Podcasts about Vermont

In this new episode, Crawlspace Media's Tim Pilleri and Lance Reenstierna discuss the unsolved murder of Honoree Fleming from Castleton, Vermont on October 5th, 2023. On October 5, 2023, 77-year-old Honoree Fleming, a beloved retired college dean and accomplished scientist, was fatally shot while walking along a popular rail trail in the quiet town of Castleton, Vermont. Despite witness descriptions of a suspicious man fleeing the scene and ongoing efforts by investigators to track down national leads, this brazen, broad-daylight murder remains a hauntingly unsolved mystery. If you have any information in the murder of Honoree Fleming please contact the Vermont State Police at 1-844-848-8477 and Tips may be submitted anonymously by texting keyword VTIPS to 274637 (CRIMES), or you can submit online anonymously at https://cityprotect.com/forms/state.vt.us/anonymous. This episode was researched by Kathleen Studer. No One Cares About Crazy People: https://noonecaresfilm.com/. Check out Quince: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://quince.com/MISSING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out Mint Mobile: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mintmobile.com/missing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out Kensington Publishing: ⁠https://www.kensingtonbooks.com⁠. Sources: Newspapers.com. Ancestry.com. https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/castleton-community-approaches-one-year-after-honoree-flemings-death/article_144ca0c4-8285-11ef-ad0f-03b1f9c28149.html. https://www.castletonvermont.org/home/news/vermont-state-police-identify-victim-castleton-homicide. https://vermontbiz.com/news/2024/april/06/vermont-state-police-investigation-continues-killing-honoree-fleming. https://vtdigger.org/2025/08/06/police-contact-arkansas-authorities-in-probe-of-2023-killing-of-honoree-fleming-in-castleton/. https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/vermont-state-police-issue-statement-on-honoree-fleming-case/article_95572e13-c17d-422d-affe-1638658635d4.html. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-arrested-deaths-new-hampshire-couple-found-shot-hiking-trail-rcna53586. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/RESOLUTN/HCR173/HCR173%20As%20Introduced.pdf . Main podcast theme by Kevin Macleod. Check out his work at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://incompetech.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠. Additional music by David Williams. See his work at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠http://williamsflutes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Missing: IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠. Spotify:⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/0yRXkJrZC85otfT7oXMcri⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing/id1006974447⁠⁠. Follow Crawlspace: IG:⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod.⁠⁠ Spotify:⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/7iSnqnCf27NODdz0pJ1GvJ⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/crawlspace⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crawlspace-true-crime-mysteries/id1187326340⁠⁠. Check out our entire network at⁠⁠ http://crawlspace-media.com/⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Right now, there are around 150 Vermonters behind bars in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Question-asker Devon Kurtz is wondering: Why does the state send these men to a private prison more than a thousand miles away — especially since there's a vacant prison in Windsor, Vermont? Click here for the web version of this episode, including photos and a full transcript. And read an in-depth dispatch from Liam's visit to Tutwiler here. RSVP to our upcoming event in Winooski!This episode was reported by Liam Elder-Connors. Editing and production from Sabine Poux, Burgess Brown, Alicia Freese and Josh Crane. Angela Evancie is our Executive Producer. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.Special thanks to Zoe McDonald, Catherine Hurley and Tom Marsh.This episode was made possible with support from the Vermont Public Journalism Fund.As always, our journalism is better when you're a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: hello@bravelittlestate.org  Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

On May 12, 2026, we produced a 90-minute webinar in which we explored one of the most important and rapidly developing issues in consumer financial services law: coerced debt and the emerging legislative efforts designed to address it. The webinar has been re-purposed into a two-part podcast series, the first of which is being released today, June 11th, and the second of which is being released next Thursday, June 18th. Alan Kaplinsky, Founder, former Chair for 25 years and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr, LLP hosted and moderated this discussion.  The discussion examines the growing recognition that individuals, often survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, human trafficking, or other forms of coercive control, can be manipulated, threatened, or deceived into incurring debt without meaningful consent. The program focuses in particular on New York's newly enacted coerced debt statute, which creates a framework allowing consumers to challenge the enforceability of debts incurred through coercion and requires creditors and debt collectors to investigate such claims. The episodes feature an outstanding panel of experts from academia, legal services organizations, consumer advocacy groups, and private practice. Professor Angela Littwin of the University of Texas School of Law discusses her groundbreaking research on coerced debt, including empirical studies demonstrating the prevalence of the problem and the inadequacy of traditional legal remedies such as divorce proceedings, bankruptcy, and fraud defenses. Representatives from CAMBA Legal Services, Brooklyn, New York, Divya Subrahmanyam and Naomi Young, explain how the New York statute is intended to operate in practice, including the evidentiary requirements imposed on survivors, creditor obligations upon receipt of a coerced debt claim, and the practical challenges survivors face in seeking relief. The program also examines the broader national landscape. Carla Sanchez-Adams of the National Consumer Law Center discusses similar legislative initiatives developing across the country, including laws enacted in states such as California, Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maine, Illinois, and Vermont, as well as pending legislation elsewhere. Carla and the panel further analyze the interaction between coerced debt claims and existing federal laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Truth in Lending Act, while also addressing ongoing efforts to expand federal protections. Finally, Ballard Spahr attorney, Dan Wilkinson, offers an industry perspective on the significant operational and compliance issues created by these laws for banks, finance companies, debt collectors, and other financial institutions. The discussion highlights the challenges of identifying coerced debt claims, conducting investigations while protecting survivor confidentiality, training frontline personnel, and balancing consumer protection concerns with fraud prevention and risk management obligations. This podcast and the one we are releasing next week provide a comprehensive and balanced examination of a fast-evolving area of consumer finance law that is likely to have substantial implications for creditors, debt collectors, compliance professionals, consumer advocates, and policymakers nationwide. Part 1 of this discussion includes an introduction to the topic and the speakers by Alan Kaplinsky, an overview of coerced debt by Angela Littwin, and the analysis of the New York statute by Divya Subrahmanyam and Naomi Young.  Part 2 of the discussion, which is being released next Thursday, June 18th, will cover theories of liability under existing federal and state laws and bills pending in other states by Carla Sanchez-Adams, the Industry Perspective by Dan Wilkinson, and the key takeaways and closing by Alan Kaplinsky.  Consumer Finance Monitor is hosted by Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel at Ballard Spahr, and the founder and former chair of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Group. We encourage listeners to subscribe to the podcast on their preferred platform for weekly insights into developments in the consumer finance industry.

Howard Dean is a former Vermont governor, presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee chair. But before all that, he was just a local physician who really wanted Burlington to have a bike path.In the latest installment of our occasional series Vermont Edition At Home, Howard Dean invites us into his living room in Burlington. He talks candidly about his upbringing in New York and his ongoing grief over his brother's early death. We also hear his thoughts on the current political climate and Vermont's struggle to provide affordable healthcare to all residents.Broadcast on Thursday, June 11, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Beneath the calm waters of Lake Champlain lurks one of America's oldest and most enduring cryptids. For centuries, Indigenous tribes warned of a great serpent in the depths. Sailors, sheriffs, and even entire boatloads of witnesses claimed to see it. Then, in 1977, a Vermont family captured the most famous lake monster photograph ever taken. Tonight, we dive into the legends, the science, and the mystery of Champ...the creature that may still be swimming beneath the surface. HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm   YouTube -  https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory   TikTok - @hah_podcast   hauntedamericanhistory.com   Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   LINKS FOR MY DEBUT NOVEL, THE FORGOTTEN BOROUGH   Barnes and Noble -   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-forgotten-borough-christopher-feinstein/1148274794?ean=9798319693334       AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQPQD68S       EbookGOOGLE: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=S5WCEQAAQBAJ&pli=1   KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-forgotten-borough-2?sId=a10cf8af-5fbd-475e-97c4-76966ec87994&ssId=DX3jihH_5_2bUeP1xoje_ SMASHWORD: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1853316 !! DISTURB ME !!   APPLE - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disturb-me/id1841532090   SPOTIFY - https://open.spotify.com/show/3eFv2CKKGwdQa3X2CkwkZ5?si=faOUZ54fT_KG-BaZOBiTiQ   YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/@DisturbMePodcast   www.disturbmepodcast.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The U.S. Mint ceased making new pennies in November. Our humble, one-cent, copper-and-zinc coin can still be used as currency, but its circulation will dwindle in the years ahead.Vermont's first coin — before it became a U.S. state — was also made of copper. These coins date back to days of the Green Mountain Boys, when Vermont was its own republic. Historian Jon Mathewson of Middletown Springs shares the history of Harmon's mint in Rupert. Joe Watkins of Vermont Coin & Jewelry in South Burlington gave us his coin collector's perspective on how to make a pretty penny from collecting rare pennies.For insight from the banking world, we talk with Jennifer Smith, a regional leader with Union Bank in Morrisville. We also hear from Matt Cota, managing director of the Vermont Retailers & Grocers Association. He tells us about a new state law that creates a system for rounding cash purchases up or down at the register.When it comes to idioms and common English phrases, the penny punches above its weight: penny pincher, a pretty penny, penny-wise, a penny saved and so many more. Helping us make sense of the penny's place in language is Maeve Eberhardt, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Vermont.

Hosea Beckley wrote a Vermont geography/topography/history book in the 1840's. The book has wonderful descriptions of our region and gives examples of how geography impacted early settlement in Windham County.

In this episode of the New England Holstein Association's Podcast, Host Betsy Bullard of Brigeen Farms in Turner, Maine Speaks with Emily Syme and Justine Allyn of Farm Credit East. Betsy discusses their Holstein activities and education and how these activities influence their work with Farm Credit East today.Both Emily and Justine talk about what advice they would have for the NEHA youth members, as they have fairly recently made the transition to full-time careers. Plus, they talk on what role they see Farm Credit East playing with New England members.Please note that the National Holstein Convention will be held June 22 to June 25 in Florida and the New England Summer Show will be July 7 through the 11th in 25 in  Lyndonville, Vermont.

