Vermont News: Recent Episodes
VTDigger
You might’ve noticed that Vermont News is taking a hiatus. In the meantime, visit VTDigger.org for the latest headlines, and listen to our other podcasts The Deeper Dig and The Vermont Conversation. Thank you!
ALSO: As part of a widespread plan to curb crime in Vermont, the state Department of Public Safety is poised to launch a public dashboard identifying communities with the highest volume of police calls; Signs promoting community control of police were included as part of a press conference last week held by Burlington City Council Progressives; Thirteen Middlebury College students are spending their January term learning about entrepreneurship.
ALSO: A new bill would require the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive program to report on what’s been called “proprietary” data; The Vermont Legislature is considering whether to allow continued pandemic-era flexibility in how and when the state’s 247 cities and towns decide local leaders, spending and special articles; Arguments about what documents have been shared and scanned stalled a hearing Monday on Monsanto’s motion to temporarily halt demolition of the former Burlington High School to preserve evidence in a high-profile contamination case.
ALSO: Colchester has pulled out of an effort to regionalize emergency dispatch services in Chittenden County; Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint was sworn into office in the wee hours of Saturday morning, more than three days after she was expected to take her seat; Green Mountain Transit plans to start charging fares this summer on its bus routes in Chittenden County for the first time since the pandemic started.
ALSO: Republican Gov. Phil Scott delivered his fourth inaugural address on Thursday; Three of the Vermont Senate’s standing committees have new chairs this year; Two proposals to amend South Hero’s development regulations have renewed debate in this small island community about the density and possible locations of future building projects.
ALSO: The Vermont Department of Health reported Wednesday that Covid-19 community levels rose to “medium” this week; After approving two contradictory ballot questions in November, Plymouth residents will revote later this month on the future of their town offices; Brattleboro leaders plan to ask taxpayers to fund a “to be determined” budget line item for ambulance service.
ALSO: The state Department of Health plans to end walk-in Covid and flu vaccine clinics by the end of the month; The opening of the adult recreational cannabis market in Vermont in October is prompting proposals of reforming the medical cannabis program; Officials estimate the second phase of an upgrade to Montpelier’s wastewater treatment plant will reduce the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions by around 2,000 metric tons per year by using methane from the solid waste to power the plant’s operations.
ALSO: Some Vermont sugarers are watching sap production begin; It’ll be a historic week in both Montpelier and Washington, D.C.; Across the U.S., biased zoning has sited many manufactured housing communities in precarious “fringe environments."
ALSO: Winooski joins in the national art project called Welcome Blanket, which provides quilts for new immigrants; Burlington’s Cannabis Control Commission say they don’t have enough information to make decisions; Dr. Sunil “Sunny” Eappen (EE-pen) spent his first weeks on the job as the UVM Health Network’s new leader criss-crossing Lake Champlain from Vermont to New York and back.
ALSO: Democracy For America will soon close its doors for good; As the avian flu continues to impact wildlife in Vermont, state officials are warning Vermonters to continue taking precautions around birds; As the upcoming legislative session approaches, lawmakers and advocates are gearing up for a pitched debate over how best to respond to a Supreme Court ruling on religious schools.
ALSO: Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary was decimated during the holiday storm, but they plan to rebuild; Brattleboro Memorial Hospital staff rescued a barred owl stuck in a car grill in what they called a 'Christmas miracle'; The Brattleboro Retreat will lease a recently closed assisted living facility, the Holton Home, to provide temporary housing for visiting doctors and nurses.
ALSO: Animal rescue organizations across Vermont say dog adoptions have slowed way down this year, while the number of dogs arriving at their shelters has been rising; Property crimes in Rutland have risen dramatically in 2022 compared to recent years; No injuries were reported from a shot fired inside a Burlington bar early Monday morning.
ALSO: Orange County Sheriff-elect George Contois attempted to take over the position early; The Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Orange County state’s attorney have cleared a Ludlow police officer who fatally shot a man following a chase in August; In 2018, lawmakers required all school districts to use the same financial and human resources software. A new report says that law should be repealed.
ALSO: The Green Mountain Care Board trimmed OneCare Vermont's budget, with more cuts expected; A feasibility study found that a proposed Brattleboro Fire Department takeover of local EMS services may cost taxpayers more per year than they’ve paid Rescue Inc. annually; Gordon St. Hilaire has resigned from the Williston Selectboard after pleading not guilty earlier this month to stalking his ex-girlfriend and vandalizing her car.
ALSO: Ariel Quiros is asking a judge to reconsider his five-year sentence after serving a little less than five months for his role in the Jay Peak EB-5 fraud case; A former teacher at Green Mountain Union High School in Chester has pleaded guilty to possession of child sexual abuse materials; More than a year after a Maine toddler died when he accidentally shot himself with a gun he found at a Barre home, the child’s parents are suing the homeowner and her employer, claiming both neglected to make sure the weapon was stored safely.
ALSO: The state’s largest health insurer announced Tuesday that it will not contract with OneCare Vermont in 2023; Attorneys for Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer, filed a motion on Monday, seeking to temporarily halt the demolition of the closed-down Burlington High School building; Vermont Public is buying Northern Vermont University’s radio station.
ALSO: The Vermont Legislature may rule on sports betting this year; As Vermont’s new attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer prepare to be sworn in come January, they have announced a slate of new deputies; Darn Tough Vermont, the Northfield sock manufacturer, is getting recognition for its commitment to hiring and retaining military veterans.
ALSO: In an effort to recruit and retain staff amid a national workforce shortage, the University of Vermont Health Network has broken ground on a second new apartment building for employees; Five City Council seats are up for grabs in Burlington in March, and Democrats picked their nominees during a virtual caucus on Thursday night; Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger intends to try again to make interim police chief Jon Murad the permanent head of the Burlington Police Department.
ALSO: A legislative panel has given Gov. Phil Scott’s administration the green light to wind down rental assistance and emergency housing services as federal dollars dry up; Brattleboro’s police department is testing a program in which civilians take over roles that had been occupied by police officers; St. Johnsbury police, responding to a report that an individual may have been shot, found a person dead at a Hastings Street home early Wednesday.
ALSO: Vermont entrepreneur and environmentalist Will Raap died Monday night; Federal prosecutors allege that Sam Bankman-Fried used stolen money to fund his political spending; A pickup truck collided with two cars and then hit the side of Babes Bar in Bethel on Saturday.
ALSO: The company that operates Vermont’s electric transmission system plans to replace a key power line in Franklin County over the next several years; A new program announced this week will add more incentives for Vermonters to weatherproof their homes; The Vermont Community Broadband Board is asking Vermont residents to check their addresses on the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map to see if their internet speed and provider availability are reported accurately.
ALSO: Police have charged a Burlington man in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Abubakar Sharrif; Burlington has received three proposals for redevelopment of the shuttered Memorial Auditorium; A video showing citizens violently apprehending an alleged shoplifter at the Rutland Home Depot has highlighted frustration over crime and the vigilantism that can crop up alongside it.
ALSO: An off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputy who fired two gunshots into an occupied Jeep in a 2019 road rage incident has been sentenced to at least 18 months in jail; According to the state Department of Health’s weekly surveillance report, Vermont’s Covid-19 levels are “low"; The Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying Prevention Advisory Council is in the middle of an existential crisis.
ALSO: A Green Mountain Power employee died last Thursday in Halifax while working to restore power during a windstorm; The South Burlington City Council has approved changes in the city’s land development regulations that pave the way for Tesla to open a dealership; The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office has received several reports of scam calls telling residents they have missed jury duty and face arrest unless they pay a $1,200 fine.
ALSO: Bread and Puppet Theater has acquired a 23-acre property that borders its farm in Glover, enabling the Northeast Kingdom institution to expand in the coming months; The Burlington City Council approved a plan Monday night to redraw its districts; Two years after battling cancer, Rutland Mayor David Allaire is seeking a fourth term in office on a platform that includes public safety and housing.
ALSO: Vermont’s Agency of Education has reached a final settlement in two lawsuits seeking to allow public money to pay tuition at religious schools; Vermont’s education fund is brimming with a surplus of nearly $64 million, but Vermonters’ property tax bills are slated to grow in the coming year; Legislators are looking to raise the tipped minimum wage.
Plus: Lawmakers contemplate ‘third-rail’ reforms amid housing crisis; Beating the rain, a record-setting Killington World Cup reigns; Phil Scott launches new equity initiative focused on Vermont municipalities
ALSO: Several Franklin County state legislators say they’re weighing whether to support impeaching the county’s newly elected sheriff next year and removing him from office; According to the Federal Communications Commission, more than 95% of Vermont households have broadband internet access, but state officials say that's an overestimation; After Thanksgiving, Irasburg Village School will lose its only middle school math teacher.
