Vermont news

• African women find community and healing at knitting group in Burlington

  15-09-2024 14:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Elize Sikujuwa adds to the conversation during a meeting of a knitting group for New Americans in Winooski on Thursday, September 12. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBURLINGTON— Fatuma Hussein, 61, had never knitted before she started coming to the third- floor classroom of an Old North End community center. But there she was on a recent Thursday evening, sitting in a beige armchair at the back of the room, working away on a fuzzy green and gray child’s hat.“I like it here,&rdqu
  
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• GOP finally unseats Sen. Mark MacDonald, 34-year veteran of the Statehouse

  07-11-2024 23:36 via vtdigger.org
  
  Larry Hart, left, and Mark MacDonald. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFor years, the Vermont GOP has been trying to win the Orange County seat held by Sen. Mark MacDonald. But MacDonald, a Williamstown farmer and former social studies teacher who spent 11 years in the House and 23 in the Senate, has bested a succession of Republican challengers. In the past decade, MacDonald has not won less than 52% of the vote in a general election contest — that is, not until Tuesday. This yea
  
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• Emboldened by unexpectedly strong results, Vermont Republicans will share more power — and responsibility

  07-11-2024 22:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  Pattie McCoy, left, and Randy Brock. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerHaving outperformed even their sunniest of down-ballot forecasts on Election Day, Vermont’s Republican leaders are now starting to contemplate how they’ll utilize their newfound political power when they return to the Statehouse in January.“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” House Minority Leader Pattie McCoy, R-Poultney, said Wednesday afternoon. “We’re less than 24 hours out. I s
  
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• Climate policies teeter after Vermont Democrats lose supermajorities

  07-11-2024 21:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, speaks as the committee takes testimony on a bill that would provide a statewide river management system at the Statehouse in Montpelier on February 13, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Credit: Glenn RussellThe future of environmental policies championed by Democrats and Progressives is in question after the parties lost their veto-proof supermajority, and unseated a senator who has spearheaded thei
  
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• On Election Day, Henry Heck kicked off his early bid to be Rutland City’s next mayor 

  07-11-2024 21:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  Henry Heck, left, and Mike Doenges. Photos courtesy of Heck and DoengesAs Rutland City voters arrived at the polls to cast their ballots on Tuesday, many were met by Henry Heck — current alderman and former city clerk — holding signs declaring his campaign for mayor.While petitions to run for mayor are not due until January, Heck said he decided to kick off his campaign on the day of the presidential election to start “a little buzz” and encourage more voters to come back
  
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• Royalton and Bethel voters narrowly reject school bond

  07-11-2024 20:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Chris Dartt, left, waits for the tabulator to register his ballot as poll worker Linda Armstrong, watches at right, at White River Valley School in South Royalton on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Dartt said he voted for Donald Trump for President because, as a business owner himself, he feels Trump runs the government like a business. “I’m not a hard-line conservative by any means,” he said, but in the few months since Joe Biden left the race he had not learned enough about Kamala Harris to
  
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• Vermont State Police probe involving Woodstock police chief ends with no criminal charges

  07-11-2024 19:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  Woodstock Police Chief Joe Swanson. Screenshot Woodstock Community TelevisionVermont State Police have closed an investigation into an incident that prompted the suspension of Woodstock Police Chief Joseph Swanson, with no criminal charges being brought.Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, stated in an email Tuesday to VTDigger that “VSP was unable to move forward with the case due to the reported victim’s declining to cooperate with the investigation.”Silverman added,
  
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• Brattleboro fire knocks out power, communication lines in three towns

  07-11-2024 17:51 via vtdigger.org
  
  Brattleboro firefighters extinguish a blaze Thursday morning at the abandoned Sportsman’s Lounge on Canal Street. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — A blaze early Thursday morning at the abandoned Sportsman’s Lounge knocked out power and communication lines that serve residents in this town and neighboring Guilford and Vernon.The Brattleboro Fire Department responded to the boarded-up building on Canal Street shortly after 5 a.m. to find flames reaching as high
  
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• David Zuckerman concedes lieutenant governor’s race to John Rodgers — but with a caveat

  07-11-2024 16:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman presides over the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on April 25, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerLt. Gov. David Zuckerman conceded his reelection race to Republican challenger John Rodgers Thursday morning, after falling more than 6,000 votes short in Tuesday’s election, and said he would not seek a recount. But he nodded at the possibility that the Legislature could overturn the result — and suggested it had good reason to do so.Zuckerman
  
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• Don Tinney: Gov. Scott, where are the children in your school budget schemes?

