Vermont News

You might've noticed that Vermont News is taking a hiatus. In the meantime, visit VTDigger.org for the latest headlines, and listen to our other podcasts The Deeper Dig and The Vermont Conversation. Thank you! 

ALSO: As part of a widespread plan to curb crime in Vermont, the state Department of Public Safety is poised to launch a public dashboard identifying communities with the highest volume of police calls; Signs promoting community control of police were included as part of a press conference last week held by Burlington City Council Progressives; Thirteen Middlebury College students are spending their January term learning about entrepreneurship.

ALSO: A new bill would require the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive program to report on what's been called “proprietary” data; The Vermont Legislature is considering whether to allow continued pandemic-era flexibility in how and when the state's 247 cities and towns decide local leaders, spending and special articles; Arguments about what documents have been shared and scanned stalled a hearing Monday on Monsanto's motion to temporarily halt demolition of the former Burlington High School to preserve evidence in a high-profile contamination case.

ALSO: Colchester has pulled out of an effort to regionalize emergency dispatch services in Chittenden County; Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint was sworn into office in the wee hours of Saturday morning, more than three days after she was expected to take her seat; Green Mountain Transit plans to start charging fares this summer on its bus routes in Chittenden County for the first time since the pandemic started.

ALSO: Republican Gov. Phil Scott delivered his fourth inaugural address on Thursday; Three of the Vermont Senate's standing committees have new chairs this year; Two proposals to amend South Hero's development regulations have renewed debate in this small island community about the density and possible locations of future building projects.

ALSO: The Vermont Department of Health reported Wednesday that Covid-19 community levels rose to “medium” this week; After approving two contradictory ballot questions in November, Plymouth residents will revote later this month on the future of their town offices; Brattleboro leaders plan to ask taxpayers to fund a “to be determined” budget line item for ambulance service.

ALSO: The state Department of Health plans to end walk-in Covid and flu vaccine clinics by the end of the month; The opening of the adult recreational cannabis market in Vermont in October is prompting proposals of reforming the medical cannabis program; Officials estimate the second phase of an upgrade to Montpelier's wastewater treatment plant will reduce the plant's greenhouse gas emissions by around 2,000 metric tons per year by using methane from the solid waste to power the plant's operations.

ALSO: Some Vermont sugarers are watching sap production begin; It'll be a historic week in both Montpelier and Washington, D.C.; Across the U.S., biased zoning has sited many manufactured housing communities in precarious “fringe environments."

ALSO: Winooski joins in the national art project called Welcome Blanket, which provides quilts for new immigrants; Burlington's Cannabis Control Commission say they don't have enough information to make decisions; Dr. Sunil “Sunny” Eappen (EE-pen) spent his first weeks on the job as the UVM Health Network's new leader criss-crossing Lake Champlain from Vermont to New York and back.

ALSO: Democracy For America will soon close its doors for good; As the avian flu continues to impact wildlife in Vermont, state officials are warning Vermonters to continue taking precautions around birds; As the upcoming legislative session approaches, lawmakers and advocates are gearing up for a pitched debate over how best to respond to a Supreme Court ruling on religious schools.

ALSO: Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary was decimated during the holiday storm, but they plan to rebuild; Brattleboro Memorial Hospital staff rescued a barred owl stuck in a car grill in what they called a 'Christmas miracle'; The Brattleboro Retreat will lease a recently closed assisted living facility, the Holton Home, to provide temporary housing for visiting doctors and nurses.

ALSO: Animal rescue organizations across Vermont say dog adoptions have slowed way down this year, while the number of dogs arriving at their shelters has been rising; Property crimes in Rutland have risen dramatically in 2022 compared to recent years; No injuries were reported from a shot fired inside a Burlington bar early Monday morning.

ALSO: Orange County Sheriff-elect George Contois attempted to take over the position early; The Vermont Attorney General's Office and the Orange County state's attorney have cleared a Ludlow police officer who fatally shot a man following a chase in August; In 2018, lawmakers required all school districts to use the same financial and human resources software. A new report says that law should be repealed.

