By Michael Shank Editor's note: This commentary is by Michael Shank of Brandon, communications director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and an adjunct faculty member at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. A local zoning administrator once told me — when I served as chair of the Brandon Planning Commission — that Vermont was…

Dear Editor, False prophets are not just a fixture of ancient times. In April of 2020, experts predicted that as many as 60,000 people might die from Covid-19 in this country. People reacted in disbelief. In a nation with such great technology, a fervent commitment to rule of law, churches inspiring neighborly behavior, and schools,…

Dear Editor, Editor's note: the following is an open letter to members of the Vermont Senate.  On behalf of NFIB and AGC/VT members in Vermont, we are writing to express our opposition to S.10, legislation that was intended to hold harmless small businesses from the historic event – pandemic unemployment in the magnitude of $1…

Dear Editor, I stayed with Henry Miles for three years while going to school in Rutland. He gave me shelter from the storm. He did not drink one drop for three years while I was there, but I needed to go to take care of a relative who had dementia out of state. I would…

Dear Editor, Editor's note:  The following is an open letter from Vermont students to Vermont representatives. We, the undersigned Vermont students, wish to convey the urgency for the passage of S.53. Period poverty is real and pervasive, and it affects many Vermonters. You have the ability to help end that and provide the equal footing…

Dear Editor, The Rochester/Randolph Area Sports Trail Alliance (RASTA) is embarking on a name-changing process. We feel our acronym evokes associations to a name that isn’t ours to use. Out of respect for the Rastafari religion and movement, we will soon be changing the name of our club. This name-changing process offers the opportunity to…

By Richard Watts and Meg Little Reilly Editor’s note: Richard Watts is the director of the Center for Research on Vermont, and Meg Little Reilly is a Vermont writer and editor with the Community News Service (a program which pairs college students work with professional editors to write news stories for local papers around Vermont.) With needed…

By Secretary of State Jim Condos 2020 was no ordinary year. Now three months into 2021 we have endured the health, societal, and economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic that have rocked our communities for over year. Many people have lost their lives, or their loved ones, along the way. Our country is experiencing…

Dear Editor, Most people who rent out a property they own through Airbnb or VRBO are people like myself who are just trying to make ends meet and be able to afford a small slice of Vermont. We rent out our vacation homes to pay the mortgage and the upkeep. There’s no big profit to…

Dear Editor, Over the past several weeks, we have seen a growing anxiety around conversations happening in the legislature regarding public employee pensions. We have seen a rise in misinformation and confusion concerning what is actually happening and why these considerations are occurring at this time. The reason I have prioritized this issue is simple:…

Dear Editor, Faithful political representatives of the people in ancient Rome participated in peaceful negotiation and regular compromise with their adversaries. This concept of “concordia” was so highly admired by the citizenry that a temple and a bronze statue were built for Lady Compromise, and people worshipped her as a god in heaven. The nation…

Dear Editor, As the elected legislative body in the town of Stockbridge, the Select Board received a petition to start the process of breaking up the merger of Stockbridge and Rochester’s schools in 2020. This merger created the RSUD or Rochester Stockbridge Union District. This merger was the result of the arduous and lengthy Act…

Editor's note: this commentary was signed by Alison Notte from Rutland City Public Schools along with 30 other  school board members from around the state.  Our Vermont legislators recently commissioned a state-of-the-art study to investigate how best to apportion funds to schools equitably.  Unfortunately for the students of Vermont, it detailed serious inequities in school…

By John Pelletier All Vermont public school students are supposed to be taught personal finance, but I would bet that many parents would have a hard time finding a young person who has learned about credit scores, investing or compound interest. And there probably are even fewer students learning about personal finance during the pandemic,…

Dear Editor, With the recent regime change in Washington D.C.  the Democrats are in charge of the executive branch, the House and the Senate.  Quite rapidly, we are witnessing corporate America and Big Green Energy flooding social media and legacy news with advertisements pushing the virtues of  transitioning to battery operated transportation. The external costs…