The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for June was 3.2 percent. This reflects no change from the revised May rate. (The national rate in June was 4.4 percent.) Vermont’s overall unemployment rate was tied for the seventh lowest in the country for the same time period. Number of…

By Anne Galloway and Erin Mansfield, VTDigger Economists told lawmakers on Friday, July 21, that revenue for the state’s base operating budget will come in $28.8 million lower than expected this fiscal year. Tom Kavet, the economist for the Vermont Legislature, and Jeffrey Carr, the economist for the Scott administration, downgraded fiscal year 2018 revenue…

By Alan Keays/VTDigger An attorney for the state says a Rutland businessman hasn’t lived up to a pledge to provide needed documents to finalize a settlement over the $650,000 environmental cleanup of his property. Assistant Attorney General Justin Kolber has now asked Judge Helen Toor to hold a hearing to determine how much money John…

Nationally, more than 22 million children receive meals through the National School Lunch Program during the school year. But when school is out during the summer, the USDA Summer Food Service Program reaches less than 4 million kids. To combat summer hunger, the Vermont Foodbank is distributing food to 225 food shelves and meal sites…

On Monday, July 17, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy announced that Vermont’s Department of Fish and Wildlife will receive a grant of $30,000 to support its work to control and counter white nose syndrome (WNS), the fungal disease that has devastated bat populations in Vermont and across the United States. Leahy, the vice chairman of the…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger WHITE RIVER JUNCTION—A national Veterans Affairs center headquartered in White River Junction is likely to be fully funded in the next fiscal year. In the version of a budget bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, July 13, the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was fully funded at…

By Gaen Murphree A key to finally getting federal law changed so immigrants can more easily work on Vermont’s dairy farms is getting farmers and farm advocates here to reach out to their counterparts in Republican-leaning states. That is the analysis of people familiar with the legislative process in Washington, D.C., commenting on the future…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger On Christmas Eve in 2015, Eric Morin died of acute fentanyl poisoning. His family was told it was nearly instant. “The counselor told us it was like turning a light switch on and off,” Morin’s mother, Rachel Coulter, said. “That’s how quick it was.” “It hits your system, and it’s just,…

By Tiffany Danitz Pache, VTDigger School board members who are frustrated with the Vermont School Boards Association’s lobbying priorities have formed a rival group. Members of the Alliance of Vermont School Board Members are frustrated with the association’s stance on the school district consolidation law, Act 46. In a news release, the leaders of the…

By Troy Shaheen, VTDigger Mercy for Animals, an animal protection group based in California, is calling for an investigation into Vermont Packinghouse for what it calls “unfair and deceptive business practices.” The advocacy group filed complaints last week with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the Vermont Attorney General. State regulators fined the slaughterhouse shortly…

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department successfully released several young orphaned bears back into the wild after a short stay with a wildlife rehabilitator. The cubs had shown up malnourished in residential areas earlier this spring. Working in partnership with New Hampshire Fish & Game, the young bears were brought back to health by bear…

By Evan Johnson  On a single night in January this year, 1,225 Vermonters were found to be literally homeless. The 2017 Point-in-Time Count Report, released Thursday, June 15, the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance, showed an overall increase in homelessness by 11 percent compared to the 2016 Point-in-Time Count.…

A report released June 13 by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) confirms that Vermont continues to be a national leader in the fight to end childhood hunger, especially during the summer months when free school meals are not available. With outreach and assistance from Hunger Free Vermont, Vermont is one of the six…

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, June 8, filed a new rule for aboveground storage tanks that will require inspectors to affix red tags on heating oil tanks that are at imminent risk of a fuel spill. Fuel distributors are not allowed to deliver fuel to a red-tagged tank until the tank has been repaired or…

In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent rate in Vermont, renters need to earn $21.90 an hour, or $45,545 a year as a family. This is Vermont’s 2017 housing wage, revealed in the annual “Out of Reach” report released last week by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a…