Editor’s note: This commentary is by Joe Fusco, who is a vice president of Casella Waste Systems Inc. He served as a member of the Vermont Climate Change Economy Council. He is also co-chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Vermont’s MBA program in sustainable entrepreneurship. Over the past year, as the Vermont…

Gov. Peter Shumlin, representatives from Vermont’s insurance carriers, and officials and staff from Vermont Health Connect (VHC) gathered Thursday, Oct. 1, to offer an update on the health insurance marketplace’s progress. The governor announced that the technology upgrade necessary for a smooth open enrollment has been delivered and tested and would be deployed starting that…

By Matt McCarthy Editor’s note: Matthew McCarthy, from Connecticut, took a gap year between high school and college and participated in a program called Worldwide Opportunities On Organic Farms (WWOOF) at Kiss the Cow farm, in Barnard, Vt. At the top of a curving, steep hill, in a red house with four cats, two farmers and five WWOOFers,…

By Lee J. Kahrs, Editor, The Reporter, Brandon Anyone who can’t claim Native Vermonter status came here for a reason. I came here in October 2002 after living through the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. I wasn’t in the towers, and I wasn’t downtown, but I was in Manhattan that bluebird…

By Mayor Christopher Louras On Aug. 26 I co-hosted (with the Vermont Council on Rural Development) a regional public forum at the Paramount Theatre on Advancing Vermont’s Climate Change Economy. The City of Rutland has garnered statewide and, in numerous instances, national recognition for embracing solar development as a tool to promote itself as a…

By Lisa Chalidze Pregnant women: hardly the stereotypical political image. Yet birth stirs up intense political, moral and even legal controversy. Why? Maybe it’s really a question of power? In our society, there is a trade-off between individual liberty, on the one hand, and compliance with social rules, on the other hand. To protect itself…

By Anne Galloway, VTDigger.org Shap Smith, the longtime speaker of the Vermont house of representatives, formally launched his campaign for governor on Wednesday, Aug. 19, in his hometown, Morrisville. He is the first candidate among a large field of "maybes" to declare a bid for governor. Smith used the former Arthur’s Department Store, which has…

RUTLAND — PEGTV, Rutland County’s public access television station, officially announce Tom Leypoldt as their new executive director on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Leypoldt has been the channel 15 coordinator for the last 20 years and will take over the helm starting Sept. 1. "Tom Leypoldt has been an important part of our community's PEGTV stations…

By Larry Abelman I have a lot of time to think on my morning two mile walks I take with my dog Tyler on the roads of Shrewsbury. With what’s been going on in South Carolina I couldn’t help but think about my own associations with race growing up in D.C., where my family took…

By Erin Mansfield, VTDigger.org An oversupply of milk is bringing down prices in the Northeast and driving large dairy cooperatives to dump their product in manure pits, experts say. Although low prices for milk products can be a short-term positive for consumers, the low prices are causing a hard time for farmers who otherwise enjoyed…

By Lisa Chalidze The world is a messy place. We ask our police officers to keep cleaning it up. It’s a hard job to do well, and easy to do poorly. Often it’s the poor choices that make the news. This presents us with a difficult choice of our own: Do we respond to the…

By Sarah Olsen, VTDigger.org That Coke now costs a little more. A 6 percent sales tax on sugary drinks went into effect July 1. The Vermont Legislature and Gov. Peter Shumlin approved the extension of the sales tax to soda and other sweet drinks as part of a tax package passed last session. Tina Zuk,…