Dear Editor, This is one of my favorite times of the year. As a child I always enjoyed looking at Christmas displays. I still have vivid memories of the big plastic Santa in his sleigh being pulled by reindeer that would float over Merchants Row from Woolworths (now the Asa Bloomer Building) heading towards the…

By Laura Krantz, VTDigger.org The state this year abruptly shut down a program that helps low-income Vermonters spay and neuter their pets, documents show, leaving pet owners without an affordable way to have their animals fixed and inundating local shelters with calls for help. The Department for Children and Families says the Vermont Spay and…

By Hilary Niles, VTDigger.org The implementation of Vermont’s universal pre-kindergarten mandate, signed into law with much fanfare in May, will be delayed for a year. State officials made the announcement Wednesday, Nov. 26, citing challenges with rule-making and school budget processes. Act 166 requires publicly funded pre-kindergarten education to be offered for a minimum of…

By Laura Krantz, VTDigger.org The state will not appeal a court decision that deemed it unconstitutional to send male, but not female, inmates out of state, state officials say. In a lower court ruling this summer, Judge Helen Toor ordered the Department of Corrections to return Michael Carpenter, a prisoner sent to Kentucky, to Vermont.…

By Hilary Niles, VTDigger.org Eight full-time faculty at Vermont Technical College in Randolph received layoff notices Monday, Nov. 29. The action is part of a large-scale financial reorganization that could have major implications for the school’s course offerings. Additionally, senior professors are being offered cash incentives to retire early, and up to 27 adjunct instructors…

By Lee H. Hamilton Given all the words and images devoted to the midterm elections over the past few weeks, you’d think the results had told us something vital about the future of the country. In reality, they were just a curtain-raiser. It’s the next few weeks and months that really matter. The big question,…

Dear Editor, Vermont’s not-for-profit hospitals congratulate all of the candidates who have been elected to serve our state over the next two years. Like all Vermonters, our hospitals believe in providing more affordable access to everyone, preserving quality and protecting the right patients have to choose their doctor and hospital and make their own healthcare…

Dear Editor, First, I would like to thank The Mountain Times for printing my concerns with regard to the repealing of the option tax. Secondly, I attended Tuesday’s select board meeting and much to my disappointment the attendance by local residents was sparse, to say the least, with such an important issue on the agenda. However many of…

By Emerson Lynn If several Vermont environmental groups and key policy makers have their way, the Legislature will impose a tax on gasoline and heating fuels, raising the price of a gallon of gas an estimated 45 cents. This will be Vermont’s way to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. They are delusional. Vermonters pay considerably…

By Jack Hoffman There wasn’t a lot of substance in this election season. “Where’s the beef?” isn’t a question we hear much during campaigns anymore, as Jon Margolis lamented in his column in VTDigger.org last week. But while candidates may not need to offer thoughtful, workable proposals or even clearly define problems to get elected,…

Dear Editor, Now that the truth is out of the bag, thanks to Vermont Digger and others, it is clear that our Legislature passed Act 48 with the intent to capture and control Medicare and Medicaid payments and services. What is unclear is, with all the denying coming from the administration and their representatives, did…

Dear Editor, The November elections are over, and though I was not re-elected as Representative for my district, I am feeling appreciative of my supporters and honored to have served for the last two years. I remain optimistic about our future. When we take stock of our assets, and plan with intentionality for the communities…

Dear Editor, We would like to deed our house to the State of Vermont. We have a nice home in a “gold town.” Our house has been listed for sale for over a year. We have lowered the price significantly and still draw little interest. Although we had never planned to move out of Vermont,…

Dear Editor, On a typical foggy morning in September I was commuting to work on my bicycle and every car was shrouded in a 50-foot cocoon of visibility. It occurred to me that what I was seeing was similar to how so many of us live in our own protective cocoons, and how we cope…

Repealing the option tax will make it harder to pay for upcoming expenses Dear Editor, In response to Mr. Freund’s letter “Repeal once percent option tax for a stronger community” in last week’s edition (Nov. 13-19), which I read carefully, he makes some valid points. But what he failed to do is offer any solutions…