By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The public costs of domestic and sexual violence total an estimated $111 million a year in Vermont, with more than half that money spent not on direct services to survivors, but on incarceration and law enforcement. That’s according to a new report released Monday, April 5, by the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence,…

Funding from the American Rescue Plan is in addition to the state’s annual award of $3.4 million  Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.) announced Monday, April 12, that Vermont has received more than $11 million in additional funding for affordable housing construction under the American Rescue Plan Act, through…

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger At the start of the pandemic, state and education officials worried that Covid-19 would be a financial catastrophe for the pre-K-12 system. Instead, the opposite happened. With three major federal relief packages approved by Congress since the start of the pandemic, schools in Vermont and the Agency of Education have been allocated a combined $566…

By Emma Cotton/VTDigger and Polly Mikula Around the state, slots for vaccines have filled up quickly at several clinics organized specifically for Vermonters who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and those in their households. Megan Herrington, public health services director for the Bennington district, said around 3,000 Vermonters who qualified registered for the…

National Healthcare Decisions Day, a day devoted to educating the public about the importance of advance care planning, is Friday, April 16. Though we at the Vermont Ethics Network spend all year stressing the importance of planning ahead for future health care decisions, we take this annual opportunity to make a public statement encouraging Vermonters…

Governor Phil Scott, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont Afterschool and the Agency of Education outlined a plan to enhance and expand summertime enrichment opportunities for Vermont students grades K-12, April 9. In response to the impact of the pandemic on children, youth and families, Governor Scott, Senator Sanders and other partners worked to ensure that…

It’s a question of social fairness that has grown increasingly pertinent for public health officials as more and more Americans receive their initial dose of the Covid-19 vaccine: Should vaccinated people, or those with antibodies, have more freedom than those without or who have not been vaccinated? As some public spaces begin to open up,…

  By Polly Mikula Governor Phil Scott issued the “Vermont Forward, Roadmap to Reopening” on April 6, which outlined a three step approach to reopening the Vermont economy based on projected vaccination milestones reached. “We now have three safe and effective vaccines in our toolbox, which gives us a level of predictability we didn’t have…

[dflip id="199174" ][/dflip] To download as PDF, click on the three dots on the right.

https://youtu.be/gqjvIs7gmA8 The Vermont State Highway Safety Office has put together a presentation about the dangers of distracted driving and to promote the upcoming Distracted Driving Enforcement campaign that is called Connect To Disconnect (C2D).

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) announced on April 8 that Amtrak passenger rail service and inter-city bus service in Vermont will resume effective July 19, 2021. “We are very pleased to announce the restart of these vital transportation services for Vermonters and those who wish to travel to and from Vermont by train or…

Governor Phil Scott issued the following statement Monday, April 5, regarding the importance of the state’s prioritization strategy, and specifically as it regards Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) populations in the state. “There is no better, safer, or faster way to defeat this virus and revitalize our economy than to make vaccinations available…

Staff report On Monday, April 5, the Board of Aldermen learned that Rutland’s portion of the federal $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” is $4.4 million. Congressman Peter Welch told the aldermen that Rutland Town would get about $1.2 million and the school district another $11.7 million, according to a report by the Rutland Herald. “The…

Governor Phil Scott and his administration presented a plan, Tuesday, April 6, to strategically invest $1 billion in one-time federal money provided to states to jumpstart recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic and support long-term economic growth. Adhering to the principles set in his Fiscal Year 2022 budget, presented in January, the package makes historic investments in projects and…

By Rep. Jim Harrison In my column last week, I gave House Speaker Krowinski kudos for taking on the very difficult issue of pension reform this year. In the ensuing week of pushback from the state employees’ and teachers’ unions, the speaker announced last Friday, April 2, that doing pension reform was no longer a…