By Dylan Giambatista Editor’s note: Dylan Giambatista is a former Vermont state representative, past trustee of the Vermont State Colleges system, and alumnus of the Community College of Vermont. Imagine being a college student who’s trying to get ahead but faces obstacles at every turn. Maybe it was a late phone bill, an unexpected closure…

By Don Keelan Editor’s note: Don Keelan of Arlington is a retired certified public accountant. Recently, numerous media stories have covered the troubles at many of the country’s top tech companies. Christopher Mims’ recent Wall Street Journal piece, “The Myth of the Tech God Is Crumbling,” notes, “America’s biggest tech companies have collectively lost more…

By Andrew L’Roe Editor’s note: Andrew L’Roe has lived in Addison County since 2016, and works at the Regional Planning Commission. He serves as the chair of the Middlebury Conservation Commission and enjoys getting out on the Trail Around Middlebury nearly every day. The ginkgo tree at the end of my street finally dropped its…

By Seth Steinzor Editor’s note: Steinzor lives in South Burlington and is a poet, woodworker and retired attorney. He worked for 32 years in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. The uproar over a trans student on the high school volleyball team in Randolph evokes memories for me of my own involvement in our society’s complicated,…

By Life Legros Editor’s note: LeGeros, a professional educator who lives in Duxbury, sits on the steering team of the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition and is a member of the Harwood Union school board. The views expressed here do not represent any organizations with which he is affiliated. Community means being there for each other,…

By Mark Boutwell Editor’s note: Mark Boutwell is executive director of Senior Solutions, the Council on Aging in Southeastern Vermont, headquartered in Springfield, Vermont. The upcoming state and national elections offer voters a chance to reset priorities and focus on true pockets of need, one of which is providing for older adults. Federal funding for…

By George Till Editor’s note: Rep. George Till of Jericho is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who has served in the Vermont State Legislature since 2008. Till is also an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UVM School of Medicine.   A lot of misinformation is being circulated regarding Article 22/Prop. 5, which will appear as…

By Kevin Manna and Allen Rothman Editor’s note: Manna is the director at Pinnacle Condos in Killington and Rothman is the director at High Ridge. So, you want to live in a condominium complex? Do you know what you are getting into? The recent surge in condominium sales has brought about a lot of “impulse”…

By Lee H. Hamilton Editor’s note: Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for over 30 years. It sometimes seems that Americans are hopelessly divided by politics, but I believe it will take politics to make our country…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. As we enter the final weeks before the Nov. 8 elections, both state and national, let’s all reflect on one point that should, by now, be uncontested: Who you vote for…

By Mary Jo Teetor Editor’s note: Mary Jo Teetor of Poultney, a longtime member and trustee of the Lake St. Catherine Association, where she is currently the treasurer. She is on the water quality committee and has been a lay monitor on Lake St. Catherine for more than 20 years. There have been so many…

By Jess Kimball Editor’s note: Jess Kimball is an administrative assistant at The National Midwifery Institute and managing editor of the Journal for Pre and Perinatal Psychology. Jess runs a private practice, Jess Kimball Wellness (formerly Sunflower Postpartum Care LLC), providing families with birth and postpartum doula support and lactation counseling. She is also a…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. The latest news that a top-secret document describing a foreign government’s military defense readiness, including its nuclear capabilities, was found among the documents at ex-president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence is the…

Editor’s note: This commentary is a joint op-ed from Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Conservation Voters, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club and Vermont Public Interest Research Group. When it comes to getting where we all need to go — which often needs to be by car…

By Peter Sterling Editor’s note: Peter Sterling is the executive director of REV, the voice of Vermont’s renewable energy business community who are working to eliminate our reliance on dirty fossil fuels by increasing the use of renewable energy and building a clean energy economy. Incredibly and finally, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has begun…