ALSO: A community of emergency housing “pods” on Elmwood Avenue in Burlington won’t open until early January; An off-duty Rutland County sheriff’s deputy shot early Sunday morning in upstate New York after police said he refused officers’ orders to drop his weapon has been identified as Vito Caselnova; The clearcutting of 4 acres near Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock has drawn the ire of neighbors.
ALSO: Essex, Essex Junction, Shelburne, South Burlington and Williston are banding together to form a new communications union district; An off-duty Rutland County sheriff’s deputy refused police officers’ commands to drop his weapon after a gunfight outside a bar in upstate New York early Sunday morning, prompting the officers to open fire; Organizations helping to keep Vermonters sheltered briefed lawmakers Friday on a bleak picture of conditions on the ground, as the state grapples with dwindling federal assistance amid a historic housing crisis.
ALSO: Vermont State Police say one man is dead following a house explosion in Newfane early Friday morning; The Burlington City Council has been struggling since January to find consensus on how to redraw district lines; Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to take over as chair of one of the U.S. Senate’s most influential policy committees.
ALSO: Voters said no to combining Addison Northwest and Mt. Abraham school districts; Hundreds of property owners in the Bennington area have already received money from a multimillion-dollar settlement in a chemical contamination case; The purple crowberry, a small alpine shrub, was last documented in Vermont in 1908 — until a hiker rediscovered it on Mount Mansfield.
ALSO: For most of Vermont’s cold-weather months, the state will once again pay to house Vermonters experiencing homelessness in hotels and motels regardless of the daily forecast; The November election was historic for Vermont, with record turnover among office-holders, and a record turnout of voters for a midterm election; The former coal-fired power plant on the Burlington waterfront was officially unveiled as the Moran Frame on Tuesday.
ALSO: U.S. Rep.-elect Becca Balint is donating to charity a $2,900 campaign contribution she received from FTX cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried; GlobalFoundries sent a memo last week to employees around the world warning that it intends to reduce its workforce; A historic mill complex in Bennington has been acquired for $5.75 million.
ALSO: Now that Burlington voters have overwhelmingly approved a $165 million bond to help build a new high school, the school district will move toward completing design work and demolishing the old high school; Residents are furious that the town of Chelsea has lost its road crew just as winter is approaching and soon, the town could also be missing a selectboard; The High Street Mural Project is a $25,000 collaboration between local designers and newly resettled Afghan artists.
ALSO: U.S. Senator-elect Peter Welch and U.S. Representative-elect Becca Balint couched their excitement with deep concern over some Republicans’ continued denial of election results and the future of American democracy; A former Springfield police officer’s law enforcement certification was revoked Thursday by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council; VTDigger has promoted Paul Heintz and Maggie Cassidy to its top newsroom positions.
ALSO: Vermonters split their tickets in a big way Tuesday night, reelecting Republican Gov. Phil Scott by his widest margin yet and handing Democrats commanding, veto-proof super-majorities in the Vermont House and Senate; The 2022 deer archery season is on pace to match the state record, and wild game processing businesses in the state are having trouble keeping up; According to the attorneys who sued the Vermont Department of Corrections, the state agency is not meeting the requirements of a settlement over treatment of incarcerated individuals with hepatitis C.
ALSO: Becca Balint made history Tuesday night, becoming Vermont’s first woman and first openly gay person elected to Congress; Congressman Peter Welch is set to become U.S. Senator Peter Welch; Vermont Gov. Phil Scott again cruised to an easy reelection on Tuesday to win a fourth two-year term in office.
ALSO: The Chittenden Solid Waste District's drive to win voter approval of a $22 million bond to finance a recycling center in Williston has been complicated by state election laws; One man is dead after a shooting and a car crash in Rutland on Monday; Xylazine has become a growing factor in fatal opioid overdoses in Vermont.
ALSO: Daniel Banyai told a judge that he has not removed most of the 20 or so unpermitted structures located on his property despite court orders to do so; State officials are looking for ideas for keeping large trucks out of Smugglers Notch; Jonathan Farrell, who has worked at the Committee on Temporary Shelter in Burlington for 11 years, will be the organization's new executive director.
ALSO: Cities and towns across Vermont have either adopted or are considering resolutions requesting the power to regulate guns; Interstate 89 in Richmond south of Exit 11 is back to its regular traffic pattern in both directions; A Burlington man accused of killing his wife and seriously injuring her mother in a meat cleaver attack more than five years ago has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
ALSO: A bear attacked a person in Winhall on Wednesday evening; Liam Madden’s former GOP rival has called for his withdrawal over campaign donation scheme; Emergency preparedness, assessing threats and responding to active threats were all up for discussion at Wednesday’s daylong Governor’s School Safety Conference.
ALSO: The Vermont Supreme Court decided last week that Caledonia County Probate Judge William Cobb will lose his salary beginning this week; The University of Vermont has been included in a $79,000 federal grant to study the impact of climate change on manufactured-home communities; The new chair of Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board didn’t start out working in health care.
ALSO: Montpelier Police Chief Brian Peete is leaving for Kansas after just over two years of heading the police force in the capital city; A jury deliberated for about six hours Monday without reaching a verdict in the case of a Burlington man accused of killing his wife and seriously injuring her mother with a meat cleaver; Nearly 90 forlorn snowplows still lack names of their own, and the Vermont Agency of Transportation is turning to the kids again to remedy that.
ALSO: In a competitive Franklin County House race, a Statehouse advocate is challenging a two-term incumbent; For the third time in five years, the Franklin West Supervisory Union is asking Fairfax voters to fund major renovations at the district’s largest school; Liam Madden, the Republican nominee for Vermont’s lone U.S. House seat, described in detail a self-funded scheme to inflate his campaign donations during the primary cycle on air.
ALSO: More than 100,000 Vermonters have already voted in this year’s general election; Vermont students’ reading and math scores dropped between 2019 and 2022; The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has filed permits to demolish the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington.
ALSO: Democrat David Potter and Republican state Rep. Art Peterson are political opponents, but they’re also neighbors; Department of Corrections data shows that nine juveniles have spent more than 100 cumulative days in Vermont’s adult prisons since 2020; A 19-year-old Burlington man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Hussein Mubarak.
ALSO: The Peace and Justice Center’s waterfront store in Burlington is slated to close this December; State Sen. Joe Benning insists he doesn’t want to run for governor; Paul Rumley's obituary triggered many memories of a bygone era.
ALSO: State regulators have cleared the way for GlobalFoundries to set up its own electric utility; State lawmakers voted Monday to release $2.5 million in emergency funds to help schools deal with PCBs; John Klar has used his battles with Randolph schools over critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, transgender rights and equity as his clarion call in his run for the state Senate.
ALSO: A fired Franklin County Sheriff’s Department captain, caught on video in August kicking a person in custody, has been cited into court on a charge of simple assault; A Brandon man accused of threatening to shoot his neighbors was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison; The Burlington City Council has endorsed a plan to connect Battery and Pine streets by potentially removing part of the Independent Block building.
ALSO: Democrat Katherine Sims and Republican Vicki Strong are facing off in the only race in the state where an incumbent is guaranteed to lose; A number of business owners who supply wood to Ryegate Power Station say they haven’t received timely payments from Stored Solar, the facility’s owner; A man arrested last week in South Burlington is now facing murder charges in the fatal shootings of a former Vermont couple in New Hampshire in April.
ALSO: TenFold Engineering wants to revolutionize the construction of modular structures from Springfield, Vermont’s once-storied hub of precision manufacturing; The president and longtime member of the Missisquoi River Basin Association has purchased and is renovating a building in Berkshire to provide affordable housing to his staff; Mike Pieciak must still reckon with a hefty piece of political baggage: his role regulating the Northeast Kingdom EB-5 projects that became the largest fraud in the state’s history.
ALSO: In announcing plans to sue the agrochemical company Monsanto, the Burlington School District joined many other municipalities and individuals seeking damages for contamination caused by PCBs; Despite his pledge last November not to accept any corporate PAC money, Vermont’s Democratic Rep. Peter Welch has continued to accept sizable campaign contributions from high-powered industry groups that frequently lobby Congress; The new owners of the long-stalled CityPlace development told the Burlington City Council on Monday night that construction would begin this fall.
ALSO: A 26-year-old man arrested Wednesday at the South Burlington Public Library is a “person of interest” in the murders of a former Vermont couple; Vermont and New York state police have arrested the man who authorities say has always been the prime suspect in the 1989 stabbing deaths of his in-laws in their Danby home; The Burlington School District announced Thursday it intends to sue Monsanto over contamination of Burlington High School via hazardous chemicals known as PCBs.
