By Liora Engel-Smith, Erin Petenko and Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger RUTLAND — Asked what it’s like to do her job right now amid a staffing crisis and surging Covid-19 hospitalizations, a nurse heading home from Rutland Regional Medical Center on Monday, Jan. 17, was moved to tears. “It’s a lot. It’s just a lot. It’s really difficult…

By Fred Thys/VTDigger During his annual budget address on Tuesday, Jan. 18, Gov. Phil Scott proposed taking advantage of federal money pouring into Vermont to encourage more people to move into the state and to train Vermonters to fill thousands of vacant jobs. “We all see the ‘now hiring’ signs, reduced hours at local businesses…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson When the Pension Benefits, Design, and Funding Task Force was created last year, I was relieved. Our public pension system was in crisis. If we did nothing to fix the problems, Vermont taxpayers were looking at an unfunded pension liability of $4.5 billion dollars, with that liability growing for the teachers…

Positive Covid case numbers are now impossible to know with shift to at-home antigen testing, self-reporting By Peter D’Auria/VTDigger and Polly Mikula State officials in Vermont are no longer gathering or publishing the number of Covid-19 cases detected in schools. In response to questions, Department of Health spokesperson Ben Truman confirmed Tuesday, Jan. 18, that…

Sec. of State Jim Condos announced Jan. 19 that the Office of Professional Regulation’s (OPR) has adopted foreign credentialing rules, which create a pathway for foreign-trained individuals to become licensed in their field in Vermont. The new rules became effective Nov. 19 and come in response to an identified barrier to licensure faced by many…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Last Tuesday, Jan. 18, Governor Phil Scott began the week with his annual budget address to the Legislature. In that speech, he called on lawmakers to work with his administration to pass a budget that was transformational by strategically using the federal funds from last year’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).…

Staff report The state reported 715 new Covid-19 cases, Tuesday, Jan. 18, with 116 hospitalized — a new record. Just prior, the state reported 806 cases Monday, 2,217 on Sunday, and 1,766 cases Saturday. The seven-day average is 1,604 cases per day with a positivity rate of 12.8%. The state has seen an increase of…

By Curt Peterson The Select Board hosted a public meeting to discuss how best to invest $1,050,000, Hartland’s share of the federal government’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund. For perspective, the windfall represents $3,088 per man, woman and child in the 2020 census (3,400 residents). Nationally, most ARAP grants are distributed through…

The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) has received a new grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) that will help protect native turtles. The grant will fund landowner outreach by CRC and wood turtle site assessment by project partner, The Orianne Society (TOS). Wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta), primarily found in river floodplains, and spotted…

The VPR–Vermont PBS 2022 Poll asked hundreds of Vermonters how they feel about state leaders. A total of 600 people responded. Braun Research conducted the poll under the direction of Richard Clark, a professor at the University of Vermont. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president?…

By Rep. Jim Harrison That must have been the feeling of the special pension task force when they found a path forward to a plan to address the growing pension funds liability. Initial indications suggest it was very much a compromise reached by all on the special committee last Monday (three Democrat and two Republican…

Gov. Phil Scott and the Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced the launch of a multi-unit Dwelling electric vehicle charging grant program to bring more home charging opportunities to Vermonters on Jan. 13. A total of $1 million in funding is available to subsidize the cost of purchasing and installing electric vehicle (EV)…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson The 2022 Vermont Legislative Session is off and running. As this is the second year of our Biennium, we dove right in on Tuesday, Jan. 4. Sadly, this is also the second year in which the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting our ability conduct our business in person at the Vermont State…

Lieutenant Gov. Molly Gray will re-launch, “Lt. Governor for a Day” — a virtual program to engage Vermont students and classrooms in civics education and state government. Gray launched the program at the start of her term in January 2021. The bi-weekly program hosted every other Wednesday restarts Jan. 19 and will run from 12-1:15…

Since the spring of 2012, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) has followed the Vermont high school Class of 2012, collecting data on the students’ college enrollment plans and degree completion rates. VSAC released its final study of this group on Dec. 30. The data revealed that 46% of students from the high school Class…