By Amy Ash Nixon, VTDigger.org Attention turned to class sizes and student-staff ratios as the House Education Committee continued to fine tune its education reform bill Monday, Feb. 23. Brad James, education finance manager for the Vermont Agency of Education, showed committee members tables detailing student-staff and administrator-student ratios in Vermont’s schools. “We have extraordinarily…

By Lee Krohn Good times, good friends, great cause. The 13th annual Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Snowshoe Series was held Saturday Feb. 21 at Stratton Mountain. Last year, the fundraising and participation numbers exceeded $63,000 and 591 Rompers and this year organizers hoped to top those numbers. The event, a run (or walk) on…

By VTDigger staff Vermont is sending 12 dump trucks and 40 National Guardsmen to help Massachusetts dig out from record-setting snowfalls. Vermont governor Peter Shumlin on Wednesday authorized 40 Vermont National Guard troops to spend up to 15 days helping remove snow in the Bay State. More than six feet of snow have fallen in…

By Morgan True, VTDigger.org A public hearing on proposed firearms legislation before the Senate Judiciary and the Senate Health and Welfare committees drew several hundred people to Montpelier Tuesday, Feb. 10. Supporters wearing green Gunsense Vermont T-shirts were outnumbered by opponents wearing blaze orange clothing. S.31 would make it a crime to sell a gun…

Decision expected to delay timeline for natural gas to reach Rutland By John Herrick Vermont Gas Systems has abandoned its plan to bring natural gas under Lake Champlain to a New York paper mill after the plant withdrew its financial support. Vermont Gas had proposed building a pipeline from Middlebury to the International Paper facility…

On Friday, Feb. 13, the public health issue of suicide in Vermont will take center stage at the Vermont State House, during a day of advocacy and recognition of ongoing suicide prevention efforts.  From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. representatives of the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center, Vermont Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,…

Voters in Burlington recently voted 11-2 to place an amendment to the state constitution on the March ballot. The proposed amendment would allow non-citizens to vote in municipal and school elections, as well as to work as department heads and serve on city boards. While many citizens are quick to protest that voting is their…

On Feb. 7, at around 7 p.m., Peter Guy contacted the Vermont State Police in Rockingham and reported that his wife Cindy Guy and her friend, Gail Mann, both in their late 60s from Londonderry, had gone cross-country skiing earlier in the day and had not returned. He reported that at 4:30 p.m., after being in…

On Feb. 6, around 3:15 p.m., a 27-year-old St. Johnsbury woman died while skiing at Burke Mountain in East Burke. The Vermont State Police responded and and a detective went to the scene. Initial investigation indicates the deceased left the groomed portion of a trail on the upper portion of the mountain and struck a tree. After the…

In several recently released reports on working women from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Vermont’s wage gap was the smallest in the nation. Cary Brown, executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women, which works to advance rights and opportunities for women and girls, applauded news that Vermont’s most recent gender wage gap…

The Vermont dairy industry brings $2.2 billion in economic activity to Vermont annually, according to a new study funded by the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council. Findings from the study were unveiled last week at the Vermont Farm Show. Recognizing the need for up-to-date data about dairying’s impact on Vermont’s economy, the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council…

By Lee J. Kahrs BRANDON—The signs said it all. Within two downtown blocks, closing signs signaled the end of an era for two well-known Brandon businesses. Within the span of one week, Sheri Sullivan of Sheri’s Diner on Center Street and Tonya Bonvouloir of Shapiro’s Department Store on Park Street, both announced they would be…

By Laura Krantz, VTDigger.org Vermont’s ski industry has outgrown the terms of decades-old leases of state land that were designed to help resorts grow and now result in lucrative deals for booming resorts, a state audit  released last week found. By most measures, the public-private partnership between resorts and the state is successful, but the…

By Amy Ash Nixon, VTDigger.org Hang on, Snoopy, some in Vermont want to make the beagle its state dog. Sen. John Rodgers, D-Essex/Orleans, has introduced S.25, which would establish that “The State Dog shall be the beagle,” effective July 1. If passed, the bill would put Vermont in a league of nearly a dozen other…

Effective Jan. 11, Lieutenant Jonas of Waterbury was promoted from Lieutenant, Commander of the Internal Affairs Unit, where she has served since 2012, to Captain. Captain Jonas is the first female to hold that rank in the Vermont State Police. Her new assignment is Commander of the Staff Operations Section. On Jan. 21, Vermont State…