ALSO: The court-appointed receiver managing Jay Peak Resort and Burke Mountain Resort as they emerge from financial scandal is seeking more than $1 million; WCAX has deleted the online version of a news story that garnered national attention and provoked a barrage of transphobic messages toward a transgender Randolph student and her family; Bennington County was rated “high” for Covid for the second week in a row by the CDC.
ALSO: Caledonia County Probate Judge William Cobb is running for reelection in November, despite a record of reprimands and a currently suspended law license; Stowe’s House seat has long been a Democratic white whale and the party sees this year’s election as an opportunity to flip it; Gov. Phil Scott appointed DCF Commissioner Sean Brown to a key role in the Agency of Administration.
ALSO: Two community-based organizations in Winooski are seeking to connect people of color by providing counseling and other supportive programming in private residences and backyards; The Vermont Statehouse has dropped its Covid vaccination and testing rules; A Saint Michael’s College sophomore took a week off from classes to aid Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian.
ALSO: The Vermont Department of Health has analyzed patterns of repeat emergency room visits due to an opioid overdose; Homeowners around Lake Carmi have faced yet another summer of pervasive cyanobacteria blooms; Vermont got a boost in funding for federal grants aimed at growing exports.
Also: Lieutenant gubernatorial candidates Zuckerman and Benning take swings in VTDigger debate; Bennington County has ‘high’ Covid levels, CDC reports; UNH poll: Scott, Zuckerman hold double-digit leads in races for governor and LG
Also: August outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Franklin and Grand Isle counties results in 1 death; Vermont launches awareness project amid record-high suicide rates; Woodstock police sergeant cleared in June shooting
Retailers and growers warn of cannabis shortage ahead of retail sales; Spurned bidder for Koffee Kup and Vermont Bread proposing new in-state commercial bakery; Head of Rutland’s Board of Aldermen running for city mayor
Pacific Group Resorts makes winning, $76 million bid for Jay Peak; Banking transfer is bumpy for some new M&T Bank customers; Scott makes 3 appointments to the Green Mountain Care Board; UVM Health Network names Sunil Eappen its next president and CEO.
Energy Action Network report addresses climate shortcomings; 2 men arrested after fatal shooting in Burlington’s City Hall Park; State auditor finds police training council’s oversight is not up to snuff; Burlington rolls out bike registry in effort to combat theft.
Burlington Police Department investigates its own handling of bike path emergency call; Omicron booster available in Vermont; Cavendish man shot by police last month in Ludlow has died; Feds accuse Burlington long-term care facility of tolerating racial harassment.
Preeminent Progressive lawmakers are retiring or changing party affiliation; No consensus on solutions to Vermont’s criminal mental health challenges; Percentage of Vermont homes bought by investors surged in 2021; Weather in coming weeks could make or break Vermont’s fall foliage.
ALSO: Mike Pieciak, the one-time commissioner of Vermont’s little-known Department of Financial Regulation, is running for state treasurer and generating significant buzz; Amid a longstanding shortage of nurses in schools and medical facilities, some Vermont schools are making plans for handling Covid-19 without a full-time nurse; A superior court judge ruled Winooski residents who are not U.S. citizens can continue to vote in local elections.
ALSO: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Covid-19 booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna on Wednesday that target the newest variants of the virus; The Rutland school board voted 6-4 on Tuesday evening to retire the “Raiders” mascot, effective immediately; A Brighton man appeared in court on charges of domestic terrorism after he allegedly attempted to blow up his neighbors’ home and vehicles.
ALSO: A dairy partnership has made headway with expanding the local organic milk market; A pandemic-era rental assistance program that has doled out more than $130 million in federal funds to keep Vermonters in their homes will begin to significantly ramp down in just a month; The Department for Children and Families is hoping to build stronger relationships with Vermont’s Abenaki tribes by hiring its first coordinator for state custody proceedings involving Native American children.
ALSO: Vermont students are urging state officials and educators to make a series of sweeping reforms to combat longstanding racial inequities in the state; Beta Technologies and area fire departments are investigating the cause of a lithium battery fire at the electric aircraft maker's plant; Brattleboro is discontinuing its use of portable restrooms this year and is seeking a more permanent solution.
ALSO: The resilience and contributions of the descendants of enslaved people who first sailed to North America more than 400 years ago were celebrated on Saturday; Walgreens is defending itself against allegations that the company had threatened Vermonters’ health and safety during the Covid-19 pandemic; The attorney for a Vermont state trooper accused of assaulting an arrestee wants to get the case dismissed due to what he described as delay tactics by state prosecutors.
ALSO: Questions have been raised about the Charlotte Selectboard’s closed-door meetings; A man arrested in Vermont in connection with his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was released from court; The Franklin County sheriff said he has fired the captain who was caught on video earlier this month kicking a suspect in police custody.
ALSO: Two communications union districts serving northwestern Vermont no longer plan to jointly build and operate an “open access” fiber broadband network in the region; Authorities appear to be investigating whether last week’s fatal Brattleboro shooting was made in self-defense; Vermont lawmakers are looking past the election to what additional abortion laws could be passed come January’s legislative session.
Plus: Ben & Jerry’s loses preliminary bid to stop Unilever from licensing its products in West Bank; Deputy caught on camera kicking person in custody ignores calls to exit Franklin County sheriff’s race; Vermont GOP set to nominate candidates for auditor, attorney general.
ALSO: There is another possible bidder, and maybe more, seeking to purchase Jay Peak ski resort; Casella, the owner of the Coventry landfill, has submitted a plan to address PFAS contamination; Martine Gulick edged out Erhard Mahnke by four votes in a recount to finalize the Democratic lineup for the Chittenden Central state Senate district.
ALSO: The number of Vermonters who fatally overdose on opioids diluted with an animal tranquilizer is rising exponentially; A former Montpelier resident and two other men have been charged in the 2018 prison beating death of James “Whitey” Bulger; Less than a week after Hartford announced two finalists for its long-vacant police chief position, the search is back to square one.
ALSO: Vermont State Police said the Ludlow police officer who shot and seriously wounded a Cavendish man following a pursuit Monday night was a new recruit; Fifteen apartments in Montpelier went without hot water for nearly a week and had no water at all for several days after the building’s pipes failed; GlobalFoundries and the Conservation Law Foundation told the Vermont Public Utility Commission Wednesday they had reached an agreement that would allow GlobalFoundries to create its own electric utility.
ALSO: The Vermont Secretary of State's Office says it could be early next week before the results of the Aug. 9 primary election can be certified; School administrators are scrambling to fill teaching positions before school starts; Burlington is continuing with the creation of “pods” for individuals experiencing homelessness.
ALSO: A Burlington police officer shot a 20-year-old man in the leg Saturday afternoon in the city’s Old North End; Woodstock is adopting a novel approach to provide housing for people who work there; The Vermont Secretary of State’s Office delayed the canvassing of county votes cast in Tuesday’s primary elections, citing a software problem related to the state’s recent legislative redistricting.
ALSO: Liam Madden announced Wednesday he will accept the Republican nomination for U.S. House, despite indicating earlier in the day he wanted to turn it down; A Wardsboro woman has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of an acquaintance, who was found dead this week from more than 100 sharp force injuries; A vote against a proposed constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights ended a 12-year incumbent’s tenure in the Vermont House.
ALSO: Charity Clark won the Democratic nomination for Vermont attorney general on Tuesday; Sarah George defeated Ted Kenney in the closely watched Democratic primary for Chittenden County state’s attorney Tuesday; Rep. Peter Welch cruised to Vermont’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, while Republican newcomer Gerald Malloy defeated former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan for the GOP nomination.
ALSO: A national survey ranks Vermont fifth in the nation for overall child well-being, but indicates there’s been a decline in key child mental health indicators in the state; Housing is so tight in Vermont that some job-seekers are turning down employment offers because they cannot find a place to live; Vermonters buying health insurance through the state’s Obamacare portal, Vermont Health Connect, will likely face much higher premiums next year, as state regulators have voted to allow double-digit increases.
ALSO: Across the country, private equity firms and real-estate investment trusts are buying up manufactured home communities from local owners and charging residents more to remain there; Fifteen Vermonters fatally overdosed on opioids in April, bringing the year’s total to 61; Amid a nationwide shortage of responders, southern Vermont’s largest emergency medical service provider is launching the state’s first EMS-specific training school.
ALSO: Voters looking to consider climate change have options for Vermont's U.S. House seat, with six candidates running; In March, Organic Valley announced it would take on many of the farmers dropped by Horizon and by Maple Hill and on Wednesday, the group celebrated the beginning of those contracts; About a dozen Isle La Motte residents spoke at a town selectboard meeting in response to the burning of two LGBTQ+ flags.
