyler Baker is an assistant professor of history at Landmark College in Putney. He is the author of a forthcoming history of Landmark College, published by the University of Vermont Press.Putney is, on the surface, another rural Southeastern Vermont town, but there is more going on in the town than meets the eye — and has been for nearly a century.  The dirt roads, the rolling hills, and the single general store — they do not give the impression of a place that would reshape Am
  
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• In Lamoille County, property buyout process offers little solace for some flood survivors

  05-12-2025 12:55 via vtdigger.org
  Matt Lacefield surveys the wreckage of his home in Johnson after a flooding event on July 11, 2023. Courtesy photoThis story by Aaron Calvin was first published in News & Citizen on Dec. 4, 2025.Nearly two and a half years ago, Mandy Lacefield and her husband, Matt, woke in the night as dark water seeped into their home in Johnson.Lacefield and Matt, trapped in their home on River Road West overlooking the confluence of the Lamoille and Gihon rivers, had to be evacuated the night the river
  
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