Dear Editor, I read the Select Board candidates’ answers in the latest issue of the Mountain Times, and I’d like to address the conflict-of-interest question further. My comments are not specifically directed at any particular candidate or candidates or even the current Select Board or other town board or commission members. Each current candidate has…

Dear editor, During his first campaign, Donald Trump complained that people were mounting a “witch hunt” against him, relying on the conventional implication that the quarry doesn’t exist and the hunt is futile and fruitless. But those were conventional times. Who was prepared for the ways that Donald Trump stands reality on its head? Trump’s…

By Sen. Nader Hashim and Rep. Martin LaLonde Editor’s note: Senator Hashim is the chair of the state Senate Judiciary Committee and Rep. LaLonde is chair of the state House Judiciary Committee. When floodwaters tore through Vermont in July 2023 and again exactly a year later, they left more than physical destruction in their wake.…

A cohort of Vermont’s social service providers has embarked on an editorial campaign challenging the House’s recent legislation that would disrupt the status quo of homeless services funding administration. Angus Chaney, executive director of Rutland’s Homeless Prevention Center (HPC), appears to be the author of the editorial and is joined by about a dozen fellow…

By Brian Cina Editor’s note: Brian Cina is a VermontState Representative for Chittenden-15. Cina is a clinical social worker with a full-time therapy practice and is a part-time crisis clinician. State-sanctioned punishment and violence perpetuate harm under the guise of accountability, justice, and public safety. Since 2017, Governor Phil Scott has pushed for new prisons…

Dear Editor, I have been thinking since Earth Day about modern technology and our environment and how much they are out of touch with each other.  Last summer, my wife and I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a wedding. While there, we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. It…

Dear Editor, We’re heading north and so excited. We’re moving full time to Vermont! For decades we’ve been snow birds, like my parents, spending half the year in Bradenton, Florida. But now our Florida house is up for sale — a 1929 Spanish Mediterranean brimming with beauty and charm. A young family we hope will…

Dear Editor, On April 10, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, H.R.22, passed the US House and is on its way to the Senate. The League of Women Voters of Vermont (LWVVT) opposes the SAVE Act because it requires American citizens registering to vote or updating registration information to present in-person proof of citizenship.…

By Leslie Burg Editor’s note: Leslie Burg, Manchester, is a community member of the Rutland Head Start Policy Council and an emerita professor of literacy and disabilities at Northeastern University. Show the state and the country that Rutland will not stand by while its most vulnerable residents are abandoned. Rutland is a city that represents…

By Vermont Senator Anne Watson In a recent op-ed about the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), Vermont’s cornerstone climate policy, Secretary Julie Moore accused legislative leadership of being “content” with “unattainable” climate pollution reduction requirements. As chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, I feel compelled to respond, as I would not…

Dear Editor, I commend Gov. Scott and his efforts to make Vermont affordable through financial common sense and accountability to taxpayers. Gov. Phil Scott’s recent vetoes of the budget adjustment bill signals the end of one-sided policy-driven bills forced through the Vermont Legislature. With Vermont voters deciding last November to eliminate the Democrat/Progressive supermajority in…

Dear Editor, Last week, the Senate Education Committee got to work on H.454, the education reform bill that recently passed the House. While the Senate’s new draft preserves many of the bill’s broad goals, it also reflects a troubling shift in priorities, particularly when it comes to holding independent schools that receive public dollars to…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the publisher of the Addison Independent, a sister publication of the Mountain Times. When federal agents from Trump’s “big-brother” government descended on the Pleasant Valley Farms dairy in Franklin County this past Monday, they arrested eight migrant workers in their homes and placed them immediately into the Northwest State…

By Miro Weinberger Editor’s note: Weinberger is currently the executive chair of Let’s Build Homes. He was raised in Hartland and served as mayor of Burlington from 2012-2024. If you’ve turned on a podcast, watched a late-night show, or scrolled social media in the past month, you’ve probably heard something about “Abundance,” the new book…

Dear Editor, VSBA supports the bill as a more thoughtful and phased approach than Governor Scott’s rushed, five district proposal. Grounded in a more realistic timeline: H.454 is the most grounded and actionable proposal developed during the 2025 session. It acknowledges the operational realities education leaders face every day. The implementation timeline is more manageable…