Dear Editor, April Hudson has always been a writer. At the age 79, her dream of publishing her memoirs has finally become a reality. April has been a well-known resident in the small northern Vermont town. A true craftsman and artist, she opened a ceramic teaching studio and designed her own line called Hudsonware. She…

By Emerson Lynn Editor's note: Emerson Lynn is the former editor and publisher of the St. Albans Messenger. He is also the uncle of Polly Mikula, editor/copublisher of this publication. OneCare is the accountable care organization whose purpose it is to shift Vermont’s health care spending from a fee-for-service model to one in which hospitals…

By Seth Steinzor Editor’s note: Steinzor lives in South Burlington and is a poet, woodworker and retired attorney. He worked for 32 years in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. The uproar over a trans student on the high school volleyball team in Randolph evokes memories for me of my own involvement in our society’s complicated,…

Dear Editor, By some miracle, we have an animal called a beaver that builds, maintains and improves rich wetlands. However, damming behavior also creates challenging and sometimes expensive beaver-human conflicts. Partly because of their rarity, which has been increased greatly by development, wetlands like those that beavers create have enormous value. They are critical habitat…

Dear Editor, In a landmark ruling destined to save billions of animal and human lives, the Food and Drug Administration has ruled that meat cultivated from animal cells is safe to eat. The ruling was granted to Upside Foods, funded by Bill Gates and Richard Branson, but also by meat industry giants Cargill and Tyson…

Dear Editor, Vermont should adopt the Purple Paint Law (PPL) to replace the annual posting of private property. The PPL allows landowners to “post” their property with stripes of purple paint applied according to specific instructions on trees or fence posts. Most states stipulate the stripes must be vertical and not less than eight inches…

Dear Editor, The battle over proposed herbicide use in Lake Bomoseen has not ended, despite what some community members may assume. The LBA / LBPT ProcellaCOR permit application was not withdrawn. It is simply on “technical hold” while the boards of directors of those organizations belatedly try to rally support for their plan. They have…

Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. Since Election Day, Americans have seen a sea-change of political fortunes and attitudes: from the conservative Trump-supporters who expected the red wave to push Democrats from power and hobble President Joe Biden’s next two…

By Gov. Phil Scott At 4 a.m. the day before every election, my team and I set out on a 14-county tour, visiting all of Vermont’s 14 counties in one day. This 500+ mile tour was a way to put things into perspective. It reinforces how beautiful our state is and how much it has to…

By Steve Costello Editor’s note: Steve Costello is one of the organizers of the Gift-of-Life Marathon. As we approach the 20th annual Gift-of-Life Marathon Blood Drive, during a period of divisiveness and ugliness nationally and at times even in Vermont, I’ve been reflecting on some of the people who’ve become synonymous with the GOLM and…

By Cheryl Mitchell Editor’s note: Cheryl Mitchell is president of Treleven, a retreat and learning program located on her family’s sheep farm in Addison County. She does freelance consulting on issues related to children, families, social policy and farm to community work. She can be reached at cheryl.w.mitchell@gmail.com. There is a lovely new project emerging…

Dear Editor, We’ve probably all have read about the use of cameras along some highways to measure the speed of vehicles, replacing the police stationed at various points with radar guns. Perhaps some of us have driven in the various states or foreign countries that utilize this technique. There seems to be an outcry in…

By Life Legros Editor’s note: LeGeros, a professional educator who lives in Duxbury, sits on the steering team of the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition and is a member of the Harwood Union school board. The views expressed here do not represent any organizations with which he is affiliated. Community means being there for each other,…

Dear Editor, For months, the Biden Administration has committed to ending Title 42, a Trump-era border policy that has deported tens of thousands of asylum-seekers. Last week, instead of fulfilling those promises, the administration announced that it would be expanding Title 42 to prevent Venezuelans who seek asylum from gaining access to safety. Seeking asylum…

Prop. 5: Liberty and dignity, word for word By Liz DiMarco Weinmann Editor's note: Liz DiMarco Weinmann, MBA, is principal and owner of Liz DiMarco Weinmann Consulting, L3C, based in Rutland, serving charitable and educational institutions.  As the deadline for voting in the midterm elections is less than a week away, countless women are sharing…