By Anne Galloway, VTDigger.org The minimum wage in Vermont went up by 42 cents from $8.73 per hour to $9.15 per hour on Jan. 1. The rate is set to increase again in 2016 to $9.60 an hour, to $10 an hour in 2017 and  to $10.50 an hour in 2018. In subsequent years, the…

By Robin Alberti A large crowd of representatives, colleagues and community supporters gathered to say farewell to Police Chief Baker at the Howe Center in Rutland on Tuesday, Dec. 30.  It was a send off party for Baker, who has accepted a job as Director of Law Enforcement and Support for the International Association of…

By Polly Lynn KILLINGTON — J.D. (short for Just Dog) is a 5-year-old yellow lab who ran away from his ski house on Dean Hill Road in Killington on New Year’s Eve after being spooked by fireworks. He has been spotted at least twice since his disappearance; once on Jan. 1 and again on Jan. 3.…

By VTDigger staff A Rutland County parent who was barred from attending school board meetings has received a $147,500 settlement from the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union. Marcel Cyr, who with his wife, Valerie Cyr, had been critical of the quality of the education their child received at Benson Village School, was issued a no-trespass order and…

On Monday, Jan. 5, Secretary of State Jim Condos announced the successful launch of the new Vermont Lobbying Information System. The new system allows lobbyists, lobbyist firms, and lobbyist employers to register, manage their information, and make payments online. Secretary Condos explained “the new system not only makes lobbyist registration and disclosure simple and intuitive…

Dear Editor, Back in 2010 I attended the ceremony where Senator Sanders and Michel Guite announced the award to Vermont Telephone of a total of $116 million in federal government funding. Sanders said “In the year 2010, every community in Vermont and America should have access to high-quality broadband service. This very large USDA grant…

Dear Editor, After reading the article in the Jan 1 edition about the State/U.S. forest service “considering a back country plan” I felt compelled to remind hunters, skiers, snowboarders, hikers, snowshoe folks, etc, that the National Forest has been, and is open for your exploring enjoyment. As a native Vermonter I’ve spent my entire youth…

By H. Brooke Paige There has been much speculation in the media and on the internet regarding the subject of Vermont’s constitutional requirement that a “joint session” of the Vermont House and Senate elect our next governor. That the newly seated Legislature will be responsible for electing our next governor is a fact of law,…

By the Vermont coalition, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Out of all the states in the U.S., tiny Vermont has one of the highest rates of teen marijuana use. Proponents of legalization say that shows how poorly prohibition of marijuana has worked. As in so many other areas, that view looks at a single moment’s…

Governor says progress is good news but also highlights need for further health care reform  On Monday, Jan. 5, Gov. Peter Shumlin welcomed news that the Vermont Household Health Insurance Survey shows the number of Vermonters without health insurance has dropped significantly and reiterated the need for aggressive health care reform efforts to increase access…

By Dom Cioffi My son has officially discovered social media. While visiting friends over the holidays, my son was introduced to the wonders of texting by one of his buddies. Initially I was happy for him (I figured it could only help with his suspect writing skills), but before I knew it, he had written…

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recently announced the release of the long-awaited book entitled “A Landowner’s Guide – Wildlife Habitat Management for Lands in Vermont.” The book is a comprehensive guide to wildlife habitat management on private lands. It is filled with colorful photos and helpful tips. “The Landowner’s Guide is something that Vermonters…

By Polly Lynn Ronnie Berlack, 20, and Bryce Astle, 19 were two development-level ski racers who were among six people skiing when the avalanche struck. The four others were able to ski out of danger; Berlack and Astle were not. Their deaths in an avalanche at a resort in the Austrian Alps have left their…

By Brett Yates Now is the time of year when one cannot glance at a TV inside a restaurant or bar (the sort of restaurant or bar that never changes the channel from ESPN, I mean) without encountering a college football “bowl game” —the term used for the puffed-up, mostly meaningless cash-grab postseason exhibition matches…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I have always been a fan of reading about the good ol’ days in The Mountain Times. Josephine Blanchard entertained me for years with her stories and more recently Cindy Phillips has done the same. Each one had her own way of telling what life was like for her. I hope…