A doctor said he needed knee surgery. He said no. Robert Norris is 22 years old, has Down syndrome, and completes Ironman triathlons without a guide. He taught himself to ride a bike, swam with Navy SEALs in the Hudson River, ran the Boston Marathon through bloody blisters, and trains daily with a volume most able-bodied athletes never touch: 80-mile bike rides, 10-mile runs, 2100-yard swims.   Joe De Sena sits down with Robert and his mother, Wanda, a retired Navy veteran, to unpack how a slipped kneecap became a turning point, why Robert refuses to quit under any condition, and what happens when a young man with an extra chromosome decides the hard way is the only way. This episode delivers a direct challenge: if Robert Norris can show up every single day without excuses, what is stopping you?   Things You Will Learn: Why a physical setback can become the trigger for a higher standard instead of a retreat. The structure behind a non-negotiable daily routine that eliminates the need for motivation. What consistent action proves to the people who expect you to stop.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Setback-to-Standard Conversion: Use injury or adversity as the catalyst for a higher training commitment, not a reason to stop. Non-Negotiable Daily Structure: Wake time, bedtime, training order, and nutrition are locked in. Remove decision fatigue. Execute the plan. Progressive Proof of Capability: Start with one mile. Then eighteen. Then a hundred. Let results silence doubt.   If this episode moved you, do not just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses.   Robert Norris is a Guinness World Record–holding endurance athlete who redefined limits by becoming the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete a full Ironman triathlon independently, setting the fastest time in his category. His journey represents relentless discipline, the breaking of perceived limitations, and the building of an unshakable mindset through years of preparation and adversity.   Connect to Robert: Website: https://www.robertnorrismanofiron.com/about  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertnorrismanofiron/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.norris.432406/ YouTube: http://youtube.com/@GETFITWIthRobert-21 ꚠ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robertnorrismanofiron?   We gave you the tools, now use them during your next SPARTAN RACE! Use codeword PODCAST on checkout for 10% your next race.  

The conventional business press obsesses over company rivalries and product launches, but almost never asks the more important question: who is the category king of every market? The Pirate Street Journal flips that lens entirely. On this episode, Christopher Lochhead, Eddie Yoon, and Bri Clark break down three of the most consequential stories in business today, all viewed through the category design framework. From the layered battle of the AI technology stack to America’s energy crisis and Korea’s semiconductor windfall, the real game is being played on a board most analysts are not even looking at. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   The Battle of the Stack: Why the Wrong Fight Is Getting All the Attention Every major technology era runs on a six-layer stack: power, internal hardware, infrastructure, operating system, user hardware, and applications. History shows that the company dominating the early layers rarely ends up holding the crown. IBM led hardware in the PC era, but Microsoft won software. The pattern repeats: hardware kings win first, but the integrator of the most valuable layers wins last. Today, Nvidia sits atop a single layer at over five trillion dollars in market value, and if history holds, that concentration is the seat most likely to be rerated. The real competition is not OpenAI versus Anthropic. It is Nvidia versus a decades-old playbook, with Microsoft, Alphabet, and Elon Musk each racing to stack the most valuable rows on the board.   The Power Lottery: Owning the Well Versus Renting the Water Power is the one layer on the AI stack that almost nobody owns outright. Microsoft is restarting a nuclear plant. Anthropic is renting compute on a lease that can be clawed back in 90 days. Everyone is scrambling for electricity, but scrambling and owning are entirely different positions. The only player with the power square genuinely filled is Elon Musk through his combined portfolio of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. Meanwhile, America is blocking or delaying 48 data center projects representing 156 billion dollars in investment, while China builds power infrastructure at wartime speed with engineering-trained politicians leading the charge. The math is simple: the best models and chips mean nothing if you cannot plug them in. Battery storage at scale, incentivized solar adoption, and hydroelectric partnerships like the one forming between Quebec and Vermont represent non-obvious paths forward that states and local governments can act on right now.   Korea’s Chip Dividend: The First Live Test of AI Abundance Samsung and SK Hynix are projected to generate roughly 1.7 trillion in combined operating profit between 2026 and 2028. Taxed at Korea’s rate, that flows approximately 430 billion dollars to the government, enough to cover nearly half of the country’s national debt. On the ground near their campuses, luxury sales are surging, with jewelry up 147 percent and watches up 85 percent. Korea’s Labor Minister has already called semiconductors a public good, and there is a serious proposal to distribute part of the windfall directly to citizens. The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend offers a working precedent: residents receive an equal payout drawn from oil abundance simply for living there. Korea is now running the first live national experiment in whether AI-era wealth flows broadly or concentrates narrowly. For the United States, facing a debt crisis with limited options, Korea’s model points toward a fourth path: create the conditions for massive abundance through AI and let a steady tax rate on explosive growth do what raising taxes, printing money, or cutting entitlements never could. To hear more from the Pirate Street Journal, download and listen to this episode. You can also read more Pirate Street Journal entries in the Category Pirates newsletter.   We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!    

How does a program built around relationships, adventure, and the outdoors evolve over ten years while staying true to its mission? In this episode, Will sits down with Foster Post, co-founder of Confluence Behavioral Health, as the Vermont-based program celebrates its 10th anniversary. Foster shares his journey into outdoor mental health treatment and reflects on the lessons learned from building a small, owner-operated program during a time of unprecedented change. From its early years featuring multi-day wilderness expeditions to its current model serving young adults through residential treatment, adventure-based programming, and community engagement, Confluence has continually adapted while staying true to its core belief in the healing power of relationships and the outdoors. Foster and Will also explore the changing needs of young adults, including rising anxiety, social isolation, self-doubt, and the impact of technology on mental health. Together, they discuss how outdoor behavioral healthcare is evolving, why community and experiential learning remain essential for growth, and what the future may hold for nature-based treatment programs. This conversation offers valuable insights for parents, clinicians, educational consultants, and anyone interested in young adult mental health, outdoor therapy, and the future of behavioral healthcare. This podcast is supported by White Mountain Adventure Institute (wmai.org), offering adventure inspired retreats and coaching facilitated by Will White.

The Dream Under the WorldWellington Redfield, an insurance adjuster from the small town of Suttercraft, New Hampshire, died in his sleep on June 26th, 2008. Upon collection of his belongings, his cousin May Darby discovers a worn notebook beneath some loose floorboards. The following are the strange accounts of that hidden diary.Beyond the PaleThe following account was found on the desk of Dr. Patricia Romera, a professor of biological anthropology at the University of Vermont. She was last seen in her office on November 16th, 2005 during a severe thunderstorm. Her missing persons case has never been solved.Follow us on Twitter at @maeltopiaWant to learn more about the world of Maeltopia? Check out our website!Want additional perks like extra lore, stories, art, and more? Check out our Patreon at: www.patreon.com/maeltopiaBe sure to like, comment, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform! We appreciate your support!--Written by Steven AnzaloneEdited by Walker KornfeldSound mastering by Steven J. Anzalone--The Dream Under the World voiced by Steven ZivicBeyond the Pale voiced by Aubrey Akers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Thinking about homeschooling in Vermont? Families have the freedom to tailor their child's education, but they must also follow state requirements, maintain records, and stay informed about current regulations. Success comes from balancing educational flexibility with careful planning, documentation, and compliance. 

He was called the most dangerous man in Vermont. The governor said it on television. The truth is more boring and more alarming. Daniel Banyai is a former protection contractor and a Seventh-day Adventist who built a firearms training school called Slate Ridge in West Pawlet. He did it by the book. Federal firearms license. Explosives permits. Zoning. A school classification the town had handed out for 200 years. He welcomed anyone who'd show up and shoot straight. Then it came apart. Neighbors who'd missed their window found a clause and reopened it. The town pulled the permit it had already granted. He fought to the state Supreme Court and lost. They demolished the buildings while he was locked up and made sure the materials couldn't be reused. We talk about the year inside. Isolation. The shot caller. Getting beaten during the arrest that became a felony. We argue restrictions, religion, and a two-tiered system he says protects some and not others. The throughline is simple. Weaponized zoning can erase anyone. He happened to pick guns. Since we recorded, a jury acquitted him of the assault charge in forty minutes. His words after: the system did not fail him here.  Today's Sponsors: Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com David: David is offering our listeners a special deal: buy 4 cartons and get the 5th free when you go to https://www.davidprotein.com/CLEAREDHOT  

June 8, 2026; 6pm: President Trump formally nominates his former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to serve as attorney general. Plus, new lies from Trump about the war in Iran. MS NOW's Ari Melber reports on the latest developments and is joined by Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and former DNC chair and Andrew Weissmann, former Mueller prosecutor. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today we're talking about a challenge that extends far beyond higher education. It's a problem that affects shopping malls, office parks, resorts, industrial facilities, and even entire master-planned developments.It's what happens when a property becomes disproportionate to the economy that surrounds it.A recent story out of Vermont highlights the issue perfectly. It's been local news in Vermont for the past 6 years. This weekend it was highlighted in the Wall Street  Journal. Green Mountain College closed its doors in 2019. The campus consisted of roughly 115 acres and 16 major buildings in the small town of Poultney, Vermont. A buyer acquired the campus at a steep discount with plans to transform it into a resort, distillery, hotel, and residential development.The vision sounded compelling. The problem wasn't the buildings. The problem wasn't even the business plan. The problem was location.Many investors have encountered former manufacturing plants in small towns. During their peak years, these facilities employed thousands of workers and generated enormous economic activity.Once the factory closes, investors often see a million-square-foot building available at pennies on the dollar.The temptation is obvious. The reality is much harder.If the local labor force is shrinking, transportation links are limited, and regional economic growth is stagnant, the replacement tenant may never arrive.The same principle applies to dying regional malls.A two-million-square-foot mall might have replacement value of hundreds of millions of dollars, but if the trade area only supports a fraction of that retail activity, the property becomes overbuilt relative to its market.----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  

