VPR News Podcast

The Spark, a St. Johnsbury-based service, offers support and resources to people who've caused harm, or are at risk of causing harm, in their relationships.

This is a story about a 118-pound hairdresser when he was drafted into the Vietnam War, and in Vaughn's war, most men didn't survive their first three-month tour.

A sculpture by Lydia Kerns brings a welcome dose of color to a city street that's been under construction for more than a year.

A program that has offered parental support services to incarcerated mothers will soon be available to men held at the state prison in Newport.

Now entering its third week, the new court docket in Chittenden County is focused on people who have five or more pending criminal cases. State and local leaders hope the effort will ease some of the Queen City's recent public safety concerns.

Carl Blaisdell is private. He only goes to town to get something he needs. His life is close to the ground, to his dogs, and to the outside.

Vermont leaders approved a plan to use roughly $6 million in state money to pay for 15 days' worth of food benefits if the federal government shutdown continues and SNAP runs out of money on Nov. 1.

Vermont hasn't had a permanent facility for justice-involved youth since 2020. The lack of a secure facility has meant more juveniles have been held in adult prisons.

Representatives from PowerTransitions have been meeting with officials in Vernon about potentially developing the 140-acre site along the Connecticut River.

I asked listeners to send me recordings from wherever they were, about whatever they wanted.

Town clerks and select boards say it is getting harder to run meetings and conduct town business as the vitriolic tone of political polarization continues to ramp up.

State officials want to clone Jonah Richard, an Orange County native who's building housing at a clip in the town where his family has lived for generations.

It's not a nursing home. It's a house where old people live together.

As the population of older adults increases and accessing long-term care becomes more challenging, demand for medical alert devices is growing.

East Hardwick farmer Rob MacLeod has no more water, and like many farmers, he's heading into winter with limited feed.

The medical center's volunteer-run gift shop has a bit of everything for patients, medical staff and locals.

Hearing music from an event in your life can trigger memories, emotions and stories. A new board game called "Drop The Needle" taps into that phenomenon.

Christian mystic Hildegard von Bingen was a polymath. The 12th-century nun was a poet, artist, healer, philosopher and composer. On Saturday, Oct. 11, Vermont Public Classical will co-present "Hildegard Reanimated" with the Otter Creek Musical Festival.

Vermont is in a drought, and the Upper Valley area is seeing some of the worst of it. Farmers there are wondering: Will they have enough water to last them through the winter?

From Montpelier to Rutland to Waterbury, additional spaces are in the works for unhoused people, totaling about 100 seasonal and year-round shelter beds coming online during the next few months. They can't come quickly enough.

A new state grant is funding pilot projects across Vermont to swap weed whackers for goats and sheep in power line right of ways and ski trails.

Captain J.P. Sinclair was at the center of hundreds of major crime investigations with the Vermont State Police. Here, he talks about it.

Herbert Chang teaches social sciences at Dartmouth, and he authored a study that delved into a fairly simple question: Among pet owners, who donates more to charitable causes? The answer came as a bit of a surprise.

The trees are showing off, seasonal roads are still open, and you don't even need snow tires yet. Here are our favorite routes and some suggested stops along the way. See the full guide.

If more towns band together to plan and pay for projects, it might be possible to reduce the impact of flooding in the state's larger economic centers, usually downriver.

Spring-fed and shallow dug wells at Vermont's old homes are particularly vulnerable in the drought. Drilling a new well can cost as much as $20,000.

Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which begin to take effect this week, could imperil eligibility for thousands of Vermonters.

A show about the challenges of picking health insurance and using health insurance and understanding health insurance. Plus hold music.

Square dancing is a popular activity for millions of people all over the world, but it can be more than just a hobby. Research shows it can fight many of the negative effects of aging.

Vermont is hoping that state-level diplomacy will alleviate the strain that U.S. foreign policy has put on the state's business ties with Canada.

Susan Randall is private investigator and we've been friends for 30 years. Every now and then we get together and compare notes on our lives.

No one had published a full accounting of the extraordinary amounts of public money spent on housing since 2020. We pieced it together.

As the climate warms, scientists are working against the clock to solve a mystery about why the Bicknell's thrush, which travels thousands of miles to raise its young on mountaintops across Vermont and the Northeast, is declining.

Ralph Rockwell talks about a lifetime of rebuilding vehicles, and then we go to a tractor pull, where tractors are pulled, and sandwiches are eaten.

In Chittenden County, the median sale price of a primary home reached $500,000 last year.

A timber rattlesnake was removed from a yard in Grand Isle this summer — far from the only known breeding grounds in Vermont. Experts say it could have hitched a ride to the island in a car or boat.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a powerful conservative law firm that has won several precedent-setting cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, brought the lawsuit on behalf of the Quechee school.

Beyond his endorsements of high-profile candidates, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he's hoping to encourage younger and working class people to engage in the political process at all levels.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, pleaded not guilty on Friday to new charges, including murder, related to the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont earlier this year. If convicted, Youngblut could be sentenced to death.

A show about turning 50 and recording "Total Eclipse of the Heart"