ALSO: The Green Mountain Care Board trimmed OneCare Vermont's budget, with more cuts expected; A feasibility study found that a proposed Brattleboro Fire Department takeover of local EMS services may cost taxpayers more per year than they've paid Rescue Inc. annually; Gordon St. Hilaire has resigned from the Williston Selectboard after pleading not guilty earlier this month to stalking his ex-girlfriend and vandalizing her car. 

ALSO: Ariel Quiros is asking a judge to reconsider his five-year sentence after serving a little less than five months for his role in the Jay Peak EB-5 fraud case; A former teacher at Green Mountain Union High School in Chester has pleaded guilty to possession of child sexual abuse materials; More than a year after a Maine toddler died when he accidentally shot himself with a gun he found at a Barre home, the child's parents are suing the homeowner and her employer, claiming both neglected to make sure the weapon was stored safely.

ALSO: The state's largest health insurer announced Tuesday that it will not contract with OneCare Vermont in 2023; Attorneys for Monsanto's parent company, Bayer, filed a motion on Monday, seeking to temporarily halt the demolition of the closed-down Burlington High School building; Vermont Public is buying Northern Vermont University's radio station.

ALSO: The Vermont Legislature may rule on sports betting this year; As Vermont's new attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer prepare to be sworn in come January, they have announced a slate of new deputies; Darn Tough Vermont, the Northfield sock manufacturer, is getting recognition for its commitment to hiring and retaining military veterans.

ALSO: In an effort to recruit and retain staff amid a national workforce shortage, the University of Vermont Health Network has broken ground on a second new apartment building for employees; Five City Council seats are up for grabs in Burlington in March, and Democrats picked their nominees during a virtual caucus on Thursday night; Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger intends to try again to make interim police chief Jon Murad the permanent head of the Burlington Police Department.

ALSO: A legislative panel has given Gov. Phil Scott's administration the green light to wind down rental assistance and emergency housing services as federal dollars dry up; Brattleboro's police department is testing a program in which civilians take over roles that had been occupied by police officers; St. Johnsbury police, responding to a report that an individual may have been shot, found a person dead at a Hastings Street home early Wednesday.

ALSO: Vermont entrepreneur and environmentalist Will Raap died Monday night; Federal prosecutors allege that Sam Bankman-Fried used stolen money to fund his political spending; A pickup truck collided with two cars and then hit the side of Babes Bar in Bethel on Saturday.

ALSO: The company that operates Vermont's electric transmission system plans to replace a key power line in Franklin County over the next several years; A new program announced this week will add more incentives for Vermonters to weatherproof their homes; The Vermont Community Broadband Board is asking Vermont residents to check their addresses on the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map to see if their internet speed and provider availability are reported accurately.

ALSO: Police have charged a Burlington man in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Abubakar Sharrif; Burlington has received three proposals for redevelopment of the shuttered Memorial Auditorium; A video showing citizens violently apprehending an alleged shoplifter at the Rutland Home Depot has highlighted frustration over crime and the vigilantism that can crop up alongside it.

ALSO: An off-duty Orange County sheriff's deputy who fired two gunshots into an occupied Jeep in a 2019 road rage incident has been sentenced to at least 18 months in jail; According to the state Department of Health's weekly surveillance report, Vermont's Covid-19 levels are “low"; The Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying Prevention Advisory Council is in the middle of an existential crisis.

ALSO: A Green Mountain Power employee died last Thursday in Halifax while working to restore power during a windstorm; The South Burlington City Council has approved changes in the city's land development regulations that pave the way for Tesla to open a dealership; The Chittenden County Sheriff's Office has received several reports of scam calls telling residents they have missed jury duty and face arrest unless they pay a $1,200 fine.

ALSO: Bread and Puppet Theater has acquired a 23-acre property that borders its farm in Glover, enabling the Northeast Kingdom institution to expand in the coming months; The Burlington City Council approved a plan Monday night to redraw its districts; Two years after battling cancer, Rutland Mayor David Allaire is seeking a fourth term in office on a platform that includes public safety and housing.

