Vermont news

• Vermont towns urge state to open up shelters, camping options for unhoused residents leaving motels

  18-09-2024 23:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro speaks as local municipal leaders issue a call to the state to take immediate action on the homeless issue in Montpelier on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.As hundreds of unhoused people in Vermont lose their motel vouchers, municipal leaders are sending a loud and clear message to all branches
  
  Read more

• Consultant says 4 hospitals need ‘major restructuring,’ recommends consolidating services around the state

  18-09-2024 22:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Springfield Hospital in Springfield on June 9, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA consultant is urging the state to make dramatic changes to its health care system, including repurposing inpatient units at four hospitals, consolidating services at others and reforming how and how much facilities are paid for care.If fully enacted, the recommendations, contained in a 144-page report published Wednesday, would lead to a sweeping transformation of Vermont’s health care landscape. The
  
  Read more

• Consultant says 4 hospitals need ‘major restructuring,’ recommends consolidating health care services across Vermont

  18-09-2024 22:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Springfield Hospital in Springfield on June 9, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA consultant is urging the state to make dramatic changes to its health care system, including repurposing inpatient units at four hospitals, consolidating services at others and reforming how and how much facilities are paid for care.If fully enacted, the recommendations, contained in a 144-page report published Wednesday, would lead to a sweeping transformation of Vermont’s health care landscape. The
  
  Read more

• Brattleboro to hire more police in hopes of curbing rising crime

  18-09-2024 22:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brattleboro Police Department cruisers at Black Mountain Road headquarters. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — Facing residents’ competing requests for accountability, compassion and affordability, this town’s selectboard voted 3-2 on Tuesday to hire more police to address a community-wide rise in crime.“We need to recognize that what we have is an emergency,” board member Elizabeth McLoughlin said at a standing-room-only meeting that featured more
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Heating up: Debate over clean heat standard is simmering, months ahead of a decision

  18-09-2024 20:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Clockwise from top left: Laura Sibelia, Phil Scott, Julie Moore, Jared Duval, and Chris Bray. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger, Mike Dougherty/VTDigger and courtesy of Joan Javier-DuvalGov. Phil Scott and members of his administration are using a new state-commissioned study to double down on their opposition to both the clean heat standard and the state’s global warming law.Advocates have responded by saying Scott and others have misused the figures in the study to incorrectly claim that
  
  Read more

• As last unapproved budget passes, school officials brace for another year of financial pressure

  18-09-2024 18:22 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Barre City Elementary and Middle School seen on Tuesday, August 8, 2023.Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAll of Vermont’s school districts have now approved budgets for this year, after voters in Barre finally signed off on a school spending plan Tuesday.But already, officials throughout the state are bracing for another rough annual budget cycle, with health insurance premiums for staff and other fixed costs driving up the price of education. As school boards drafted spending plans
  
  Read more

• For 25 years (and counting), VSAC’s GEAR UP program supports Vermonters’ college dreams

  18-09-2024 16:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  (Left to Right) Lizzie Vaughan, Amon Chumba, Cooper Hodgeman, Tate ParkerEvery September, VSAC celebrates National GEAR UP Week to make more Vermont families aware of the resources offered through the GEAR UP program—which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. This federally funded program, which VSAC has administered in Vermont for the last 25 years, helps students from modest-income backgrounds find interest in, and prepare for, post-secondary educa
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Jill Lepore draws standing-room-only crowd in Manchester for talk on press freedom and American history

  18-09-2024 16:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jill Lepore — a historian, author, New Yorker staff writer, Harvard professor and host of The Last Archive podcast — spoke to a highly engaged audience of VTDigger readers and supporters on Thursday, Sept. 5.The standing-room-only event, which took place at the Manchester Community Library, was an opportunity for Lepore to share her deep expertise in American history and the role that the free press — including VTDigger — has played in fostering democracy.If you were
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• VIDEO: Jill Lepore draws standing-room crowd in Manchester for talk on press freedoms and American history

  18-09-2024 16:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jill Lepore, a historian, author, New Yorker staff writer, Harvard professor, and The Last Archive podcast host, spoke to a highly engaged audience of VTDigger readers and supporters on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.The standing-room only event, which took place at the Manchester Community Library in Manchester, Vt., was an opportunity for Lepore to share her deep expertise of American history, and the role that the free press — including VTDigger — has played in shaping our society.
  
  Read more

• VTDigger launches 2024 general election guide

  18-09-2024 14:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  It’s here! VTDigger has launched its 2024 General Election Guide ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.View the guideThe Vermont secretary of state’s office is preparing ballots this week to mail to registered voters and town clerks across the state.For all statewide offices, incumbents are running for reelection against challengers from at least one other party, though in most cases incumbents have a significant edge in name recognition and fundraising. Down ballot, Vermont Senate an
  
  Read more

• Former Rutland, Burlington Rep. Curt McCormack dies at 72

  18-09-2024 02:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Curt McCormack, D-Burlington, chair of the House Transportation Committtee, speaks with fellow legislators at the Statehouse in Montpelier on January 22, 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerCurt McCormack, a tireless advocate for the environment whose affable nature won him close friends across the state and during his two-plus decades serving in the Vermont House, died Monday of cancer, his family and former colleagues said. He was 72. McCormack was well-known for choosing to live wi
  
  Read more

• Judge finds Panton dairy farmers in contempt of court, orders fines barring major changes to farm

  18-09-2024 01:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  An aerial photograph, used as an exhibit in a six-day trial in Dec. 2021 and Jan. 2022, shows a section of the Vorsteveld Farm in Panton. Photo courtesy of the Addison Unit of the Vermont Superior CourtA judge has found a family of Panton dairy farmers in contempt of court after they failed to stop water from coming out of a drainage system on their farm, washing over their neighbors’ property and flowing into Lake Champlain. Brothers Gerard and Hans Vorsteveld, who operate a large da
  
  Read more

• After dustup, Orange County sheriff lost the county courthouse security contract

  18-09-2024 01:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Orange County Court House in Chelsea on Thursday, August 22. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Orange County Sheriff’s Department no longer guards the doors of the Orange County Courthouse in Chelsea. That responsibility now belongs to the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.And while state judicial officials have been mum on why, emails obtained through a public records request reveal part of the backstory, showing courthouse staff grew frustrated with a deputy sheriff’s
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!