By Jim Condos For decades, Vermont’s Community Media Centers have provided our residents direct access to each other, our government and our community events. Now, more than ever, we need a strong network of public, educational and government (“PEG TV”) stations and their Community Media Centers to provide these important services that keep our civic…

The Vermont Commission on Women announced that new resources are available from the Workplaces For All public education program at workplacesforall.vermont. gov. The resources are designed to make workers, employers, and all Vermonters aware of laws that apply to them, their legal rights, methods of reporting, where to find information, strategies for prevention, and ways…

By John Flowers/Addison County Independent The Vermont House on Feb. 26 voted 90-54 in favor of a bill that would tax and regulate recreational cannabis for those 21 and older. The chamber, as expected, then gave final approval to the measure on Thursday, Feb. 27. The move comes a year after the Senate passed tax-and-regulate…

State switched to an opt-out default on March 1 By Katie Jickling/VTDigger On March 1, thousands of Vermonters’ medical records became available to doctors, even for patients who have not given consent for their records to be shared. The new sharing policy went into place Sunday for records on the statewide health information exchange, a database…

Bill strengthens environmental protections, sustainable trail development, growth in downtown Staff report The Vermont House of Representatives passed H.926, an Act 250 modernization bill, 88 to 52 with tripartisan support on Friday, Feb. 28. The bill passed almost three years after lawmakers formally began a review of how to “modernize” Act 250 in advance of its…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Last week saw a significant amount of floor time in the Vermont House, including a rare evening session, as major legislation was debated and/or amended ahead of the Town Meeting week recess. First up on Tuesday, Feb.25 was a vote to override the governor’s veto on increasing the minimum wage to…

Once valued at $200 million, Tough Mudder was formerly considered the dominant player in the field Staff report Less than two months after Tough Mudder’s creditors forced it into filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the extreme obstacle race operator may be nearing a finish line of sorts. Tough Mudder’s chief rival, Spartan Race, has reportedly agreed…

By Ed Larson Rutland City has come to a settlement agreement with former Rutland City Fire Chief James Larsen. City attorney Matt Bloomer explained that under the chief’s employment agreement, a termination for lack of “efficient service” could occur at the will of the mayor.  Mayor David Allaire utilized that section of the contract to…

Staff report After six people died of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in Washington state last week, local officials have been preparing for an outbreak in Vermont. There were no confirmed cases in the state as of Monday, March 2, but officials are expecting residents will become sick. White River Valley Supervisory Union Superintendent Brooke…

By Curt Peterson The day before voters were asked to approve the Windsor Central Supervisory Union budget totaling $21 million, board member Jim Haff asked Killington residents to vote against that budget. He told voters at the Killington public informational meeting March 2 that it’s nearly certain an unrecognized $1 million deficit will be uncovered…

By Virginia Dean For those investing in winter rental properties, it may not come as a surprise that a recent study indicates that Killington and Ludlow have topped the charts in profitable revenue for the last two years, according to property management company Vacasa of Portland, Oregon. The company had calculated data on nearly a…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger Veterinarian Susan Johnson used to work with 15 large alpaca farms. Now Vermont’s down to just a few. But an Ascutney farm, Cas-Cad-Nac, is doing the alpaca business in a big way. It has 250 super-premium alpacas, half-ownership in a fiber mill, and a mail-order alpaca meat business. And this autumn, it…

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The Heritage Credit Union now owns the former College of St. Joseph campus. The bank moved to foreclose on the property in January, according to CEO Matt Levandowski, and the school surrendered the deed over to Heritage on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The school had an outstanding balance with the bank of $4.5 million.…

Dear Editor, Climate change is destroying our future, Governer Scott. Your inaction on meaningful environmental policy is extremely disappointing. This is a betrayal of Vermonters, your promises, and the planet. State greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Summers are getting wetter and hotter, sugar maples’ range is trending north, and tick-borne disease rates are increasing in…

Dear Editor, There is a dangerous false equivalency in our political narrative right now. A number of our current Democratic hopefuls have been sowing seeds of falsity with their supporters that accepting large donations guarantees corruption in the White House and that small donations are the only way to guarantee clean politics. This is bad…