ALSO: Vermont's Agency of Education has reached a final settlement in two lawsuits seeking to allow public money to pay tuition at religious schools; Vermont's education fund is brimming with a surplus of nearly $64 million, but Vermonters' property tax bills are slated to grow in the coming year; Legislators are looking to raise the tipped minimum wage.

Plus: Lawmakers contemplate ‘third-rail' reforms amid housing crisis; Beating the rain, a record-setting Killington World Cup reigns; Phil Scott launches new equity initiative focused on Vermont municipalities

ALSO: Several Franklin County state legislators say they're weighing whether to support impeaching the county's newly elected sheriff next year and removing him from office; According to the Federal Communications Commission, more than 95% of Vermont households have broadband internet access, but state officials say that's an overestimation; After Thanksgiving, Irasburg Village School will lose its only middle school math teacher. 

ALSO: A community of emergency housing “pods” on Elmwood Avenue in Burlington won't open until early January; An off-duty Rutland County sheriff's deputy shot early Sunday morning in upstate New York after police said he refused officers' orders to drop his weapon has been identified as Vito Caselnova; The clearcutting of 4 acres near Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock has drawn the ire of neighbors.

ALSO: Essex, Essex Junction, Shelburne, South Burlington and Williston are banding together to form a new communications union district; An off-duty Rutland County sheriff's deputy refused police officers' commands to drop his weapon after a gunfight outside a bar in upstate New York early Sunday morning, prompting the officers to open fire; Organizations helping to keep Vermonters sheltered briefed lawmakers Friday on a bleak picture of conditions on the ground, as the state grapples with dwindling federal assistance amid a historic housing crisis.

ALSO: Vermont State Police say one man is dead following a house explosion in Newfane early Friday morning; The Burlington City Council has been struggling since January to find consensus on how to redraw district lines; Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to take over as chair of one of the U.S. Senate's most influential policy committees.

ALSO: Voters said no to combining Addison Northwest and Mt. Abraham school districts; Hundreds of property owners in the Bennington area have already received money from a multimillion-dollar settlement in a chemical contamination case; The purple crowberry, a small alpine shrub, was last documented in Vermont in 1908 — until a hiker rediscovered it on Mount Mansfield.

ALSO: For most of Vermont's cold-weather months, the state will once again pay to house Vermonters experiencing homelessness in hotels and motels regardless of the daily forecast; The November election was historic for Vermont, with record turnover among office-holders, and a record turnout of voters for a midterm election; The former coal-fired power plant on the Burlington waterfront was officially unveiled as the Moran Frame on Tuesday.

ALSO: U.S. Rep.-elect Becca Balint is donating to charity a $2,900 campaign contribution she received from FTX cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried; GlobalFoundries sent a memo last week to employees around the world warning that it intends to reduce its workforce; A historic mill complex in Bennington has been acquired for $5.75 million.

ALSO: Now that Burlington voters have overwhelmingly approved a $165 million bond to help build a new high school, the school district will move toward completing design work and demolishing the old high school; Residents are furious that the town of Chelsea has lost its road crew just as winter is approaching and soon, the town could also be missing a selectboard; The High Street Mural Project is a $25,000 collaboration between local designers and newly resettled Afghan artists.

ALSO: U.S. Senator-elect Peter Welch and U.S. Representative-elect Becca Balint couched their excitement with deep concern over some Republicans' continued denial of election results and the future of American democracy; A former Springfield police officer's law enforcement certification was revoked Thursday by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council; VTDigger has promoted Paul Heintz and Maggie Cassidy to its top newsroom positions.

ALSO: Vermonters split their tickets in a big way Tuesday night, reelecting Republican Gov. Phil Scott by his widest margin yet and handing Democrats commanding, veto-proof super-majorities in the Vermont House and Senate; The 2022 deer archery season is on pace to match the state record, and wild game processing businesses in the state are having trouble keeping up; According to the attorneys who sued the Vermont Department of Corrections, the state agency is not meeting the requirements of a settlement over treatment of incarcerated individuals with hepatitis C.

