Discover More from This Category: Editorials

Coyote policies lead to ‘ reckless killing ’

February 7, 2019
By Vermont Humane Federation On Christmas Day a Pittsford family dog was shot and killed by a man when he mistook the dog for a coyote. The man claims that he thought the coyote was chasing a deer. Neither party has yet to be cited for a legal violation by the state police. Eastern Coyotes…

Understanding Trump is to know why Dems can’t cave

January 30, 2019
By Angelo Lynn What happens when Democrats and Americans begin to confront Trump? When they call his bluff and simply say, “This will hurt you more than it will hurt us.” Democrats were at that point with the government shutdown but they had three important reasons not to give in: First, they’re in the right;…

Electric vehicles save in the long run

January 30, 2019
By Ross Sneyd As with most adages, there’s truth to the one we hear a lot. Vermont can be an expensive place to live. After we pay the rent or mortgage,  taxes, health care, transportation and heating, there’s often not much left over. It’s a fact of our rural economy. But that’s no reason to…

Women lose opportunity under school mergers

January 30, 2019
By Pamela Frasher As a record number of female members of Congress are sworn in this month in Washington, D.C., things are different in Vermont. Here, top state officials are removing elected officials from local office, and the removals disproportionately affect women. In interpreting Act 46, Vermont’s 2015 school consolidation law, the state is attempting…

Grateful for state’s politics?

January 23, 2019
By Angelo Lynn As political partisanship reaches an all-time high in the country (recent studies show the nation’s two major political parties have never been further apart in terms of their priorities and ideology), Vermont’s political leaders offered a different scenario on the opening days of this biennium. In Gov. Phil Scott’s inaugural address on…

State farmers need to look at new approaches

January 23, 2019
By Anson Tebbetts As we enter a new year, many Vermont dairy farmers, as well as farmers nationwide, continue fighting through their economic fog. Trapped in an antiquated federal dairy pricing system, Vermont’s hard-working stewards of the land are at the whim of a highly competitive global structure. Compensation for their milk is out of…

Paid family leave would add to state un-affordability

January 23, 2019
By Rob Roper As a result of the November 2018 elections, Vermont Democrats and Progressives achieved veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Their first priority flexing this new muscle is to pass a mandatory, government-run, paid family leave program that will require a new payroll tax. This proposal demonstrates exactly why Vermont is…

Trump’s troubles over wall a harbinger of politics in 2019

January 16, 2019
By Angelo Lynn Just 16 hours after Trump’s prime-time speech from the Oval Office urging support for his border wall fell flat Tuesday night, news organizations reported he slammed his hand down on the table and walked out of a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Democratic congressional leaders declaring angrily that trying to negotiate was a…

The carbon tax – a wolf in green clothing

January 16, 2019
By Lawrence Zupan “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street, If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat, If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet…  TAXMAN!” Though that’s from a 1966 song by The Beatles (“Taxman”), with our Legislature plotting to…

Regulating cannabis the Vermont way

January 16, 2019
By Josh Decatur On July 1, 2018 Vermont became the ninth state to allow the legal possession and consumption of cannabis for adult use. In other words, cannabis is now legal in Vermont. Under current law, any Vermonter 21 years of age or older can cultivate up to two mature and four immature plants and…

VSAC study of college completion identifies urgent needs

January 16, 2019
By Scott Giles Nearly every conversation about the economic future of our state begins and ends with the need for greater workforce development and for Vermonters to get the education and training required for the available jobs today and the ones coming down the line. Economists project that by 2020, nearly seven out of 10…

Ehlers pitches amendment to Vermont Constitution

January 9, 2019
By James Ehlers As you know, 2019 is a constitutional amendment year, with the next one not coming until 2023. For this reason, I ask, on behalf of a broad constituency of Vermonters, for your consideration of and assistance in amending our Vermont Constitution beginning this coming legislative session. Vermont’s Bill of Rights, Chapter I…

Creation, innovation may help Vermont dairy farmers

January 9, 2019
By Anson Tebbetts As we enter a new year, many Vermont dairy farmers, as well as farmers nationwide, continue fighting through their economic fog. Trapped in an antiquated federal dairy pricing system, Vermont’s hard-working stewards of the land are at the whim of a highly competitive global structure. Compensation for their milk is out of…

Celebrating who we are and what we love in 2019

January 2, 2019
By Laura Wilkinson The light is slowly returning and the final days of 2018 are upon us. The festivities of December will be replaced by the quiet starkness of January. As much as I enjoy the rituals of the season, I welcome the opportunity to mirror the dormancy of the outer world with introspection. For…

January 2, 2019
As rural economies go in the nation, so goes Vermont By David Moats Economic stagnation in Vermont is not new. For decades, it has defied the efforts of political leaders, Republican and Democrat, to solve it. What’s new is a growing awareness that the problem is a widespread condition, animating protests from Paris to London,…