By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger.org The Vermont Department of Taxes temporarily suspended the issuance of personal income tax refunds last week. The state suspended refunds on Wednesday in response to reports that other states across the country are seeing an increase in fraudulent filings. TurboTax, the popular tax preparation software company, announced on Friday that an…

City of Rutland awarded top allocation of $300,000; Town of Killington, $227,174 On Feb. 5 Governor Peter Shumlin and Transportation Secretary Sue Minter announced the recipients of $2.1 million in federal funds for municipal grant projects under the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). The funding will be used for construction projects in 11 cities and towns around the state. “Investments in infrastructure are key to economic growth…

By Amy Ash Nixon, VTDigger.org Speaker of the House Shap Smith’s public request for ideas on education governance and finance reform drew 87 proposals, which are now available online. Smith asked Vermonters to submit ideas on the public education debate now playing out at the State House by New Year’s Eve. “The proposals had a…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger.org A new bill in the House takes aim at so-called “revenge porn.” Introduced to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 3, H.105 would make illegal the disclosure of sexually explicit images of a person without the subject’s consent. The practice, a hot issue on the national stage, is termed “revenge…

“Sing us a song you’re the piano man Sing us a song tonight Well we’re all in the mood for a melody And you’ve got us feeling alright” ~Billy Joel Frank Chase has been making folks in Killington feel alright since October 1979 when the late, great Bob “Tuna” Evans first brought him to town…

On Friday, Feb. 13, the public health issue of suicide in Vermont will take center stage at the Vermont State House, during a day of advocacy and recognition of ongoing suicide prevention efforts.  From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. representatives of the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center, Vermont Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,…

Voters in Burlington recently voted 11-2 to place an amendment to the state constitution on the March ballot. The proposed amendment would allow non-citizens to vote in municipal and school elections, as well as to work as department heads and serve on city boards. While many citizens are quick to protest that voting is their…

On Feb. 7, at around 7 p.m., Peter Guy contacted the Vermont State Police in Rockingham and reported that his wife Cindy Guy and her friend, Gail Mann, both in their late 60s from Londonderry, had gone cross-country skiing earlier in the day and had not returned. He reported that at 4:30 p.m., after being in…

Video courtesy of Tim Buttner

On Feb. 6, around 3:15 p.m., a 27-year-old St. Johnsbury woman died while skiing at Burke Mountain in East Burke. The Vermont State Police responded and and a detective went to the scene. Initial investigation indicates the deceased left the groomed portion of a trail on the upper portion of the mountain and struck a tree. After the…

In several recently released reports on working women from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Vermont’s wage gap was the smallest in the nation. Cary Brown, executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women, which works to advance rights and opportunities for women and girls, applauded news that Vermont’s most recent gender wage gap…

The Vermont dairy industry brings $2.2 billion in economic activity to Vermont annually, according to a new study funded by the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council. Findings from the study were unveiled last week at the Vermont Farm Show. Recognizing the need for up-to-date data about dairying’s impact on Vermont’s economy, the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council…

By Dom Cioffi In the early 1940s, as World War II was raging in Europe, a young man named James J. Kilroy was hired to work as a riveter at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. Kilroy was a diligent worker who took pride in each day’s accomplishments. At the time, the builders were…

By Joe Fusco I’m not here to argue with you about climate change. I’m not here to convince you that it’s real, or that it’s not. I am here to convince you, politics aside, that there is a cascade of genuine economic and business development opportunities that will flow from confronting and solving global and…

By Julia Purdy What if Vermont legalized fun-time marijuana? The 196-page report from the RAND Corporation, commissioned by Governor Peter Shumlin, addresses that question in mind-boggling detail, but with no guarantees and many caveats that are beyond Vermont’s control. The moral issue of whether government should profit from a powerful, mind-altering drug is beyond the…