By Christopher Herrick When Vermonters balance our passion for wildlife with a commitment to mutual respect, our state sees results. The first half of this legislative session exemplifies what this approach can accomplish.  After years of regulatory and legislative stalemate the House and Senate Natural Resources Committees have worked with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife…

By Angelo Lynn In the political tussle pitting small schools against districts that want to close them, a newly devised bill, H.727, intentionally works against the effort to preserve Vermont’s smaller schools — even when those communities overwhelmingly vote to support them. But the bill is not wholly misguided.  Its intent is to assure towns…

By Anne Sosin Editor's note: This commentary is by Anne N. Sosin, a public health researcher and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College and the co-lead on research on Covid-19 and rural health equity in northern New England. This opinion piece was written with the encouragement of Deborah Lisi-Baker and is dedicated to…

By Steve Pappas Editor's note: Steven Pappas is the executive editor of The Times Argus and Rutland Herald. This opinion piece was printed with permissions.  Around Vermont, as municipal boards reorganize, set goals and undertake housekeeping for the term ahead, one of the things every town and city has to do is decide its “Newspaper…

Editor's note: The following commentary was submitted by Prevent Child Abuse Vermont (PCAVT), the Vermont Chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America and the National Circle of Parents, whose mission is to promote and support healthy relationships within families, schools and communities to eliminate child abuse. Visit pcavt.org The child advocates from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont…

By Angelo Lynn With the world’s problems at everyone’s doorstep each morning, or at their fingertips any time of the day, it’s little wonder that news about the cost of healthcare has dropped out of sight. Pre-pandemic it was one of the nation’s top concerns, but since then it’s now somewhere below several world-grabbing stories,…

By Rebecca Holcombe Vermont has a proud history of providing high quality, equitable public education for children in our communities. It’s why our equity gaps are narrower than in many states. It’s why many communities fight hard to keep their public schools. Recently, conservative national litigation groups have targeted Vermont. One of these groups is…

By Angelo Lynn The challenge Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented to President Biden and the U.S. Congress in his televised Wednesday, March 16 address was as direct as it was brilliant: If you aspire to be the leader of the free world, he told President Biden (and all Western allies), then you must be willing…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s disclaimer: I have no particular insight to make these comments. I’m certainly no military analyst. There are many good reasons not to pursue any action that might prompt the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. But I’m frustrated by these events, and find it unfathomable that the world would stand idle and…

By Julia Purdy Now that St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, we are treated to the usual time-honored ethnic slurs and jokes about the Irish: freckled red-haired leprechauns with huge grins and missing teeth, the drunken Irishman with his hat on sideways, leaning against a lamppost. We may recall when “No Irish need apply” and…

By Rebecca Dragon, Rebekah Henson, Mary Anna King and Ellie Lane Editor's note: Dragon of Pownal, Henson of Hartford, King of Quechee, and Lane of Braintree together make up the Vermont Adoptee Rights Working Group, a core partner of the New England Adoptee Rights Coalition. Accessing your birth certificate is a basic civil right. It…

By Lindsay Kurrle, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development It’s no secret: Vermont needs more Vermonters. The shortage of residents currently calling Vermont home impacts everything from tax rates and school funding to community infrastructure and business retention. Just look at the state’s labor force participation rate, which dropped 5% in…

By Rep. David Durfee, D-Shaftsbury, member of the Ways & Means committee Recently the House passed and sent to the Senate groundbreaking, bipartisan legislation to support parents and families. As part of H.510, the new Vermont Child Tax Credit would pay families the equivalent of $100 a month for every child in the household age…

By Angelo Lynn To adjust from last Tuesday’s Town Meeting concerns to the dizzyingly complex world stage is mind-numbing. Putin’s increasingly brutal invasion of Ukraine has shocked our collective senses. The personal stories of survival and death, of fear yet determination, of heroic acts and national resilience among the Ukrainian people have reawakened the hearts…

By Peter Sterling Vermont’s electric sector is estimated to contribute only 2% of our climate change causing greenhouse gas emissions — seemingly insignificant compared to the whopping 74% of emissions coming from our transportation sector and from the energy we use to heat and cool our homes and businesses. But this 2% figure is quite…