By Curt Peterson Kerry Gawalt and Stephen Leslie, who operate Cedar Mountain Farm in Hartland, are Northeast Region finalists for the 2022 Leopold Conservation Award, the winner to be announced in a few weeks, according to a letter from the sponsor, leopoldconservationaward.org. The prize is a $10,000 grant and a crystal award. Conservation organizations that…

By Erin Petenko/VTDigger Covid-19 levels in Vermont remain “low,” according to the Vermont Department of Health’s latest weekly surveillance update. The data comes amid the first week of the Omicron booster, also called the bivalent vaccine, which became available Wednesday, Sept. 7 in Vermont. This booster specifically targets the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron. About 80% of…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. The latest news that a top-secret document describing a foreign government’s military defense readiness, including its nuclear capabilities, was found among the documents at ex-president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence is the…

By Tiffany Tan/VTDigger RUTLAND CITY — One sunny morning last week, Matt Prouty was driving down Main Street when a police dispatcher’s voice came over the car’s police radio, transmitting a report of an assault at the local Walmart store. “A male and a female were in the self-checkout. They were not scanning all the items,”…

Drivers need to be alert and cautious because moose are on the move, according to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Dept. (VTF&W). Moose are more likely to be crossing roadways at this time of year, especially after dark or early in the morning because this is breeding season for moose. “Motorists hit 49 moose on…

The third year of the Expeditionary School at Black River (ESBR) has seen an increased number of students, school officials report. This year’s community of students come from Ludlow, Mt. Holly, Andover, Cavendish, Charlestown (New Hampshire), and even a foreign exchange student from Germany, whose mother was an exchange student at Black River High School…

Town Meeting Day vote will ask voters if it's worth $1 By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger This summer and beyond, residents of the town of Rochester are trying to figure out what to do with an empty high school building — four years after its last class graduated. Following the district mergers and school consolidations that resulted from…

By Alis Headlam Editor’s note: This commentary is by Alis Headlam, Ed.D., of Rutland. Headlam retired as a professional educator training teachers to teach literacy in institutions in the United States, Africa and Jamaica; is the former creator and member of the Multiracial Alliance of the Rutland Area; and is currently a member of Project VISION…

Dear Editor, Montpelier is now the second city in the state to decriminalize prostitution within its city limits, and I am deeply concerned for what this move will mean for Vermont. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of sex work, the reality is that wherever prostitution is decriminalized, there is a subsequent increase…

Dear Editor, Every indicator says we are rapidly approaching the implosion of healthcare in Vermont and probably the nation. The 2021 Vermont Household Health Insurance Survey indicates that 38% of Vermonters under age 65 are underinsured, as are 32.3% of those on Medicare. Since the Green Mountain Care Board has again approved large rate increases…

Dear Editor, U.S. colleges bear considerable responsibility for the student debt crisis. Colleges with fat endowments (and bloated tuitions) should be tapped to help address this crisis. How about increased federal and state taxes on endowments to help pay for the dangerous student-debt bailout idea? We hear billionaires should pay their fair share. Well, many…

Vermont has expanded eligibility for the hMPXV (human monkeypox virus) JYNNEOS vaccine to certain groups at higher risk of contracting the virus and has increased vaccination opportunities, but officials caution that vaccine supply is still limited at this time. hMPXV can spread to anyone through close and often skin-to-skin contact with someone who is infected.…

By Mat Clouser/The Reporter During the Covid-19 pandemic, youngsters have seen the brightness of their childhoods darkened by the specter of disease, uncertainty and the real-time fissuring of a society in which many have been taught to trust implicitly. New Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Kristin Hubert knows this all too well but remains steadfast…

Editor’s note: This commentary is a joint op-ed from Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Conservation Voters, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club and Vermont Public Interest Research Group. When it comes to getting where we all need to go — which often needs to be by car…

Bivalent vaccine offers protection against new virus variants State health officials announced Tuesday, Sept. 6, that Vermonters will be able to receive the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine booster shots starting Wednesday, Sept. 7. The updated boosters are designed to be a match for the BA.5 Omicron variant currently affecting most people. Last week, the CDC…