Dear Editor, While Vermont communities were watching for signs the federal government would help them weather the current public health issues, 130 federal legislators had their sights set on something else. These members of Congress had the audacity to jointly petition the House Armed Services Committee, just four days after the White House declared a…

By Meg Hansen Public health and the economy are two sides of the same coin. Yet, as the number of COVID-19 cases escalates and an economic implosion looms, crisis managers feel compelled to pick either heads or tails. President Trump, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick are eager to reopen…

By John Flowers, Addison Independent After 35 years in reporting, I thought I’d been through a lot as a journalist: Martial law in the Philippines; a couple of natural disasters — the big ice storm and rampant flooding in Addison County — in 1996; a double-murder/suicide; a visit by the Dalai Lama; local soldiers deploying…

At a press conference on Friday, March 27, Governor Phil Scott and Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D., announced that aggressive procurement of supplies has allowed the state to broaden the scope of its testing efforts. Until now, limited supplies required restricting prioritized testing to high risk patients. Dr. Levine said health care providers are now…

District School Board votes in new chair, co-chair Staff report Mary Beth Banios, superintendent of the Windsor Central Union School District, announced that she will be leaving the district in an email to school board members, Wednesday, March 25. Banios told the board that she had gotten the job as superintendent at Hamilton-Wenham Regional School…

By Sen. Alison Clark This week the Vermont Legislature passed three significant measures, embodied in two bills, H.742 and H.681, to improve life for Vermonters in response to the COVID-19 crisis. After a week of working remotely, 17 of the 30 Senators met on Tuesday, March 24, in the Statehouse, and with plenty of social…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Over the past few weeks, we have seen addendum after addendum to Governor Phil Scott’s Emergency Declaration that was issued on March 13. What was allowed yesterday may not be true today. The situation is changing daily. Last week saw the governor issuing orders to stay home, close non-essential businesses, including…

By Art Woolf The Vermont state labor department received 14,784 claims for unemployment for the week ending March 21. The huge spike in claims came in the wake of coronavirus-related layoffs. Michael Harrington, interim commissioner, told lawmakers Thursday, March 26, that the total number of claims — processed and unprocessed — is an all-time record. In…

By Polly Mikula After promoting a “Stay to Stay” pro-gram for the last two years and creating other incentives to get people to come to Vermont and relocate, Governor Phil Scott issued an executive order — and then an amendment strengthening that order —calling for visitors to, essentially, not visit. The Department of Tourism underscored…

By Erin Petenko and Xander Landen/VTDigger Vermont Gov. Phil Scott issued a “stay home” order on March 24 (effective March 25), then strengthened that order on March 30 with 14-day self-quarantining measures for those traveling in from outside the state. It’s the latest in a series of closures, bans and restrictions intended to keep people at home, away…

By Ed Larson In an update to employees, released March 26, General Electric stated it is supporting two employees at Plant #1 who have tested positive for COVID-19. G.E. indicated in the update that the company could not identify the employees involved or discuss specifics of their conditions due to privacy laws. The plant had been…

By Katy Savage As soon as area businesses were shut down due to coronavirus concerns, Pamela Martin started asking the community for help. Martin, who moved to Killington from New York three years ago, started a GoFundMe, called Killington Strong, to help businesses that closed and laid off service workers. Martin created the GoFundMe on…

By Lisa Lynn, VT Ski & Ride On the night of March 10, Jon Schaefer read an article about the spread of COVID-19. He turned off the lights and went to sleep. “Five minutes later, I woke up and knew what we had to do,” he said. Schaefer runs Berkshire East (the ski area in northwestern…

Zoom video conferencing becomes the new normal By Curt Peterson Municipal and School Boards are adapting to social distancing regulations that are evolving at a steady rate. In a March 30 press release Secretary of State Jim Condos announced “temporary changes to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law…in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.” H.681 eliminates requirement…

RUTLAND — Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging (SVCOA), administrators of the Rutland County Meals on Wheels program, issued an urgent call for volunteer support on March 25 to assist with Meals on Wheels deliveries to homebound older Vermonters throughout the area. “We’ve seen a drastic decline in the number of volunteer deliver drivers as the…