  07-11-2024 13:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Don Tinney of South Hero. He is an English teacher and the elected president of Vermont-NEA, the state’s largest union. He has also served as chair of the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators.Recently, I came across an extraordinary video produced by Gov. Phil Scott’s Agency of Education. It was a beautiful, well-produced exploration of what makes the tiny Cabot School — the type of school the governor and his adherents would shutter if they
  
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• Christine Hallquist: There is work to do to protect our state

  07-11-2024 13:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Christine Hallquist of Burlington. She was the Democratic nominee for Vermont governor in 2018, and was CEO of the Vermont Electric Cooperative for 13 years.I am Christine Hallquist, a proud and out transgenderwoman now living in Burlington. I am deeply concerned about the potential impact of the future leadership in our country on civil liberties, particularly for marginalized communities. Vermont has been my sanctuary, and I believe we need to start preparing contingency
  
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• Where Democrats lost ground in Vermont’s House

  07-11-2024 00:29 via vtdigger.org
  
  In Tuesday’s election, Vermonters voted to change the balance of power in the state’s House of Representatives during the next legislative biennium. Republicans picked up 17 seats, bringing their ranks to 55 in the 150-member chamber. Democrats held 105 seats alone by the end of the 2023-2024 session, but now will be left with just 88, meaning they’ve lost their supermajority. Their numbers are bolstered by alliances with Progressives and independents, who will occupy the
  
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• Trailing by more than 6,000 votes, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman has yet to concede to John Rodgers

  06-11-2024 23:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  David Zuckerman, left, and John Rodgers. Photos by Riley Robinson and Mike Doughtery/VTDiggerThough unofficial results show that he lost Tuesday’s election for lieutenant governor of Vermont, Progressive/Democratic incumbent David Zuckerman had yet to concede the race as of Wednesday evening — even as his opponent, Republican John Rodgers, was all but declaring victory.“Vermont, we have a new lieutenant governor,” Rodgers wrote on his campaign Facebook page Wednesday morn
  
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• OneCare Vermont to shut down

  06-11-2024 23:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Abe Berman, CEO of OneCare Vermont. Courtesy OneCare VermontOneCare Vermont, an accountable care organization aiming to reform how health care in Vermont is paid for, will shut down at the end of 2025, the organization announced Wednesday.The University of Vermont Health Network subsidiary was the lead organization running the state’s “all-payer” model, a health care reform program that seeks to improve Vermonters’ health and decrease costs. The all-payer model, a federal
  
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• Vermont’s federal delegation reflects on a new reality in Washington

  06-11-2024 23:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  From left: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Becca Balint and Sen. Peter Welch. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThough Vermont’s congressional delegation didn’t face much in the way of a challenge on Election Day, their role in Congress will look different with Republicans taking control of the White House and the Senate.U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, easily bested their opponents on Tuesday. But along with U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt, who wasn’t up f
  
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• Town-by-town election results: How Vermonters voted in key races on Tuesday

  06-11-2024 23:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  All 247 Vermont municipalities have reported their results, and the 2024 election is over. But what about your town? Or the next one over? How did those residents vote? The Green Mountain State chose a Democrat for president and Republicans for governor and lieutenant governor. Find out how each town in Vermont voted in those races with our interactive maps below.Shortly after the polls closed, media outlets began calling Vice President Kamala Harris’ unsurprising win in Vermont, wher
  
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• Republican gains in Vermont House cast new spotlight on speaker’s race

  06-11-2024 22:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  Laura Sibilia, left, and Jill Krowinski. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDemocrats’ Election Day loss of their supermajority in the 150-member Vermont House is casting a new spotlight on the coming race for the chamber’s top leadership post.Incumbent Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, is set to run for a third term at the podium in January against at least one challenger: independent Rep. Laura Sibilia of Dover.Sibilia, who just won an uncontested race for her Windham-2 district s
  
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• Vermont Conversation: Former Gov. Madeleine Kunin on the next Trump presidency

  06-11-2024 21:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Former Governor Madeleine Kunin speaks at a campaign event for democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Molly Gray in Burlington on February 27, 2020.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues with politicians, activists, artists, changemakers and citizens who are making a difference. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spot
  
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• Mickey Nowak: Even early on, the Long Trail welcomed female hikers

  06-11-2024 13:15 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editors,As a Long Trail hiker for the last 50 years I enjoyed the essay, “Then Again: Treasuring the trail” about the “Three Musketeers” — Catherine Robbins, Hilda Kurth andKathleen Norris — hiking the Long Trail together in 1927.It’s a great story about a great adventure, but I would like to take issue with one topic. The author, Mark Bushnell, makes the statement that, “Womanhood wasn’t widely seen as being compatible with such rigors
  
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• PHOTOS: Winners, losers and election night watchers

  06-11-2024 08:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  Supporters of Gov. Phil Scott applaud as he delivers his victory speech at the Associated General Contractors of Vermont building in Montpelier on Tuesday. Photo by Josh Kuckens/VTDiggerThroughout the state on Tuesday night, Vermonters waited as the results of the 2024 election trickled in — whether huddled around the TV at election watch parties or glued to their phones for updates. Photographers Glenn Russell and Josh Kuckens followed candidates and voters as the results were called.Need
  
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• Vermont GOP knocks off two Democratic House chairs

