Dear Editor, Over the past eight years, Vermont has rapidly become a precarious state in which to own a small business. Per the Department of Labor Statistics, 60.5 percent of Vermont businesses employ four or less persons; in Bennington County, 62.5 percent and in Rutland County 60 percent. These are our mom and pop operations.…

By Jon Margolis Editor’s note: Jon Margolis is a VTDigger’s political columnist What with elections in the offing, the ideologues have awakened from their seasonal torpor and with them a familiar old cry — one might even call it a meme if only one knew what a meme was — about how Vermont had best…

By Jay Diaz and Lia Ernst The ACLU of Vermont has received a significant number of complaints about law enforcement actions at the Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering in Mount Tabor. The Rainbow Family is a loosely knit, leaderless group of people from all over the country who, since 1972, annually gather in a…

Rep. Dave Sharpe By Rep. Dave Sharpe As the chair of the House Education Committee, I have long been disturbed that nearly all Vermonters graduate high school, but only about half continue their education beyond high school. This trend spells disaster: by 2020, two thirds of jobs in Vermont will require some post-secondary education. We…

Dear editor, With the weather warm upon us, family travel and college and high school schools out on vacation, the need for blood is critically low – but the Gift-of-Life Mini Marathon Blood Drive is fast approaching. The annual summer blood drive, the offspring of Rutland’s national-record-setting Gift-of-Life Marathon, is set for July 19 from…

Dear Editor, There’s a vocal segment of  Vermonters who consistently decry what they see as “the liberal” tendency to spend “other people’s money” on social programs. I ran across this most recently in comments supporting gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott’s public statement that he’s pretty sure that $50 million can be cut from Medicaid. That’s an…

Dear Editor, I haven’t fully made my mind up yet about the national election, but there’s a weird similarity between the presidential campaign and the politics of Rutland, Vt. Without a doubt the presence of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump (both totally unlikely candidates) have demonstrated that change is in order. Both spoke clearly on…

Dear Editor, I am writing regarding the Rainbow Family of Living Light Gathering of the Tribes that has been setting up in the Green Mountain National Forest in Mount Tabor. I am a California native who has travelled to Vermont in order to volunteer my time and labor at the gathering. Rainbow Gatherings mean a…

Dear Editor, On, July 4, my wife, an extremely careful driver who has never received a speeding ticket in her life, was driving on 100 South in Plymouth at the posted speed limit of 50 m.p.h., when suddenly she passed a 35 m.p.h. speed limit posted without previous warning on the same road—with a police…

Dear Editor, The 2016 gubernatorial candidacy of Bill Lee marks the resurgence of the Liberty Union Party as the main voice of progressive conscience and thought in state politics as the Vermont Progressive Party has lost that distinction due to recent ill-advised decisions and bad campaign strategies in their attempts to collaborate with the establishment…

Dear Editor, Last Wednesday, June 15, at The Local in Rutland, Team Romulous raised money for animal cruelty investigations against a background of outrageous music by Rick Redington & the Luv with Swamp Cabbage. Founder Walter Parks and Rick generously donated their time for our cause. In his column last week in the Mountain Times,…

Dear Editor, At the Killington select board meeting, Tuesday, June 21, Ms. Kathryn Bellis whose husband was killed in an accident involving Craig Mosher’s bull July 31, 2015, was allowed to speak at the meeting during citizens input. What she said was for the most part a direct quote, from the letter that appeared in the…

By Stephanie Yu Young people and rich people are moving to Vermont. If this surprises you, you aren’t alone. You’re more likely to hear that the young and the wealthy are fleeing Vermont for better opportunities. Your neighbors bought a condo and moved to Florida. Your daughter got a good job and took off for Chicago. So…

By Jon Margolis, VTDigger.org (Editor’s note: Jon Margolis is VTDigger’s political columnist.) Last week the federal government came out with some new state-by-state economic data, and guess which state looks to be in pretty good shape. Yep, little ol’ Vermont. Not that its economy is booming. But now that the prices of oil and gas…

By Angelo S. Lynn The die has been cast: Clinton will be the Democrat nominee. She has won the majority of the pledged delegates, she has won more states and contests, her steadfast support is across more demographic sectors of the population and far stronger in the most populated regions of the nation. She also…