ALSO: A Republican candidate for lieutenant governor sees the race as a referendum on the future of the Grand Old Party in Vermont; A federal judge on Tuesday denied Nathan Carman’s request to be released on bail while awaiting trial for fraud in his grandfather's death and murder on the high seas in his mother's death; The Vermont state government has hired a design firm to plan a new women’s prison and reentry facility.
ALSO: If you haven’t mailed in your Vermont primary election ballot yet, the Secretary of State’s Office said it’s probably best if you hand-deliver it; A project by Yale and Harvard researchers says that Vermont’s Covid cases are actually five times higher than the official case count; Sen. Patrick Leahy announced that he had included more than $212 million in earmarks in a series of spending bills up for consideration in Congress.
ALSO: A nonprofit based at the Franklin County State Airport is developing an apprenticeship program teaching young people how to repair and maintain aircraft; U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders went on a three-stop tour in support of U.S. House hopeful Becca Balint; Vermont will be eligible to receive $37 million for transportation projects that would make the state more resilient in a changing climate.
ALSO: Three Progressive city councilors in Burlington are urging state lawmakers to pass charter changes related to guns that have been waiting since 2014; U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy has cast his ballot for Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in her Democratic bid for the U.S. House; Homelessness continues to rise in Vermont since pandemic’s onset, despite increased spending
ALSO: A new poll from the University of New Hampshire suggests that the Democratic primary for the state’s sole U.S. House seat could be a blowout win for Vermont Senate President Becca Balint; Jennifer Morrison has been appointed by Gov. Phil Scott to lead the Vermont Department of Public Safety; Winooski’s $60 million school reconstruction project should be ready when school starts this fall, but the work needed to wrap up the project will extend into late October.
ALSO: Chittenden County report shows more diversity, but persistent inequities; LandAir trucking company has filed for bankruptcy; U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine to headline fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Christina Nolan.
ALSO: Isle La Motte has seen several anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the last few months; BA.5 is the dominant Covid strain in New England; Burlington city councilors are again attempting to allowed noncitizen voting.
ALSO: According to autopsy results released Thursday evening, a central Massachusetts woman whose body was found in her truck in Brattleboro died of a gunshot wound to the head; A Texas woman accused in the May 11 killing of a world-class cyclist from Vermont has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder; Lawmakers are creating a record of how much water is regularly extracted from the state’s streams and rivers.
ALSO: Vermont State Police said officers fatally shot Matthew Davis Tuesday night after a short foot chase and after he pulled a knife and lunged at officers; Burlington police have named a 19-year-old facing multiple criminal charges as a person of interest in the fatal July 7 shooting in the city’s Old North End; More than a week after a black and red school bus, repurposed as a mobile dwelling, first appeared in the Jake’s ONE Market parking lot on North Winooski Avenue in Burlington, a group of community members rallied to get it running.
ALSO: VTDigger's printable how-to-vote guide is available for free in 14 languages; Police fatally shot the ex-boyfriend of a woman who’d been found dead inside her truck near downtown Brattleboro; Louis Meyers is running for Vermont’s seat in the U.S. House as a moderate Democrat; So far in 2022, there have been 700 bear encounters in Vermont.
ALSO: An environmental group’s petition to create a formal set of rules to govern Vermont’s public lands has been denied; The Democratic candidates for attorney general are pitching their past experiences to Vermont voters; Burlington's beaches are closed again after reopening after cyanobacteria.
ALSO: Vermont navigates its second year of a spongy moth outbreak; Londonderry enlists the help of Norwich University students to explore creating a community center; State Sen. Becca Balint outraised Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the most recent quarter by nearly $43,000.
ALSO: Vermont school officials are trying to tackle the question of how to respond to rising misbehavior; A new program will offer funds to landowners who manage their forests for carbon; Hospital budget writers are taking a gamble that Vermont won't see another big Covid wave; Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger tested positive for Covid-19 while on vacation in Italy with his family.
ALSO: Women of color running for office in Vermont are pushing for inclusion and advocacy for marginalized groups; The fourth study in nearly 30 years is looking at trucking in downtown Vergennes; Weathersfield residents turned out en masse to dissuade the Selectboard from approving new zoning bylaws.
ALSO: The Bennington police chief told the selectboard that violent crime has increased markedly in the last six months, and he asked citizens to help police keep up with it; Opponents of the Champlain Parkway project dispute the claim that Burlington would face an expensive penalty if the project isn’t completed.
ALSO: The University of Vermont Health Network has inked a deal with a staffing agency that helps place workers facing systemic barriers; State and local crews worked quickly to contain a 2,200-gallon tar spill in Springfield on Monday; Amid the hundreds of millions of dollars Vermont is investing to address the state’s housing crisis, about half a million dollars is going to fund zoning bylaw modernization.
ALSO: A flurry of climate-related energy policies are up for discussion; The town of Plymouth will need another million dollars to complete its town office renovations; Government officials have no idea why the Covid-19 wastewater data municipalities across Vermont are collecting isn’t showing up in state or national data systems.
ALSO: Law enforcement officials said a woman charged with murdering a rising cycling star from Vermont was found to have obscured her physical appearance while on the run; The nurses union at Vermont’s largest hospital has reached a tentative agreement with management; A new report found that the state apparatus governing Vermont’s child care and early education systems is fundamentally broken.
ALSO: Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Becca Balint in the race for Vermont's sole U.S. House seat; Ben & Jerry’s is suing parent company Unilever in an attempt to stop the sale of its Israel business; Rutland Regional Medical Center has asked regulators for hefty budget increases.
Plus: Susanne Young sworn in as Vermont’s 1st female attorney general; Brattleboro’s EMS takeover, intended to save money, racks up higher costs; Corrections boss calls for ‘temporary’ staff changes with longer set shifts, 60-hour work weeks
Plus: Will Kasso Condry is the first-ever winner of the Vermont Prize, Hardwick keeps 2 police chiefs on payroll as investigations drag on, State officials are moving forward with a plan to transition to electric vehicles.
ALSO: Vermont Medicaid will help thousands of low-income residents get access to services that private insurance may not cover, under a five-year extension of a federal waiver; Vermont’s Office of Professional Regulation has filed charges against Walgreens pharmacies across the state; VTDigger has the scoop on all of Vermont's best Fourth of July weekend celebrations.
ALSO: Vermont schools are wrestling with which flags to fly after a Supreme Court ruling; The woman accused in a Vermont cyclist's murder was captured after more than 40 days; Unilever has sold its Ben & Jerry's subsidiary in Israel; VTDigger has launched its 2022 election guide.
ALSO: Montpelier has temporarily stopped accepting leachate because of E. coli levels, sending it out of state; Vermont Access to Reproductive Freedom says it has received a record-breaking surge in donations since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade; New rules are being considered for the use of wake boats on Vermont’s lakes and ponds.
ALSO: The two Democrats vying to be Vermont’s next attorney general say that, if elected, they’ll aim to bolster protections for people seeking and providing abortions in the state; Balint, Gray campaigns go tit-for-tat on super PACs; Aki Soga has become the first Asian American journalist to lead the Burlington Free Press.
ALSO: A Massachusetts company’s plan to build a telecommunications tower in an Enosburgh neighborhood has divided residents there; A new program from Champlain Housing Trust aims to help Black, Indigenous and people of color with down payments on their first home; Both Democratic candidates vying for the vacant state’s attorney seat in Washington County say they favor many of the same approaches to the county’s most pressing problems. But not entirely.
ALSO: Many towns across Vermont are already welcoming early voters for the primary election; A coyote attacked a woman and a dog in Panton on Sunday; A large Windsor County employer laid off 80 employees on Wednesday and plans to close its Springfield manufacturing plant.
ALSO: Gov. Phil Scott believes a state gas tax holiday is worth considering; Days after Attorney General TJ Donovan left for a job in the private sector, Scott appointed Susanne Young to finish out the term; Windsor County residents are paying attention to the local sheriff’s race.
ALSO: A Bennington teenager who was shot during an altercation over the weekend is now facing an attempted murder charge; A U.S. Supreme Court decision will likely have a wide-reaching impact on Vermont's school tuition system; Burlington's pod plan for those experiencing homelessness gets tentative approval; Ten Vermont farmworkers are petitioning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to close their deportation cases.
ALSO: South Burlington proposes bridge for pedestrians and cyclists over Interstate 89; Vermont is preparing Covid-19 vaccinations for children 6 months through 5 years of age; A Sandgate woman who shot her family’s pet dog the day after Christmas has been convicted of a felony.
ALSO: A campaign called Our Time Is Now aims to help Vermonters with disabilities join the workforce during a major shortage; Two state troopers have been put on paid leave during an investigation into an incident that seriously injured a Newfane man; Two property owners on Howard Street in Burlington are looking to remove one of the largest trees in the city.
ALSO: Amtrak service from Burlington to New York City is scheduled to begin on July 29; The Bennington Selectboard has named the members of a new citizen police oversight group; The suspects in a Rutland slaying were arrested in a New Hampshire post office.
