At the regular press conference, Tuesday, July 14, Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) announced the Vermont Covid-19 Agriculture Assistance Program for dairy producers and processors who have experienced income loss, additional expenses and market disruption as a result of the pandemic. The application will open on Friday,…

Starting this week, $30 million in housing assistance will be offered to those affected by Covid-19, Governor Phil Scott, the Dept. of Housing and Community Development, the Vermont State Housing Authority and the Vermont State Housing Finance Agency announced, Friday, July 10. The programs, first proposed by the administration and amended and passed by the…

The Vermont Legislature passed and the governor signed into law H.716, which will add citizens of Vermont’s state-recognized Native American Indian Tribes to the list of those eligible for a free permanent license from Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Department. In February, Attorney General Donovan and Chief Stevens from the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation advocated for H.716 extending…

As Vermont schools prepare to reopen in the fall, improving indoor air quality is a critical step that will help improve the health and safety of students and staff. Last week, Efficiency Vermont launched the School Indoor Air Quality Grant Program to help improve heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in Vermont’s K-12 public and approved…

By Art Woolf Vermont’s demographics differ from the nation in two very important ways: We are an old state and we are overwhelmingly white. Being an old state is a relatively recent occurrence. Vermont’s age distribution was very similar to the U.S. until the 1990s. Vermont’s ethnic and racial composition has been different from the U.S.…

By Julia Purdy The 2020 Census, delayed as the nation grappled with the Covid-19 crisis, is getting up to speed. The initial phase includes options to file responses electronically using a code that is mailed to households, or to mail a paper questionnaire. Beginning in August, trained census workers will hit the streets to locate…

Swimming holes in Vermont are renowned for their beauty and opportunity for adventure – thousands of people enjoy our swimming holes every year and depend on them as public gathering spaces to have fun and relax during the short Vermont summers. During the pandemic, with public pools and beaches closed, Vermonters need our swimming holes now more than…

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger With the start of a new fiscal year, July 1, some school districts are still without voter approved budgets. While most school districts in Vermont bring their budgets to the electorate on Town Meeting Day in early March, when the pandemic swept the state just weeks later and put the state on lockdown,…

By Polly Mikula Vermont businesses that have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic can now apply for up to $50,000 in emergency support. And some 2,300 businesses had as of 5 p.m. Monday, July 6, the first day the portals opened. The process received generally positive reviews on its first day, with wait times averaging…

Governor Phil Scott, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD), and Department of Tax announced Wednesday, July 1, that the Vermont’s Economic Recovery Grant Program will launch on Monday, July 6. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first serve basis. The grant program first proposed by the administration and amended by the legislature utilizes…

Friday, June 26 was the official start of the early voting period for the Vermont statewide primary elections, which takes place on Aug. 11. “Early voting, including no-excuse absentee voting by mail, provides critical access to the ballot box for voters unable to vote in-person at the polls on Election Day,” said Secretary of State Jim…

Recent rains will help, crowd-sourcing tool allows public to report and track water shortages According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, approximately 571,000 Vermonters or 91% of the population are living in an area of the state that is experiencing abnormally dry conditions. As a result state officials began asking Vermonters to report water shortages in their…

By Julia Purdy While the official 2020 Census kickoff on April 1, 2020 was delayed by the pandemic, households have now begun to receive invitational postcards by mail or physical invitational packets dropped at their door. A few folks have wondered, why these postcards and packets? The 2020 Census is aiming for a “complete count”…

BY Sen. Allison Clarkson Our extraordinary 2020 Vermont Legislative Session recessed for eight weeks on Friday night June 26 just after 9 p.m. Distinguished by our mid-March pivot to dealing with Vermont’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic which hit the United States full force – this Legislative Session has been memorable. And, it is…

By Rep. Jim Harrison No, it’s not the sound of a toy car, like the one we gave our son, Ben, many years ago. We quickly regretted the present as that’s all we heard, vroom, vroom…as he revved it up on the floor before letting it fly. Rather, it was a week of daylong Zoom…