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• Pride Center of Vermont appoints Michael Bensel as executive director

  07-08-2018 18:36 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Pride Center of VermontAug. 1, 2018
  Contact:Rex Butt802-860-7812rex@pridecentervt.org
  Burlington, VT. Pride Center of Vermont is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Bensel as Executive Director effective August 1, 2018.
  Mike needs no introduction to friends and supporters of the Pride Center of Vermont. As a student at the University of Vermont in 1999, Mike collaborated with one other UVM student to lead a series of focus groups which established the need for an
  
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• Jury awards former Dartmouth Health fertility doctor $1.1 million in damages

  13-04-2025 14:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center seen from the air on Dec. 9, 2017. Photo by Charles Hatcher/Valley NewsBURLINGTON — After deliberating for nearly 20 hours over three days, a U.S. District Court jury awarded $1.125 million in damages this week to a former fertility doctor at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center after finding her 2017 firing violated Vermont’s disability discrimination law.The jury of six women and six men determined that Dr. Misty Blanchette Porter, of Norwich, was e
  
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• What to know about hiking Vermont’s trails during mud season

  13-04-2025 14:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  A pedestrian makes their way through ruts on Texas Hill Road in Hinesburg on Monday, March 21, 2022. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMud season has returned, accompanied by state officials’ annual reminder to stay off soggy trails until they dry out.  “We encourage the public to get outside this spring, but to avoid closed and muddy trails,” Becca Washburn, the director of lands, administration and recreation for the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, said in a Ma
  
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• Young Writers Project: ‘The simplicity of the walk-and-talk’

  13-04-2025 13:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  “Foam and Sunset,” by Galya Siegel-Bromberg, 13, of Thetford.Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at 
  
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• Castleton constable hangs up his badge after 53 years

  13-04-2025 13:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Castleton Constable Silas Loomis rides is police motorcycle down Main Street in a past Castleton parade. Courtesy photo via the Community News ServiceMaddie Lindgren is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.Not many would venture out into icy water during the middle of winter, but Silas Loomis made it just another day at work. When a car crashed through the ice, Loomis didn’t flinch.“I knew i
  
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• A letter to the governor from the Brattleboro Union High School Student Advisory Committee

  13-04-2025 13:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Gov. Scott,We are the Brattleboro Union High School Student Advisory Committee, an organization of about a dozen students who work to bridge the gap between students, staff, administration and the The Windham Southeast School District School Board.In general, we focus on local issues, but in light of recent statewide proposals — including your “Transformative Education Plan” — we feel compelled to sound the alarm across Vermont.At every level, we strive to give every
  
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• David Moats: The wave must continue to grow

  13-04-2025 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by David Moats of Salisbury. He is editorial page editor emeritus of the Rutland Herald, where he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials on Vermont’s civil union law.The festive atmosphere on the town green in Brandon during the “Hands Off” protest on April 5 did not mask the seriousness of the moment. About 500 people gathered in Brandon that day, placards in hand, to join tens of thousands around the state and nation to oppose the destructio
  
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• ECFiber and operating company trade legal blows as contract renewal talks break down

  12-04-2025 01:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  A shipment of fiber optic cable is delivered to the Washington Electric Co-op in East Montpelier on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAmid a growing legal dispute, ECFiber is preparing to part ways with the Maine-based internet service provider that oversees its operations.At a Tuesday meeting, the governing board of the state’s oldest communication union district — a type of municipal body created to support the expansion faster internet to underserved parts o
  
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• Final Reading: Vermont leaders pan GOP-led federal voter ID bill

  12-04-2025 00:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, joined by Gov. Phill Scott, speaks at a pre-election press conference in Montpelier on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger“A dangerous step.”Speaking to reporters this week with her colleagues from two other states, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas used those three words to describe a federal bill that would require people to show documents proving their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. She sai
  
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• Native lake trout, the dweller of the deep, has returned to thrive in Lake Champlain

  12-04-2025 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  The final round of lake trout stocking in Lake Champlain in Spring 2025. Courtesy of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife DepartmentA decades-long effort to increase wild lake trout stock has recorded a rare conservation victory this month: The native species has been restored to Lake Champlain.The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department marked its final stocking effort this March and April by releasing more than 20,600 hatchery-raised fish in the Burlington waterfront and off ferries in Charlotte and Gra
  
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• Police release new details in deaths of two people in Eden

  12-04-2025 00:21 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Vermont State Police cruiser seen in Burlington on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe deaths of two people whose bodies were found this week in a home in Eden were the result of a homicide and suicide, according to Vermont State Police.The two have been identified as David Buchanon, 78, and his wife, Karol Buchanon, 70, who both lived at the home where their bodies were found, state police said in a release Friday.“Autopsy results and the investigation indicat
  
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• Federal judge may reverse federal order that would force two Champlain Valley Union students to leave the country