ALSO: The man shot and killed Tuesday outside a home near downtown Woodstock had showed up to support a woman in a dispute with her adult son over money; The Vermont College of Fine Arts will stop hosting students on campus next year and is considering selling or leasing all but one of its 11 buildings; Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced this week that the city will now celebrate Juneteenth as an official holiday.
ALSO: A court ordered a 15-year-old Bennington girl be released from adult jail; A Brandon man accused of threatening to shoot neighbors has reached a plea deal; Police said they are investigating a suspicious death in a Rutland apartment.
ALSO: Vermont will join the rest of the nation in launching a new three-digit number, 988, to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline; Gov. Phil Scott alleged poor legislative management led to technical errors in several bills approved this year; A lawsuit in federal court, aiming to block the long-beleaguered Champlain Parkway, could soon pick up some muscle.
ALSO: Gov. Phil Scott signed an $8.1 billion state budget into law; Burlington officials are scrambling over concerns about the plan to pay for a new high school; The number of times guns were recklessly fired in Burlington this year has risen sharply.
ALSO: 25 years in, Vermont’s oldest regional conservation partnership is a lasting symbol of regional cooperation; Congressman Peter Welch voted Wednesday in favor of the Protecting Our Kids Act; ACLU-Vermont announced Wednesday that it is launching the state’s first database to track law enforcement officers whose credibility has been questioned.
ALSO: Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the Legislature’s opioid response bill on Tuesday; Former Jay Peak CEO and President Bill Stenger has reported to a federal prison in Massachusetts; Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale’s shuttered congressional campaign keeps fundraising to pay off debt.
ALSO: The Burlington City Council voted to bring back ranked choice voting; A cryptocurrency mogul’s flirtation with a U.S. Senate run in Vermont could cost him a generous tax decree in Puerto Rico; A former city councilor was injured in a shooting at Burlington’s Roosevelt Park Sunday evening.
Also: Green Mountain Transit is making adjustments to its two-year MyRide pilot project; A Colchester-based startup specializing in mRNA manufacturing plans to expand; The Vermont Legislature requested nearly 100 new studies this year.
Also: Five White River Valley towns plan to formalize a regional group in hopes of sharing municipal resources; Vermont’s most powerful state Senate delegation is set for a major overhaul next year; Gov. Phil Scott's veto of a bill that would have set conservation goals has drawn criticism.
Also: According to the Vermont Department of Health, May was the deadliest month of the Covid-19 BA.2 surge; Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a bill that would have updated Act 250; The Green Mountain Care Board is about to gain some new faces.
Also: Vermont officials are asking the South Hero Selectboard to do more investigation of the extent of PFAS contamination at the town’s closed landfill; The governor signed bills Tuesday that will create a meal program for Vermont students and ban offensive school mascots;
Two groups of communities in northwestern Vermont are close to an agreement with Google Fiber.
Also: It’s been almost five years since officials declared Lake Carmi the state’s first “lake in crisis"; The Vermont Huts Association is working to create a network of backcountry huts; A federal grant will support study of a petroglyph site in Bellows Falls by the Elnu Abenaki.
Also: Police are seeking the public’s help in solving the murder of a New Hampshire couple with Vermont ties; Some primary races will see remarkably little competition come August, while others will be heated; The Rutland mayor has nominated Republican state Representative Peter Fagan to fill a vacancy on the school board.
Also: Two young boys report being sexually harassed at a trampoline park in Williston; Montpelier police said they have seized firearms but made no arrests during an investigation into a potential threat against Montpelier High School; The University of Vermont plans to build more dormitories on Trinity Campus.
Also: Gov. Phil Scott has appointed three new members of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Board; Experts and high-risk Vermonters tell VTDigger that they’re worried about the loss of state-run Covid testing; Michael Schirling is stepping down as Vermont’s public safety commissioner, and is taking a job at the University of Vermont.
Also: Vermont officials say tick season is now all year; By declining to advance a seemingly obscure tax reform proposal, lawmakers left a pot of money on the table; Burlington police have launched a new system for patrolling downtown
Also: Top cyclist from Vermont killed in Texas; Three more state senators have announced they’re not running for reelection; More than half of Vermont House committee chairs will not return to the Legislature next year.
Also: Burlington’s long-delayed CityPlace project still hasn't broken ground; South Hero child care facility plans to expand into Grand Isle; CVS Health asks Gov. Phil Scott to veto contentious pharmacy bill
Vermont lawmakers strike a budget deal; Why is Vermont at the center of the nation’s latest Covid-19 surge; Private health insurers have asked state regulators to approve double-digit premium hikes in 2023.
Also: Mike Pieciak formally kicked off his campaign for state treasurer; Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault announced his campaign for state's attorney general; Ted Kenney is contesting incumbent Sarah George for the Democratic nomination for Chittenden County state’s attorney.
Also: Phil Scott has signed into law Vermont’s first-ever statewide code of ethics for public officials; Another bill aimed at police reform in Vermont is being gutted; The Vermont House of Representatives has approved an Act 250 bill.
Also: A daytime shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Burlington is slated to move from downtown to the Old North End; Gov. Phil Scott vetoed legislation to give Burlington leaders the authority to pass tighter restrictions around rental housing; Housing, restaurant proposed on ‘gateway’ South Hero site.
Also: Vermonters have their first candidate for governor this year; Workers at a Starbucks in South Burlington are trying to unionize; Gov. Phil Scott on Monday vetoed a pension reform bill.
Also: 7 of Vermont’s 14 counties now have “high” Covid-19 community levels; The state Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a clean heat standard; Paxlovid shortage frustrates Vermonters seeking Covid treatment
Also: Regulators are itching for progress on plans for a standalone psychiatric unit at Central Vermont Medical Center; A Rutland landlord has acknowledged violating the state’s lead laws on rental housing; Burlington city councilors unanimously approved a $45 million contract Monday to build the first phase of the Champlain Parkway.
Also: Who should run Burlington International Airport; What started as a bill to ban qualified immunity has been gutted; Windham County will likely have its first competitive state Senate race since 2014.
Also: The Sharon Academy receives taxpayer money to educate students from towns with no middle or high school; Police reform bill runs into opposition in a hearing before a House panel; Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday signed into law a medical monitoring bill.
Also: Gov. Phil Scott and state legislators honored Sen. Patrick Leahy for his 47 years in the Senate; Lawyers for a White River Junction publisher and Sen. Elizabeth Warren laid out their cases in a First Amendment lawsuit; William Kelly has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Also: Travelers using transportation systems across Vermont can shed their masks; Peter Welch is receiving donations from industry groups that frequently lobby Congress; Federal authorities have charged a second man in the kidnapping of a Danville resident who was found shot to death in 2018.
Also: Judge makes final approval of a $34 million settlement in Bennington-area PFOA lawsuit; UVM Health Network pauses plans for an inpatient psychiatric unit for children and adolescents in Burlington; Visionary architect behind Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace dies at the age of 85.
Also: Senate plans to shrink the House’s proposed child tax credit to include other kinds of credits; Department of Corrections announced it plans to end its Covid-19 intake quarantine measures; A man charged with killing a transgender woman pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.
Also: Two Burlington school administrators have agreed to step down; Peter Welch was in eastern Europe to get a closer look at Russia’s war on Ukraine; Vermont’s Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continued to tick up over the past week.
Also: Some health care officials say warning signs of future Covid-19 surges may arrive too late; 2 U.S. House candidates voiced their support for The University of Vermont staff union; Proposed Champlain Parkway is projected to be considerably more expensive than city officials expected.
Also: Legislative committee approves bill that would provide free school meals to students for the upcoming school year; Slate Ridge owner has paid the town of Pawlet nearly $53,000 in fines; Officials say the 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail is entering its final phase of construction.
Also: As the Cannabis Control Board moves ahead with licensing and pre-approval, many applicants are struggling to find reasonable banking options; Gov. Phil Scott has signed into law the Legislature’s redrawn district maps; Lawyers for Bill Stenger are arguing he should serve no jail time for his role in the failed EB-5 project
Also: 210 Vermonters died of an opioid overdose last year; Vermont Department for Children and Families plans to lease space in Brattleboro; The Vermont National Guard last year investigated five allegations of sexual assault involving its members.
Also: The Vermont Supreme Court met in secret to hear an appeal in a Chittenden County murder case; A superior court judge has ruled that Montpelier can continue to let residents without U.S. citizenship vote in local elections; Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger touted the city’s response to the pandemic in his annual State of the City address Monday night.
Burst pipe delays close to 50 surgeries at UVM Medical Center; Vermont rest areas staying open, but on a reduced schedule; Vermont State Police suspends trooper after court rules that he abused a woman; What next for Rutland Regional Medical Center?
