Staff report Now you can have an alcoholic beverage with your takeout meal. Gov. Phil Scott signed an executive order Thursday, March 19, that allows restaurants to provide “to-go” orders of cocktails, beer and wine. Restaurants can also deliver those drinks. The order also allows licensed retail stores to deliver beer, wine and liquor (including cocktails). The…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger BRANDON — Faced with the loss of their standard food deliveries from New York City as a result of COVID-19, the owners of Li’s Chinese decided to cook the ingredients they did have and give the meals away for free Tuesday before closing their restaurant altogether. “Lunch is on us today!” the…

By Sen. Alison Clarkson We are all adjusting to our new COVID-19 normal. The Legislature has just finished its first week of working remotely on Vermont’s response to this crisis. In each committee we are addressing different ways to respond to the anxieties and uncertainties we are all facing. This crisis is affecting almost every…

By Rep. Jim Harrison, Bridgewater, Chittenden, Killington & Mendon President Kennedy’s words, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country,” never rang more true than in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. We must all make sacrifices and help out where we can. The spread of the…

By Xander Landen/VTDigger Gov. Phil Scott announced Monday, March 23, that the state has pushed back tax deadlines for businesses and individual Vermonters, in an effort to provide economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scott administration also announced that businesses would not need to pay meals and rooms or sales and use tax “until further…

By Xander Landen/ VTdigger Gov. Phil Scott announced Monday that the state has pushed back tax deadlines for businesses and individual Vermonters, in an effort to provide economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scott administration said in a news release that businesses would not need to pay meals and rooms or sales and use…

Professional logging contractors in Vermont are being encouraged to take advantage of a unique new opportunity to become Master Logger-certified at half the cost through a grant from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. The opportunity coincides with a push to expand the ranks of Vermont Master Loggers that qualify for the state’s…

More low-income children in Vermont are starting their day with a nutritious school breakfast. According to the School Breakfast Scorecard, released earlier this week by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC, a national anti-hunger advocacy group), 17,796 low-income children in Vermont participated in the national school breakfast program on an average school day in…

The Vermont Department of Health is asking Vermonters to follow new travel guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The department is requesting that people who return from certain countries affected by the new coronavirus stay home for 14 days to help limit spread of the disease. The CDC guidance affects travelers…

By John Walters/VTDigger A patient at a hospital in Bennington is in critical condition after being the first person in the state to test positive for the new coronavirus. The patient, described by hospital officials as an older adult male from the Bennington area, is receiving treatment at Southwestern Vermont Medical. The individual arrived at…

Vermont state law requires that ice fishing shanties be removed from the ice before the ice weakens, warns the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. The shanty must be removed before the ice becomes unsafe or loses its ability to support the shanty out of the water, or before the last Sunday in March— the 29th…

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is holding a public meeting on March 18 in Bethel to answer questions and record public comment on the proposed 2020-2030 Big Game Plan. The meeting will be at the White River Valley School, 273 Pleasant St. in Bethel on Wednesday, March 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  People…

The Vermont Commission on Women announced that new resources are available from the Workplaces For All public education program at workplacesforall.vermont. gov. The resources are designed to make workers, employers, and all Vermonters aware of laws that apply to them, their legal rights, methods of reporting, where to find information, strategies for prevention, and ways…

By John Flowers/Addison County Independent The Vermont House on Feb. 26 voted 90-54 in favor of a bill that would tax and regulate recreational cannabis for those 21 and older. The chamber, as expected, then gave final approval to the measure on Thursday, Feb. 27. The move comes a year after the Senate passed tax-and-regulate…

State switched to an opt-out default on March 1 By Katie Jickling/VTDigger On March 1, thousands of Vermonters’ medical records became available to doctors, even for patients who have not given consent for their records to be shared. The new sharing policy went into place Sunday for records on the statewide health information exchange, a database…