Dear Editor, We are all experiencing higher disposal costs at transfer stations because of state law changes.  Black River Good Neighbor Services is not immune. To generate funds necessary to fulfill our mission of providing food and assistance, we need to receive donated goods to sell in our thrift and furniture stores. During summer, yard…

Dear Editor, Last week, Paul Dame, a first-year Republican Representative from Essex Junction penned an op-ed praising Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s recent visit. Dame touts Senator Paul as the “first candidate to prove how we can build a bigger, better, and bolder party right here in Vermont.” The Republican Party may well be in need…

In 2014 Vermont launched an effort to bring health care providers together to better coordinate care for patients, reduce unnecessary tests, improve health outcomes, and save money in a health care system that is spending it faster than Vermonters can afford. And guess what? It’s working. Earlier this week we received the year-one results showing…

By Matt McCarthy Editor’s note: Matthew McCarthy, from Connecticut, took a gap year between high school and college and participated in a program called Worldwide Opportunities On Organic Farms (WWOOF) at Kiss the Cow farm, in Barnard, Vt. At the top of a curving, steep hill, in a red house with four cats, two farmers and five WWOOFers,…

By Steve Costello A scream piercing the darkness on an undeveloped section of my childhood street was my introduction to the topic of rape and domestic violence. I was eight or nine years old, and my initial reaction was to recoil in fear as a second and third shriek cut through the night. My father’s…

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…

Dear Editor, It’s no secret that the Republican Party is in need of revitalization. For too long there are too many voters that have been overlooked by many Republican candidates as ‘unwinnable.’ This is an attitude that will lead to our demise if left uncorrected. And while a number of candidates talk a good game about building…

By Lee J. Kahrs, Editor, The Reporter, Brandon Anyone who can’t claim Native Vermonter status came here for a reason. I came here in October 2002 after living through the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. I wasn’t in the towers, and I wasn’t downtown, but I was in Manhattan that bluebird…

Dear Editor, There have been two issues before the Select Board these past few months that I would like to update the community on: West Hill Road and the adoption of a Gun Ordinance. First, West Hill Road. Quite a few residents have expressed concerns regarding the safety of traffic (car, pedestrian and bicycle) on…

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…

Dear Editor, It appears that there is a concerted Killington town effort to either eliminate the West Hill slip lane, or make it dysfunctional. For many years the slip lane has safely removed exiting Access Road traffic from the dysfunctional Route 4 intersection during peak ski traffic mass exodus times. The convoluted logic to force…

Dear Editor, The Maine House of Representatives made big news at the end of June: it soundly defeated a bill to legalize retail marijuana, 98-45. This is significant for two reasons. First, the margin of defeat was a full 27 points greater than the first time Maine turned down a pot legalization bill in 2013.…