One of my top events from last year was the 2nd annual Singer/Songwriter Festival at Rivershed Killington. On Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m., for the first time, they’re hosting “Wintersong: A Celebration of Female Songwriters.” One notable difference, besides being all female, is that owner Kara Tondorff is one of the performers. I’ve heard a…

  By James Lyall Editor’s note: James Lyall is the executive director of the ACLU of Vermont. The Fair Share for Vermont campaign is calling for Vermont’s wealthiest residents to pay their fair share in taxes so we can build a better state for all of us.     As part of this campaign, the ACLU…

By State Auditor Doug Hoffer  Evidence-based. Evidence-informed. Data-driven. Results Based Accountability. PIVOT. Vermont policymakers frequently use these terms to indicate that new policies and spending decisions are the result of rigorous, fully-informed analysis. Too often, though, the promise of these terms is undercut by bad data, incomplete information, and misleading representations from officials. When state…

  Dear Editor, For the first time in American history our democracy is on the  precipice of becoming extinct. The odds are stacked against us. Democrats find themselves in a precarious place. They have lost  the House, the Senate is holding on by a thread and our president  is not a slam dunk for reelection…

Dear Editor, With decades of effort toward raising public awareness on the plight of pollinators, we the beekeepers of Vermont are deeply concerned about recent communications from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets (VAAFM), and we would like to set the record straight. The VAAFM’s claim of record honey bee numbers in Vermont…

  Dear Editor,  Snow globes are popular and soothing. What’s not to like about a glass globe with a pleasant scene inside, with snow gently falling whenever you shake the globe? But what if those falling flakes are actually bits of greed, corruption, violence and ignorance?  That’s how America seems to me now: a carefully…

    Polar Vortex by Rivers, CagleCartoons

By Anson B. Tebbetts, secretary of the, Food and Markets (VAAFM) From Canaan to Cavendish, and Duxbury to Dummerston, Vermonters are asking for more housing units and better-quality dwellings. Workers and employees, we hear you, asking for more well-constructed homes, apartments, and condos so you can work, live, and play closer to where you earn.…

An innovative initiative is underway in Vermont: The Grow America Farm Corps initiative addresses Vermont’s farm labor shortages by fostering dynamic collaboration among local farmers, new Americans, and supporting partners. Farmers with employment opportunities can sign up to match with new Americans seeking agricultural training and mentorship. Grow America Farm Corps partners assist in placing…

By Peter D’Auria/VTDigger In 2022, Erin Kellar was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Kellar had enrolled in Vermont’s Medicaid health insurance program as a graduate student, and was able to stay in the program while she began her career as a therapist.  Medicaid helped pay for treatment for her diabetes, which requires rapid-acting insulin, long-acting insulin…

The American Lung Association urges everyone to test their home, businesses Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer and the State of Lung Cancer report reveals that it is detected at high levels in about 21.7% of homes in Vermont. During January for National Radon Action Month, the American Lung Association in Vermont is…

  Scam reports to the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) totaled 3,212 in 2023. The “computer tech support” scam took the No. 1 spot on the list, totaling almost 25% of the top scams reported. Phishing scams involving financial institutions, where a scammer tries to lure victims into clicking malicious links or tricking them…

Following a veto by the governor of a bill to increase legislative pay last year, Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky of Chittenden County, along with Senators McCormack and White of Windsor County, introduce a bill to reduce the governor’s pay to equal that of a part-time legislator on a weekly basis. The governor’s salary (set by the…

By Curt Peterson Hartland’s popular, successful community nurse program is administered by Aging in Hartland, (AiH), a non-profit group of volunteers dedicated to helping Hartland seniors remain independent and safe in their own homes. But many other towns, including Killington, currently have no community nurse program. The proposed Senate bill S.231 and partner House bill…

  Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast announces the opening of a donor milk depot and dispensary at Sage Willow Midwifery located on Main Street in Manchester Center in the Red Clover Community Wellness collective space.  The nonprofit milk bank collects milk from mothers who have more supply than their babies need. They screen donors, then pasteurize,…