By Julia Purdy Writer-investigative journalist Upton Sinclair authored “The Jungle,” a fictionalized exposé of the toxic, unregulated underbelly of the Chicago meat-packing industry. That and other revelations of corruption in the early 20th century led directly to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the first code of ethics for journalists. An admitted socialist, Sinclair—like…

By Gov. Peter Shumlin On Christmas Day, I burned brush on my farm in Putney—in a t-shirt. My experience was not unlike that of many Vermonters as we all lived through Vermont’s most tropical Christmas in memory, capping off the world’s warmest year on record. Climate change is here, and it is affecting the Vermont…

By Bob Twillman More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, at an annual cost of $635 billion. That’s more than we spend treating cancer, diabetes, and heart disease combined. Worse, our efforts to treat this pain have led to a significant increase in the use of prescription pain relievers, with tragic and often…

By Bruce Lisman After traveling the state for the last six years, I’ve heard many versions of the same challenges faced by Vermonters all across our state. Increased property taxes are making it harder to afford homes. Jobs that pay a livable wage are scarce. Shrinking populations are threatening our local schools and communities. And…

By Brian Dubie It was my honor to serve as Vermont’s Lieutenant Governor for eight years. While I was in office, I was invited to tour the site of a proposed industrial wind turbine complex in Ira, Vt. My tour guide was a commercial pilot. He explained his concerns about the project’s impact on Southern Vermont…

By Lee J. Kahrs This Christmas may feel a bit off, edgier than Yuletides past. It’s not just the unseasonably warm December we’ve been having, or the lack of snow. Oh, it’s the climate, all right, but there is more than one. Yes, Virginia, it may be climate change in the environmental sense, but there…

By Lee H. Hamilton You know who I feel sorry for? Today’s politicians. You’ll laugh at this, but hear me out. This is a very tough time to be a politician—whether running for office or trying to lead while holding office. The people who have undertaken to represent us face circumstances that make campaigning and…

By Steve Costello With war, terrorism and violence topping the news pages and newscasts on an almost daily basis, social media and ordinary conversation of late has been rife with disillusionment. For anyone discouraged by national and world affairs, one need look no further than the recently completed Gift-of-Life Marathon for a homegrown antidote. Tuesday’s…

Dear Editor, Vermont, like many states, is dealing with a budget deficit; this year, legislators are grappling with an estimated $40 million shortfall. New sources of revenue are increasingly hard to come by, so the idea of increasing tax revenues by legalizing recreational marijuana has, for some, a distinct appeal. Proponents like the Marijuana Policy…

Limiting global warming to under two degrees By Deb Markowitz, Secretary, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources The last time I was in Paris, the temperature was unbearable. The country was suffering through a record-setting heat wave that caused the deaths of over 100 people. Needless to say, our visit to this beautiful and historic city…

By Sue Minter Three dead and nine wounded at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Fourteen dead and more than 20 wounded in San Bernardino, California. In less than one week. Gun violence is a crisis in our country. It’s happening in our schools, our movie theaters, our workplaces, our community health centers, our…

By Lt. Governor Phil Scott At the start of every legislative session since being elected Lt. Governor, I’ve urged legislators to evaluate every proposal based on whether it helps our economy, improves efficiencies or reduces costs. If the answer to any of those questions was “yes,” then I suggested they put it on the front…

By Gov. Peter Shumlin For most of the last two decades, Vermont’s prison inmate population has been rising. Between 1997 and 2008, it grew by 86 percent. Projections made in 2007 said that Vermont’s inmate population would grow to 2,619 by November 2015. After years of work to reform Vermont’s criminal justice system that trend…

By Lee H. Hamilton You can understand why President Obama and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle sought to cast their end-of-October budget deal in the best possible light. They avoided a potentially catastrophic national default. They reduced the possibility of a government shutdown. And they raised the debt ceiling until March, 2017,…

By Rebecca Holcombe and Scott Giles Fifty years ago, on Nov. 8, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965 into law. This historic act marked our first commitment to universal access to higher education, and represented one of the great achievements of the Civil Rights movement. Reflecting on the momentous occasion, President…