Humans and domestic animals not at risk An exotic disease deadly to wild and domestic rabbits called rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2) has been making its way through the states of California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Texas, and has also been identified in Mexico. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is…

53% of adults hold a certificate, degree, or industry certification, 17% short of state goal The number of Vermonters who have completed education and training after high school is on the rise. According the Lumina Foundation, 53% of working age Vermonters hold a certificate, degree or industry-recognized certification. The figure, up from 49%, is based on 2018…

Beginning Tuesday, July 14, individuals who established an initial claim for unemployment insurance benefits with the Vermont Department of Labor started receiving phone calls to confirm their identity and intent to file. This extra step is being taken to protect Vermonters against fraudulent filers using their personal information. This type of “impostor fraud” has been…

Governor Phil Scott announced Tuesday, July 14, that Vermont has joined 15 states and the District of Columbia in signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to accelerate electrification of the medium- and heavy-duty bus and truck market. The agreement calls for 100% of all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales to be zero emission vehicles…

Health Department so far finds no indication of COVID-19 spreading in the community   A week after reports first surfaced of a potential outbreak in the Manchester area, 35 of 63 people with a positive antigen test for Covid-19 reported to the Health Department by Manchester Medical Center since July 10 have had a PCR…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger Move-in day at Vermont’s college campuses will be a relatively somber event this year, as students sign contracts promising to practice Covid-19 safety measures, enter quarantine if they’ve come from afar, and prep for party-free socializing. State officials on Tuesday, July 7,  released Covid-19 safety guidelines for college campuses, much as the state has…

On Monday, July 13, Attorney General T.J. Donovan joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop a new federal rule that threatens to bar hundreds of thousands of international students from studying in the U.S. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against the U.S. Department of…

Editor’s note: Mark Bushnell is a Vermont journalist and historian. He is the author of “Hidden History of Vermont” and “It Happened in Vermont.” This story was first published as a “Then Again” feature at VTDigger.org. To get a deeper understanding of Vermont’s history, you might want to go deeper, to the literal bedrock of the…

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…