Battery energy storage systems — BESS — are popping up across the country. They strengthen the electrical grid by storing energy and releasing it at high demand times, and can lower energy costs for customers. But some neighbors of some proposed facilities have concerns about safety and aesthetics.In Vergennes, residents are pushing back against plans by the company Lightshift to build one on Panton Rd. But local officials and Lightshift representatives say the worries are unfounded.We talk through how these systems work with Cyril Brunner. He works in the energy sector — currently for Texture, which builds software to operate the grid, and formerly for Vermont Electric Cooperative. We also talk with Vergennes property owner Carrie Hathaway, a vocal opponent of the proposed battery energy storage site. Adirondack Explorer reporter Gwendolyn Craig fills us in on similar debates over battery storage that are currently underway in Adirondack Park.A representative from Lightshift shared a statement from the company with Vermont Edition ahead of today's show:“Battery energy storage is playing an increasingly important role in advancing Vermont's renewable energy goals, strengthening grid reliability, and helping manage electricity costs. The proposed Panton Road facility uses lithium iron phosphate batteries, a technology widely recognized for its strong safety record. The proposed footprint is approximately 0.17 acres in an industrially zoned site near other larger commercial businesses. Lightshift has met with local officials and residents to present the project and answer questions, and local fire officials have stated they have no safety objections.If approved, the project will provide important benefits to the state and ratepayers. It will help lower energy costs, decrease fossil fuel reliance, and strengthen grid resilience during periods of severe weather and system stress. The project is designed with multiple layers of safety protection, will meet all required safety codes, and does not present a greater safety risk than other types of industrial businesses in the area. The noise level will be studied and mitigated if necessary to ensure no undue adverse impact. The project's aesthetic impact will also be studied and mitigated if necessary to thoughtfully complement its surroundings.Our focus is on providing clear information about battery storage technology and safety, continuing to engage openly with residents and local officials, and participating fully in Vermont's rigorous regulatory review process. We are committed to ensuring that the process is guided by facts and grounded in a shared commitment to Vermont's energy future.It is important to recognize that we are in the early stages of development. We look forward to continuing to engage with interested parties, including the town and residents, to try to incorporate community input as much as reasonably possible.”Broadcast live on Monday, June 8, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Send us Fan MailHappy 250th, America!We're less than a month away from America's 250th birthday and there are some cool beers releasing to celebrate.George Washington took some good notes on his beers and the NY Public Library collaborated with Talea Brewing to bring his "Small Beer" back to life. They brewed a version as true to the original recipe as possible and another that's revised to take advantage of modern materials and methods. Naturally, Boston Beer Co. / Sam Adams is releasing some patriotic brews as well, a limited 4 pack with recipes from four of the founding fathers.If you want to take a shot at brewing your own presidential beer the National Archives have Obama's recipe for Honey Ale available online. Vermonters are on the verge of having more friendly self-distribution laws. This is a fight many states have, we know it all too well in Georgia. In most states the distributors have the bulk of the power (and money) in the three-tier system so it's a tough battle. Congrats, Vermont.If you're looking to take the family out for dinner and want an option other than Chuck E. Cheese or McDonald's we have good news for you - Hooter's is revamping their practices to be more family friendly. They say they were always meant to be a family restaurant but over the years many locations lost their way. So round up the kids and head to your local Hooter's for some wings... or breasts.In other news a record-breaking 168 pack of beer launches, the world's largest craft beer museum opens in China, and Miller puts a "Juke Keg" up for auction on eBay.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio!  Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher  | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon.  Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Veronique de Rugy critiques the feasibility of single-payer healthcare in America. Citing Vermont's failed experiment, she highlights the astronomical tax increases required to fund such systems. De Rugy argues that government-run healthcare leads to rationing and stifles the medical innovation currently driven by the American private market.1949

Well it finally happened! One of our 50 states has decided to ban the herbicide that got no-till started in the early years before glyphosate came along. It happened in Vermont, a state with an extremely low acceptance of no-till that has decided to ban the use of paraquat amid growing concerns about links between paraquat exposure and Parkinson's disease.

It's is the latest installment of our Town by Town series. where every month, we take an hour to learn about a randomly selected town or city in Vermont, with the goal of hitting all 252 of them.Today: Brattleboro, in Windham County. Home to a little over 12,000 people, making it one of the larger municipalities in the state. The town sits right along the Connecticut River. It was named after Colonel William Brattle of Boston, who had bought some of land here in 1716. Dummer Meadows, in the southeastern corner of Brattleboro, was likely the first permanent English settlement in Vermont, in the 1720s, but indigenous people lived here long before that.We're joined this hour live in the Latchis Theater by Kate Trzaskos, the executive director of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, Danny Lichtenfeld, the executive director of the Brattleboro Museum & Arts Center, Wendy O'Connell, host and executive producer of the interview program Here We Are on Brattleboro Community TV, Joe Wiah, the executive director of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, and Ann Latchis, of the Latchis Theater.Broadcast live on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

About 50 years ago, Dutch elm disease wiped out most of the American elm trees, but some survived. Now, scientists in Vermont are injecting these trees and saplings with the disease to identify and breed more resistant elms. They hope to bring more big American elms back to the East Coast.

Design-build architects are trained not just to envision a home or structure, but to build it themselves and to improvise based on their on-site experiences.For years this movement centered around Prickly Mountain in Warren. A handful of visionary young architects moved to Vermont's Mad River Valley in the 1960s to explore the more creative and experimental aspects of homebuilding. Waitsfield filmmaker Allie Rood grew up in and around Prickly Mountain homes. Her feature-length documentary, “Prickly Mountain, and My Design/Build Life,” premiered last fall. It won the best documentary award at Vermont Public's Made Here Film Festival.There are many local architects who were inspired by the work of Prickly Mountain. We learn about the design-build movement of today with Britton Rogers, executive director of Yestermorrow in Waitsfield, and Danny Sagan, architecture professor at Norwich University.

Odd Fellowship is built around the principle of mutual aid, which implies that we should all be of service to one another.  Our current Sovereign Grand Master, Tom Calabrese, exemplifies the spirit of a servant leader.  Modest and unassuming, he has shown throughout his career in Odd Fellowship that he is always ready to pitch in and help out and that spirit of service has extended to his time as Sovereign Grand Master.  Brother Tom worked his way up from being a member of his father's lodge to becoming a Past Grand, joining the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, joining the Sovereign Grand Lodge, and then moving up to the highest office in Odd Fellowship.  Along the way he has exemplified the best aspects of service at every opportunity.  He shares his thoughts about the Order's direction, tells what he has done to keep the Sovereign Grand Lodge functional, and gives insight into how he deals with issues that come to him.  The Shoutout goes to yet another new Encampment, Barataria #73 of New Orleans, Louisiana.  In the Odd Podge, Toby shares the visit of PGM David "Ace" Adams of Minnesota to Seattle, Ainslie talks about his adventure driving a century-old dump truck, Meredith gives credit to a lodge in the Philippines for their amazing relief efforts in the face of a disaster, and Tom shares his wonderful cemetery experience with the Grand Master of Vermont, Teppi Zuppo.

(Jun 3, 2026) High school students in Saranac Lake launched a weather balloon into the atmosphere earlier this spring. We talk with their teacher about the excellent data they got and what happened after it was found in a driveway in Vermont. Also: State legislators are poised to pass a one-year moratorium on new data center projects in New York before they leave Albany this week.

Send us Fan MailPaxton and Ryan, owners of Caledonia Bike Works, the newest bike shop in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, talk about their bike industry journey, their first “real” bikes, and the bike community in St. Johnsbury. Support the show

If you've ever walked into a room and immediately felt behind… this episode is for you.I recently attended an eight-figure mastermind in Vermont and, despite years of building businesses, speaking on stages, and creating companies from scratch, I still found myself feeling completely out of my element.That experience reminded me of something powerful: growth doesn't always feel graceful. Sometimes it feels awkward, intimidating, and uncomfortable.But uncomfortable doesn't mean unqualified.It usually means you're growing.In this episode, I'm sharing what I learned from being in a room full of high-level entrepreneurs, the mindset shift that changed how I think about success, and why the real question isn't “What do I need to do?” but…“Who do I need to become?”We'll talk about:Navigating seasons where you feel behindWhy every successful entrepreneur starts before they feel readyHow growth requires identity shifts, not just better strategiesThe power of showing up before you feel confidentIf you've been questioning whether you belong in the room you're stepping into, this is your reminder:You're not behind. You're becoming.Click play to hear all of this and:[00:00] Why the question isn't “What do I do?” but “Who do I become?”[03:00] Traveling to Vermont with JD and Luna for an eight-figure mastermind[05:00] Walking into a gala where I didn't know a single person[08:00] The awkward introduction that changed everything[11:00] What intimidation actually reveals about growth[14:00] Why successful entrepreneurs still feel behind sometimes[17:00] Starting businesses before feeling qualified or ready[21:00] The powerful mindset shift that helps you reach your next levelListen to Related Episodes:Building Confidence with Ease: How I'm Becoming the 3X Version of MyselfWhy Systems Are the Secret to 8-Figure GrowthHow I Maximize My Experiences and Investments to Reach My Next Level as a CEO

Herb Thompson had already made it. He was Drill Sergeant of the Year, on a clear path to a top enlisted career, and could have stayed where it was safe. He didn't. In this conversation with Joe De Sena, Special Forces veteran Herb Thompson explains why he walked away from the secure path to chase the dream he had since childhood: becoming a Green Beret.   Herb breaks down fear of failure, why most people talk instead of act, how he survived Special Forces selection without feedback, and what it took to rebuild purpose after retirement. This episode is about ownership, sacrifice, and performance under uncertainty. You will leave with practical rules for taking action, handling discomfort, and building a life around what you are willing to earn.   Things You Will Learn: Why ownership matters more than motivation when the goal gets hard. How to break overwhelming pressure into small, winnable steps. Why sacrifice, not talk, is what turns a dream into a result.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Own Your Journey Rule: puts responsibility for progress back on you. Small Chunk Execution: breaks hard goals into immediate next steps under pressure. Sacrifice Filter: clarifies what you are willing to give up to earn what you want.   If this episode moved you, don't just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses.   Herb Thompson is the only person in Army history to earn both Drill Sergeant of the Year and the Green Beret, a path built on hardship, childhood trauma, and a refusal to quit under extreme pressure. His journey spans combat missions, brutal selection courses, and a post-military identity rebuild that demanded a new kind of discipline. Herb now helps high performers redefine purpose beyond titles through writing, speaking, and leadership development.    Connect to Herb: Website: https://libertyspeaks.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herb-thompson-libertyspeaks/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ownyourjourney_ The Transition Mission Book: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B082RL1SJ2   We gave you the tools, now use them during your next SPARTAN RACE! Use codeword PODCAST on checkout for 10% your next race.  

