By Marguerite Jill Dye I was outraged to hear Utah Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz comment that low-income Americans could sacrifice their new iPhone for health care instead. I wondered how he could be so blind to the struggle of America’s poor to pay food and rent. But it was House Speaker Paul Ryan who called…

By Michael J. Caduto Imagine ten nearly round white eggs snug in a hollow tree, lined with soft feathers plucked from the mother’s breast. The hen carefully tends the 2-inch eggs for about a month until the chicks hatch. Prompted by their mother’s call, downy day-old chicks clamber up to the opening in the tree…

By Kevin Theissen It’s tax season! Every year, around this time, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) publishes its dirty dozen—a list of scams criminals use to try and ferret out personal information and/or steal money. For example, if you received an email from a top executive in your company or organization requesting data from IRS…

By Brett Yates Winter landscapes will never stop being kind of magical to me, no matter how joylessly and cynically grownup I become: the endless unstained carpet of a fresh snowfall, the sculptural perfection of an icicle, the fierce sting of the cold itself. The dreamlike beauty of the alpine environment is one of the…

By Dom Cioffi At the end of last summer, just as the school year was beginning, I executed my son’s Xbox. I had been warning him for weeks that this scenario might unfold if he didn’t show some restraint with his burgeoning gaming addiction. But it didn’t seem to matter. He and his friends would…

Bloomer returns to Killington this weekend and you can see his duo with Stuart Slocum Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m. at Outback Pizza. Bloomer also will be playing solo at The Foundry Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. Bloomer plays acoustic guitar and Slocum plays drums and percussion. I last spoke to Bloomer, a.k.a. Brian Blumenthal,…

Jeffrey M. Rousseau, 51, of Stockbridge peacefully left his wife, family and friends on March 15, 2017. Originally from Mason, N.H., Jeff moved to Vermont after his service in the U.S. Air Force. His love for the outdoors and rural countryside led him to the ski industry and Vermont, of which he felt so at…

Dear editor, ARC Rutland Area, an organization that works with citizens with developmental disabilities and their families, wants to thank the Rutland Lodge of Elks #345 for sponsoring a Valentine barbecue and dance for approximately 95 members, family and friends of ARC Rutland Area on Sunday, Feb. 19. We would like to give special thanks…

Dear editor, If you were to ask a dozen people who attended the first annual Killington Irish Festival to sum up their experience at the event I would bet the stock reply would be, “It was Grand.” But of course, I’m a little biased. Under the direction of Tracy O’Dwyer Buckley (who did her mother…

By Angelo S. Lynn By now, the biggest sin of the GOP health care bill is well known: it’s a tax cut bill masquerading as a health care plan. Simply put, it takes health care away from lower-income and middle-income Americans who need it most, and it cuts taxes on the rich and super-rich by…

By Lee H. Hamilton As you watch the healthcare proceedings on Capitol Hill, imagine what things might be like if we lived in more functional political times. In particular, what if Congress were run by pragmatists? It would not change the issues at hand. On the one side, you’d have the Republican majority in Congress,…

By Sen. Patrick Leahy This is the first Sunshine Week, since it began in 2005, when the public’s right to know has been under direct assault, and on several fronts. “Fake news,” “alternative facts,” retaliatory restrictions on press access by the White House, and demonizing attacks on the working press are eroding the public’s access to…

RUTLAND—Over the weekend of March 18-19, the Cobra Gymnastics Team participated in the superhero-themed Vermont State Gymnastics Championships at Bellows Falls High School. A cosmic team banner depicted the gymnasts as their own kind of superheros. Their motto of the day was a quote from author Roman Payne who said, “You must give everything to…

By Gaen Murphree Motivated by constituent outrage over unregulated coyote hunting, some Legislators are asking state wildlife officials to rethink Vermont’s open season on the canine predator. “Coyotes are important animals, not vermin to be attacked,” said Rep. Jim McCullough, D-Williston. “They’re important ‘people’ that need, if you will, the honor of having controls on…

Maple Open House Weekend is celebrating its 16th year by expanding the weekend’s offerings and activities to include local partnering businesses who specialize in their own craft and support Vermont’s maple industry by including maple in their ingredients, on their menus, and offered for sale at their locations. Sugarmakers throughout the state will open the…