By Merisa Sherman Let the rain kiss you.   Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.  - Langston Hughes The rain would announce its arrival by the pitter patter of drops on the roof. A random drop here and there until they would find their…

By Michael J. Caduto Anyone who has shared a home with a dog or a cat has learned something about the silent language of tails. Wild and domesticated animals may use tails for everything from communication to courtship, balance to locomotion, and defense to swatting flies. Tails can range from short to long and be…

By Kevin Theissen During your accumulation years, you may have categorized your risk as “conservative,” “moderate,” or “aggressive” and that guided how your portfolio was built. Maybe you concerned yourself with finding the “best-performing funds,” even though you knew past performance does not guarantee future results. What occurs with many retirees is a change in…

By Dom Cioffi Nearly 10 years ago, in September of 2011, I wrote a review for the film “Contagion,” which is highlighted below. The film was an interesting composite of what might happen during a modern-day pandemic. I remember enjoying the film and also appreciating how realistic the plot seemed even though I believed the…

Keeping a small flock of chickens at home to provide eggs and meat has become increasingly popular as people stay home during the pandemic, but many first-time small-scale poultry farmers are discovering that several species of wildlife like the taste of chicken as much as we do. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department urges poultry owners…

Burlington—A total of 210 Vermont students from 15 schools and five home school families demonstrated their creativity through artwork and stories about trees for the Growing Works of Art contest, sponsored by the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) as part of its Arbor Day activities. The theme of this year’s contest was…

By Cal Garrison This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Gemini Moon that will turn Void-of-Course then enter Cancer. The business of being in quarantine has been a mixed bag for me. I have definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet and the long afternoon naps in the sun, but I noticed…

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Phased re-opening expands health and safety measures, including mandatory training   On Friday, April 24, Governor Phil Scott outlined some additional openings as part of the phased restart of Vermont’s economy, introduced last week. The Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order remains in effect, but with modeling continuing to indicate Vermonters are significantly slowing the spread of the virus, the…

By Elizabeth Gribkoff/VTDigger As Vermont reports a slowdown in the number of new Covid-19 cases, officials say the Department of Health will have 48 people by the end of the week tracking down individuals who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. Public health experts say the epidemiological detective work known as contact-tracing can help…

By Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger Vermont’s Department of Labor said that it cleared tens of thousands of backlogged unemployment insurance claims over the weekend. The state also made good on its promise Monday, April 20, to send checks of $1,200 to the remaining 8,384 Vermonters who still haven’t been able to resolve problems with their claims — over…

Dear Editor, First, a little history: 2008 saw the worst financial crisis in this country since the Great Depression. In response to the economic devastation, congress enacted the Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out America’s big banks, to the tune of $700 billion. Today, with the coronavirus pandemic hitting small businesses harder than anybody…

Dear Editor, I felt like an imaginary, old fashioned Italian woman today. I decided it was time to pack away the big, heavy down comforter as deep winter is over in Vermont. So, I filled my big bath tub with lots of soap, bleach and hot water. Then I submerged the queen sized white comforter…

Dear Editor, Covid-19 is impacting families all across Vermont and the nation. We have known from the beginning that group living settings are particularly susceptible to rapid infection. We have seen in other countries and states that the outcome of not taking strong preventative measures in prisons is a spike in cases of infection. We…

Dear Editor, From Ayn Rand to Ronald Reagan, America’s conservative heroes have preached “public is bad, private is good.” Yet public means “accessible to or shared by all members of the community,” while private means “intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class.”  We’re paying a great price for…