By Sen Alison Clarkson The Vermont Legislature has begun its 2020 session at a break neck pace.  Within the first four days we’re back at work in our committees, we’ve had our first major demonstration, we’ve listened to the governor’s State of the State speech, we’ve had several of our State House colleagues announce their…

Staff report Deer hunters had a strong year in 2019. The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates16,479 deer were harvested — the fourth highest total since 2000. “There were a lot of nice deer shot,” said Vermont FIsh and Wildlife Deer Project Manager Nick Fortin. “Our harvest is certainly going to be lower than…

Members of the Red Rebel Brigade participated in a demonstration on the Vermont State House lawn on Thursday, Jan. 9. The Red Rebel Brigade is an international performance activist troupe dedicated to illuminating the global environmental crisis and supporting groups and organizations fighting to save humanity and all species from mass extinction, according to their…

By Grace Elletson/VTDigger A group of lawmakers has introduced a bill for the 2020 session that would decriminalize sex work in the state of Vermont. The bill, only four pages long, would simply repeal current sex work statutes prohibiting the act. Human trafficking and the sale of sex that is coerced in any form would still…

Anne Galloway /VTDigger.org WATERBURY — A Middlesex CBD processor was arrested Wednesday, Dec. 18 for allegedly failing to pay local hemp farmers $137,500 for hemp harvested this past summer and fall, according to Vermont State Police. Douglas Bell, owner of CBD-Vermont in Waterbury, allegedly victimized five Vermont farms in Washington and Lamoille counties — Ananda…

By Jacob Dawson/VTDigger A state law allowing people with terminal illnesses to end their lives with the aid of a physician was used by 28 Vermonters during a recent two-year period, according to a recent state Health Department report. In 2013, then-Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law Act 39, which allows patients with conditions like cancer, ALS and…

By Alan J. Keays/VTDigger A group of state officials are recommending a change in policy that allows prisoners to get out from behind bars earlier apply to inmates who were sentenced before the new law took effect. However, whether that recommendation makes it past a legislative rules committee remains unclear. A bill passed and signed into…

Published studies have long found a correlation between obesity in children and decreased executive function. New research published in JAMA Pediatrics, based on data mined from a massive national research study, suggests that a change in brain structure – a thinner prefrontal cortex – may help explain that interrelationship. “Our results show an important connection; that…

Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, the state’s minimum wage will increase $.18, from $10.78 to $10.96, as determined by the Department of Labor’s Economic & Labor Market Information Division. The calculation for this increase, as well as for subsequent years, is determined by state statute, which calculates the rate of inflation using the Consumer Price Index…

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development is preparing for the launch of the New Worker Relocation Grant Program on Jan. 1. The program offers reimbursement grants of up to $7,500 to new residents who move to Vermont and take a job with a Vermont business. During the 2019 legislative session, the Legislature and governor…

On January 6 a questionnaire will be mailed to some Vermont anglers asking for information about their fishing activities, as well as their interests and opinions on fishing and fisheries management in Vermont. The survey is directed and funded by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and is being carried out under contract by Responsive…

As 2019 draws to a close, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is celebrating eight years of trout stream improvement efforts in northeastern Vermont. Trout thrive in streams that are complex – what some would call messy.  That complexity often comes from trees that fall into a stream, creating a mix of pools and shallow…

Vermont continues its safety streak to remain one of the safest states in the nation, according to research firm SafeWise. The Green Mountain State beats national rates for both violent and property crime. Vermont comes in with 2.07 violent crimes per 1,000 – half the national rate of 4.49. And the safest cities did even…

By Rep. Jim Harrison Last spring there were no fee increases and no tax hikes being proposed (other than for a scaled back family leave plan, which was met with a veto). Last year the governor was proposing to keep education rates down with surplus revenues. This year, the Legislature is likely to utilize new…

Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos recently announced that Vermont has been ranked 11th in total voter turnout for the 2018 midterm election across all 50 states in the seventh biennial edition of the “America Goes to the Polls” report, released by the nonpartisan groups Nonprofit VOTE and the U.S. Elections Project this week. “Voting…