Also: Senate fails to override Governor Phil Scott’s veto of a Brattleboro charter change; 10 communities in Vermont have been sampling their wastewater to measure for Covid-19; VTDigger announces Vermont’s first U.S. House debate of the year.
Also: Vermont man sentenced to 27 years in prison in a murder-for-hire case; Over $5 million awarded to a Florida woman who discovered her fertility doctor had impregnated her with his own sperm; Beta Technologies says it could relocate its manufacturing facility to New York
Also: State regulators said no to an increase in service charges at Rutland Regional Medical Center; USDA closes loophole in National Organic Program; Head of Vermont’s largest prison has been suspended; Green Mountain Transit says some temporary service cuts will likely become permanent.
Also: Large hospitals are asking for an increase in prices, but small hospitals are not; Man who has been in prison for killing his wife up for parole; 5,000 Vermonters’ health insurance coverage is at risk in a contract dispute.
Also: Smaller hospitals say they aren’t planning to increase their service charge; Devastating invasive fish is moving toward Lake Champlain;
Senators are trying to figure out a way to get Phil Scott to agree to a contractor registry.
Also: Six judges will keep their spots for six years, a controversial proposal from Vermont’s second-largest hospital is in limbo, and the longest-running court case in Vermont history will remain an open file.
How to keep feeding all K-12 students for free; Sending public money to private and religious schools; A single agency for all of Vermont’s state-level public safety and law enforcement entities; A state commission to study the history of racism, discrimination and eugenics in Vermont laws
Vermont hospitals, struggling to make ends meet, want to raise their service charges; Scott threatens to veto housing bills if they contain contractor or rental registries; Lawmakers push ahead with testimony on a modernized bottle bill; Vermont winds down Covid vaccine clinics as BA.2 subvariant rises.
Hedge fund and developer buy University Mall in South Burlington; Judge lets results from Burlington’s Ward 7 City Council race stand; Auditor finds state overpaid health care providers $7 million using federal Covid relief funds; Burlington short-term rental proposal discarded after City Council sustains mayor’s veto.
House lawmakers finish their draft of Vermont’s state budget; $1.5 million of public tuition money going out of the state — or country; Boves say they won’t evict Winooski tenants; Organic Valley offers ‘lifeboat’ for many organic farmers, but national trends still threaten Northeast
Canada relaxes border testing requirements for Covid; Bill to expand eligibility to seal criminal history moves forward; Prosecutor alleges murder suspect ‘hunted’ the St. Johnsbury man he’s accused of killing; UVM faculty union criticizes decision to lift mask mandate.
Pandemic’s financial implications continue to squeeze hospitals; Vermont House preliminarily approves clean heat standard; Police arrest New York man on murder charge in shooting death of St. Johnsbury man; Former Green Mountain Care Board chair Anya Rader Wallack to head OneCare board.
Scott signs Ukraine aid into law during candlelit vigil on Statehouse steps; Amtrak is Burlington-bound this July, officials say; Brattleboro Town Meeting to debate feeding itself a $2,500 tax-funded lunch; Town of Pawlet seeks foreclosure on Slate Ridge property.
Montpelier City Clerk John Odum joins race for secretary of state; Vermonters urged to remove bird feeders as bears emerge from hibernation; Workers protest at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital; Lyndonville woman charged after allegedly trying to ditch gun in fatal shooting.
Masks no longer broadly recommended; Vermont pharmacies aren’t likely able to participate in Biden's test-to-treat program; Proposal seeks to expand eligibility to clear past crimes; Watered-down qualified immunity bill advances after facing ‘unified front’ of opposition.
More towns follow suit on ending mask mandates; Senate moves ahead on school mascot bill; Leahy revives EB-5 program — with reforms; Anti-hunger advocates renew push for universal meals in schools Vermont.
House approves budget adjustment bill; State officials seek to resolve dispute threatening health coverage for 1,800 Vermonters; Organic Valley to take as many as 90 farmers dropped by Horizon, Maple Hill; Vermont winds down contact tracing contract.
UVM Medical Center residents form a union; Burlington leaders certify Ali Dieng’s reelection; Many school districts ready to ditch mandates; Vermont plans for another fall moose hunting season to reduce the moose population.
Vermont's 12 recovery centers face difficulty hiring and keeping workers; Herbicide treatment for invasive weed in Lake Bomoseen spurs big opposition; UnitedHealthcare, UVM Health Network dispute could leave 2,900 patients searching for care; Philanthropist donates land for 100 new homes in Hinesburg.
Razing and rebuilding Burlington High School could cost up to $230 million; Scott asks Legislature to fund humanitarian aid for Ukraine; Brooklyn man charged in incident prior to fatal shooting in St. Johnsbury; Dartmouth professors organize to bring Ukrainian graduate students to the US.
Mascot debate loomed over Rutland school board race; Burlington leaders interpret message sent by voters; Brock Pierce's Senate run; Police identify fatal shooting victim in St. Johnsbury.
At least 25 towns say yes to retail cannabis; Towns approve big water infrastructure projects; South Burlington City Council to remain as is; Montpelier voters pass budget — and purchase country club.
Scott vetoes Brattleboro charter change to lower the voting age; Study shows more Vermont police budgets rising than falling; Balint congressional campaign gets new manager; Burlington’s outgoing racial equity director takes similar position in Minneapolis.
Vermont set for hybrid Town Meeting season; School board candidates fueled by fears of ‘critical race theory’; Sandy Sumner's advocacy for pollution victims; Vermonters plan to kick off trucker convoy Wednesday.
Waples would become first woman of color to serve on the state's highest court; Record-setting 2021 opioid overdose death toll continues to rise; Lawmakers consider $18.6M estimate to install air conditioning at all state prisons; Vermont to get $200M to modernize 5 US-Canadian border ports; Vermont towns look to finance water infrastructure projects this Town Meeting Day.
Beta Technologies eyes St. Albans for new battery facility; Vermont’s 2 largest credit unions to merge; Protesters rally for legislation to combat climate change; Snow squall alerts prompt buzz on Vermont’s emergency notifications.
Burlington City Council votes to place restrictions on short-term rentals; Scott vetoes bill to close “Charleston Loophole”; Police investigate death of incarcerated man at Springfield prison; GlobalFoundries moving ahead with utility petition.
Legislators have used Zoom’s private chats; Hospitals remain critically understaffed; New spending would bolster Williston Fire Department ranks; 2 men face federal firearms charges amid homicide probe
Local officials say they haven’t seen Chad Schmidt in years; Weird weather for Harris Hill's centennial; UVM Instagram posts renew furor over sexual misconduct on campus; Should non-medical doctors be allowed to perform eye surgery?
Utility commission denies GlobalFoundries’ request to become its own self-managed utility; Police union issues rare endorsement in Burlington's Ward 7; Senate advances criminal threatening bill; Chris Winters running for secretary of state.
Resettlement agency announces 1st group of Afghan refugees has arrived in Rutland; Senate panel rejects bill to turn former Windsor prison into juvenile detention facility; Democratic candidates for US House talk energy, climate change policy at REV forum; Environmental groups urge Biden administration to stop logging mature forests on national lands.
State plans to drop universal school mask recommendation; Public weighs in on controversial hunting and wildlife bills; Secretary of State Jim Condos announces retirement after 11 years in post; 2 operating rooms now open at Fanny Allen surgical center.
Barrett Trucking buying DuBois Construction; UVM Medical Center nurses get immediate pay bump amid unprecedented staff shortage; Auditor finds state mismanaged aging dams; Shelburne aerial skier Megan Nick wins bronze in Olympic debut.
Jan. 6 an ideological Rorschach test for Republican LG candidates; Restaurants see a ‘dire tipping point’ as Omicron recedes; Enosburg principal placed on leave after using offensive language over school’s intercom; Low-income, refugee families face eviction from Winooski apartments.
Burlington mayor wades into Vermont’s discussion of qualified immunity; Senate again approves a statewide rental registry bill, but a veto remains likely; More than 30 people test positive in Covid outbreak at Newport prison; Racial slurs used at high school basketball game, school officials say.
Vermont House gives tentative green light to $1,200 child tax credit; Burlington’s ‘pit’ could see construction this spring; Vermont vaccine advisory group quiet on Covid-19 mandates in schools.
Reproductive Liberty Amendment approved in 107-41 vote; How would proposed 'clean heat standard' work?; Planned Parenthood announces Newport clinic closure; Bennington moving forward on police oversight; Burlington City Council reaches consensus on homelessness proposals.
Preliminary approval for budget adjustment bill; Fire kills at least 130 cows at Stowe dairy farm; Burlington City Council candidates raise money to compete in another pandemic election; Kitty Toll running for lieutenant governor.
