By Ethan Weinstein and Erin Petenko/VTDigger On Tuesday, Aug. 10, Governor Phil Scott announced that Vermont will require state employees at prisons, psychiatric facilities, and the Vermont Veterans’ Home to get vaccinated against Covid or face additional restrictions. Though the details are yet to be worked out, the mandate will not be “forced,” meaning employees…

By Ethan Weinstein Last Thursday, July 29, the House approved nine of Rep. Peter Welch’s community projects to be included in FY22 Appropriations bills, including nearly $1.7 million for the Vermont Farmers Food Center. While the funds still require further approval in the Senate, it is a big step toward their eventual allocation. “From investing…

By Hannah Laga Abram Vermont students will be able to return to fully in-person instruction when the school year begins this fall, with only a few state health recommendations in place, Gov. Phil Scott announced at a Tuesday press conference. With Covid-19 cases on the rise nationwide, including in Vermont, the CDC last week recommended…

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The Vermont State Colleges System’s three residential schools will require students to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before coming on campus this fall, regardless of whether federal regulators have granted full approval for the shots. College officials at Castleton University, Vermont Technical College and Northern Vermont University had earlier announced that they would require student…

By Sophia McDermott-Hughes/VTDigger The largest anaerobic digester in the Northeast began full-scale production of renewable natural gas on Wednesday on the Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury, just south of Middlebury. The digester is an important step in reducing the state’s dependence on fossil fuels and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural industry, which…

By Curt Peterson Windsor Central Unified School District superintendent Sherry Sousa told the Mountain Times last week that protocols for reopening are still up in the air, presumably due to the recent upsurge in Covid cases across the country. “The Agency of Education [AoE] and Dept. of Health will be providing us with guidance regarding…

Crowds gather in Rutland and Castleton to celebrate reopening By Polly Mikula At 7:30 a.m. on Monday, July 19, the James M. Jeffords Station in downtown Rutland was packed with passengers eager to board the Ethan Allen Express for the first time in 16 months. Many local officials and residents were there for the celebration. After…

Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), the innovative Covid-19 response program that provides meal assistance to Vermonters in need while supporting local restaurants, farmers and food producers, has received an extension to continue programming. Program managers had previously anticipated that the program would end on June 30, but the state has extended the program contract recognizing that…

By Ethan Weinstein RUTLAND—Congressman Peter Welch visited the Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC) Friday, July 16, after earmarking $1.6 million for the nonprofit. The House Appropriations subcommittee approved Rep. Welch’s funding request and it will likely pass by vote in the House next week. Then, it will be off to the Senate for further consideration.…

The Vermont Republican Party has unanimously approved a resolution at its state committee meeting on July 10 to oppose "vaccine passports" in Vermont. The resolution comes in response to concerns over medical privacy and individual rights as described in the 4th amendment to the U.S. constitution. Nationally, liberal thought leaders, such as author Naomi Wolf, have…

By Emma Cotton/VTDigger A state-funded collaborative designed to fuel recreation projects distributed $300,000 to towns around the state since its inception three years ago. This year, the collaborative has more than $5 million to spend. The Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative, part of the Dept. of Forests, Parks & Recreation, was formed in 2018 when Gov.…

By Erin Petenko and Emma Cotton/VTDigger Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia are in the midst of a brutal heatwave that has broken records with 115° temperatures and widespread highs above 100 °. It seems unthinkable to imagine Vermont, land of snow and frigid winters, experiencing such a once-in-a-lifetime event. But data and interviews with…

Vermont Fish & Wildlife is offering shooting range improvement grants to encourage upgrades of shooting ranges for enhanced safety and operation. The Shooting Range Improvement Grant Program seeks grant applications from clubs and government agencies involved in the operation of shooting ranges, including archery ranges. Grant applications must be received by 4:30 p.m. on October…

By Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Unusually heavy rain has washed away the railroad bed of a stretch of track in this southern Vermont town, spurring a construction crew to scramble to rebuild the area before the scheduled return of Amtrak service to the state on Monday. A worker for the New England Central Railroad first noticed a burst…

By Riley Robinson/VTDigger On July 15, most Vermont parents will begin to receive a new monthly payment from the federal government, as part of the Covid-19 relief signed into law in March. This new monthly payment system is a revision to the existing child tax credit, which was first enacted in 1997. Usually, parents have received…