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Vermont’s ski areas boast growth with 4.16 million skier visits for 2024-25
June 11, 2025
Vermont’s Alpine and cross-country ski areas joined industry partners, supporters, and friends at Ski Vermont’s 56th annual meeting at Sugarbush Resort, June 4-5, recapping a season of continued growth despite challenges. Vermont’s Alpine ski areas reported 4.16 million skier visits for the 2024–25 season, an increase of 1.1% over the previous year and 6.2% over…
White River Valley SU withdraws from the Vermont School Boards Association
June 11, 2025
By Corey McDonald/VTDigger The White River Valley Supervisory Union last week moved to withdraw its membership from the Vermont School Boards Association, highlighting deep divisions among the state’s school districts and supervisory unions over the trajectory of education reform. The White River Valley board’s decision marks an overt break in unity with a prominent advocacy organization…
Vt Legislature advances bill to ban toxic ‘forever chemicals’ from firefighting gear, dental floss, cleaning products
June 4, 2025
The Vermont Senate and House advance legislation (H.238) May 29 that would outlaw the use of toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in firefighting gear, dental floss, cleaning products, and fluorine-treated containers—a critical step in reducing Vermonters’ exposure to these harmful substances. The Senate expanded the bill as passed by the House by adding a provision that…
To be continued…
June 4, 2025
A final compromise on education reform proved elusive late Friday, and at about 11 p.m., the Senate adjourned, followed by the House at about 11:30 p.m. As late as 10 p.m., legislative leaders were still hopeful that the six conferees (three House and three Senate members) could reach a deal sometime before midnight that would…
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Nearing the end?
June 4, 2025
After passing several challenging bills in the last few weeks, the Vermont Legislature adjourned until June 16 due to an impasse over negotiations on our education transformation bill, H.454. Many other bills addressing housing, homelessness, healthcare, and several other major issues required compromises from both the House and the Senate in order to be passed…
Vermont gets $23 million from ongoing settlement with tobacco manufacturers
June 4, 2025
Attorney General Charity Clark announced last month that Vermont received a total of $23,132,483.92 from tobacco manufacturers under the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Annually, Vermont receives monies from tobacco manufacturers from the MSA, which resolved the state’s lawsuit filed in the 1990s. The settlement funds are credited to the state’s Tobacco Fund, and the…
Education bill hits an impasse, Legislature to reconvene mid-June
June 4, 2025
By Shaun Robinson and Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger After a drawn-out day of disagreements and false starts, the Vermont Legislature bailed on its plan to wrap up business for the year on Friday, May 30, failing to come to a deal, at least for now, on this year’s landmark education reform bill. So strained were the talks, the House and…
It’s not pretty
May 28, 2025
The legislative process is sometimes likened to sausage making, not pretty to watch. That was certainly true last week at the State House with education reform and a major housing bill being considered. Both had a week of ups and downs with more work still to be done. The Senate version of the education reform…
Ed funding reform moves forward
May 28, 2025
By Polly Mikula Vermont Senate passed H.454, the state’s landmark education reform bill, Friday night, May 23, after days of debate and uncertainty. The bill now heads back to the House, which was expected to call for a conference committee to work out its differences with the Senate version as soon as Tuesday, May 27.…
‘The winners are losers and the losers are winners’
May 21, 2025
That was how Vermont Public reporter Lola Dufort described one of the potential challenges to move to a foundation formula that is included in the education reform bill under consideration. Under a foundation financing system, which is common in most states, each school district receives a standard amount per student adjusted for certain factors like…
Statewide ban on phones in schools picks up steam
May 21, 2025
By Habib Sabet/VTDigger Vermont is on track to join a growing list of states that have banned smartphones from classrooms statewide. Last week, lawmakers in a key committee advanced legislation that would require all of the state’s public school districts and independent schools to develop policies prohibiting students from using smartphones and other personal devices like…
Deaths from opioid overdose declined significantly in 2024
May 21, 2025
Data shows first sustained annual decrease in opioid overdose deaths since 2019 New data from the Vermont Dept. of Health shows a significant decline in opioid overdose deaths last year. According to the newly-released Fatal Opioid Overdoses Among Vermonters report, 183 Vermonters died from an opioid-related overdose in 2024, a 22% decrease from 2023 when 236…
We met our match!
May 14, 2025
As I may have mentioned before, our House Appropriations Committee has a tradition of starting off each day with a short joke or riddle. Sometimes they are funny or get a laugh because they are lacking. It helps break the ice before we take testimony or discuss various expense priorities. Starting off the budget conference…
Good news, progress,and more work to come
May 7, 2025
The best news of the week was that Mohsen Madawi was released from detention here in Vermont. The federal government offered no acceptable justification for Madawi’s detention, and, as a result, Judge Crawford of Vermont’s U.S. District Court freed him. The conditions of his release seem relatively simple: he is now free to go back…
Threading the needle
May 7, 2025
Last Thursday, May 1, the full Senate approved its version of the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 with numerous changes from the House. On Friday the House and Senate appointed a conference committee (three House and three Senate members) to work out the differences between the two chambers. Once that happens,…
Sanders introduces Medicare for All
May 7, 2025
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), alongside Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), introduced the Medicare for All Act last Tuesday, April 29. Hundreds of nurses, health care providers and workers from around the nation joined the lawmakers for a press conference in…
Why did the herp cross the road? ‘Big Nights’ mean big risks for amphibians and reptiles
May 7, 2025
By Theresa Golub Editor’s note: This story is via Community News Service in partnership with Vermont State University Castleton. Across Vermont, the songs of spring peepers marking the change in seasons. Temperatures rise, snow melts and water runs into the dips and divots of the land to form vernal pools. Biologists call those springtime basins the…
At Vermont State University, Canadian college students navigate an uncertain political landscape
May 7, 2025
By Jackson Burden Community News Service Editor’s note: This story is via Community News Service in partnership with Vermont State University Castleton. At Vermont State University, Castleton, a vibrant community of Canadian students has long thrived, embracing the American dream while pursuing their college years in the U.S. in a welcoming academic haven. However, following…
Burke Mountain Resort is sold for $11.5 million
May 7, 2025
By Habib Sabet/VTDigger A federal judge has signed off on the sale of Burke Mountain Resort for $11.5 million, releasing the Northeast Kingdom ski mountain from nearly a decade of federal receivership. Judge Darrin P. Gayles issued the order in U.S. District Court in Miami formally approving the sale of Burke Mountain to Bear Den Partners LLC, a…
