PUBLIC HEALTH NOTICE COVID-19 - Coronavirus Disease: The Bridgewater Emergency Management Team is monitoring the Covid-19 virus situation. Local officials met on Tuesday and are putting a plan in place. If you or a family member are quarantined (self or medically), we want to make sure that you have the resources that you need in…

Dear Editor, As workplaces, college campuses and schools temporarily close or urge remote work in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the impacts are being felt throughout the community and even the blood supply. Right now, the American Red Cross has a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations at these…

Dear Editor, Black River Good Neighbor Services has served the people of Ludlow, Cavendish, Mount Holly, and Plymouth for over 40 years with food and financial assistance in times of need. With the global health crisis facing us now we realize that our services are more relevant than ever. Our volunteers and staff assure you…

Dear Editor, Because of the rapidly changing situation with respect to COVID-19 the Black River Good Neighbor Services’ food shelf and assistance programs are changing some procedures to assure the safety of our staff and of those who visit us for help. Beginning Monday, March 16 and continuing until this crisis winds down, all requests…

Dear Editor, On behalf of the thousands of patients we serve each year, thank you for showing your resounding support of home health and hospice care throughout Bennington and Rutland Counties. Your vote of confidence in the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region enables us to focus on continuing to meet the needs of…

By Secretary of State Jim Condos Trust in government is at an all-time low. As you can see playing out before our eyes in the news today, integrity is at a premium in times of crisis. Truth and transparency are necessary to effective leadership. In Vermont, we take great pride in having a government that…

By Angelo Lynn On Friday, March 13, Gov. Phil Scott declared a state of emergency in Vermont in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has now established several beachheads in this country — most notably, a new epicenter is spreading in New Rochelle, New York, New York City and neighboring states, and into the Boston…

Dear Editor, Listening to Gov. Phil Scott on Vermont Public Radio recently as he mounted objection after objection to proposals to combat climate change, I kept thinking, “He’s missing something!” For every proposed climate solution suggested to him by callers and the moderator, his answer was, “This will hurt rural and working Vermonters.” Of course,…

Dear Editor, I was quite taken aback by the quote from Windsor Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Mary Beth Banios in the March 4 Mountain Times in response to Killington’s School Board Representative Jim Haff’s lobbying Killington residents to vote “no” on a rather dubious presented (by Banios) $21 million budget. Her quote is below: “It…

By Marilyn Miller I have been the executive director of the Vermont Automobile Dealers Association, more recently known as the Vermont Vehicle and Automotive Distributors Association (VADA), since 1984. From a change in our organization’s name to reflect an expanded membership to autonomous vehicles, I and the entire industry have seen a lot of change…

By Angelo Lynn Super Tuesday was exciting, shocking politics. Vice President Joe Biden’s surge from his seemingly moribund campaign prior to Saturday’s South Carolina’s blow-out to Tuesday’s victory in 9 of 14 states, many of which he had no ground game or advertising presence, was a stunning reversal of fortune for Biden and his chief…

By Jim Condos For decades, Vermont’s Community Media Centers have provided our residents direct access to each other, our government and our community events. Now, more than ever, we need a strong network of public, educational and government (“PEG TV”) stations and their Community Media Centers to provide these important services that keep our civic…

Dear Editor, Climate change is destroying our future, Governer Scott. Your inaction on meaningful environmental policy is extremely disappointing. This is a betrayal of Vermonters, your promises, and the planet. State greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Summers are getting wetter and hotter, sugar maples’ range is trending north, and tick-borne disease rates are increasing in…

Dear Editor, There is a dangerous false equivalency in our political narrative right now. A number of our current Democratic hopefuls have been sowing seeds of falsity with their supporters that accepting large donations guarantees corruption in the White House and that small donations are the only way to guarantee clean politics. This is bad…

By John Klar, candidate for 2020 Rep. governor Like a dragon eating its tail, Vermont’s bureaucracy continues to bloat like a runaway coronavirus, exponentially expanding “services” even as these very burdens drive more citizens into poverty, drug use, or emigration to more affordable states. A particularly virulent area of indefatigable expansion is schools. In 2013, Vermont held the…