By Angelo Lynn As advocates of small schools and those supporting school consolidation come to terms with declining enrollments and rising costs, here’s the conundrum both face: consolidation is the right short-term answer to cost-cutting to contain higher and higher taxes, but it’s the wrong answer to building a stronger, more diverse statewide economy. It’s…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Lili Platt and Evelyn Seidner, Vermont Youth Lobby organizers and students at Harwood Union High School, Montpelier High School and Burr & Burton Academy respectively. Despite our state’s green reputation, Vermont has not made the necessary action to achieve its climate goals. Since 1990, Vermont’s carbon emissions have risen…

By Dan Smith Nationwide, approximately 50% of all students pursuing higher education attend community colleges. But only about 1.5% of total private donations for higher education directly support the mission of community colleges. This occurs despite many compelling factors at play which philanthropy usually relies on to inform its decision-making. For instance, operational costs for…

By Leo Pond Republicans in both the House and the Senate have spoken out against the impeachment inquiry. Republicans in both chambers are doing everything in their power to prevent the impeachment inquiry from making any “groundbreaking” discoveries. These Republicans have interrupted a hearing already, setting it back three hours and causing a security issue…

By Jay Diaz “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them,” said Patrick Henry. The Vermont Supreme Court recently affirmed that government officials cannot require Vermonters to pay fees to inspect public records, a common practice that has hindered government…

Dear Editor, In an editorial, published Oct. 24, titled “Let small schools prove themselves” Angelo Lynn writes: “Surely, when the idea of consolidated governance was conceived in Act 46, no one imagined district boards would rule like kings.” That is incorrect. From the very outset of Act 46 the constant refrain of many of us…

Dear Editor, Why are American health care costs so high?  Experts offer up an extensive menu of explanations, which other experts dispute.  The answer is a lot simpler than they make it.  To paraphrase James Carville, “It’s the administrative costs, stupid.” In 2011, the Commonwealth Fund reported that U.S. medical offices spent 20.6 hours a…

National standardized test scores drop By William J. Mathis The latest round of flagellation of dead horse flesh has been provoked by the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. After 20 years of overall progress, many of the scores went down. While all groups improved over the long haul, the gaps…

By Angelo Lynn The story of two hikers and their small dog being attacked by a pack of hunting hound dogs while hiking in the Green Mountain National Forest near the Goshen-Ripton border is as shocking as it is frightening. Frightening because the dogs surrounded and attacked the couple for much of the half hour…

Dear Editor, I would like to thank the over 300 people who came out to vote on March 5. With fewer than 60 people at the informational meeting the night before I was concerned about voter turn-out. Thank you to the team of people who ran the check in and voting from7 a.m. all day…

Dear Editor, I would like to take the time to thank each and every one of the 313 voters in Killington (we had a total of 314 who come out and voted, myself included) who came out and voted on Town Meeting Day. Collectively we passed all the articles as I hoped would happen, but…

Dear Editor, We, the SVA Board of Directors, wish to thank the voters of Poultney for approving a tax exemption for Stone Valley Arts at Fox Hill. As promised, we will invest these tax savings directly into the rehabilitation and preservation of this historic building. Our goal is to use these funds to help leverage…

By Rebecca Holcombe Vermont now spends tens of millions more dollars on child care and prekindergarten markets than it did only three or four years ago. Yet, a Joint Fiscal Office study recently found Vermont now has about 1,693 fewer regulated child care spots than we did in 2015 — a 25 percent decline. Before…

By Angelo Lynn Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his second run for president this past Tuesday with an appeal to continue the revolution he started in 2016 when he had the audacity to challenge the presumed Democratic designee Hillary Clinton. He was the rebel then, the long-shot candidate with the white-tasseled hair, still heavy Brooklyn accent,…

Dear Editor, In the aftermath of last Thursday’s electoral vote at the State House, the talk being bandied about by some members of the Vermont Legislature that they should give up their power to elect the state’s national guard adjutant general over to the governor is dangerously myopic in lieu of the threatening situation taking…