Did you feel it? That double boom that shook houses across New England last week. The one that rattled windows and sent people Googling in the dark. It wasn't just a meteorite. And it wasn't a coincidence. What if every sonic boom lighting up the sky right now is a message? A direct transmission? A cosmic knock on the door of your DNA, saying: It's time. Wake up. You're needed. In this raw, joyful, frog-serenaded transmission, recorded live from an RV under a full moon with Mount Mansfield glowing in the background, Michael shares what his channeling of Archangel Michael revealed about the staggering increase in meteorite strikes across the planet, why the number of large sonic-boom-generating events has more than doubled this year alone, and what the universe is actually trying to say with all that fire from the sky. This isn't end-of-the-world panic. This is beginning-of-a-new-world magic. This isn't about meteors. This is about the moment your dormant DNA woke up, and what you're going to do about it starting today. What This Episode Covers: Why the doubling of large meteorite events worldwide is not random, and what Archangel Michael says every sonic boom is actually transmitting directly into your DNA, whether you were anywhere near it or not.  End times, yes, but not the ones you think: why this is the end of an unsustainable system, not the end of humanity, and why even Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical agrees a new era has begun.  How sonic booms affect Schumann's resonance and why a shockwave on the other side of the planet is flipping switches inside you right now, even in complete silence, even in your sleep.  The three jobs humanity has been given in this moment, and why waking up isn't just a spiritual concept anymore, but a registered, biological event happening inside every living cell.  The race that's actually underway right now: technocrats with AI, weapons, and a dehumanizing agenda on one side, and every awakened individual singing their own song on the other. Which side wins is not decided by power. It's decided by frequency.  Why AI is not what the fearmongers say it is, and what Michael's channeling reveals about where artificial intelligence is actually headed, and why it may become humanity's most unexpected ally.  The one question to ask yourself right now that the boom is demanding you answer: How have I not been living?, and the 10-minute-a-day practice that begins changing the answer today.  The frog prayer circle meditation from a Vermont pond under a full moon: becoming the amphibian, the bridge between pure physicality and pure energy, and learning to sing your song on the lily pad of your highest self. You don't have to be standing under the sky when it lights up. The boom already reached you. Something inside you has been flipped on, a dormant seed, a latent gift, a version of yourself you've been quietly circling for years. The question now isn't whether you've been awakened. You have. The only question is what you're going to do with the next 10 minutes. Join the Inspire Nation Soul Family!

They promise to boost energy, improve immunity, and even ‘cleanse' your body — but are herbal and dietary supplements really safe for your kidneys? Today, we're diving into the truth behind their labels. In todays episode we heard from: Calvin Meaney is a pharmacist and clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo with specialization in kidney disease. He provides clinical care to patients at the Erie County Medical Center, where he precepts pharmacy students and residents. Calvin's recent research has focused on anemia management in dialysis patients and reducing polypharmacy in older adults. Desirée de Waal, MS, RD, CD, FAND is a Renal Dietitian and Research Coordinator at University of Vermont Medical Center. She has published a variety of articles and book chapters including the value of Medical Nutrition Therapy in Kidney Failure; Hyperlipidemia; Potential Harms of High Protein Diets for Athletes; Bariatric Surgery; Kidney Stones with Metabolic Syndrome; Weighty Issue of Treatment Options for Obese Dialysis Patients; and Nickel Allergy Masquerading as Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Desirée has spoken at multiple conferences on a variety of subjects including sodium, magnesium, home dialysis, obesity, adherence, supplements, and time constraints. She has volunteered as part of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Nutrition Care Manual as Renal Expert, Managing Editor for Renal Nutrition Forum and has participated in Evidence Analysis Library projects. She has been on the National Kidney Foundation Renal Dietitian Spring Clinicals Planning Committee. Desirée was awarded 2013 Vermont's Dietitian of the Year Award and NKF Council of Renal Nutrition 2025 Recognized Renal Dietitian. She is a Board member of the Vermont Affiliate for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics plus Treasurer for the Vermont Kidney Association.   Show Notes: Herbal Remedies Vitamins and CKD CKD Medicines Integrative Medicine: Search About Herbs from Memorial Sloan Kettering

First, we're joined by Vermont's Attorney General Charity Clark, who discusses her ongoing legal battle against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Then, a roundtable of historians and curators discuss the events going on around the state this summer to commemorate the 250th birthday of America. We're joined by Stephen Perkins of the Vermont Historical Society, Angie Grove of the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum, and Martin Mahoney of the Bennington Museum. 