  06-11-2024 05:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Diane Lanpher, left, and Mike McCarthy. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Democratic chairs of two House committees were unseated Tuesday by Republican challengers — as was an assistant majority leader of the party — ensuring major changes to the chamber when lawmakers return to Montpelier in January.Their losses came as Republicans appeared to pick up multiple seats in the Vermont Senate. Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, came in
  
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• Democrats lose supermajority in the Vermont House — and a pair of committee chairs

  06-11-2024 05:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Diane Lanpher, left, and Rep. Mike McCarthy lost their bids for reelection Tuesday. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated Nov. 6 at 2:12 a.m.The Democratic supermajority in the Vermont House is no more. Republicans picked up 18 seats in the 150-member chamber on Tuesday, dramatically reshaping power dynamics in the House. They’re set to hold 55 seats in the next biennium — enough to prevent Democrats and Progressives, who will hold 92 seats together, from overriding Repub
  
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• Democrats lose supermajority — and a pair of committee chairs — in the Vermont House

  06-11-2024 05:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Diane Lanpher, left, and Rep. Mike McCarthy lost their bids for reelection Tuesday. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated Nov. 6 at 2:12 a.m.The Democratic supermajority in the Vermont House is no more. Republicans picked up 18 seats in the 150-member chamber on Tuesday, dramatically reshaping power dynamics in the House. They’re set to hold 55 seats in the next biennium — enough to prevent Democrats and Progressives, who will hold 92 seats together, from overriding Repub
  
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• Burlington residents approve police oversight item as Vermonters cast their votes for town ballot items

  06-11-2024 04:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  Hardwick residents cast their ballots at the Municipal Building on Tuesday afternoon as Vermonters head to the polls for the 2024 General Election. Photo by Josh Kuckens/VTDiggerAmid a presidential election and several statewide races, Vermont residents also had several ballot items to cast their votes for on Tuesday.The items include several multimillion-dollar projects — including what’s been dubbed the largest infrastructure project in Shelburne’s history — as well as
  
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• Vermonters on edge as they await presidential election results

  06-11-2024 03:41 via vtdigger.org
  
  People follow election results during a Democratic Party election night gathering in South Burlington on Tuesday, November 5. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.Huddled around the TV at election watch parties, or glued to their phone screens for updates, Vermonters on Tuesday night waited as the results of the 2024 presidential race trickled in. Without many suspen
  
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• John Rodgers unseats David Zuckerman as lieutenant governor of Vermont

  06-11-2024 03:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  David Zuckerman, left, and John Rodgers. Photos by Riley Robinson and Mike Doughtery/VTDiggerUpdated Nov. 6, at 1:37 a.m.John Rodgers, a Republican from Glover, was elected lieutenant governor of Vermont Tuesday, unseating Progressive/Democrat Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman in a rare ouster of a statewide incumbent. The dramatic conclusion came at the end of a highly competitive — and at times highly personal — contest for the state’s second highest-ranking office. READ MOREThe
  
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• John Rodgers poised to unseat David Zuckerman as lieutenant governor of Vermont

  06-11-2024 03:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  David Zuckerman, left, and John Rodgers. Photos by Riley Robinson and Mike Doughtery/VTDiggerUpdated at 1:11 a.m.John Rodgers, a Republican from Glover, was on the verge of winning Vermont’s lieutenant gubernatorial race early Wednesday morning, almost certainly unseating Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman in what would be a rare ouster of a statewide incumbent. The dramatic conclusion came at the end of a highly competitive — and at times highly personal — contest for the st
  
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• David Zuckerman, John Rodgers locked in tight race for lieutenant governor

  06-11-2024 03:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  David Zuckerman, left, and John Rodgers. Photos by Riley Robinson and Mike Doughtery/VTDiggerUpdated at 9:41 p.m.Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat, and John Rodgers, a Republican, were locked in a tight race for Vermont’s second-highest office as of 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday with more than 60% of Vermont’s towns and cities reporting.Neither candidate was clearly ahead of the other as statewide results continued to trickle in.Rodgers led with 49% of the vote to Zuckerma
  
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• Republicans flip six seats in the Vermont Senate, shattering Democratic supermajority

  06-11-2024 03:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Senate meets at the Statehouse in Montpelier on March 23, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated at 1:31 a.m.The Vermont Republican Party has dismantled Democrats’ supermajority in the Vermont Senate, unseating four incumbents and dominating races for open seats.Republicans toppled Democratic incumbents in the Addison, Orange, Chittenden-North and Grand Isle districts, according to unofficial results provided by the Secretary of State’s Office, and they picked up anoth
  
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• Republicans flip seats in Vermont Senate

  06-11-2024 03:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Patrick Brennan, left, and Chris Mattos. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated at 10:03 p.m.The Vermont Republican Party has had its eyes on the state Senate as its best option for disrupting the supermajority Democrats have held in both legislative chambers.Early results Tuesday night suggested it was making progress toward that goal. By around 9 p.m., the GOP had flipped its first seat, with Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester, ousting recently appointed Democratic Sen. Andy Julow in the
  
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