Dear Editor, I offer this commentary to all retirees of Vermont state government, their families, and to all active state employees and their families, because this can affect them all. Gov. Phil Scott is strongly considering substituting a Group Medicare Advantage plan in place of the BlueCross BlueShield health insurance all retirees and active employees…

Dear Editor, April Hudson has always been a writer. At the age 79, her dream of publishing her memoirs has finally become a reality. April has been a well-known resident in the small northern Vermont town. A true craftsman and artist, she opened a ceramic teaching studio and designed her own line called Hudsonware. She…

Dear Editor, By some miracle, we have an animal called a beaver that builds, maintains and improves rich wetlands. However, damming behavior also creates challenging and sometimes expensive beaver-human conflicts. Partly because of their rarity, which has been increased greatly by development, wetlands like those that beavers create have enormous value. They are critical habitat…

Dear Editor, In a landmark ruling destined to save billions of animal and human lives, the Food and Drug Administration has ruled that meat cultivated from animal cells is safe to eat. The ruling was granted to Upside Foods, funded by Bill Gates and Richard Branson, but also by meat industry giants Cargill and Tyson…

Dear Editor, Vermont should adopt the Purple Paint Law (PPL) to replace the annual posting of private property. The PPL allows landowners to “post” their property with stripes of purple paint applied according to specific instructions on trees or fence posts. Most states stipulate the stripes must be vertical and not less than eight inches…

Dear Editor, The battle over proposed herbicide use in Lake Bomoseen has not ended, despite what some community members may assume. The LBA / LBPT ProcellaCOR permit application was not withdrawn. It is simply on “technical hold” while the boards of directors of those organizations belatedly try to rally support for their plan. They have…

Dear Editor, We’ve probably all have read about the use of cameras along some highways to measure the speed of vehicles, replacing the police stationed at various points with radar guns. Perhaps some of us have driven in the various states or foreign countries that utilize this technique. There seems to be an outcry in…

Dear Editor, For months, the Biden Administration has committed to ending Title 42, a Trump-era border policy that has deported tens of thousands of asylum-seekers. Last week, instead of fulfilling those promises, the administration announced that it would be expanding Title 42 to prevent Venezuelans who seek asylum from gaining access to safety. Seeking asylum…

Dear Editor, This election year, Windsor County has the opportunity to elect three excellent candidates to the state Senate. Representing the largest geographic Senate district in the state takes a special type of person. They must be willing to show up in every corner of a district that sprawls from Thetford to Weston and Springfield…

Dear Editor, I believe that women’s health care, including abortion, is a medical issue, and making it into a political issue is a mistake. As Rev. Raphael Warnock, U.S. Senator from the state of Georgia, recently stated, “I happen to think that a patient’s room is too small a place for a woman, her doctor…

Dear Editor, I am running as an Independent for Rutland County assistant judge in the November election. I believe the office should be nonpartisan and as apolitical as possible, so that is why I’m running as an Independent. I will not seek or accept any campaign contributions. I’ve failed at retirement since I left Castleton…

Dear Editor, The Rutland County Humane Society (RCHS) has 25 pet rats up for adoption. Rats make wonderful pets as they are both social and smart. They do well in same gender groups so plan to have at least two. They typically live between 18–36 months. They are nocturnal so they will be most active…

Dear Editor, Montpelier is now the second city in the state to decriminalize prostitution within its city limits, and I am deeply concerned for what this move will mean for Vermont. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of sex work, the reality is that wherever prostitution is decriminalized, there is a subsequent increase…

Dear Editor, Every indicator says we are rapidly approaching the implosion of healthcare in Vermont and probably the nation. The 2021 Vermont Household Health Insurance Survey indicates that 38% of Vermonters under age 65 are underinsured, as are 32.3% of those on Medicare. Since the Green Mountain Care Board has again approved large rate increases…

Dear Editor, U.S. colleges bear considerable responsibility for the student debt crisis. Colleges with fat endowments (and bloated tuitions) should be tapped to help address this crisis. How about increased federal and state taxes on endowments to help pay for the dangerous student-debt bailout idea? We hear billionaires should pay their fair share. Well, many…