VPR News Podcast

Since there's no movie theater or bowling alley or much of any formal entertainment in Chelsea, you have to make your own fun as you go along.

Janice Lange has been sailing for most of her life. She's an 86-year-old athlete, coach and teacher, and she teaches sailing lessons on Lake Champlain.

This year I asked listeners to send me recordings from their Thanksgiving holiday, and I made a story with these recordings.

In the last 10 months, federal agents have arrested more than 100 people in Vermont. Those arrests have upended the lives of individuals and the families they support, and sent shockwaves through their communities.

Peter farmed, mostly alone, for nearly 40 years. We sat at his kitchen table and talked about what it's like to farm for a whole life, then see it go fallow.

Grab your popcorn — daily movies are back in Burlington. The city hasn't had a dedicated movie theater since Merrill's Roxy Cinema closed last year.

Land owners and enthusiasts are creating connections through Women and Our Woods Vermont, a women-led network.

Sheila LaPoint wrote a post in Front Porch Forum back in the fall of 2022, asking if there was anyone in town who could turn her grandmother's fur coat into a teddy bear.

Chepe Cuadra is an artist and a chef in St. Albans. For almost a decade, he's been selling Nicaraguan and Spanish food at farmers markets across Vermont.

Andrew Wyslotsky is a chef in Winooski and an avid fly fisherman. He started fly fishing in 2020, and it quickly became an essential part of his mental health.

Milton arborist Kris Dulmer keeps a lookout for healthy black ash trees. When he finds one, he volunteers to inject it with a dose of insecticide.

I went to a party and spent the whole time lying down in the guest room. I asked people at the party to send me recordings about what happened at the party.

It's part of a new civic education program led by the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State.

“I just want to shout on every corner that this guy is a big deal."

The UVM Water Resources Institute has applied to the town of Lyndon for a zoning permit for its first weather station.

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.