ALSO: Becca Balint made history Tuesday night, becoming Vermont's first woman and first openly gay person elected to Congress; Congressman Peter Welch is set to become U.S. Senator Peter Welch; Vermont Gov. Phil Scott again cruised to an easy reelection on Tuesday to win a fourth two-year term in office.

ALSO: The Chittenden Solid Waste District's drive to win voter approval of a $22 million bond to finance a recycling center in Williston has been complicated by state election laws; One man is dead after a shooting and a car crash in Rutland on Monday; Xylazine has become a growing factor in fatal opioid overdoses in Vermont.

ALSO: Daniel Banyai told a judge that he has not removed most of the 20 or so unpermitted structures located on his property despite court orders to do so; State officials are looking for ideas for keeping large trucks out of Smugglers Notch; Jonathan Farrell, who has worked at the Committee on Temporary Shelter in Burlington for 11 years, will be the organization's new executive director.

ALSO: Cities and towns across Vermont have either adopted or are considering resolutions requesting the power to regulate guns; Interstate 89 in Richmond south of Exit 11 is back to its regular traffic pattern in both directions; A Burlington man accused of killing his wife and seriously injuring her mother in a meat cleaver attack more than five years ago has been found guilty of first-degree murder.

ALSO: A bear attacked a person in Winhall on Wednesday evening; Liam Madden's former GOP rival has called for his withdrawal over campaign donation scheme; Emergency preparedness, assessing threats and responding to active threats were all up for discussion at Wednesday's daylong Governor's School Safety Conference.

ALSO: The Vermont Supreme Court decided last week that Caledonia County Probate Judge William Cobb will lose his salary beginning this week; The University of Vermont has been included in a $79,000 federal grant to study the impact of climate change on manufactured-home communities; The new chair of Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board didn't start out working in health care.

ALSO: Montpelier Police Chief Brian Peete is leaving for Kansas after just over two years of heading the police force in the capital city; A jury deliberated for about six hours Monday without reaching a verdict in the case of a Burlington man accused of killing his wife and seriously injuring her mother with a meat cleaver; Nearly 90 forlorn snowplows still lack names of their own, and the Vermont Agency of Transportation is turning to the kids again to remedy that.

ALSO: In a competitive Franklin County House race, a Statehouse advocate is challenging a two-term incumbent; For the third time in five years, the Franklin West Supervisory Union is asking Fairfax voters to fund major renovations at the district's largest school; Liam Madden, the Republican nominee for Vermont's lone U.S. House seat, described in detail a self-funded scheme to inflate his campaign donations during the primary cycle on air.

ALSO: More than 100,000 Vermonters have already voted in this year's general election; Vermont students' reading and math scores dropped between 2019 and 2022; The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has filed permits to demolish the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington.

ALSO: Democrat David Potter and Republican state Rep. Art Peterson are political opponents, but they're also neighbors; Department of Corrections data shows that nine juveniles have spent more than 100 cumulative days in Vermont's adult prisons since 2020; A 19-year-old Burlington man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Hussein Mubarak.

ALSO: The Peace and Justice Center's waterfront store in Burlington is slated to close this December; State Sen. Joe Benning insists he doesn't want to run for governor; Paul Rumley's obituary triggered many memories of a bygone era.

ALSO: State regulators have cleared the way for GlobalFoundries to set up its own electric utility; State lawmakers voted Monday to release $2.5 million in emergency funds to help schools deal with PCBs; John Klar has used his battles with Randolph schools over critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, transgender rights and equity as his clarion call in his run for the state Senate.

ALSO: A fired Franklin County Sheriff's Department captain, caught on video in August kicking a person in custody, has been cited into court on a charge of simple assault; A Brandon man accused of threatening to shoot his neighbors was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison; The Burlington City Council has endorsed a plan to connect Battery and Pine streets by potentially removing part of the Independent Block building.

ALSO: Democrat Katherine Sims and Republican Vicki Strong are facing off in the only race in the state where an incumbent is guaranteed to lose; A number of business owners who supply wood to Ryegate Power Station say they haven't received timely payments from Stored Solar, the facility's owner; A man arrested last week in South Burlington is now facing murder charges in the fatal shootings of a former Vermont couple in New Hampshire in April.