By Rep. Jim Harrison As reported last week, Governor Scott vetoed H.157, which establishes a new registration system for home contractors. When there is a veto, the bill goes back to the House or Senate where it originated for the first vote on an override. In this case, it was a House bill, which meant…

By Sarah Mearhoff/VTDigger After more than a decade in office, Secretary of State Jim Condos is retiring from his post overseeing Vermont’s statewide elections system at the end of his current term. The 30-plus-year veteran of local and state politics announced his plan to retire in a Tuesday, Feb. 15, virtual news conference and also…

By Katy Savage After Vermont school districts have grappled with how to deal with offensive school mascots, a new law may prevent schools from having mascots with racial or ethnic ties. The Senate Education Committee discussed a bill on Tuesday, Feb. 8 that would prohibit schools from having offensive mascots and branding. Bill S.139 would…

Governor Phil Scott, Senator Bernie Sanders and Vermont Afterschool announced Feb. 9 that a new round of grants for afterschool and summer programs is now open for a wide variety of organizations — including non-profits, municipalities, and licensed/regulated providers of school age childcare. The announcement follows the successful Summer Matters grant initiative, which used funds…

By Peter D’Auria/VTDigger On Tuesday morning, Feb. 8, members of the Vermont Immunization Advisory Council, a group of state officials that makes recommendations about vaccine requirements for Vermont schoolchildren, met for the first time in nearly two years. About 25 minutes later, the meeting was over, with the council declining to take up a question…

Positions are currently open in Addison, Bennington and Windsor counties In Vermont, the Fish and Wildlife Board (FWB) makes regulations for hunting, trapping and fishing. While they are given advice and recommendations from the State Fish & Wildlife Department (FWD), they are not required to implement those recommendations. “A trapper’s request to extend the bobcat…

 Covid’s risk to students mental health is now greater than physical health, governor says By Polly Mikula Masking in schools — among the last remaining Covid mitigation measures in place for students — will soon be optional for schools with a student vaccination rate of over 80%, Governor Phil Scott announced at his regular press…

Seven species and three critical habitats received updated conservation designations on Vermont’s endangered and threatened species list, including the highly anticipated de-listing of the bald eagle after over a decade of restoration efforts. “The bald eagle’s de-listing is a milestone for Vermont,” said Wildlife Division Director Mark Scott. “This reflects more than a decade of…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Last week saw the first veto of the session by Governor Phil Scott. The legislation was H.157, which creates a new registry for home contractors. Given some of the bills headed his way, this may not be the only veto this session. And with Republicans only holding 46 seats in the…

By Mike Dougherty/VTDigger Recent trends in Vermont’s Covid-19 case counts have officials and experts feeling optimistic about the course of the pandemic — but all warn it would be premature to brush off the Omicron threat just yet. As of Friday, Jan. 28, the state’s seven-day average for daily new cases had fallen by more…

By Rep. Jim Harrison While six more weeks of winter may be the prediction of Punxsutawney Phil when he came out last week to see if he had a shadow, it’s almost a guarantee that the Vermont Legislature probably has double that to finish its 2022 session. Entering week 6 of a normal 18-week session,…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson Every 10 years the results of the national census requires each state to review the impact of any population change on their electoral districts. Our Vermont Constitution requires that our state’s population must be fairly distributed to afford “equality of representation.” Covid delayed the national Census returns and, as a result,…

By Sarah Mearhoff/VTDigger The Vermont House on Tuesday approved Proposal 5, sending the question of whether to amend the state Constitution to guarantee sexual and reproductive freedoms to voters come November. The vote was 107-41. Also known as the Reproductive Liberty Amendment, Prop 5 would amend the state constitution to guarantee Vermonters access to abortion,…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Since returning in person two weeks ago, our committee began a daily ritual of sharing a riddle just prior to the official start of our deliberations. One of my favorites from last week was “Why do seagulls live at sea? Well, if they lived in the bay, they would be baygulls…

By Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Two Vermont-trained gold medalists will join almost two dozen other athletes with ties to the Green Mountain State at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Mikaela Shiffrin, who learned alpine skiing at Burke Mountain Academy, and Jessie Diggins, who trains for cross-country in Stratton, are set to compete at the event Feb.…