By Liora Engel-Smith/VTDigger Earlier this week, state regulators ordered Vermont’s second-largest hospital to cover a projected multimillion-dollar deficit without raising prices. The dust had barely settled on that decision Friday morning, but already reality was setting in for Rutland Regional Medical Center’s chief executive. Reflecting on the fateful Green Mountain Care Board decision, last Wednesday, March…

Audrey J. Putnam, 83, died Saturday morning April 2, at home surrounded  by her loving family from complications of Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Audrey was born September 23, 1938, the daughter of Grove R. and Rena (Scott) Scribner. She grew up in Poultney. After graduating from Poultney High School, she graduated from Sheldon Academy of…

Staff report A man died at a snowmbobile event at Suicide Six in Pomfret around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, according to Vermont State Police. James C. Darrow, Jr., 56, of Moreau, New York crashed into a tree while traveling off course down the mountain and died. It happened during a snowmobile race called…

Staff report The Archytas FIRST Robotics team, out of Bethel, is working on raising money so that it can compete in the New England District Championships April 13-16.  The central Vermont squad has close to 20 members from 10 towns and five different regional schools (The Sharon Academy, Woodstock, Randolph, White River Valley, and VAST). …

By Curt Peterson  Partners Doug Nolet and Meg Carleton were sitting around contemplating the state of the world, particularly the plight of the Ukrainian people under attack by the Russian military, when they decided to do something about it. Nolet, who happens to own the dilapidated old house and a half acre of land,  painted…

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) is reminding the public that it is mud season and many trails around the state are closed through Memorial Day weekend.  Mud season is the time period (typically the duration of April and May), when hiking and biking trails are extremely wet and muddy due to…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Last Friday was the last day for the second group of State House pages. The eight students were recognized before the House and Senate and given a standing ovation for their six weeks of service at the State House.  Serving as a page is both an honor and a great experience.…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson After many long Floor sessions debating and passing bills to the other body, the Legislature has pretty much completed cross over. This is the point in the session where all bills which have any chance of making it into law have to be passed from the House to the Senate or…

By Sarah Mearhoff/VTDigger Rep. Becca White, D-Hartford, is looking for a promotion. The two-term state representative on Monday, April 4, launched her candidacy for one of Windsor County’s three state Senate seats.  Unless any of the delegation’s incumbent senators — Alison Clarkson, Dick McCormack and Alice Nitka, all Democrats — decide to retire, White’s candidacy sets up an unusual…

Staff report The annual Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge last Saturday, April 2, did not disappoint as amateur bumpers took to the slopes of Outer Limits at Killington Resort to battle for a place in the finals. The top 32 men and 16 women then competed in a head-to-head competition for the Mogul Challenge cup. Myles…

By Angelo Lynn In the political tussle pitting small schools against districts that want to close them, a newly devised bill, H.727, intentionally works against the effort to preserve Vermont’s smaller schools — even when those communities overwhelmingly vote to support them. But the bill is not wholly misguided.  Its intent is to assure towns…

Dear Editor, I agree wholeheartedly that spending on healthcare is out of control. But when will we address the deeper reasons why this is so?  We could certainly discuss the out-of-control salaries that administrators at many levels of this system receive, including the bureaucracy-heavy insurance companies. Or the out-of-control costs of pharmaceuticals and the other…

Dear Editor, There is a lot to object to in Mr. Thayer’s piece, “What’s wrong with being a Republican,” published last week (March 30-April 5) in the Mountain Times. I’ll address two points. The main problem is that in lauding today’s Republicans, he ignores the, shall we say, elephant in the room: Donald Trump. Note…

Dear Editor, A recent commentary by Justin Salisbury on the “Ongoing eugenics against disabled Vermonters” pointed out that Vermont has no law protecting parents against losing their children simply because they are disabled.  Disability does not automatically mean that a parent can’t safely raise a child. The current situation of disabled people in family law…

By Anne Sosin Editor's note: This commentary is by Anne N. Sosin, a public health researcher and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College and the co-lead on research on Covid-19 and rural health equity in northern New England. This opinion piece was written with the encouragement of Deborah Lisi-Baker and is dedicated to…