By Marc Sherman We are facing an unprecedented catastrophe. Whether you believe the threat is real and upon us or you think it’s a hoax, the reality is people are suffering very real illness and very personal challenges. For my business, Stowe Mercantile, we have closed following the governor’s proclamation for food service businesses. We unfortunately…

By Art Woolf We are in the first weeks of what will probably be the fastest and largest employment decline in Vermont’s history. The economy will be in much worse shape than I imagined just a week ago. Today there are 314,000 jobs in Vermont. By May, we will have lost 28,000 of them. That’s more than 8%…

By Secretary of State Jim Condos Trust in government is at an all-time low. As you can see playing out before our eyes in the news today, integrity is at a premium in times of crisis. Truth and transparency are necessary to effective leadership. In Vermont, we take great pride in having a government that…

By Marilyn Miller I have been the executive director of the Vermont Automobile Dealers Association, more recently known as the Vermont Vehicle and Automotive Distributors Association (VADA), since 1984. From a change in our organization’s name to reflect an expanded membership to autonomous vehicles, I and the entire industry have seen a lot of change…

By Jim Condos For decades, Vermont’s Community Media Centers have provided our residents direct access to each other, our government and our community events. Now, more than ever, we need a strong network of public, educational and government (“PEG TV”) stations and their Community Media Centers to provide these important services that keep our civic…

By Angelo Lynn Score a small victory for Vermont’s Democratic Legislature as they managed to override Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of the recently passed minimum wage bill. The proposal increases the minimum wage from $10.78 an hour to $12.55 by 2022, with future increases tied to inflation or at 5%. At the current 3% inflation,…

By Greg Dennis Fear not, my fellow liberals: Donald Trump is a one-term president. If you believe, as I do, that anyone who says they know what will happen in the 2020 presidential election actually has no idea what will happen, then you can happily ignore the first sentence of this column. But if you…

By Jake Claro I encourage everyone to read through the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Plan recently released by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) in fulfillment of Act 83. The jointly created 2020 plan takes a balanced and honest view of multiple agricultural industries…

By Angelo Lynn We have an authoritarian in the White House who is undermining the very foundation of our judicial system, interfering with justice in the courts on a case-by-case basis and telegraphing his desires to a corrupt Attorney General — and yet, liberal pundits around the country are panicked about what to do if…

By Jack Hoffman There’s a lot in the budget the governor presented last month to the Legislature—and to the public. It’s a proposal to spend more than $6.3 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The detailed budget book is over 1,350 pages, and that doesn’t count the supporting documents. Buried in all…

By Angelo Lynn The one positive thing you can say about Trump’s State of the Union speech is that it had entertaining moments. Trump’s brilliance, if that’s a fitting word, is that he believes in the power of reality TV and brings a larger-than-life version of the presidency into his supporters’ living rooms with the…

By Don Turner Despite a strong economy at the national level, many Vermonters feel left behind. Across our state, thousands struggle to pay their bills and make ends meet. From burdensome taxes to sky-high insurance premiums, many individuals, families, and small businesses are stuck in a persistent economic cycle they didn’t create. Small towns and…

By Emerson Lynn Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, has introduced a bill to create a Community College Scholarship Program that would provide tuition-free scholarships for Vermont residents attending CCV. It would, from the outset, require a $6 million appropriation. That’s a small amount of money that would yield profound benefits at a variety of levels, and…

By Amy Spear Tourism is a significant economic driver for many of Vermont’s rural communities. Visitors spend more than $2.5 billion in Vermont each year, and the tourism industry employs more than 32,000 Vermonters. The tax revenue generated by the tourism industry each year equates to a $1,450 tax savings for every Vermont household. Yet,…

  By Rob Roper The Vermont Legislature returns in January with a long list of daunting challenges, all with potentially astronomical price tags for Vermonters, who are already some of the most highly taxed people in the United States. Among this list includes a projected 6% increase in property taxes to fund an education system…