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Submitted Yondr pouches are one common tool used to lock up devices at school.

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…

‘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…

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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…

Vermont sees nation’s largest household income increase

May 7, 2025
Census Bureau data recently released indicates that Vermont was the nation’s leader in income growth from 2022 to 2023. Vermont median income grew 5.4% year-over-year, while the national median stayed roughly flat with a 0.15% decrease. Vermont’s median income increase represents a jump from below to above the national median. Vermont ranks 17th in household income.…

Leave turtles in the wild, Vermont officials warn

May 7, 2025
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept. urges residents not to keep wild turtles as pets, citing potential harm to animals and broader turtle populations. “Capturing a wild turtle and keeping it as a pet, even if only for a short time, is not only bad for that individual, but it could hurt turtle populations as…

Vermont sues Trump administration over funding for K-12

April 30, 2025
Attorney General Charity Clark recently joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Dept. of Education’s threat to withhold federal funding from state and local agencies that refuse to abandon lawful programs and policies that promote equal access to education in K-12 classrooms across the nation. On April 3,…

Vermont, 11 other states sue Trump admin over tariff policies

April 30, 2025
By Habib Sabet/VTDigger Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is joining the top prosecutors of 11 other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, the Attorney General’s office announced Wednesday, April 23. The attorneys general, who filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York City,…

Proposed infrastructure financing program would allow even small Vermont towns to incentivize housing

April 30, 2025
By Carly Berlin Editor’s Note: This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public. Jonah Richard wants to build a new neighborhood in Bradford, an Orange County town of about 2,800. Richard envisions 15 small “starter home” cottages tucked off the town’s main drag.…

Vermont’s 2025 open enrollment sees record numbers for health insurance

April 30, 2025
The Dept. of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) released figures on marketplace open enrollment for 2025 earlier this month after Vermont’s open enrollment period ended on Jan. 15— data showed a substantial increase in the number of Vermonters enrolling in plans through Vermont’s health insurance marketplace, known as Vermont Health Connect. Most Vermonters enrolled in Qualified…

Crosswinds

April 30, 2025
By the end of the week, it was clear that the Senate was moving on a different track from the House and the governor on a couple of major bills. It’s the beginning of some strong winds, not necessarily in the same direction. At his weekly press conference on Wednesday, Scott made it clear that…

Detained Palestinian Vermonter and activist, appears in federal court

April 30, 2025
Story Update: On Wednesday, April 30, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi from prison on bail, pending the resolution of his habeas petition. The government requested that Judge Crawford pause his release from prison for seven days by issuing a stay of the order, which the judge denied. By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger Lawyers…

H.91 would overhaul Vermont’s response to homelessness, dissolving statewide motel program

April 23, 2025
By Carly Berlin/VTDigger This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, is published via a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public. A bill that would fundamentally overhaul Vermont’s response to homelessness is making its way through the Statehouse. H.91 provides a potential off-ramp to the state’s mass use of motel rooms as a…