Discover More from This Category: Opinions

CCV is ready to help rebuild Vermont

April 29, 2020
By Joyce Judy, president of Community College of Vermont The Vermont State Colleges System is weathering the roughest days of its 60-year history. The potential changes facing our sister institutions are painful and the challenges are real. While the Community College of Vermont (CCV) is not immune to these challenges, we are fundamentally unique, financially…

Castleton University is ready to meet community and workforce needs

April 29, 2020
By Dr. Karen M. Scolforo, president of Castleton University You may have seen the recent news coverage regarding the challenges faced by the Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS), many of which were highlighted last summer in the VSCS white paper, Securing the Future of the Vermont State Colleges, and exacerbated by the novel coronavirus global…

I Love Rutland

April 29, 2020
Dear Editor, With many people isolating at home to benefit public safety, and uncertainty the only certainty these days, it’s been inspiring to see how Rutland County has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. From hanging up lights and rainbows to making masks and putting out signs encouraging people to wash their hands, stay one cow…

Fill out the Census form, the state relies on your response for funding

April 29, 2020
Dear Editor, The League of Women Voters urges everyone to participate in the 2020 Census, now underway. The U.S. Constitution requires the federal government count everyone living in the country every 10 years. Every household should complete a Census form (either online, by mail, or by phone) by Oct. 31, 2020. Participating in the Census…

Is the VSC system the first of many dominoes to fall? 

April 29, 2020
Dear Editor, Closing NVU-Lyndon, NVU-Johnson, and Vermont Technical College’s (VTC) Randolph campus would migrate Vermont’s higher educational engine to the Champlain Valley. The Burlington metropolitan area already exerts economic and political dominance over the rest of the state. Depriving Vermonters of access to educational and cultural resources in this manner would be unfair and inequitable. The Vermont State College (VSC)…

Why not Medicare for All?

April 29, 2020
By Richard Slusky The coronavirus pandemic has brought to light the many fractures in the U.S. health care system, particularly the inadequate access that many low- and middle-income people have to health care services when they are most needed, and their dependence on employer-sponsored health care plans. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the concept of universal…

Silver lining

April 29, 2020
By Lisa Loomis, The Valley Reporter In the midst of this time of self-isolation and social distancing during Covid-19 our lives have changed in so many ways that it’s hard to keep up. A lot of these changes have been difficult and scary and painful. But at least one change in how Vermont conducts itself…

Bail out Main Street, not Wall Street

April 22, 2020
Dear Editor, First, a little history: 2008 saw the worst financial crisis in this country since the Great Depression. In response to the economic devastation, congress enacted the Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out America’s big banks, to the tune of $700 billion. Today, with the coronavirus pandemic hitting small businesses harder than anybody…

Isolation day

April 22, 2020
Dear Editor, I felt like an imaginary, old fashioned Italian woman today. I decided it was time to pack away the big, heavy down comforter as deep winter is over in Vermont. So, I filled my big bath tub with lots of soap, bleach and hot water. Then I submerged the queen sized white comforter…

Prison should not be a Covid-19 death sentence

April 22, 2020
Dear Editor, Covid-19 is impacting families all across Vermont and the nation. We have known from the beginning that group living settings are particularly susceptible to rapid infection. We have seen in other countries and states that the outcome of not taking strong preventative measures in prisons is a spike in cases of infection. We…

Understanding public vs. private

April 22, 2020
Dear Editor, From Ayn Rand to Ronald Reagan, America’s conservative heroes have preached “public is bad, private is good.” Yet public means “accessible to or shared by all members of the community,” while private means “intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class.”  We’re paying a great price for…

Trump’s pandemic failure: a missed opportunity

April 22, 2020
By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir For a man who is a self-absorbed, power hungry narcissist who wants to be recognized as one of the greatest presidents of the United States while desperately trying to be reelected, Trump failed miserably to rise to the occasion precipitated by the unfortunate advent and spread of the coronavirus. Instead of…

Saluting the forgotten heroes

April 15, 2020
Dear Editor, The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global shift in how we function as a society. From quarantine orders, to face masks, to social distancing, we are all getting used to the “new normal.” However, there are two sectors, quietly working in the background, almost invisible to the public, but which are the basis…

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

April 15, 2020
Dear Editor, April is Child Abuse Prevention Month across the country. This unprecedented time for all Vermonters brings out the best in us all and also can elevate the risk for child abuse, domestic violence and increased substance abuse. Stress is a factor we as Vermonters are doing and can do a lot to decrease…

Celebrate Earth Day with plant-based eating

April 15, 2020
Dear Editor, With the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, we are already reducing our carbon footprint during the pandemic by curtailing travel. But we can do so much more by cutting our consumption of animal meat and milk products. A recent article in the respected journal Nature argues that animal agriculture is…