By Brian Dubie In 2009, when I was serving as Lt. Governor, I was invited to the Bolton Valley Ski Area resort to take part in the commissioning of a 100 kw wind turbine manufactured by Vermont workers in Barre. Its blade height was a very modest 120 feet, and the tower was on a…

By Julia Purdy On Thursday, Aug. 27, a public information meeting was held at the Fox Room in the Rutland Free Library, for the purpose of bringing to Vermonters the message of Vermont’s new Clean Water Act, Act 64, also known as H. 35. The panel consisted of a full-court press of key State of…

By Gov. Peter Shumlin When Julia Dunn arrived at middle school, she learned something troubling about education in her community. Students from certain towns were well prepared in math, and students from some other towns were not. Some students had strong arts education in elementary school, and others did not. Some had studied foreign languages,…

By Lee H. Hamilton The campaigning for next year’s elections is starting to draw more attention, and with it comes a focus on voters and their mood. Which is all well and good, but it leaves out of the equation one large bloc of citizens: people who are eligible to vote, but don’t. They give…

By Deb Markowitz Last week I had an opportunity to spend some time with an older gentleman who has lived in the hills of Vermont his whole life. As he showed me his land, he shared his belief that more Vermonters are environmental stewards than folks in other states because we are connected to the…

By Rebecca Haslam Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rebecca Haslam, who is the 2015 Vermont State Teacher of the Year. It is republished here with permissions from VTDigger which published the commentary on Aug. 18. Haslam teaches first grade and serves as the K-5 social studies and equity curriculum coach in the Burlington School…

By Rob Roper Vermont is a tougher than average place to make a living. No secret there. One of the first questions you get from folks you meet is, “You live here full time? How do you make it work?” Some of the answers are necessarily creative. Vermont is a great place to live, but…

Dr. Stephen Pitmon Vermont’s secretary of human services recently saluted the 50th anniversary of Medicaid. As the secretary pointed out, there’s much to celebrate. There are also many elements of the program that must be reformed if Vermont is to succeed in making health and dental care affordable for everyone. First, state government must acknowledge…

By Lee H. Hamilton The most important function Congress serves is to debate and pass the federal budget. I know—it also levies taxes, imposes or relaxes regulations, and once in a while nudges our social, economic or political order in a meaningful way. But the budget tells the government what to do and makes it…

By Frankie L. Trull Blind mice are famous in nursery rhymes—and maybe soon, in scientific laboratories. A team of Swiss scientists recently restored sight in blind lab mice by injecting new, light-sensing cells into their eyes. They’re working to develop a cure for acquired blindness in people. Today, millions of mice are bred for medical…

By Rob Roper We need to lower the cost of health care in Vermont, and the state, dealing with a structural budget deficit, doesn’t have the capacity to raise more taxes. So, what can we do? One simple, cost-free solution is to repeal Vermont’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws. What are CON laws? Basically, a…

By Governor Peter Shumlin Last week I traveled to Toronto to attend the Climate Summit of the Americas, which brought together Pan-American governmental, advocacy, energy, and climate change leaders to share ideas on how we can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and capitalize on a cleaner energy economy to grow jobs and opportunity.…

By Bill Mathis Few education policy proposals have been adopted as widely and enthusiastically as preschool education. With near universal agreement, early education has been embraced across the political spectrum. This consensus was forged from “gold standard” research, conducted over decades, which almost universally found both academic and social benefits. One of the most attractive…

By Rob Roper Tucked away in the education bill just passed in Montpelier – the one that has everybody talking about consolidation – is $300,000 earmarked for a study. A Legislator familiar with the back-room horse-trading that goes into moving these bills into law said that this little provision was key to getting the bill…

By Lee J. Kahrs Vermonters are generally known for keeping to themselves, not getting into their neighbor’s business, and respecting each other’s privacy. Gay Vermonters are no exception. For the last eight years, I have kept my personal life and opinions separate from my job as the editor of The Reporter. I am a pretty…