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Tied Rutland alderman race resolved between the candidates

March 6, 2021
By Emma Cotton/VTDigger RUTLAND — An unprecedented tie for a seat on the Rutland Board of Alderman has been resolved between the two candidates. Thomas Franco got seat on the board after John Atwood, who was making his fourth run for the board, announced that he’d remove himself from the race. Each received 1,122 votes in the…

Annual Castleton women’s ice hockey Pink the Rink game set for March 6

March 3, 2021
On Saturday, March 6 the Castleton Women’s Ice Hockey Team will once again trade their traditional Spartan green apparel for pink to raise awareness and funds for the Breast Care Program at Rutland Regional Medical Center. The Spartans will face the Norwich Cadets in an exciting match-up scheduled to begin at 1:00pm at the Spartan…

Brandon, Danby, Pawlet and other municipalities approve pot shops

March 3, 2021
By Xander Landen/VTDigger Voters in Burlington, Brattleboro, Montpelier, Winooski and at least 15 other Vermont municipalities voted Tuesday to approve retail marijuana sales on Town Meeting Day. Bennington, Middlebury, Vergennes, Randolph, Waterbury, Berlin, Danby, Danville, Salisbury, Brownington, Waitsfield, Brandon, Pawlet, Barton, Sutton, Burke Duxbury, Strafford and Windsor also voted to allow local cannabis businesses, clearing the way…

Guard Members aid vaccination efforts

March 3, 2021
The Vermont National Guard will expand the state's vaccination capacity by providing vaccines starting today through March 7. Task Force Coyote, a unit that has served Vermont from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly one year ago will administer the vaccines at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Burlington. Eligible Vermonters can register through…

Mountain Times – Volume, Number 9 – March 3-9, 2021

March 3, 2021
[dflip id="194287"][/dflip] For best viewing on iPad, click the three dots on the bottom right to download as a PDF.

Talk with white children about racism

March 3, 2021
Dear Editor, Young children are open to learning everything they can all of the time. That is why they pick up on parents’ beliefs including prejudices. If parents make positive comments about people from other races, or from different parts of the country or the world, then children take on those positive attitudes as well.…

Be prepared for Vermont’s thermal energy transformation

March 3, 2021
Dear Editor, The old adage, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, is as true for energy as it is for eggs. Witness what has happened over the past few weeks. An energy spike in Texas causing rolling blackouts, leaving 2 million people without power, cold and in the dark. Here in Vermont, many…

What I see, from the other side of the fence

March 3, 2021
Dear Editor, I hope this falls on the right ears. It has been a rough year for everyone, and it is not going to get any better whether Covid is controlled or not. Our economic situation in this country does not leave much for the average person any more ... as the days and years…

Vaccinate the teachers

March 3, 2021
Dear Editor, I am reaching out to urge Vermont state representatives to reconsider the prioritization of teachers in the Vermont vaccination rollout plan. In an editorial from the NYTimes’ David Leonhardt, he outlines how and why educators must be made a priority if we actually want to reopen schools while protecting our educators, who are putting their…

Protecting our school employees and taxpayers

March 3, 2021
By Pattie McCoy How often does an education reform bill pass on a voice vote in the Vermont Legislature? From experience, I can tell you it is about as rare as the same type of legislation passing unanimously. That is, very rare indeed. Yet, when the Vermont Legislature contemplated a statewide commission to determine the…

Why ‘opt in’ for pot?

March 3, 2021
By Angelo Lynn This year on Town Meeting Day, 23 towns voted on whether to allow the retail sale of cannabis. They were: Barton, Bennington, Berlin, Brandon, Brattleboro, Brownington, Burlington, Danby, Danville, Duxbury, Lyndon, Middlebury, Montpelier, Newport City, Pawlet, Pownal, Randolph, Richmond, Salisbury, Strafford, Waitsfield, Waterbury and Winooski. (Voting finished after publication deadline, visit mountaintimes.info…

Stratton town report cover draws attention for all the wrong reasons

March 3, 2021
By Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Stratton Town Clerk D. Kent Young was assembling the annual municipal report when, lacking such past cover photos as a local elder or landscape, he eyed a bulletin-board message that began, “You came here from there because you didn’t like there, and now you want to change here to be like there.” Young…

90 years after Vermont eugenics survey, lawmakers propose apology

March 3, 2021
By Amanda Gokee/VTDigger A eugenics survey in Vermont sought to “breed a better Vermonter” by sterilizing and institutionalizing Indigenous people, French-Canadians, and people who were mixed-race, poor or disabled. Ninety years after the 1931 survey got underway, lawmakers are proposing an official apology for the state-supported program that tore families apart. Abenaki people in Vermont say…

Earned income tax credit, 3SquaresVT help Vermonters stretch their budgets

March 3, 2021
This year, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) can help working families in Vermont make ends meet with a credit of up to $6,660. Additionally, any family with dependent children who receives the Vermont EITC is automatically income eligible for food benefits through 3SquaresVT – meaning it may be easier to enroll in the program…

Vermont Senate passes sales tax exemption for menstrual products

March 3, 2021
By Xander Landen/VTDigger The Vermont Senate voted unanimously Friday, Feb. 26 to exempt menstrual products from the state sales tax. The bill, S.53, would remove the tax on products including tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, which are currently subject to Vermont’s 6% sales tax, and an additional 1% local option tax in some communities. The…