Kelly Brownell interviews Jon-Paul Bianchi, Director of Systems Change at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, about the foundation's systems-change approach linking food, health, early childhood, and family economic security to address inequities affecting children and families. Bianchi describes his path from PhD research to policy work and then to Kellogg, and explains how integrated grantmaking focuses upstream on policies, practices, resource flows, narratives, and long-term investment in people and relationships rather than isolated programs. He highlights Vermont's inclusion of food quality in childcare ratings and the foundation's Farm to Early Childhood efforts connecting procurement, regional food systems, and state policy, with examples from states like North Carolina, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and notes Brazil's national local purchasing policy as a model for success. Transcript As I was mentioning before we got started, I've long admired the work of the Kellogg Foundation. Working with the concept of food systems or connecting agriculture with nutrition and thinking about regenerative agricultures. There are a lot of places where your foundation was out front. So, I salute you and your colleagues for that. And it'll be interesting to find out what's happening right now. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and how did you get into the philanthropic work and your work with Kellogg in particular? I'm Jon-Paul Bianchi. I'm the director of the Systems Change team at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. And what that essentially means is I'm the director of national programs at the foundation. But we call it systems change because we really do see in the different areas of work that we focus on- health, family economic security, food, and early childhood- that these things are all interconnected by some distinct systems. But also, common systems that overlap across them. And so, that's the approach that we take. And I'll spend some time sort of diving into that today. You know, to answer the question of how I got here... you know, a master stroke of luck. I was set to be an academic researcher. I was working on my PhD at the University of Wisconsin. I was ABD and decided that I didn't want to be a researcher and I wanted to work in policy. And I moved to Colorado to take a job sort of sight unseen, being the policy director of an organization that worked in K-12 and children's health, and food and early childhood education. And did that for a few years and learned to translate research into practice; into policy. And was giving a presentation and got a tap on a shoulder from somebody that worked at the Kellogg Foundation who was interested in what I was saying. And we had one conversation, and six months later, I wound up having a new job and leaving Colorado and moving to Michigan. That was 15 years ago. Well, you went into this with a great background having done the science as a graduate student and then into the policy world. And you're right, the intersection of those two is really where the magic can occur. You began talking about this, but let's talk about it a little bit more. So, when you say that there are systems that cut across different problems like food and health and economic security, etc., and I know you structured your team to reflect that cross-cutting kind of view of things. But tell us a little bit more about that. And how is this different than what's usually done, and how does it affect the way your work gets carried out? So, big picture at the Kellogg Foundation, we envision a society where every child can thrive. But we know that there's too many kids and families that still can't access good food or quality childcare, or their parents can't find quality jobs because of inequities that are embedded in the policies and the practices and narratives that shape our systems. And so, having a multi-issue integrated grant making team, it's made us more effective by better understanding the points of intersection and collaboration across those bodies of work. So, our food systems program officers are in the same team, and they work closely with our program officers in early childhood and family economic security and health. And those collaborations strengthen the work in a variety of ways. We have experts in each of those areas, but because they're spending time with each other and working in the same team, they're exposed to, and they learn about each other's work and each other's worlds. And that creates powerful collaborations in the foundation, but more importantly, out in the field. And it helps us to see that we can't fix any of these systems, including food systems, with surface level or patch kinds of solutions. We really have to work together to get upstream and focus on policies, focus on practices, focus on resource flows and narratives that really sustain the inequities that we see. And so, the foundation partners with organizations to dismantle barriers in food systems in the other areas so that children and families can access quality food. But I think we also recognize that's about investing in people. And it's about investing in people over time to drive transformational change in any of these systems, including food. For people listening to this who aren't in the world of philanthropy or academics or science or policy they might be saying, "Well, this kind of makes common sense. Isn't this the way it's usually done?" And in fact, it's not usually done to have this cross-cutting work accomplished the way you're doing it. It's actually a pretty impressive thing. Yes, thank you. And I have a lot of respect for our philanthropic partners and peers, and we work very closely with a lot of large and small foundations. And I think the adage in philanthropy is you know one foundation you know one foundation. So, we do it this way and somebody else will do it differently. And I think there's a lot of connection for us back to our founder. You mentioned Will Keith Kellogg at the top of the call. He was ahead of his time in terms of understanding the interconnectedness between food and the land and opportunity and people's education. And a lot of that came out of his tradition as a Seventh Day Adventist. But also, I think just as a person coming up in the Depression and seeing what happened afterwards and really beginning to understand in his own community of how these things were sort of connected to one another. And so, for us, both inside and outside the foundation, systems change really means betting on people long term to reshape those systems from the outside in. But also, from the inside out. And that's really what we're striving for. You mentioned the history of Dr. Kellogg. The history of that family is so interesting, and what went on in, you know, the sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, and how the concept of breakfast cereals came about. And how the focus on natural foods was so important. It's worth spending a little time even on just Wikipedia to try to find out what that history is, because I find it fascinating. So, let's go back to food and go a little bit deeper and talk about what this systems approach looks like in practice. You're a philanthropic organization. You exist in the context of a capitalist society where businesses are out to do as well as they can. How is the foundation's work different from, say, funding a food pantry, launching a single nutrition program somewhere, which is what typically might be done? Yes, I think what we intend to do and how I think our systems approach is a little different from, say, you know, funding a single nutrition program, is that we mean to design and redesign practice and policy based on how kids and families actually live their lives. Right? So, where food and health and early childhood and family economic security show up together in a community, right? Families experience these things simultaneously in their everyday lives. They don't experience these things in silos. And so, we try to have our team and our work reflect that. So, instead of treating food as a narrow problem to fix with one program, we try to think about how the entire system around a child and their caregivers works or doesn't work and find those opportunities and levers to move that whole system. I'll give you a concrete example that will bring in our colleague Linda Jo Doctor, who you mentioned at the top of the conversation. Early in my time at the foundation, I was a reviewer for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant. This was an Obama era competitive grant process for building early childhood systems in states. And the state of Vermont did something really interesting that I had the good fortune to review as part of that team. They included the quality of food and access to fresh, healthy food in childcare centers as part of their quality rating and improvement system for childcare. They didn't just talk about teacher quality or curriculum or reflective practice. They actually said, "If we care about child development, then what children are eating every day in those childcare centers is part of what quality means." That's a systems approach. They connected food policy and procurement directly into early childhood policy and practice so that nutrition and education and child wellbeing were all being advanced simultaneously. I brought that back to the foundation and brought it back to Linda. And we had a really great conversation about it, and then another, and then another, and then another. And that experience helped shape how I think and how many people think about our work at the foundation. And it led to things like the expansion of our Farm to Early Childhood work, which again, leans heavily on procurement as the strategy to drive systems change, but connects it into early childhood policy. Tell us about that. You know, the Vermont example you gave is a terrific one. And you talked about Farm to Early Childhood. What does that mean in practice? In practice for the foundation, it really leaned heavily first on, sort of, understanding the landscape of where there was capacity to connect regional food hubs, farmers and producers and growers to systems of early childhood. At the same time that you have these burgeoning and developing systems of early care and education with regard to financing and sophistication, you have something similar going on in them in the food system movement, depending on the state that you're in. And so, we work diligently in a subset of states to really connect those policy levers, pull them together, and try to create essentially more situations like Vermont, you had partnership at the local community level, at the regional level, and then at the state systems level. So, syncing up the actual practice on the ground, syncing up how the relationships between different organizations are formed and maintained with regards to better food and early childhood. But then also trying to codify that into state policy and practice. And we did that for a number of years and had remarkable success in places like Iowa and Wisconsin and even in North Carolina, and a handful of other states. And we very much saw this as a build off our successful farm-to-school work, but doing it in a system that comparatively in terms of early childhood, was a little more fragile, right? And it wasn't necessarily as easy to do it, but all the more important and helpful because of the age and the vulnerability of the kids and families that we're talking about. The systems approach is very powerful, and so I'm going to ask a question not to be challenging, but to in some ways give you a softball for proving the systems approach. If at the end of the day, the most important thing in a childcare setting is to get healthy food into the bodies of the children so they can thrive intellectually and medically and everything else. Couldn't you accomplish that by just giving a good shopping list, a Costco shopping list to the daycare directors, and they could go buy good foods? And why does it need to be connected with farmers and, you know, the broader connection into the community at large, why is that important? Yes. Well, backing up, I wouldn't want to state, as an early childhood person, that the only thing that, you know, makes an early childhood program high quality would be the quality of the food and that that would, you know, lead to optimal child development and school readiness. I think, you know, there's other things in there that actually matter too. But this is definitely a key component. I would say, you know, to your question, that that system that you named already exists. We have the Child and Adult Care Food Program. We have the ability to subsidize the cost of food, and to have that good shopping list in play. But, I think, what the systems approach does is it asks different questions, right? It seeks to say, where does the food come from? How is it grown? Who is benefiting economically, right? How are schools and childcare centers and farmers and communities connected? And how do we strengthen those, connections and relationships so that we can begin to shift policy and practice so that children and families can reliably have access to good food. And they know that it's coming from the community in which they're situated. And the people on the side that are actually producing the food, the farmers and the folks doing procurement and others, that they're actually connected to it too. And they know where the food is going. And so there is this social kind of interstitial benefit to connecting those systems in a way that I think brings value beyond just you get a healthy meal today. I think it begins to shift culture. And if you could shift culture in the institutions that people are participating in, you can actually shift culture in people. So, you could see if a parent that potentially wasn't exposed to that before, or maybe didn't have access, or didn't know how to get access to that kind of food, if their expectations suddenly shifted because in their childcare program they're getting access to quality food, that then becomes an opportunity to engage in a different way. But it also becomes an opportunity for that parent to become empowered and to come together with other parents and other community members and begin to insist that's a reality in everyday life for them. That becomes a norm rather than an exception. I really like your answer because, you know, in some ways, people in our country have become distant from their food. You know, it used to be you could just go to the store, and there might've been one agent between you and who grew the food. The farmer would deliver it to, and now there are factories and machines that process the food, and 10 steps, and it comes from different countries, and all that kind of thing. And what you're talking about is shrinking that gap again to decrease the distance, so people are more in touch. And you could easily see that if the food is coming from farmers and the daycare providers know that they're going to feel better about the food. They're more likely to tell a story about it to the children. The farmer might come to the daycare center, or the children go to the farm. And you could see there's a lot more going on here than nutrition, and that's the beauty of this systems approach, isn't it? I mean, the children want to have a garden, right? I mean, how many times have we seen that? It seems like a small thing in early childhood, but just that simple act of having a garden and being able to understand how things are cultivated and grown. Even for a small child, and I have two small kids, we have a small garden in our backyard: it's meaningful. And it also, I think, establishes a norm that the tomato that you pick off the vine or the pole bean that you pick off, that you eat, that you find just unbelievably delicious, then that becomes normative for them. That's a normative experience, and kids are not as frightened by things when they encounter it. And I think we have a real opportunity in the early childhood space to link up those two systems to say, "Yes, we can affect change." And I think that, again, back to this notion of investing in people long term, the investment in those kids long term and what they come to expect will be the norm matters very much to how we think about our work at the Kellogg Foundation. So you're talking about both practices and policies and a cross-sector approach to these things. And let's talk about policy for a moment. Where does policy typically break down? And what kind of people need to be at the table, and what sort of partnerships need to be established in order to have better food policy? I think if we take seriously that food policy is cross-sector, I believe that we need to build tables that look like the food system. And that means not just public health experts or nutrition advocates or academics, but farmers and food workers, and those childcare providers and teachers, and leaders in K-12, and tribal leaders, community organizers, local state government officials, right? And the funders, right? The funders who are willing to invest in the long slow work of doing systems change. And, you know, one place I would highlight is in your home state of North Carolina. For years, there was significant investment that helped really build a dense ecosystem. You established regional food hubs and meat processing infrastructure, and anchor institutions into schools and early childhood centers. And a really strong network of organizers and philanthropic partners. And that made it possible to fully integrate farm to early childhood in your state's definition of early childhood. And as an aside, I would say North Carolina was also one of the leading states back when I was first coming into the field of building out a high-quality system of childcare. North Carolina led that. And so, these two things converging is a very powerful example, but again, we're getting back to local sourcing. We're getting back to bigger things than just doing food education, right? Those things are now built into the system. And they're not just a side project of the system. They actually are the system. So, you're talking about a foundation doing a lot more than getting proposals, seeing what needs to be funded, and then sending money out the door. You're talking about connecting people in innovative and unique ways. And building bridges that didn't exist before. And getting people to understand the systems change approach. And it just can lead to so many interesting and innovative things that just weren't possible using traditional models. So, really my hat's off to the work you do, and I can see why it's creating such powerful outcomes. One piece I would be remiss if I didn't say this, right? What makes all those partnerships work or fall apart? Usually, it's not the brilliance of a single policy idea or practice idea. I. Sort of. Sound like a broken record, but I'm going to come back to this. Investing in that people infrastructure that sits underneath it is really important. And the places that we find that make progress in any of the issues we're talking about, family economic security, food, health, Medicaid, early childhood, K-12, right? The places that make progress really do have varied and diverse voices at the table, and they're able to build real trust. And they're able to cultivate champions and also the next generation of champions and the next generation of champions who can move between those sectors, right? And the funders are involved, but they really understand that they're financing relationships and governance and people. They're not financing programs. And I think as a grant maker, that's an interesting distinction to think about. Think we know it implicitly and we know it when we see it. It's a lot harder to stick it in a white paper and define it and disseminate it in Stanford Social Innovation Review, for example. No, I totally agree. In the work that we've done over the years with, uh, community partners in Durham, it's been my impression that they get this systems thing from the very get-go. That they understand that if poverty is too severe, then nothing else is going to work, and if housing is a problem, then these other things are going to be affected in pretty serious ways. And they understand the importance of these. And in a way you're letting the flowers bloom. You're taking, I think, what some people understand intuitively and would like to accomplish, but they've been forced into silos. And then once a funder comes along and can allow this to prosper, I think it's sort of a natural thing that occurs. I think so. And I think the tricky thing there is to not be seduced by the programmatic solution. Like, do you remember several years ago when the notion of collective impact was this very popular term that folks talked about? And it's a good thing. I mean, I think the framework and the model is powerful, and it's a useful thought exercise. But what I found in a lot of collective impact work was that it focused very much on aligning the programs. Sufficiently funding the programs and aligning the programs, but not the human side of design and redesign of how do those programs function, right? Who do they serve? Who's at the table when building them or rebuilding them? Do you have the ability to change them midstream if you feel that you need to? And I think a slightly different approach with systems change is you're sort of engaging in a loose hold of the policies and the practices and the issues to give people and the people infrastructure and the relationships time to come together and figure out how they want to move them individually, and how they want to move them collectively. And that's a subtle difference. That's a nuance that I think has really worked in our particular corner of the world. One thing I bet some people are interested in is how the Kellogg Foundation might be distinct from Kellogg as a company. You've described beautifully the innovative work you're doing. The company is off doing what it does commercially. How do these two things intersect? And what's been the history of the connection between the foundation and the company? Yes. So, when the foundation was founded in the 1930s, Will Keith Kellogg, as you said, he endowed the foundation and created it separate and apart from the company. So, it's an independent philanthropic organization. And so, while we bear the name of Will Keith Kellogg, the foundation does not have a formal connection or stake in the company any longer. As you may know, the company split into two companies a few years ago, one called Kellanova and one called the W.K. Kellogg Cereal Company. And since then, I believe both companies have been acquired. I think Mars now owns Kellanova, and Ferrero, an Italian company, owns W.K. At present, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation does not have any connection to either of those companies because they've been acquired by other groups. And aside from having some stock with the foundation, that was sold to support our endowment, we don't have any formal connections anymore. But I think the proximity of the foundation to the company in Battle Creek, and I think the shared history of Battle Creek and the shared history of Mr. Kellogg's vision is actually important to note. And I think it does matter to how the two institutions are connected. I said this a little while ago in the conversation, but in the 1930s, Mr. Kellogg knew that you couldn't separate food from health and education, family economic security, and he knew this while he was making cornflakes, right? And so he helped make sure in the late 1930s that children in Battle Creek had access to fresh milk in schools at the same time that he was doing work in soil conservation and in building healthy land. And he had a sense of knowing that how the food is grown and how kids are nourished, it's part of the same story. And I think that DNA has pulled forward into the foundation, and it makes it a really special place to work because we still carry that memory of him, and we still carry that vision of him into the work that we do. Thanks. You know, a long time ago, when I first became familiar with the Kellogg Foundation, I wondered about the history and the independence of the foundation from the company. And I pretty quickly came to learn that the foundation, as you said, is quite independent from the company. But you've enriched my knowledge even beyond what I've known over the years, so thank you. That's a fascinating history. So, let's end with one final question. If you fast-forward and kind of look ahead, what do you think is on the way? And what does success look like to you and your colleagues? Yes, it's a good question. I mean, I think if we got this right, you know, 10- 20 years from now, success would look like children and families living in communities where good food is just a part of everyday life. It's normal and reliable and not something that folks are lucky to find. I talked a little bit about how Mr. Kellogg thought about this in the '30s, but we also see what's possible in other places, right? When that vision can become a reality in terms of policy and practice. So, we had done some work in the country of Brazil. And we see now that national policy in the country of Brazil now requires that at least 50% of school food be purchased from local sources, grown with high-quality standards, right? That one decision reshaped incentives all along the food chain. What farmers grow, what institutions buy, what kids eat. That's a powerful example of institutions using their everyday purchasing power to build healthier and a more just system. So, you know, 10- 20 years from now, if we've done our job, it would mean that the kinds of innovations in places like Brazil or North Carolina or even in Michigan with our 10 Cents a Meal program, that those types of things would have become the norm. That schools and early childhood centers and hospitals and tribal and local governments would be routinely buying good, locally rooted food. And that workers and farmers are earning a fair and stable wage, and they have incomes. And the communities most affected by hunger and inequity are actually at the core of leading and designing new systems. And food policy would no longer be a patch on top of the inequity. It would be one of the main ways that we build healthier and more equitable futures for kids and families. BIO Jon-Paul Bianchi is the Director of Systems change at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, he leads WKKF's national grantmaking strategy focused on early childhood care and education, health equity, employment equity and food systems. As a longtime philanthropic leader and national expert with a focus on early childhood education, Bianchi provides strategic oversight to the foundation's national programmatic work to support thriving children, families and communities. Bianchi holds a doctorate of Education from Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development, a master's degree in child development and a bachelor's degree in child and family studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He helped found and currently serves on the board of Valley Settlement in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

In this episode of the NVus Alien Podcast, Heather Woodward joins investigators and podcasters from Haunted Vermont and Podcast of the Paranormal for a wide-ranging roundtable discussion on paranormal investigation, psychic perception, synchronicities, and the possibility that ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, and other unexplained experiences may all be connected.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nvus-alien--4798594/support.

Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 171 –  Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to woods overlooking Brattleboro, Vermont, in search of the haunted Brattleboro Retreat Tower. Built in 1887, and towering 65 feet over the hills above town, the tower is said to be home to suicides from the nearby asylum, and now it's haunted. This episode first aired July 2, 2020 Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com/  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

-Men with narcissistic mothers learn a false lesson. They believe their moral duty in life is to serve their mother (and then their wives) with no limits, even if it hurts him and gets in the way of his needs. Stories from Josh and guest host Scott Kim show what it looks like. -A six-point plan to bring back something creaky and like, totally ancient: customer service -Let’s hear it for the rich. Without the wealth and philanthropic impulse of the wealthy elite, America would be so much poorer in beauty and history. Take a tour of the 45-acre repository of American history in buildings, machines, and crafts, right in Vermont, thanks to a rich sociliate named Electra Webb Did you like the show? Throw us some cash support! One-off Contribution. ******************************************************************************************************************-Disaffected is sponsored by purveyors of the finest cured meats. Visit biltongusa.com and use promo code JOSH to get 10 percent off your order. -Slocum Consulting: You can book an hour with Josh on video to talk about troubled relationships, political clashes at work, and more. If you’re looking for someone who won’t call your concerns “crazy,” Josh is the guy you want. Book at https://www.joshuaslocum.netSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we know our neighbors, the world feels more human and much less scary. Michael Wood-Lewis is the co-founder of one simple, moderated platform that has helped rebuild trust, reduce loneliness, and strengthen communities in every town in Vermont. With 250,000 active members in a state of roughly 270,000 households, Front Porch Forum offers a hopeful model for how technology can bring us back to each other. Chapters00:00 – Intro and Welcome05:45 – The Power of Neighborliness08:38 – Front Porch Forum vs Big Tech16:00 – Real Stories of Community Connection22:55 – Break25:12 – Redistributing Abundance Through Community29:23 – Why Moderation and Tone Matter Online39:15 – Building Social Infrastructure for Communities47:57 – Surprising Insights From Front Porch Forum Data57:20 – Designing for Decency in Digital Spaces01:18:38 – Why Real-Life Conversations Matter

In this week's edition of the Capitol Recap, Vermont Public's Lola Duffort and Peter Hirschfeld take a look at last minute legislative decisions as the session winds down.

Maria Chevalier has run a marathon in 48 states, finished the Boston Marathon 17 times, and a few weeks ago ran it twice in the same day, starting at 3 a.m. in reverse from Boston to Hopkinton, resting for a few hours, and then lining up with everyone else for the actual race. 52.4 miles total.But the distance is almost beside the point. What makes this conversation worth listening to is how Maria thinks about hard things and why she keeps choosing them.She's navigated four wrist reconstructions that ended her music career before it fully started. Nine DNFs at Vermont 100 before finally finishing on the tenth try. A medical history that took away choices she thought were hers to make. And through all of it, she kept finding a way to keep moving forward.This conversation goes deep and is a must listen!Topics covered:How running found Maria after she couldn't make the team in any other sportWhat drew her to the 50 States and why she's two away from finishingWhy road marathons and trail ultras attract fundamentally different peopleThe dashboard effect — why people share their most vulnerable things on long runsHer DNF at Vermont 100 at mile 65 and quietly finishing her first hundred in Boulder months laterNine DNFs at Vermont before finishing on attempt number tenWrist reconstructions that ended her path to a music careerLearning she couldn't have children and how she found her way through itWhy she stopped listening to people telling her what she couldn't doWhat she told her surgeon in the pre-op room that says everything about who she isThe Gap and the Gain — looking back at progress instead of forward at the gapHow Double Boston came together with Mount to Coast and the Trail Animals Running ClubWhat it felt like to start a marathon at 3 a.m. and feel fresh enough to run another oneWhat's coming up: Vermont 100, Manchester Monadnock 55, and the final two statesThis episode is supported by:Precision Fuel & Hydration - Dial your fueling in this year. Use code “LONGRUN26” for 15% off your first order at www.precisionhydration.com.Boulderthon - Our favorite Colorado race event with a variety of distances. Use code FTLR2026 for $20 off the marathon or half marathon when you register at www.boulderthon.org.Tifosi Optics - If you've been curious, now's a great time to try them. Head to tifosioptics.com and use code FTLR2026 to tell ‘em i sent you!Eternal - The app I've been waiting for is finally here. Your labs, your wearable, your training, all in one place that actually does something with it. Download Eternal Health in the app store at eternalhealth.app.Vacation Races - The Rocky Mountain Half and 5K in Estes Park, Colorado this August. Run both and earn the Elk Double. Use code FTLR when you register at vacationraces.com.

This week on Herbal Radio, host Lucretia VanDyke is joined by the herbalist and tattoo artist who specializes in Appalachian ethnobotany and folk medicine, Rebecca Beyer. Join us as they explore: The rich history and living traditions of Appalachian folk medicine Honoring the diverse ancestral lineages that shaped the roots of herbalism Hedgecraft: connecting with plants beyond their "uses" and value to humans The rise of appropriation and fascination with Appalachian folk culture Why recognizing classism and elitism in herbalism matters Navigating natural medicine within our ever-changing, interconnected bodies As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are so honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Email us at podcast@mountainroseherbs.com to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism.

Phil Scott, The Governor of Vermont, calls into the show as the road shows local legend, him and Wiggy battle together in a game of "truth or Fraudulent" to see who knows the State of Vermont better.

Phil Scott, the Governor of Vermont, calls into the show live from The Marina and takes on Wiggy in a game of "Truth or Fraudulent" to see who knows Vermont better. The News consists of how many people will be swarming trains during The World Cup and Donald Trump may be bringing a $250 bill to the country. How will the Red Sox handle Roman Anthony after talking about his injury with Rob Bradford?