Bill would make it simpler to amend birth certificates to reflect gender identity; Vermont’s report on long medical wait times is delayed as Omicron brings new challenges; Senate gives green light to medical monitoring bill, but Scott is lukewarm; Amid police chief debate, Progressives’ opponents see public safety as top election issue.
Postal employees say mail delivery is spotty because they’ve been told to prioritize packages; FBI records reveal an EB-5 fraudster’s direct line to Gov. Peter Shumlin; Brattleboro Retreat staffing shortage traps psychiatric patients at the ER for days; Quechee renters forced out of at least 18 apartments.
Burlington Progressives vote no on Murad; Vermont legislators to consider ranked choice voting for federal elections come 2024; State officials take stock of climate policy progress in Legislature; Bill would allow composting of human remains.
BA.2 case detected last week; Experts warn against a premature shift in Covid strategy; IT woes hold up child care subsidies from low-income families; Vermont Supreme Court swiftly denies Banyai’s motion to reargue Slate Ridge case.
UVM study paints grim picture at Springfield prison; Vermont House advances hospital gun ban; Activists want more spent on housing initiatives; Former Rutland GOP chair launches bid for lieutenant governor.
With Breyer retiring, Vermont politicians call for change in the nation’s highest court; In cross-border school district, protections for transgender students face a legal threat; Essex Junction and town officials plan staff changes after separation vote; Housing issues loom large in Burlington Ward 5 race.
Senate passes bill to amend Vermont’s medical-aid-in-dying law; Program aims to address gap in home construction and appraisal costs; House to vote on hospital gun ban, strengthened background checks; Brumsted to retire as chief of UVM Health.
Shiffrin and Diggins among Vermont-connected Olympic athletes; New bill would raise mandatory age of school attendance in Vermont; Burlington City Council finalizes March 1 ballot items; Vermont homeowners can receive up to $30,000 to cover late mortgage and utility payments.
Rapid tests slated for general public may be diverted to schools; More Vermont towns may begin testing wastewater for Covid-19; State trooper sues Vermont Human Rights Commission and Seven Days; Scott's workforce proposals.
'Test at home' strains school test supply; Judge orders FBI interviews of Shumlin administration in EB-5 fraud case unsealed; $116 million in grants announced for broadband construction; House approves $360 million budget adjustment package.
Senate leader Becca Balint says Vermont state mask mandate has ‘no path forward’; State lawmakers review 4 changes to Burlington’s city charter; UVM study says climate change will magnify flood damage in the next century; Vermont is no longer collecting school Covid data.
Burlington City Council elections take shape; New UVM Health Network Covid leave policy; Bill would exempt Abenaki property in Vermont from property taxes; Gov. Phil Scott proposes $7.7B state budget to meet ‘historic moment.'
Bill aims to close race gap in homeownership; UVM insurance now covers Covid antigen tests; Office building planned for long-vacant St. Albans brownfield site; Former Vermont House Majority Leader William Jewett remembered as ‘a force.’
47 new Covid cases discovered at St. Johnsbury prison complex; Independent schools told to wait on 'test-at-home' procedures; Vermont House set for hybrid return to the Statehouse; Motel rooms for Vermonters seeking shelter are increasingly hard to find.
Tracking of lost school days lags; Legislature adopts slate of pandemic-year municipal meeting precautions; Top Vermont lawmaker proposes $1,200 child tax credit; Following wire incident at Tunbridge farm, lawmakers consider bill on accountability.
Kesha Ram announces campaign; UVM Medical Center to impose emergency staffing policies; Chittenden County won't pursue charges during non-public safety stops; The Burlington Free Press stops Saturday print edition
Former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan exploring Senate run; House committee approves draft redistricting map but eyes remote work warily; Burlington mayor releases new capital bond plan after defeat of first one; Dartmouth experiences Covid-19 surge amid reduced restrictions.
Labor leaders and top lawmakers back pension plan; ‘Pay for performance’ program aims to pay farmers for pollution reduction; Mask mandate bill drafted in the Legislature may not go anywhere; Race for lieutenant governor is on.
State’s decision to end contact tracing and surveillance testing in schools a “demoralizing blow,” union says; The pandemic tanked traffic stops in 2020 — but racial disparities remained, data shows; Burlington police chief search committee wasn’t legitimate, some members say; Nurses’ union says Scott-Sanders workforce plan ignores current needs.
Burlington City Council President Max Tracy won’t seek reelection; Pilot project to send rapid tests to Vermonters; State senator introduces bill to remove religious exemption for vaccine mandates; Legislature may allow municipal governing boards to meet solely online until 2023.
Gov. Scott sounds optimistic note in annual address; Burlington City Council goes remote; Dairy task force asks USDA for support; Lawmakers asked to extend law allowing traveling health care workers.
Vermont officials distributed only about half of nearly 90,000 test kits set aside for students; 4 more Covid-19 outbreaks in Killington area following holiday week resort outbreak; Tenants decry Burlington airport director’s handling of Beta expansion; Funding for pandemic food assistance program extended to April.
How to watch Vermont’s 2022 legislative session; Covid-19 set to bring changes to 2022 town meeting season; Thousands of nurses needed in workforce; Charlie Kimbell to run for lieutenant governor.
State investigating death of 34-year-old Newport prisoner; Opioid death toll could overtake the record set in 2020; Burlington’s 2 major parties vie for control of city council; Stowe board rejects parking lot proposal for ski area.
Essex-Westford school board member draws backlash for Holocaust comparison; Secret FBI statements in EB-5 case may be revealed; Legislature likely to begin 2022 session remotely; State has fewer than 80 Omicron-fighting doses of monoclonal antibodies.
Brattleboro discussing possibility of recommending or requiring proof of vaccination; High court blasts Department of Corrections for near ‘procedural mockery’ in furlough program; Who decides when a pandemic is over?; Florida man pleads not guilty to roadside fatal shooting in 2019.
Ex-cop accused of child sexual assault is dead; Medical procedures delayed during Covid-19 surge; NASA-funded weather project seeks help from citizen scientists; Vermont may become the first state to ban mercury-containing lighting.
Antigen test kits claimed within minutes; Hospitals and schools brace for Covid surge driven by holidays and Omicron; Senate to consider remote 2022 session; State issues fine against Vorsteveld farm for wetlands, runoff violations.
Burlington to interview police chief candidates without a recruiting firm, mayor says; Auditor Doug Hoffer critical of report on remote worker programs; State plans forest restoration at Milton Sandbar area; Ex-CNN producer accused of undercutting sexual abuse probe.
Dozens of federal medical personnel being deployed to Vermont; Montpelier reacts to Manchin's “Build Back Better” snub; Flu returns to Vermont after taking a year off; Burlington City Council votes to hire recruitment firm.
Department of Health reported 242 Covid-19 cases on Monday; Green Mountain Care Board to vote on OneCare budget; Bennington Food Hub aims to help small farmers; executive director of the St. Albans Museum says it's "hanging by a thread."
Omicron may be present in Burlington at a low level; Protest planned at Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery over alleged racist remarks; Weinberger seeks to end homelessness in Burlington; Lawmakers & staffers will need vaccine or tests to get into Statehouse; Brattleboro remains divided over how to direct municipal police.
Who will run for lieutenant governor?; Push to end qualified immunity; State plans for another pandemic-altered town meeting season; Migrant Justice seeks to rein in Vermont law enforcement collaboration with federal immigration authorities.
Arbitrators side with teachers on statewide health care contract; Sanders committed to vote against Biden’s FDA nominee; Horizon farmers get 6-month contract extension; Mother faces charges related to daughter’s alleged sex abuse in CNN producer’s case
Mayor Miro Weinberger defends clearing out homeless encampment; Groups partner to buy 2,000 miles of fiber-optic cable; Man who threatened House speaker released with several conditions; Attorney general’s office offers advice to protect Vermonters from ‘romance scams.'
Balint joins Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the Democratic primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Peter Welch; Southern Vermont lights up on Vermont’s town-by-town Covid-19 map; Franklin County teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student for years; Small dairy farmers eligible for an increase in subsidies.
Burlington’s next step for repairing infrastructure; Kenneth Johnson's estate alleges racism and negligence; Chip Mason won’t seek reelection; University of Virginia dean named new president of Champlain College.
At least 10 towns and cities enact full mask mandates; Schools endure a spate of violent threats; State’s economic outlook is strong now — but the bubble could burst; Two new appointments in the Agency of Administration.
Burlington bond results; State's shortage of foster homes; PFAS found near Guard base; Prosecutors shift kidnapping case to Connecticut.
