Tuesday's coronavirus #s, charts: While Vermont continues to see more coronavirus cases each day, the exponential growth is rate is not as steep as some had feared. Experts expect social distancing will continue to work and broader testing will allow contact-tracing, which will help identify those who may be contagious. For daily local news about…

Castleton University cancels graduation Staff report On Thursday afternoon, March 26, Governor Phil Scott directed schools to remain dismissed through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. K-12 schools will stay closed for in-person instruction and be required to implement continuity of learning plans for remote learning. This extends the governor’s previous directive dismissing preK-12…

Calls for 14-day home-quarantine for anyone coming from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut On Monday, March 30, Governor Phil Scott ordered additional restrictions on travelers arriving in Vermont and announced additional guidance for the lodging industry to enhance compliance with his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. The measures under the order, effective March 25,…

Legislation includes small business aid, direct payments to individuals and increased unemployment compensation Staff report President Trump signed a $2 trillion economic stimulus bill Friday afternoon, March 27, after the House passed it earlier that day. The package provides aid to help individuals, families, small businesses and hospitals mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.…

The Outside Story By Elise Tillinghast This is such a disorienting time, when all our lives have been turned upside down and shaken. One of the ways my own family is coping is by spending time outside every day. We stage nature treasure hunts in the woods behind our house. The kids work as a…

Dear Editor, Everyone is having to deal with disruptions to their daily lives in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Many of us are out of work, or adjusting to working from home. Families of school-aged children especially are going through major changes right now. Parents are having to be teachers as well as moms and…

Dear Editor, On behalf of the Killington Active Seniors, I would like to thank the many people who have reached out to offer help and support to us in these unusual times. I would particularly like to acknowledge the Killington Locals Group on Facebook who contacted me early on. I remember thinking that we should…

Dear Editor, Unless activists stop the plan, thousands of acres of Green Mountain National Forest near Killington and Mount Snow will be logged. “They are coming hard with the chainsaws to Green Mountain National Forest,” said Chris Matera, a civil engineer and founder of Massachusetts Forest Watch, a citizens group formed to protect New England public…

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…