Dear Editor, Now that we are retroactively able to change our gender identity on Vermont birth certificates the next logical step is to allow change of our ethnic identity as well. Sen. Elizabeth Warren can be Native American, all the white people who ran Black organizations (along with would-be rappers) can be Black. There should…

Dear Editor, Recently we took a 1,000-mile round trip to Washington, D.C. in our Chevy BOLT EV. Still, on the cold side, the BOLT that can get up to 300 miles in summer is averaging about 200 miles in this weather. Obviously, we needed a fast charger plan. Our clear-eyed report of the pros and…

By Isabella A. Johnson Editor's note: Isabella A. Johnson is working toward her master’s degree in public health at the University of Vermont. As a graduate student in public health, it becomes increasingly clear how fortunate I am to live in Vermont and share the landscape with abundant wildlife that contributes greatly to biodiversity. Many…

Dear Editor, Where are all the geese? Where is all the honking and splashing on Otter Creek, the signs of spring that usually come as a relief from the existential dread of yet another winter with temperatures too warm, mud season too soon? They’re usually so reliable that I don’t even note the date of…

Dear Editor, We are so excited to have passenger rail service between Burlington and New York, but people need to beware of the new faster trains and recognize their danger. Please remind your readers over and over, and readers, tell your friends and neighbors, stop walking along the local railroad tracks. It may have seemed…

Dear Editor, Proposition 5 is framing abortion as the exercise of reproductive freedoms and rights, but is the absurdity here not giving you pause? The legislative majority has declared through Prop. 5, that this constitutional amendment is needed because Vermonters’ reproductive rights are at risk. Since when are reproductive rights at risk in Vermont? Fact…

Dear Editor, In response to George de Luna’s letter in the Mountain Times on April 20, I want to thank you for providing the critical information he conveyed in his letter and which your readers yearn so desperately for your paper to provide. As central Vermont’s most esteemed free weekly news publication, the Mountain Times…

Dear Editor, Sen. Moynihan said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Mr. de Luna thinks that his opinions are facts in an opinion piece published in the Mountain Times on April 20. He was unable to address a single fact about Trump I presented. Mr. de…

Dear Editor, Despite dwindling numbers of dairy farms,Vermont continues to be the largest dairy producer in New England and dairy is the most profitable sector of the state’s agricultural economy. Tourists flock to Vermont to savor its bucolic splendor and we are grateful to the farmers who toil to preserve its rural character. We should…

Dear Editor, At first glimpse at Kevin Morgan you’d never know he is living with kidney disease, but he has been living on kidney dialysis for the past three years and was diagnosed with IGA Neuropathy (also known as Berger’s Disease) 4 1/2 years ago. This graduate of Rutland High School class of 1976 went…

By Jacob McCarthy Editor's note: Jacob McCarthy is a senior studying media and communications at Castleton University. He is interning with Rutland Young Professionals for this spring. If you told me the day I showed up at Castleton University on a hot, humid August morning back in 2018 that my life would change forever, I…

By Bruce Baker and Rebecca Holcombe Editor's note: Bruce Baker is a professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education and a senior fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and Rebecca Holcombe is a Norwich resident, a parent, and former Vermont secretary of education. Based on a University of Vermont study, the Legislature is updating the…

Dear Editor, The Green Mountain Care Board publishes an annual list of Vermont hospital employees whose annual compensation tops $500,000. The list for 2020 shows a total of 59 hospital execs making more than half a million dollars a year. Fifty-nine. Eleven of them work at Rutland Regional Medical Center. Thirteen work at the University…

Dear Editor, This is in response to Kem Phillips’ letter in the Mountain Times. It appears that Kem has bought into the endless media slander of the former president. In terms of results, President Trump did more for this country in four years than any in my lifetime, going back to Eisenhower. He didn’t get…

By Jay Diaz and Ed Baker Vermont is experiencing a full-blown overdose crisis. A record 210 Vermonters died of preventable opioid-related overdoses in 2021, marking 33.7 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. That’s a 500% increase since 2010. For context, Portugal, which has committed to handling addiction with a public health approach since the early 2000s,…