Covid-19 test kit reimbursements; Chittenden County towns decide on masks; Mike Smith to retire; $2.2 billion headed to Vermont infrastructure
Molly Gray launches House campaign; Panel recommends single-member districts; Barre schools see crippling Covid-19 surge; Health experts and political leaders press Scott for mask mandate
$90 million surplus in education fund; Montpelier mail carrier retires after 30 years; Masking required at the Statehouse; Sears Lane campers denied second hearing
Vermont may enshrine abortion access in state constitution; Vermont Legal Aid sues on behalf of Vermonters denied jobless benefits; State seeks 1-year extension for its all-payer model; Burlington councilors vote unanimously to enact a citywide mask mandate.
Vermont leaders asking federal government for hospital help; Vermont Medical Society urges banning sale of cannabis with more than 15% THC; Nearly all of Vermont now eligible for USDA funding to expand internet; Construction company to pay $600k to settle accusations it defectively built bridges.
Police continue to investigate Alburgh shooting; New preserve adds 5,400 acres to âwildâ forests; Slew of state appointments announced; Vermont reports record Covid-19 hospitalizations & strained ICU capacity.
Polls show Democrats, not Republicans, support Gov. Scott at the highest rate; Feds proclaim all-payer model enrollment targets âunattainableâ; Mother Nature and Mikaela Shiffrin take Killington World Cup by storm; Two game wardens putting roadkill to good use.
Champlain Valley school district struggles to retain DEI staff; Vermont Supreme Court case could exempt certain project from Act 250; Several areas of former Burlington High still not safe for learning; Brattleboro adopts 1st municipal mask mandate of recent wave.
Covid-19 outbreak at Newport prison grows to 32 cases; 30 more Afghan refugees to resettle in Vermont; Free public Thanksgiving dinners; Feds fund pedestrian and bike bridge over busy I-89 intersection.
Rep. Peter Welch makes it official; Burlington appears poised for mask mandate; Afghan refugees arrive in Vermont; Rule-making for special ed in independent schools raises concerns.
Vermont ICUs up to 90% full; Hotels projecting a busy holiday season; 'Test-to-stay' rollout a mixed bag; Missisquoi flag a first for Grand Isle schools.
New analysis of drug charge disparities; Universal booster shots; Prosecutors want EB-5 records kept secret; AGâs Office clears Rutland City Police officer in shooting.
Congressional contenders keeping mum; UVM faculty and staff diversity has improved little in 5 years; Lawyer calls on judge to release police shooting video; Utility prepares to decommission Green River Reservoir dam.
Scott offers Democratic leaders 'compromise' on mask policy session; New Covid outbreak at Newport prison; Bennington water connections follow PFOA contamination; Burlington council declines to debate Sears Lane resolution.
Leahy's exit; Bennington & Rutland now reporting highest category of Covid transmission; Supply chain woes reach Vermont; Planned Parenthood Vermont launches pro-Prop 5 campaign.
Renewed call for mandates after a record-high case count; St. Albans residents share ideas for federal relief money; Bennington area residents reach $34 million settlement in PFOA lawsuit; USDA announces support to cover certification costs for organic producers.
State to house homeless Vermonters this winter; Task force considers overhaul of school funding system; Richmond and Westford to receive federal grants to upgrade sewage disposal systems; Mother and daughter to stand trial together in Highgate murder case
White House announcement comes amid debate over emergency housing program; 2021 Vermont Climate Assessment released; St. Johnsbury prison Covid outbreak grows to 20 incarcerated individuals.
Burlington plans to examine tax reappraisal woes; Canadian border reopens to nonessential travel; Misch attorney files motion to dismiss case; Vermont to get $2.2 billion for roads, bridges, broadband and more.
Former Higher Ground employees accuse owners of creating hostile environment; F-22 Raptors arrive at Burlington airport; Orleans County reports decline in new Covid-19 cases; Paul Dame elected chair of Vermont Republican Party
Procedures are the second in a series of efforts to reform Bennington police; Richmond to incorporate a declaration of equity and inclusion in the townâs mission statement; Booster guidelines pose challenges for homeless service providers and their clients; Bennington voters reject new athletic complex.
Grants kick off a five-year plan for statewide fiber internet; Senate Republicans block Leahyâs John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; Burlington School Board votes to build new high school next to old building on Institute Road.
Essex Junction residents vote to become an independent city; Latest blow to transparency in EB-5 case; Vermont opens Covid-19 vaccine registration to young children; Animal sedative increasingly contributing to opioid overdose deaths.
Krowinski and Balint enter homelessness debate; St. Johnsbury prison in lockdown after nine Covid cases; Beth Robinson confirmed to federal appellate court; Principals' association reverses media ban at soccer game.
Covid vaccinations for ages 5 to 11 could begin within the week; Resignations pushing child care system to the brink; Ski resorts loosen pandemic restrictions for winter; Educators urge lawmakers to avoid school reforms.
Court unsure whether Sears Lane campers have legal right to sue city; Deal calls on state to improve care for incarcerated individuals with disabilities; Scott gets booster in hard-hit Newport; EPA reviewing Burlington-area Superfund sites.
Orleans Countyâs infection rates are almost three times the state average; School officials say it could cost $184,000 to change Rutland's mascot; Environmentalists protest GlobalFoundries' plan to become its own electric utility; Modernizing the unemployment mainframe.
School sports guidance announced; Raids last week on two apartment houses in Rutland; City trespass order for Burlington campers; Grand Isle County Courthouse now open four days a week.
Coalition calls for a mask mandate; Inquiry upholds UVM procedures on sexual assault cases; News outlets press judge to speed up the release of court filings; Burlington dispersing Sears Lane residents
State loosens school contact tracing guidelines; Panel proposes elimination of multimember legislative districts; Cannabis board prohibits retail marijuana stores within 500 feet walking distance from a school; How informed wildlife management can make life better for moose.
Vermonters can now get Covid-19 vaccination booster shots produced by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson; Pennsylvania law enforcement authorities contacted state police about Joseph Ferlazzo; State leaders readying for Afghan refugees; Searsburg declines ARPA funds.
Court records detail killing of Emily Ferlazzo; Underhill voters oust selectboard member; Burlington moves towards citizen authority in police misconduct; Principals outline reporting for abuse in athletics.
Wet summer and fall in southern counties; Chester pays $50k and apologizes for discriminatory traffic stop; PFAS a concern around Bennington athletic field; Rental assistance program leaves out marginalized Vermonters.
1,500 Vermonters living in motels can stay put; Burlington postpones clearing Sears Lane encampment; Enosburg Falls High investigation fails to find racist abuse; Legislative leaders apologize for state-sanctioned eugenics.
Opposition is growing to the planned removal of the Sears Lane encampment; ARPA funds for child care providers can't come soon enough; Schools are facing a surge in student misbehavior; Legislative proposal nixes expungement but expands sealing of records.
Scott to extend emergency housing program; Burlington plans to break up Sears Lane encampment; Historic levels of heating assistance; BTV expansion on track for completion next year.
Possible contamination at proposed downtown BHS site; Businesses celebrate border reopening plan; Heady Topper brewery recycling carbon emissions; Goddard College group votes "no confidence" in president.
Jay Peak buyers lining up; UVM Health unveils plan to shorten wait times; Brattleboro hires new town manager; Task force proposes overhauling funding for English language learners.
Rutland dam removal; Fanny Allen campus to reopen; Addressing the state's biggest problems; Massive sculptures in Enosburg Falls
Burlington creates park ranger program; Sanders calls out moderate Democrats; Winooski starting from scratch on city manager search; Teacher walkout off the table at Long Trail School.
Scott faces backlash over masking comments; Five species recommended for endangered status; Leahy introduces voting rights legislation; Legislative redistricting is underway.
Deadly year for motorcyclists; State extends CoreCivic prison contract; Booster uptake slow to start; Underhill residents to vote on removing selectboard member.
State officials to avoid EB-5 testimony; Overdose deaths involving meth on the rise; Leahy backs end to silent filibuster; Residents to revive Bakersfield deli.
Booster eligibility expands; Hospitals report high compliance with vax mandates; Springfield Hospital's post-bankruptcy path; Charlie Kirk stirs confusion in Burlington.
Delegation votes to extend government funding; Courtroom showdown looms in EB-5 case; Essex Junction residents to vote on split; Lake Champlain Transportation facility plan approved.
State colleges renamed Vermont State University; Brattleboro board to investigate past teacher misconduct; Burlington mayor's car and City Hall vandalized; Slate Ridge permits argued at Supreme Court; Labor commissioner blames Legislature for unemployment snafu.
Hundreds show support for Winooski soccer team; Rutland mascot change will stick â for now; Police commission requests Burlington mental health summit; GOP branches suing two cities over noncitizen voting.
State feared culpability in EB-5 fraud, documents show; Bonuses for Burlington police officers from Covid funds; Racist slurs hurled at Winooski soccer players; Program encourages Chittenden County commuters to seek alternative transportation.