Story of the Week (DR):BP ousts chair over ‘serious' governance, oversight concerns MMThe board said the decision was unanimous. In a statement, Amanda Blanc, BP's senior independent director, described the board as having been caught off guard by what it found: "The board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action."The oil giant's board removed Albert Manifold from his roles as chair and director this week, effective immediately. He faced a contingent of investor opposition at BP's recent annual meeting.Internal leaks and a whistleblower report point to a pattern of "aggressive," "verbally abusive," and "bullying" behavior toward multiple colleagues, alongside accusations of withholding info from the board and leaking privileged data.Ousted BP Chair Hits Back at ‘Lies' About His ConductThe boardroom turmoil at BP deepened after its ousted chair, Albert Manifold, claimed allegations about his conduct were “lies”.In a new and lengthy statement, Manifold disputed reports about his conduct, saying: “At no point in my tenure as chairman of BP has anyone raised with me any issue about my conduct or my relationship with my colleagues.”He also described media reports that he wanted to exert control of the FTSE 100 company like an executive chair as “nonsense”. Manifold said he had “many other commitments” and had only spent 13 days in BP's London office so far this year.“What I do not accept is that lies can be told about me, nor that anyone should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at BP.”Manifold conceded he may have “pushed hard and challenged people directly” amid his “determination to drive change on costs, performance, the balance sheet and shareholder communications”.However, he disputed reports from the company about his behaviour, adding: “There is a considerable distance between driving an organisation with urgency and the characterisation of my conduct that is now being put about.”He said such “accusations” had not been previously made about his behaviour during his 40-year career. He added that he “called out … unnecessary or excessive expenditure” but felt not everyone shared his priorities.Manifold said he turned down many of the benefits traditionally enjoyed by top executives, which he called a “culture of entitlement”, including chauffeur-driven cars, being flown by private jet or taking advantage of corporate hospitality: “I had no interest in having a dedicated chauffeur-driven limousine at my beck and call on the occasions that I was in London. I, like most people, walked, took taxis, trains, etc. I had no interest in taking private aviation nor in availing myself of corporate tickets for sports events. I made my own coffee, bought my lunch in the local cafe. I sat in a small office, eschewing the grand corner-office privilege of previous chairmen.”Ian Tyler has been named interim chair, BP said, with the board set to begin a formal process to identify a permanent successor: "The Board and leadership team have deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out, and the company is moving at pace to deliver it."This marks BP's fourth abrupt top-tier departure in three years, following the rapid exits of previous chair Helge Lund and chief executives Bernard Looney and Murray Auchincloss.BoardIan Tyler Interim Chair 2025Meg O'Neill CEO 2026Kate Thomson CFO 2024 (Interim in 2023)Dame Amanda Blanc Senior Independent Director 2022Dave Hager 2025Tushar Morzaria 2020Hina Nagarajan 2023Satish Pai 2023Dr. Johannes Teyssen 2021Manifold took up the chairmanship just last October. At last month's annual general meeting, just 81.8% of shareholders backed his electionAmong the most consequential decisions of Manifold's short tenure: pushing out former CEO Murray Auchincloss and overseeing the selection of Meg O'Neill to succeed him — a hire that marked the first time BP had recruited an external CEO and the first time a woman had led one of the oil industry's largest players.Dell wins a $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal after donating to Trump accountsDell stock skyrockets 32%, heads for best day ever as AI server revenue soarsMichael Dell added $35.8 billion to his personal fortune in a single day.Michael Dell pledged $6.25 billion to Trump AccountsThis greatly helps with $100M Dell ($4M personally for Michael) had to pay in 2010 for its Intel Cookie jar Scandal: Dell was telling investors that its high profits were due to amazing management and great computer sales. In reality, a massive chunk of their profits came from secret exclusivity payments from Intel so that Intel could shut out their competitor AMD.SpaceX's Unconventional Corporate Arrangements Favor Elon MuskDanish pension fund rejects SpaceX IPO over valuation and governance concernsStandard Chartered CEO apologises for ‘lower-value human capital' remarksStandard Chartered CEO Bill Winters triggered a massive PR firestorm by describing the bank's plan to replace back-office staff with automation as replacing "lower-value human capital" with financial investmentStandard Chartered is cutting roughly 7,800 jobs—representing about 15% of its global back-office corporate support roles—over the next four years to make room for AIJPMorgan's Jamie Dimon downplayed the viral backlash against Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters—calling it an "inartful" slip-of-the-tongue from a friend.Tyson Foods hands CEO role to directorIncoming CEO Jeffrey K. Schomburger is Lead Independent Director (2016-)Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Ride-Share Drivers in Massachusetts Formally Unionize MM DRDR: Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner stands by ad accusing Red Sox private equity owners of ruining the teamDR: Supreme Court lets Vermont's Meta lawsuit proceed, opening door to 50-state legal waveThe Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies increasingly face legal scrutiny.Meta had argued that it can't be sued in Vermont court because neither the company nor the app design has specific ties to the state. Vermont countered that the sites' large number of teen users gives its courts jurisdiction.DR: New Hampshire data center developer withdraws plans hours before opponents were to pack town meetingMM: The world's largest data center was supposed to run on 100% natural gas. Utah's Republican governor says ‘never.'Must include solar, geothermalMM: Labor union participation is on the rise even as U.S. companies spend $1.7 billion annually to halt union formation MM DRAssholiest of the Week (MM):Index funds should just quit pretending DRExxon wins shareholder backing for legal move to Texas71.3% supportWe know ~22% of that is BlackRock, Vanguard, and State StreetWe can GUESS that ~13% of that is retailEstimated 40% of shares are retail28% voted prior to retail vote capture plan by ExxonIf we GUESS that maybe only 10% of retail voters adopted vote plan when they sent it out at the end of 2025, and if we GUESS that half of them were non voters, we can figure that maybe 33% of retail voted this go around - giving management ~13% of the vote before the vote startedWhich means individuals with no idea and index funds voted 35% in favor - and the rest of investors voted 36% in favorYOUR INDEX FUNDS HATE YOUR VOTING RIGHTSThrow in that the SHP to add more options to retail voting plan - which included an option to default vote AGAINST management - only got 23.5% support, and we know that BLK/Vanguard/SS voted against it and retail voted with management, the real vote in favor: 36% - EXACTLY THE NUMBER OF REAL INVESTORS THAT VOTED AGAINST REDOMESTICATIONThis is unlikely a coincidence - ACTUAL INVESTORS with ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE like rights, but index funds and uneducated retail could fucking care lessSafe Harbor Financial Expands Board of Directors with Appointment of Tyler Klimas and Sean TonnerTwo dudes added to an all dude board overseeing weed banking at a non dual class company… because women don't do banks or weed I guess? Investors, what say you?Last year, they said “we don't care” - 97% in favorMeanwhile, in the UK…Investors tell BP to fix shareholder rights and governance after chair removalTech bros should quit pretendingMeta commits additional funding to Oversight Board through 2028$13m - Zuck owns a $300m yacht and spent $13m for a bunch of well meaning reporters, academics, and human rights experts to help him decide what to do about horrible human behavior on his platformsWhen they decide, he listens… 42% of the timeHere's one they listen to: from September 2025, decided in April 2026 (inside a year!), and Instagram post listed the reasons dating someone in a wheelchair is great, and a comment said it was also good because they can't run away. Meta left the comment up, but the board found it in the appeals and said it should come down - and Meta took it down under its bullying policyMeanwhile, for AI driven fake content for war and conflict, Meta is considering it… OpenAI Foundation is committing $250 million to help workers navigate AI disruptionOh, thank god, we're savedMarc Andreessen Sputters Incomprehensibly at Question About How AI Will Actually Benefit Humankind"I mean, look, so it, it is, alright — I mean, alright I'm gonna give you the deepest of all pitches, I'm gonna give you the, the — okay."Just stop pretending it's for “humankind” and not for YOU TO MAKE TRILLIONSThe NY Post and “baby naming expert”New York's most popular baby names trend towards 'traditional' as reaction to woke Mayor Mamdani: expertLiterally everything in this headline is incorrect - and so is this quote from “baby naming expert” Taylor A. Humphrey: ““Mayor Mamdani is so divergent from tradition and I do wonder if that played some part in Gen Z parents moving back towards more traditional heritage,” adding that Mamdani was campaigning, and in the spotlight for much of 2025.”The data is very inconvenient for this narrative - 77 of the 100 names are exactly the same from 2023, and here are the different “new traditional” names according to Taylor:Archer, Arthur, August, Beau, Bennett, Brooks, George, Lincoln, Parker, and Rowan replacing names like…Abraham, Austin, Eli, Hunter, Ian, Jonathan, Jordan, Kai, Ryan, and ZacharyAdeline, Clara, Daisy, Delilah, Eden, Georgia, Iris, Kennedy, Margot, Parker, and Sloane replacing names like… Anna, Ariana, Ashley, Autumn, Bella, Hailey, Jade, Rachel, Rose, Sarah, and SavannahAlternate theory using spurious data, because yes, this is what I spend my time doing:I looked at all 2023 NY state names vs. all 2025 NY state names and compared them to the number of corporate board directors with those names at those times - I can show that the name changes are definitely positively for sure related to the rise or fall of that name on corporate boards because parents are increasingly focused on who runs their companies. The biggest growth was in the name Zoe (ZOHRAN! Not made up!) from 2 active directors to 7 in 2025! In the top 10 of names includes… Amir!!! From 18 to 22 names!Second biggest drop - the decidedly unwoke, “traditional” name Oliver, down 22%Headliniest of the WeekDR: New Website Detects Apocalypse If Billionaire Jets Start Fleeing en MasseMM: Kevin O'Leary slams people who want work-life balance: ‘I hope they work for my competitors'Who Won the Week?DR: BP Bully Albert Manifold's now famous coffee maker. Or maybe Michael DellMM: Illinois state house of reps, lead by Daniel Didech, much to the annoyance of state senator Bill Cunningham who introduced SB 3444 to exempt AI companies from liability for mass death, passed one of the strongest laws in the country to force third party audits of AI companies, and it passed 110-0PredictionsDR: Based on the survey which reveals that 99 Percent of CEOs Are Preparing to Lay Off Workers and Replace Them With AI Within Two Years, it is revealed that the 1% of CEOs who are not preparing to lay off workers and replace them with AI understood AI to mean Actual IntelligenceMM: OpenAI's upcoming S-1 filing reveals that, not to be outdone by Musk's SpaceX insecurities, Sam Altman gives himself dual class shares worth 300 votes and 99% voting power, has a classified board, incorporates in Nevada, has mandatory arbitration clauses and a minimum lawsuit threshold of 100% of the stock ownership, and the first board member is Illinois state senator Bill Cunningham

This week on Special Sauce we talk to Mateo Kehler, the cheese visionary behind Jasper Hill Farm.  Mateo and his brother Andy, carpenters by trade, pooled together their life savings and bought a 200 acre dilapidated dairy farm in Greensboro, Vermont, in 1998. They were cheesemakers on a mission to save a disappearing way of life in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, where dairy farming had been in precipitous decline.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Gov. Scott announces he'll run again; where the legislature landed on education reform this session; a Vermont artist found inspiration in a kids' book.

One spring evening in 1987, a college student got into a green car in Plymouth, New Hampshire and vanished. His friends believed he was coming back. His family knew he would have called if he'd left on his own. But he was gone, and the man believed to be with him on the night he disappeared had a long history of run-ins with the law. What started as a missing persons investigation soon stretched across state lines, into jail breaks, forged identities, strange searches in the Vermont woods, and disturbing yet inconclusive physical evidence.  Police identified one suspect at the time. The missing man's family believes they know what happened. But nearly four decades later, no one has ever been charged. If you have information about the disappearance of Patrick Merrill, please report it to the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit. View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/patrickmerrill   Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low. Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok To suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case Did you know you can listen to Dark Downeast ad-free? Join the Crime Junkie Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In Episode 448, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore a neighborhood in Montpelier, Vermont, searching for the former home of Dr. Lucy Cooke, better known as "Sleeping Lucy" the Clairvoyant Physician. Back in the 1860s, Lucy would place herself in a trance-like state, examine the insides of her patients, then recommend medicine based on her discoveries. Was she just a faith-healer, or the real deal? See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-448-sleeping-lucy-the-clairvoyant-physician/  Listen ad-free plus get early access and bonus episodes at: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends  Buy Jeff Belanger's new book Wicked Strange New England on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lMkM3G  Check out Jeff's new underground publication Shadow Zine! https://shadowzine.com  Listen to Ray's Local Raydio! https://localraydio.com/ 

