News
African high school students explore Vermont through a leadership program and cultural exchange
1+ day, 14+ hour ago (1063+ words) When 17-year-old Darius Niyonkuru from Rwanda first heard he was accepted into an international exchange program and was coming to the U.S. for three weeks, he almost didn’t believe it. It wasn’t until he received his visa that he realized his…...
Rod Coronado: A fed bear is a dead bear. Vermont's hunting lobby didn't get the memo.
3+ mon, 3+ week ago (360+ words) This commentary is by Rod Coronado, the Wildlife Programs Director for Sage Mountain Botanical Sanctuary and the state director of Vermont Wildlife Patrol. Like many Vermonters, I live in forested mountainous terrain that black bears love. Every spring, I enjoy…...
Which 50 of the Vermont Historical Society’s 30,000 artifacts best sum up the state?
4+ week, 1+ day ago (973+ words) MONTPELIER — A century-old pair of ash and rawhide snowshoes — embodying subsistence and sport — seemed an obvious choice when the Vermont Historical Society perused its 30,000 artifacts to pick the most symbolic and storied for its new “50 for 250” U.S. semiquincentennial project....
Under Trump, ICE check-ins in Vermont have shifted
4+ week, 1+ day ago (1296+ words) ST. ALBANS — Steven Tendo hugged and shook hands with the throng of supporters waiting outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office Tuesday. He was relieved, for now: He’d just walked out of a check-in with ICE, where he feared…...
State and employees’ union butt heads over telework in Vermont’s highest court
1+ mon, 2+ day ago (950+ words) MONTPELIER — The state of Vermont and the Vermont State Employees’ Association presented oral arguments to the Vermont Supreme Court Thursday over whether the state had the right to change employees’ telework arrangements without bargaining with the union first. The debate…...
Ralph Wright, ‘revered and feared’ longest-serving Vermont House speaker, dies at 91
1+ mon, 2+ day ago (1604+ words) When Montpelier journalist Chris Graff wrote his 2006 memoir, “Dateline Vermont,” he recounted the rise of such 20th-century politicians as the state’s first woman governor, Madeleine Kunin; its chief executive who died in office, Richard Snelling; and its physician turned presidential…...
Vernon community and the state grapple with potential redevelopment of Vermont Yankee site
1+ mon, 3+ day ago (752+ words) After 40 years in operation, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon shuttered in 2014, leaving over 100,000 tons of nuclear waste. More than a decade later, the developer that holds the lease, PowerTransitions, is in the midst of envisioning the site’s…...
Vermont's proposed school mergers aren't really voluntary
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (512+ words) This commentary is by Nina Antin, who is the parent of a Long Trail School student. They divide their time between Manchester and a farm on the Arlington border with White Creek, New York. Vermont’s new education law, H.955 — which…...
Partial repeal of Vermont’s land-use law Act 181 heads to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk
1+ mon, 3+ week ago (723+ words) In a victory for a rural coalition protesting the state’s controversial land-use law, a bill that would partially roll back Act 181 is now headed to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk. The Vermont Senate approved the bill’s final iteration in a 28-2 vote…...
Vermont landlord-tenant bill falls apart in surprise Senate tiebreaker
1+ mon, 3+ week ago (767+ words) A bill that originally sought to streamline the eviction process and rebalance Vermont’s landlord-tenant laws died on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon. It was a dramatic turn for a bill the Senate had already largely stripped down to a…...