By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger A group of lawmakers and a Vermont Agency of Education executive tasked with designing a potential school construction aid program have hashed out the details but stopped short of identifying a funding stream. The group is hoping Gov. Phil Scott will recommend appropriating state money in his budget proposal to help pay for school construction…

Dear Editor, As a former school district board member for 15 years, I know budgeting always comes with difficult choices — particularly when making cuts.  This year, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) board proposed $2.5 million in cuts — no small feat, especially because insurance costs and contractual obligations to teachers and staff rose…

KILLINGTON—Jason Tylor Thomas, 52, of Killington, Vermont, and formerly of Putnam Station, New York, passed away suddenly on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. Born in Middlebury on Jan. 2, 1972, he is the son of Jeanette L. (Cummings) LaPointe and the late Henry A. Thomas. Jason was a veteran of the U.S. Army. He graduated from…

Dear Editor, Editor’s note: This letter was originally scripted as a message to legislators. As you get ready to go to work in Jan. I wanted to share the budget situation in our district.  Due to the penalty phase being enacted, we calculated that we would need to cut $2.5 million to stay under the…

Dear Editor, Is aging at home working for you? Do you have an advocate that checks in, helps find what you need, someone to talk over what going on? I do in Sharon. We have Dena, Health Care Coordinator, because 10 years ago a group us formed the Sharon Health Initiative (SHI), to get this…

Dear Editor, The administration’s announcement that the discriminatory prioritization categories throughout the winter months will be used is not only inhumane; it does not follow the law, which created no such prioritization categories and states who is eligible for shelter on a first come, first serve basis. These “priority categories” deprioritize people experiencing homelessness and…

Dear Editor, Earning a college degree is challenging, especially for Vermont students who balance school, jobs, and family while working to put food on the table. Fortunately, a new policy change now makes it easier for Vermont’s community college students to access 3SquaresVT, the state’s name for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to…

By Dan Smith Editor’s note: Dan Smith is the president and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation. People are tired of politics. Fear, mistrust and polarization have that effect. Trust is the connective tissue of civic structures, and the trend at every level is to trust leaders and each other less and less. As elections…

Vermont’s legislative focus is sharpening on healthcare and housing as Representative Lori Houghton (D-Essex Junction) and Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden County) take on their new roles as House and Senate majority leaders, respectively. Both leaders transitioned from key committee chair roles, marking the first in at least two decades for Vermont’s Legislature. Houghton, a…

2024 was a banner year at Vermont State Historic Sites. New data released Dec. 3 by the Vermont Dept. of Housing and Community Development’s Division for Historic Preservation shows 80,678 people spent $512,053 at seven Vermont State Historic Sites during the 2024 season. Spending is the result of admission fees (charged at six sites) and sales at six…

On Tuesday, Dec. 3, Speaker Jill Krowinski and the Chairs of House Education and Ways and Means outlined the groundwork for the upcoming legislative session to address the rising property taxes and the future of public education in Vermont. Governor Scott issued the administration’s “December 1 Letter” which projected a property tax increase next year…

By Karen D. Lorentz When someone has worked their entire adult life in as many different ski-industry positions as John Neal, it’s not too surprising to hear him say, “The people and the passion for the sport and lifestyle have given me the opportunity to have a career I enjoy.”  Neal grew up in Ludlow,…

By Peter D’Auria/VTDigger A Vermont advisory group is not recommending a state psychedelic therapy program after group members could not agree on its potential risks and benefits. In a final report issued mid-Noveber, the Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group declined to support the creation of some kind of a state-backed program involving therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, specifically…

By John Flowers/Addison Independent and Mountain Times staff The leadership of the Rutland Area NAACP raised concern over recent developments in neighboring Addison County related to the actions of two Mary Hogan Elementary School parents/guardians who have challenged gender-related instructional materials to educate kindergarten students at the Middlebury school. According to sources, the complaints relate…

Howard Barbash passed peacefully on Dec. 6 at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center following a long but hard-fought battle with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). His wife, Connie, was with him durinag this time as she had always been during their 41 years of “blissful” marriage. …