Dear Editor, Something’s missing. Your Vermont General Assembly is back in full swing and once again the body is forced into a posture of reaction—reacting to continued drops in student population, the highest health care premiums in the United States, rampant drug use, stagnating wages and ongoing budget deficits. Montpelier has shown its ability to…

Dear Editor, As the current President of the Killington Pico Area Association, I would like to thank everyone for the efforts in making 2015 a great year. How did we get there, you may ask? We accomplished it by working together; the business community, Killington Resort and the town. Most significantly, we transitioned the Chamber…

Courtesy of Vermont Fish & Wildlife Montanah Latulippe of Winooski with her state record cisco she caught while fishing on Lake Champlain in 2015. Brian Latulippe and Montanah Latulippe both land record fish RUTLAND—The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has certified four new all-time state record fish, all caught in 2015, according to a Feb.…

Submitted Monica Schmelzenbach RUTLAND–Mount Saint Joseph Academy Senior Monica Schmelzenbach is the second female student-athlete at MSJ ever to score 1,000 points in basketball, after the legendary Kim Levins (MSJ ’87). She scored her 1,000th point during MSJ’s 60-24 win over Woodstock on Wednesday night, Feb. 17. She made the basket that put her in…

Courtesy of the Yankee Small College Conference

By Kim Peters Hunter Cameron, placed second in the J.V. State Championship meet. By Kim Peters RUTLAND — This past weekend, Feb. 20-21, wrestlers represented Rutland High School well at the J.V. State meet.  Hunter Cameron, a freshman at RHS, weight class 145 pounds, won his first two matches beating a wrestler he had lost to…

KILLINGTON — Being held over the weekend of Feb. 27 - 28, Killington’s Slash and Berm is a two-day benefit banked slalom event held at Killington’s Stash Park to bring the East Coast snowboarding community together. Snowboarders will gather at Killington’s “The Stash” terrain park to take advantage of the natural terrain and all the creative…

KILLINGTON — No, it’s not this winter’s ski season; it’s the winter swim season! The competitive Killington Aquatic Club Winter Swim season was good!  This past weekend, Feb. 20-21, Killington Aquatic Club swimmers Heidi Alf, Justine Peters, Nova Wang, Sophia Nisimblat, and Ethan Courcelle competed in a qualifying time meet in Andover, Mass. The meet saw…

By Karen D. Lorentz Ski areas in central Vermont have long been at the forefront of ski industry innovation and technology, from pioneering ski lifts to making snow. From building the nation’s first rope tow in Woodstock in 1934 to installing the first T-Bar at Pico in 1940, to the world’s first four-passenger gondola at…

By Michael Bielawski, Vermont Watchdog Lawmakers seeking to control education costs in Vermont are discussing how many special education teachers is too many. The House Education Committee on Feb. 11 invited Michael Giangreco, professor of education at the University of Vermont, to offer advice on budget and resources for special education students. Giangreco, whose expertise…

By Tiffany Danitz Pache, VTDigger.org The nonprofit that provides health insurance for education employees and retirees in Vermont is making some significant changes to try to stay relevant amid calls from Legislators to move school employees onto the state health insurance exchange. The federal health care law says small school districts must shift onto Vermont…

On Feb. 18, the Community College of Vermont (CCV) announced a new partnership with the Vermont Department of Libraries (VTLIB) to place CCV student interns in six Vermont libraries as job-hunt helpers for Vermont residents. These libraries include the public libraries in Barre, Brattleboro, Newport, Rutland, St. Johnsbury and Winooski. The interns will work with…

By Mike Faher, VTDigger.org In 2011, after years of work, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a major overhaul of the state’s alimony law. There was not a single dissenting vote, “and it’s very rare that happens,” said Steve Hitner, the man who led the effort. Now, a group led by Brattleboro businessman Rick Fleming is attempting…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger.org After hours of wrangling Monday, Feb. 22, a Senate committee narrowly approved a bill to legalize recreational marijuana — paving the way for the legislation to come up before the full Senate this week. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved S.241 by a slim majority of 4 to 3. But some of the committee’s…

At an annual meeting of the nation’s governors, Gov. Peter Shumlin led a successful bipartisan effort to create nationwide prescribing protocols to reduce the availability of Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) approved opiates in America. The protocols, which are likely to include restrictions on the number of opiates that can be prescribed, will be developed…