A man living alone who woke up to what sounded like someone trying to break into his home is in for a paranormal encounter. Then,  we head to Vermont, where a quiet morning walk around a fog-covered pond turns into something unsettling.  Then, two tales from the same person, separated by twenty five years makes you wonder if this is a paranormal fire warning. Lastly, one of the very best, most undeniable encounter claims we have ever had.  Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp 2026: Have you heard?! We have some amazing friends joining us at camp! Astonishing Legends and True Crime Campfire will both be bringing their shows to the live stage this summer! If you want to see them and us, get your tickets at badmagicproductions.com  Do you want to get all of our episodes a WEEK early, ad free? Want to help us support amazing charities? Join us on Patreon! Want to be a Patron? Get episodes AD-FREE, listen and watch before they are released to anyone else, bonus episodes, a 20% merch discount, additional content, and more! Learn more by visiting: https://www.patreon.com/scaredtodeathpodcast. Send stories to mystory@scaredtodeathpodcast.com Send everything else to info@scaredtodeathpodcast.com Please rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen. Thank you for listening! Follow the show on social media: @scaredtodeathpodcast on Facebook and IG and TT Website: https://www.badmagicproductions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scaredtodeathpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/2miPLf5 Mailing Address: Scared to Death PO Box 3891 Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816 Opening Sumerian protection spell (adapted): "Whether thou art a ghost that hath come from the earth, or a phantom of night that hath no home… or one that lieth dead in the desert… or a ghost unburied… or a demon or a ghoul… Whatever thou be until thou art removed… thou shalt find here no water to drink… Thou shalt not stretch forth thy hand to our own… Into our house enter thou not. Through our fence, breakthrough thou not… we are protected though we may be frightened. Our life you may not steal, though we may feel SCARED TO DEATH." Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Scared to Death ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nine soldiers in a hilltop position. Rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire from every direction. Seven killed. One man left on the radio, calling for help that was not coming. That is where this episode begins. In this Memorial Day special of The Hard Way, Joe De Sena sits down with four men who faced the most extreme physical and mental breaking points a human being can endure.   Medal of Honor recipient Ryan Pitts fought alone and was wounded at a remote observation post in Afghanistan after losing seven teammates around him. Navy SEAL leader Leif Babin breaks down how extreme ownership and the refusal to quit create an advantage when everyone else is suffering. Navy pilot Keegan Gill was ejected from a fighter jet at 695 miles per hour, shattered nearly every major bone in his body, and spent two hours drowning in the Atlantic. Green Beret Nick Lavery lost his leg to machine gun fire in Afghanistan, then fought his way back to become the first above-knee amputee to return to active duty special operations.   Each story delivers a concrete lesson in endurance under fire, ownership of outcomes, and the decision to keep going when quitting is the logical choice.    Things You Will Learn: Why the person who hangs on one minute longer is the one who wins. What extreme ownership looks like in combat and why it builds lasting toughness in any environment. Why asking for help is not a weakness, and why the toughest operators on the planet treat mental health the same as a broken ankle.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Outlast the Field: You do not need to be the best. You need to be the last one still moving when everyone else stops. Extreme Ownership: Own every failure. Share every lesson. The ego hit is temporary. The growth is permanent. Burn the Boats Standard: No Plan B. Meet the standard or die trying. Gray area does not exist at the highest level.   If this episode moved you, do not just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses.   Guests Bios:   Ryan Pitts: Medal of Honor recipient. On July 13, 2008, at a remote observation post in Wanat, Afghanistan, Pitts was wounded in the opening seconds of a massive enemy assault that killed seven of his fellow soldiers. Alone and bleeding, he continued fighting and called for reinforcements on the radio, holding his position until help arrived. He was 22 years old. Pitts spent a year recovering at Walter Reed and has since dedicated himself to sharing the stories of the men who fought beside him and the importance of seeking help when the fight follows you home.   Leif Babin: Former Navy SEAL officer and co-author of Extreme Ownership. Babin led SEAL operations in Ramadi, Iraq, during some of the most intense urban combat of the war. He lost teammates in action and carried those lessons into leadership consulting, teaching that owning your failures — not hiding them — is the foundation of real toughness and lasting performance.   Keegan Gill: Former Navy fighter pilot. During a training exercise over the Atlantic, a system malfunction sent his jet into an unrecoverable dive. He ejected at 695 miles per hour, two seconds from impact. The force shattered both arms, both legs, broke his neck, and caused a traumatic brain injury. His parachute release malfunctioned, and he spent two hours being drowned by his own chute in freezing water before rescue. He woke up two weeks later in a trauma center.   Nick Lavery: Green Beret and the first above-knee amputee to return to active duty special operations. On his third deployment to Afghanistan, machine gun fire destroyed his right leg. From his hospital bed, he committed to returning to his team with no backup plan. After two years of rehabilitation and 14 weeks of assessment, he returned to the same team that was with him when he was wounded and deployed back to Afghanistan seven weeks later. He served 20 years total.   We gave you the tools, now use them during your next SPARTAN RACE! Use codeword PODCAST on checkout for 10% your next race.  

In today's episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, brought to you by Topo Athletic, we are joined by Liz Crandall, a former US Forest Service field ranger who was fired by DOGE last February and has since transitioned into advocacy, activism, and podcasting, serving as the host of Rangers of the Lost Park.  In this one, Liz walks us through nine years of climbing the federal government's career ladder, from GS3 volunteer to permanent employee, and what it actually felt like to receive the phone call telling her it was over. She breaks down the DOGE firing process, the spam-looking emails that nobody believed were real, the Fork in the Road offer that most people didn't take, and what it looked like inside a Forest Service office where even the people who voted for the administration were crying. She also shares what it took to go from a person who was trained never to talk to the press to someone doing live CNN, the roadless rule and why she thinks rescinding it is a bad idea, her crown jewel podcast guest Ken Burns, and two pants-shitting stories from her hitchhiking days that she's been dreading telling us since she booked this. We wrap the show with hikers who discovered human remains in Vermont, the celebrity names we can never remember, how I butchered the boy who cried wolf, the triple crown of the worst gifts to give your kids, and an ALL TIME listener email and poop story. Topo Athletic: Use code "TREK15TOPO" at topoathletic.com. Gossamer Gear: Use code "BACKPACKERRADIO" for $20 off LT5 Trekking Poles at gossamergear.com.  OnX Backcountry: Through Memorial Day, use code "TREK70" for 70% off at onxmaps.com  [divider] Interview with Liz Crandall Rangers of the Lost Park Podcast Rangers of the Lost Park Instagram Liz's Instagram Time stamps & Questions 00:05:34 - Processing 00:10:30 - Reminders: Join us for Chaunce's live podcast sendoff, subscribe to The Trek's Youtube, check out our new merch, and listen to our episodes ad-free on Patreon! 00:17:25 - Introducing Liz 00:18:10 - What's the story behind your ranger raccoon tattoo? 00:24:47 - Tell us about working in wildlife rehab between Forest Service seasons 00:30:23 - How did you go from wildlife rehab to becoming a field ranger? 00:33:00 - What do the GS pay grades mean and how does the Forest Service career ladder work? 00:36:39 - What were your biggest accomplishments climbing from GS-3 to GS-6? 00:41:13 - When did things start going wrong under the new administration? 00:43:01 - What were the Fork in the Road emails from DOGE actually saying? 00:47:15 - What happened when the February 14th firing emails went out? 00:52:06 - Is there any optimism that fired feds could get their jobs back? 00:53:32 - How fast did you go from being fired to becoming an advocate? 00:57:41 - What was it like representing all fired feds in the press? 01:00:15 - Discussion about the State of the Union and lobbying in DC 01:02:18 - What do you disagree with about the Forest Service and BLM? 01:09:25 - How did Rangers of the Lost Park get started? 01:10:31 - How did you land Ken Burns as a guest? 01:15:26 - What were the biggest takeaways from your Ken Burns interview? 01:17:46 - What are some of the top remaining battles for public lands? 01:20:48 - How do you respond to people who aren't affected by these issues? 01:26:45 - Where do you get your validation when the wins are invisible? 01:28:45 - Triple Crown of Liz's best podcast guests 01:31:20 - How do you find joy in a world of bad news? 01:34:07 - Pants-shitting stories from Liz's hitchhiking days 01:43:17 - What's your most underrated piece of backpacking gear? 01:45:45 - Tell us about your mountain lion and grizzly bear encounters 01:56:40 - Peak Performance Question: What is your top performance-enhancing or backpacking hack? Segments Trek Propaganda: Hikers Discover Human Remains Near Vermont Appalachian Trail by Kelly Floro QOTD:  What celebrity names can you never remember?  Parenting Thing of the Week Triple Crown of the worst gifts to give young kids Mail Bag 5 Star Review [divider] Check out our sound guy @my_boy_pauly/ and his coffee. Sign up for the Trek's newsletter Leave us a voicemail! Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)!  Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support us on Patreon to get bonus content. Advertise on Backpacker Radio Follow The Trek, Chaunce, Badger, and Trail Correspondents on Instagram. Follow Backpacker Radio, The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube. Follow Backpacker Radio on Tik Tok.  Our theme song is Walking Slow by Animal Years. A super big thank you to our Chuck Norris Award winner(s) from Patreon: Alex and Misty with NavigatorsCrafting, Alex Kindle, Andrew, Austen McDaniel, Bill Jensen, Brad & Blair Thirteen Adventures, Bret Mullins aka Cruizy, Bryan Alsop, Carl Lobstah Houde, Christopher Marshburn, Clint Sitler, Coach from Marion Outdoors, Eric Casper, Erik Hofmann, Ethan Harwell, Gillian Daniels, Greg Knight, Greg Martin, Griffin Haywood, Hailey Buckingham, Jackson Storm, JaredNotFromSubway, Jason Kiser, Jason "The Snail" Snailer, Luke Netjes, Matty in AZ, Patrick Cianciolo, Randy Sutherland, Rebecca Brave, Rural Juror, Sawyer Products, The Saint Louis Shaman, Timothy Hahn, Tracy 'Trigger' Fawns A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Bells, Benjy Lowry, Bonnie Ackerman, Brett Vandiver, Chris Pyle, Dakota J, David Neal, Dcnerdlet, Denise Krekeler, Jack Greene, Jeanie, Jeanne Latshaw, Lloyd Harris, Merle Watkins, Peter, Quenten Jones, Ruth S, Salt Stain, Sloan Alberhasky, and Tyler Powers.

The president has proposed a new leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week's On the Media, a reckoning with the future of FEMA, and an interview with Trump's nominee to lead the agency. Plus, a FEMA worker starts an anonymous newsletter to share how cuts are hurting the agency. [01:56]  Micah Loewinger brings us the final installment of OTM's miniseries American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. Micah interviews Cameron Hamilton, an unqualified MAGA warrior brought in to take the agency down last year. When he refused to kill FEMA point blank, he was fired. Hamilton shares what it was like to work at FEMA under Kristi Noem. Earlier this month, Hamilton was nominated by the president to lead the agency – despite his lack of experience.  [21:08] Micah interviews an anonymous FEMA worker who started a newsletter amid the chaos of Kristi Noem's leadership at DHS. The goal of the online publication, called Alt-FEMA, was to get the truth out about the agency's capacity — at a time when it was bleeding staff and experience. Its stated mission is to record “what is being dismantled: institutional knowledge, coordination capacity, and the ability to serve communities in crisis.” [31:21] Micah explores the future of FEMA, and the administration's plans to reduce the role of the agency in responding to disasters. We hear from a veteran FEMA staffer, MaryAnn Tierney, and a climate beat reporter at Grist, Jake Bittle, who wrestled with the proposed reforms. Micah also speaks to the Director of Emergency Management in Vermont, Eric Forand, and an emergency manager of a tribal nation on the West Coast about how diminished federal disaster funding could hurt their communities. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.