By Andy Kirkaldy This week’s writer is Andy Kirkaldy, an Addison County Independent reporter who has covered education in the Vergennes area for two decades. A major shift in the way Vermont schools must deliver education is looming, and there is a way for Vermonters to help our schools adapt—by supporting a single Vergennes teacher…

By Laura Krantz, VTDigger.org Gov. Peter Shumlin released his 2013 tax return Friday, reporting $721,445 in gross income and total assets worth $10.3 million. Shumlin’s 1040 IRS form shows most of his income comes from real estate he owns and rents. He reported $128,639 in wages and $349,091 in income from real estate, royalties, supplemental…

In his speech last week outlining his plans to use military force against the jihadists of the Islamic State, President Obama gave Congress only passing mention. “I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL,” he said. “But I believe we are strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together.” He’s…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Dan Feliciano, who is the candidate for governor for the Vermont Libertarian Party. He is a business consultant who lives in Essex Junction. Thousands of Vermonters are looking at their school property tax bills and wondering “where will this end?” They are finding out the hard way that the…

Here’s a comment by a Vermont solar company executive that offers as much hope as it presents concern: “In the future, solar panels are going to be as ubiquitous as barns and silos, and we should be working toward it, not against it.” The comment is by SunCommon spokesman Mike McCarthy. The hope it presents…

By Lee H. Hamilton Despite these last few months of hot and lazy days, it’s been hard not to notice a cold political wind blowing through the country. The magazine Foreign Affairs captured it with its latest cover, a mockup of a travel poster featuring a crumbling U.S. Capitol with the tagline, “See America: Land…

Q&A with Mike Solimano Editor’s note: The Mountain Times receives many questions from readers every week about Killington Resort and Pico Mountain operations. In order to best answer some of the most common questions we will pose them directly to Mike Solimano, president and general manager for Killington Resort and Pico Mountain, who has agreed…

Dear Editor, Earlier this summer Killington Resort asked the town of Killington to consider repealing the sales and use portion of the 1 percent option tax. The resort is committed to using the money, freed up if the tax is repealed, to invest in additional summer assets and to help fund key summer events that…

Dear Editor, As the Vermont State Fair comes to a close, once again, the fairground gardens were prominently displayed. The Rutland County Extension Service Master Gardeners planted and maintained the ten gardens around the fairgrounds with dedication. Anyone attending this year’s fair, will tell you that the gardens were absolutely beautiful, despite the fact, that many…

Dear Editor, After reading Gov. Shumlin’s letter to Rebecca Holcombe, secretary for the Vermont Agency of Education, dated Aug. 19, 2014, which outlines initiatives he hopes she and the Agency will pursue on his behalf to advance progress this year, I was confused on a number of topics.  Shumlin refers to the fact that many…

Dear Editor, When people in a community are concerned that their neighborhood is being overrun by crime, they start a Neighborhood Watch. They do so to protect their families, their property values, and their way of life. Nobody ever accuses them of NIMBYism; it’s only logical. Nobody says, “Well, the criminals have to go somewhere,…

Dear Editor, With all the news about the inability of a severely divided Congress to do much of anything except shift the blame to the other party, we can be proud that our U. S. Representative, Peter Welch, is bucking the trend.  For example, he worked across the aisle with Representative Trey Gowdy, a South…

By Angelo S. Lynn Vermont Gas Systems was taken to task last week by the governor’s office for, among other things, its cost overruns on Phase 1 of the pipeline project from Colchester to Middlebury, its lack of transparency in its handling of easement rights, and for using the eminent domain process in a way…

By Lee H. Hamilton Many trends in American politics and government today make me worry about the health of our representative democracy. These include the decline of Congress as a powerful, coequal branch of government, the accumulation of power in the presidency, and the impact of money on the overall political process. Recently, the Supreme…

By Michelle Monroe There was a lot of information about one of the state’s most vexing issues – education taxes – but no solutions at a gathering of roughly 100 municipal and school officials in South Burlington Thursday, Aug. 14. Rising education costs are closing out other opportunities as education consumes more of the available…