Discover More from This Category: Commentaries
Delta changed the equation; policies must change too
October 27, 2021
By Anne Sosin Editor’s note: Anne N. Sosin is a public health researcher and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College and the co-lead on research on Covid-19 and rural health equity in northern New England. Delta, we learn in science, means change. Delta changed the course of the virus in…
Biden’s budget bill would improve the lives of many
October 20, 2021
By Madeleine Kunin Editor’s note: This commentary is by former Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat and the first woman to serve as the governor of the state of Vermont. It’s dismaying to see Republicans and some conservative Democrats hacking away at President Biden’s historic budget reconciliation act. They say it’s too expensive, without looking at…
Money is now the dominant interest in health care
October 13, 2021
By Vicki Ward Editor's note: This commentary is by Vicki Ward of Barnard, who holds a master’s degree in family nursing and a post-master’s certificate in psychiatric and mental health nursing. This piece was published in VTDigger Oct. 8. I once thought Vermont OneCare was a functional fox guarding the henhouse when Dartmouth-Hitchcock and UVM…
Decisive action needed on deaths of despair
October 13, 2021
By Tanya Vyhovsky Editor’s note: State Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Essex, is a licensed independent clinical social worker, works in the public school system, and has a private counseling practice in her hometown of Essex. September was Suicide Awareness Month, and I am sure many of us felt inundated with frightening statistics and information about mental…
‘Offensive and shocking:’ We better come to terms with solar panels soon
October 6, 2021
By Bill McKibben Vermont gets good press, and I’ve generated my share of it — especially after the pandemic years I’m proud of the Green Mountain State. But this is a different kind of story: a story of a state that’s failing to understand we’re actually in a climate emergency, and so continuing with business…
Delta variant has put excruciating pressure on schools
October 6, 2021
By Brian Ricca Editor’s note: Brian Ricca is the school superintendent in St. Johnsbury. There has been a great deal of discussion in the abstract about the impact of the Delta variant in Vermont schools since the academic year began. Here in the real world, with real students, faculty, staff, and families, it’s been excruciating.…
Vermont’s recent Covid trends demand stronger state actions
September 29, 2021
By Marvin Klikunas, M.D. Editor’s note: Kilkunas practices medicine in Williston. As I write this commentary, the seven-day rolling average of daily Covid cases in Vermont is 209. Even during the depths of last winter, before a vaccine was available, the daily average as plotted in VTDigger never reached 200. Forty-eight people were hospitalized with…
Thankful to be alive in Vermont
September 29, 2021
By Madeleine May Kunin Editor’s note: This commentary is by former Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat and the first woman to serve as the governor of the state of Vermont. I was driving home on a September evening when the air started to turn cool. I glanced out my side window and caught a pink,…
From crisis comes opportunity: What I’ve heard from Vermonters
September 8, 2021
By Lt. Governor Molly Gray A year and a half after the onset of the pandemic, Vermont remains in the midst of ongoing recovery efforts. While there is so much uncertainty about the future, one thing we can be sure of is that our state is in a unique position to emerge from this pandemic…
Remembering Chef Claude
September 1, 2021
By Royal Barnard, Editor Emeritus I am saddened to learn that the Killington Region has lost a wonderful and important person. I, and other “pioneer” Killington residents and visitors, met Claude Blais when he became chef at the once popular Alpine Inn on the Killington Road in the mid 1960s. Claude migrated to Killington from…
Without child care, the economy is clearly going to suffer
August 25, 2021
By Chloe Learey In 2012, the Local Child Care Planning Council of Humboldt County in California uploaded its video “A Day Without ChildCare” to YouTube. Nearly 10 years later, the points it raised are even more salient, especially magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic. The premise is basic: People who do not have child care are…
Let’s lead on refugee resettlement, too
August 25, 2021
By Lewis Mudge Vermonters should be proud that we continue to outpace the country in vaccines. I say we double down and once again show the rest of the country how we are a little state with big ideas. I tip my hat to Gov. Scott’s recent request to the White House for more refugees…
Hesitant at first, they got vaccinated — and are glad they did
August 18, 2021
By Ivy Scott and Camille Caldera, Boston Globe correspondents Better late than never, as the saying goes. Massachusetts residents who only recently got immunized against Covid-19 cited a variety of reasons for waiting: a torrent of misinformation on social media, concern that the vaccine would exacerbate preexisting medical conditions, and skepticism of the health care…
Storms show the need for fast action on climate change
August 11, 2021
By Reps. Michelle Bos-Lun, Westminster, and Mike Mrowicki, Putney Climate change and its resulting weather variations are contributing to floods and massive roadway erosion in some parts of Vermont and floods and droughts in other areas this month. A large section of northern Vermont experienced abnormally dry conditions in July, but southern Vermont endured two major storms…
Vermont is vulnerable to gerrymandering
August 5, 2021
By Shayne Spence Editor’s note: This commentary is by Shayne Spence of Johnson, who was a Republican candidate for the Vermont House in 2020. With an ongoing battle taking place over the future of voting rights and access, on the federal level and in many states, we often hear about the For The People Act,…