By Rob Roper During the gubernatorial campaign Phil Scott set a goal to expand Vermont’s population from 625,000 to 700,000 over the next 10 years or so. This is a pretty tall order (maybe unattainable), but the governor-elect’s call does raise an important issue. Our state’s population is stagnant, and if we want to be…

By Lee H. Hamilton As Mario Cuomo said, politicians campaign in poetry but have to govern in prose. Now we have a president-elect who campaigned in tweets...but still will have to govern in prose. So, like a few thousand other Americans, I’d like to give him some advice. Not on the substance of policy itself…

By Jon Margolis, VTDigger Vermont, they say, is a well-educated state. Whatever that means. The criteria for what qualifies a person as “educated” are debatable and subjective, so let’s stick to objective, empirically verifiable information: Vermont has one of the highest college graduation rates in the country. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data…

Dear Editor, I am a proud product of Vermont public schools. I was raised in North Pomfret, Vt., and attended a series of one-room schoolhouses, serving students from kindergarten to fifth grade. Most of our schools (there were four) had fewer than 14 students per building spanning several grade levels. One teacher working with an…

By Emerson Lynn Monday, Dec. 19, Vermont’s electors met in Montpelier to do what is expected of them, which is to commit themselves to the losing candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Of all states, Vermont gave her the highest percentage support, which means, obviously, that we gave President-elect Donald Trump the least. Because Mr. Trump is…

By Lee H. Hamilton Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely.” He was talking about why education matters in a representative democracy, but it’s a safe bet that had he known about fake internet news, he’d have said the same thing—except maybe with more…

By Angelo S. Lynn What does it say when President-elect Donald Trump invites Al Gore for a visit to talk about climate change on Monday, then on Wednesday nominates Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency? What does it say when he calls the president of Taiwan in a direct affront to China, and…

By Guy Page Election Day, Nov. 8, 2016, was bleak for the future of ridgeline wind power in Vermont. The outcome of local, state and national voting signaled a vote of no confidence in the growth of utility-scale wind power in the Green Mountain State. Local voting Iberdrola, developers of the 24 turbine Styles Brook…

By Sen. Dick McCormick Deer season is wrapping up and Thanksgiving with family is a fond memory. The campaign seems like a distant memory, but the election was a mere three weeks ago. On this lazy post-Thanksgiving weekend, I am taking time to reflect. I’m filled with gratitude towards so many people who worked to…

By Rob Roper What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Vermonters will find out in January when the new Republican governor officially takes office along with a Legislature that has, if anything, moved a little to the left. During the campaign, governor-elect Scott, often accused by his critics of being non-committal and…

Dear Editor, This past weekend Vermont hosted over 30,000 spectators for the return of the Audi FIS Ski World Cup to Killington – one of the largest women’s weekend crowd in the 50-year history of the World Cup. On behalf of the athletes who came from every corner of the globe, a big thanks to…

By Governor Peter Shumlin One of the key responsibilities of governing is crafting a budget that reflects Vermonters’ priorities and lives within our means as a state. As we transition this important responsibility to the incoming administration, it’s worth reviewing the last six years of financial management. Let’s remember where we started. Before I took…

By Lee Kahrs I stood in front of the Pittsford town offices on Veterans Day with almost 100 other people at the dedication of the new veterans’ memorial. A fierce cold wind whipped dead leaves in all directions, the temperature dropping by the minute. Flags were lowered and then raised above the new slab of…

By Lee H. Hamilton One of the more intriguing aspects of this unusual election year is the extent to which the underpinning of the election itself — voting — has become an issue in its own right. An act that we used to take for granted is increasingly being called into question. Just look at…

By Tad Montgomery So, we have a petulant progressive farmer who is purportedly trying to plant himself firmly into the position of lieutenant governor in Vermont. One might say this is going a bit against the grain of politics as usual in our fair state, but anyone who has ever felt their oats in the…