By Bill Day "Trickle Up"

Dear Editor, Drivers impaired by opioids, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs pose a threat to every Vermonter and visitor that drive our highways. On July 1, Vermont will become the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana. Even proponents of legalization acknowledge that driving while high on marijuana is unwise and unsafe. There also is universal…

Dear Editor, Thank you to Casella Waste Management as well as to Southwestern VT Sales Coordinator Lisa Hotchkiss for her amazing customer service and communication that was outstanding through every facet of our third annual Community Clean Up  in the towns of Danby and Mount Tabor. Its donation has significantly impacted these communities as a…

By Rob Roper Vermont’s student test scores are falling. It’s no longer a blip, but a trend. As State Board of Education member Bill Mathis said, “When you have two different tests showing much the same thing, you have to pay attention to them.” Those two tests are the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and…

Dear Editor, Thanks to the previous Killington Select Board (Patty, Chris and Ken) I now have to pay $50 more per month towards my mortgage escrow account. I previously voted not to change the bi-annual tax collection to quarterly. Now that the quarterly annual tax collection is now changed to an “odd” three time annual…

Dear Editor, On April 12, the House released a draft of the Farm Bill that aims to significantly erode nutrition programs that support millions of Americans, including SNAP (known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT), our nation’s largest hunger-relief program that helps 75,000 Vermonters feed themselves and their families. The House Farm Bill endangers the long-term bipartisan…

By Senator Patrick Leahy Editor’s note: This is a transcription of Leahy’s address on the floor of the Senate, April 12, 2018. Yesterday, Vermont set an example for the Congress. A Democratically controlled Legislature and a Republican Governor, in a rural state with a strong gun owning tradition and few gun laws, worked together to debate,…

By Anson Tebbetts The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Boston regional office announced that the Vermont Agency of Agriculture has made significant progress toward meeting the state’s water quality goals. In a letter to the agency dated April 2, EPA regional administrator Alexandra Dapolito Dunn noted, “Your staff have clearly been working hard to get new programs…

By Jon Margolis, VTDigger OK, enough for a while of all this chit-chat over minimum wages, family leave, getting the goop out of the lake, and guns (especially, mercifully, guns). Let’s turn to one of the eternal verities: politics. Not that they aren’t all connected. The wages, the lake goop, the guns (especially, heaven help us,…

Dear Editor, Governor Phil Scott signed a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month on April 3. I appreciate the ceremony at the Statehouse and the attention that it draws to the need that every child has, to be loved and safely nurtured. Every child, every day requires at least one adult who provides that love…

Dear Editor, As many have heard recently, the town of Killington via the Select Board is entertaining bringing in an out-of-state management company to take over operations at Green Mountain National Golf Club. It’s no secret the town owned golf course has had financial challenges due to long-standing debt arrangements and the short Vermont golf…

Dear Editor, It has come to my attention that a certain self proclaimed “political junkie” is castigating our newly elected Selectman Jim Haff for involvement in reorganizing the operational management of the Green Mountain National Golf Course (GMNGC). He states that Mr. Haff has an agenda regarding GMNGC and thus should recuse himself from any…

By Emerson Lynn The House Ways and Means Committee is pushing legislation that would change the way Vermont finances education. The impetus is political. Property taxes are high, and rising. Legislators want to rush in to ease the pain. The timing could not be worse. What the proposal does is shift some of the burden from…

By Joyce Judy In this time of heightened dialogue around the future of higher education in Vermont, I am compelled to reflect on the narratives that inform and affect our students and their families. I am reminded that our responsibility to Vermont’s students is a collective one, and it is in this spirit that I…

Dear Editor, Governor Scott has signed H.511, making Vermont the first state, by legislative process, to legalize pot for recreational use. On July 1, it will be permissible to possess one ounce of pot and store an unlimited quantity harvested from two mature plants. If the governor’s oft expressed requirement that children must be protected in…