By Kit Norton/VTDigger As the Boy Scouts of America faces mounting legal battles, the organization has opened multiple scout programs to females and, since June, 95 girls have joined the Cub Scout program in Vermont. The Green Mountain Council, the Vermont chapter of the national organization, has currently enrolled 95 girls in the program that…

By Xander Landen/VTDigger Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Ashe wants to change Vermont’s Constitution. Among the Democratic Senate leader’s top priorities in upcoming legislative session is a push to pass four constitutional amendments. Ashe and other senators say they want to add an amendment expanding gubernatorial terms from two to four years and other amendments that would protect…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger As chief of the Vermont Department of Labor’s economic and labor market information section, Mathew Barewicz is in charge of collecting and interpreting federal and state employment data for policymakers, job-seekers and the public. Among other things, Barewicz is the researcher on a project partnering with the McClure Foundation aimed at…

By Xander Landen/VTDigger Vermont’s law enforcement agencies would not be able to carry out background checks on private firearms sales, the Department of Public Safety has determined. As part of a sweeping package of gun control measures that became law this year, legislators moved to expand background checks to private gun purchases, in addition to sales at gun…

By Rep. Jim Harrison In addition to the dawn of a new year, we are also on the eve of a new legislative session. The first few days of a new biennium are filled with a number of procedural items. The newly elected legislature will be sworn in on Wednesday, Jan. 9. Gov. Phil Scott…

By Xander Landen/VTDigger The governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission is recommending that before Vermont moves to legalize a commercial cannabis market, the state needs to find a consistent way to test drivers for cannabis impairment. The panel also urges policymakers in its report to pave the way for law enforcement to use roadside saliva tests to determine…

  Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, the state’s minimum wage will increase to $10.78 per hour. Also beginning Jan. 1, 2019, employers will see a reduction in the taxable wage base amount that they pay on unemployment taxes by $2,000. Nearly 22,600 employers remit state unemployment taxes to the Vermont Department of Labor on an annual…

A group of Vermont school districts, community leaders, and citizens will filed an appeal Thursday, Dec. 20 against the State Board of Education, the Vermont Agency of Education, and the Secretary of Education. Attorneys for the appeal say that a preliminary injunction and a stay will also be filed imminently. The appeal is being put…

Vermont ranks No. 2 among states with the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers per capita, according to a recent announcement.  There are 43 volunteers from Vermont currently serving worldwide and 1,622 Vermonters have served in the Peace Corps since the agency’s founding in 1961. Notably, Vermont has ranked as a top volunteer-producing state per…

By Stephen Seitz The tree. The gifts. The parties. The relatives. The travel. That begins to add up. However, there may be money out there waiting for you. Most people are familiar with Vermont’s unclaimed property division, but now a new tool has been added to the lost money finder system: the life insurance policy…

Winter is when birds seek feeders most, here’s how to help With winter weather now taking hold, Vermonters are readying their bird feeders. “Birds of all species have very interesting behaviors, shapes, and plumage and have captured the human imagination for millennia. Winter feeding is an opportunity to witness first-hand the fascinating array of bird…

By Rep. Jim Harrison You are out on a walk and you see the dark clouds nearby. Do you seek shelter or take a chance on the storm passing by? Last week there was a fiscal briefing for all new and returning legislators at the State House. While some of the information shared was positive,…

By Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger The number of farmers who registered with the state of Vermont to grow hemp rose more than 400 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to the state Agency of Agriculture. The amount of acreage reported to be under cultivation increased 450 percent, with growth spread fairly evenly around the state. Hemp cultivation…

The Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission will host a listening tour throughout Vermont in order to provide Vermonters an opportunity for public comment on the draft reports produced by the Commission’s Subcommittees on Roadway Safety, Education and Prevention and Taxation and Regulation earlier this week. The draft reports document the findings and recommendations of the Subcommittees…

RUTLAND — At this time of year the adventure of going out to get a Christmas tree is a much-anticipated ritual of the season — and a pricey one. There is an alternative, however. Should they be interested, the U.S. Forest Service officials in Vermont offer the public Christmas tree removal permits for $5. A…