By Mike Smith In the early 1960s we still had racist state laws defending the widespread practice of segregation. Slowly — too slowly for many black Americans — those laws began to change. However, racism and bigotry don’t end by changing laws. In many respects, integrating lunch counters, schools and bathrooms is the easy part.…

Dear Editor, Thousands of Vermonters follow their doctors’ advice and get an annual mammogram screenings. About 10 percent the time, they will get called back for an additional views.  Being told that you have to come back for more views can be stressful, but most of the time, it should not lead to additional cost…

By Bob Englehart, CagleCartoons.com

By David Russell Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Russell of Perkinsville, who is a retired renewable energy and securities consultant and whose writing appears in venues including the The Hill and Huffington Post. Military analysts surmise that North Korea has a small nuclear weapon it can mount on the ballistic missiles it has…

By Jack Hoffman Economist Art Woolf wrote recently that Vermont spends too much on education because taxes are too low for many residents. Woolf was referring specifically to resident homeowners who qualify to pay school taxes as a percentage of their income rather than on the value of their property. According to Woolf, because their income-based taxes are…

By Lee H. Hamilton Do ordinary citizens still have a voice in Washington and in their state capitals? Despite the cynicism of these times, my answer is, yes, we do. But we have to exercise it. I don’t just mean going to a town hall meeting and yelling, or shooting off a letter or email.…

By Mike Smith During the last gubernatorial election, and then again just recently during the debate over teachers’ health insurance, Vermont Democrats underestimated the potency of Gov. Phil Scott’s affordability message. Scott continues to force an economic debate by hammering away at decreasing the rate of state spending and not burdening Vermonters with higher taxes or…

Dear Editor, I recently learned that no Vermont town has a plastic bag ban. Given that Vermont has been an environmental leader since the 70s, I was surprised and disappointed. After living for 35 years in Vermont, my husband and I moved to Lee, Massachusetts in 2011, to be closer to grandchildren. We chose the…

© DaveGranland.com, politicalcartoons.com

By Nick Richardson The economy and our landscape in Vermont are intertwined. Recreation, tourism, agriculture, and forestry, all key economic drivers, depend on the natural resources from our landscape. Indeed, the Vermont brand itself is inseparable from our land ethic- a thoughtful way of living, the quality of our products and services, and our environmental…

By Jon Margolis Editor’s note: Jon Margolis is a political columnist for VTDigger. You know who really likes Vermont? Vermonters. According to a Gallup Poll, 61 percent of the people who live in Vermont say it’s “the best or one of the best possible states to live in,” while only 3 percent call it “the worst…

Dear Editor, Does Vermont really welcome tourists? We happened to visit Killington recently and as we passed through Killington we decided to stop at a local general store for snacks and we both needed to use the restroom. Guess what? The store had a rest room for employees only and I was told to use…

Dear Editor, From sun-up to sun-down (yes this rainy spring gave us perfect weather for the day) on Tuesday, July 18, Brandon was a-glow with donors, volunteers, bidders and buyers at the 29th Great Brandon Auction. After unloading our spiffy “Auction Storage Trailer” and organizing the donations that poured out from storage areas, barns, cars,…

By Angelo Lynn There he goes again President Ronald Reagan coined the refrain, “There you go again,” to disarm President Jimmy Carter’s repeated attacks during the 1980 presidential campaign. The refrain has made a comeback, in a completely different context, with Donald Trump’s numerous outrages since moving into the Oval Office. Adding to his mounting number…

By Tom Hughes Last week Governor Phil Scott took another step towards real climate action.  He signed an executive order creating a Vermont Climate Action Commission and reaffirmed the climate and clean energy goals set forth in the 2016 Comprehensive Energy Plan. In this era of federal backsliding, Gov. Scott has sided with the facts. …