  11-04-2025 23:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Champlain Valley Union High School. Photo via Wikimedia CommonsA federal judge said Thursday she intends to issue a stay on the Department of Homeland Security’s order to end the humanitarian parole program, according to reporting from Reuters and other news sources.Two Nicaraguan students at Champlain Valley Union High School, who have been living in Vermont under that program, were planning to leave the country by the end of the month to comply with the federal government’s order.&
  
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• Vermonters to commemorate 250th anniversary of the state’s American Revolutionary history

  11-04-2025 23:24 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Bennington Battle Monument. Photo via Adobe StockAs the nation approaches its 250th anniversary of independence from Great Britain, Vermonters are hatching plans to celebrate the events that sparked the Revolution in 1775. Jonah Spivak, communications coordinator for the town of Bennington and member of several state and regional committees focused on the 250th anniversary, said he has been working for several years to bring Vermont’s Revolutionary history to life through commemor
  
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• After concessions, House advances education bill

  11-04-2025 23:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, left center, confers with House Minority Leader Rep. Pattie MCoy, R-Poultney, during a huddle at the speaker’s podium at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, April 11, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAfter a night of closed-door dealmaking and a day of public debate, the House passed its education reform bill Friday.The vote came after weeks of Republican opposition to the legislation, criticized by GOP representatives and Gov. Phi
  
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• Jon Copans: Why Vermont must invest in watershed resilience

  11-04-2025 13:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  As Vermont prepares its plan for utilizing Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds, it is crucial that we invest wisely in projects that will serve as catalysts for long-term resilience. While traditionally these funds are distributed town-by-town, the state should consider a regional approach as it decides what to include in a final plan. The CDBG-DR program provides flexibility in supporting a wide array of potential projects that help communities recover from major disa
  
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• Matt Wormser: Towards an abundance agenda for Vermont

  11-04-2025 13:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Matt Wormser, vice chair of the Shelburne Selectboard.Oceans of ink have been spilled since last November around the root cause of Democratic electoral failures, which in percentage of legislative seats lost was larger in Vermont than any other state. A couple of recent books — “Abundance” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, and “Why Nothing Works” by Marc Dunkelman – offer both a compelling explanation of “what went wrong” with
  
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• Rep. Marc Mihaly and Rep. Emilie Krasnow: H.479 is an important step toward addressing the housing crisis in Vermont

  11-04-2025 13:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Rep. Marc Mihaly, D-Calais, chair of the House General and Housing Committee, and Rep. Emilie Krasnow, D-South Burlington, ranking member of the House General and Housing Committee.The House of Representatives just passed a sweeping housing bill to address Vermont’s housing crisis. We are members of the General and Housing Committee, the committee charged with addressing many issues, including improving access to housing that Vermonters can afford. We’ve heard f
  
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• Bill offers incarcerated fathers equal parenting support

  11-04-2025 12:56 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Aug. 27, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerCharlotte Oliver is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.Since 2003, mothers in Vermont prisons have been able to visit their children in a room with carpets and couches and stay in touch free of charge through a partnership between the state and a nonprofit.But the same services
  
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• Final Reading: Lawmakers consider whether to keep some intoxicated Vermonters out of prisons

  11-04-2025 04:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, chair of the House Human Services Committee, right, listens to testimony on the implementation of the child care expansions put in place by 2023’s Act 76, at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerHouse lawmakers spent much of this week mulling how the state should treat residents who are, as a matter of law, incapacitated.Vermont statute describes incapacitated people as intoxicated or in withdrawal, and in need of
  
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• Trump’s immigration enforcement casts shadow over Vermont housing discrimination bill

  10-04-2025 22:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jose Ignacio speaks about the struggles migrants without a social security number face in finding housing during a press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, Jan. 10. The press conference was organized by Migrant Justice in support of proposed legislation to stop housing discrimination based on immigration status. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.When
  
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• Changes to federal grant rules cause loss of summer educational programming

  10-04-2025 22:39 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jill Briggs Campbell, deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Education, provides testimony about the loss of pending ESSER funds at a Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, April 9. ScreenshotFor the past three years the Orange Southwest School District has offered a five-week summer program for elementary students at no cost to families, including meals and transportation.About 70 out of 400 students were part of the optional program each year and participated in various activities from fi
  
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• 1,700 pounds of Cabot butter recalled in Vermont and 6 other states for possible fecal contamination

  10-04-2025 22:19 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont-based Cabot Creamery recalled nearly a ton of its Extra Creamy Premium Butter due to potential fecal contamination. Just 17 packages were sold to consumers, all in Vermont. Courtesy of Cabot Creamery.Cabot Creamery has issued a voluntary recall for nearly a ton of butter due to potential fecal contamination, the brand’s parent company, Agri-Mark Inc., announced Wednesday. The recall covers 189 cases of the iconic Vermont brand’s 8 ounce Extra Creamy Premium Butter across
  
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• Champlain Valley Union High School students face expulsion from the US

  10-04-2025 20:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Students and community members have made cards in support of the two Nicaraguan Champlain Valley Union High School students facing expulsion from the country by the end of April. Photo courtesy of Christina DaudelinTwo Champlain Valley Union High School students are being forced to leave the U.S., after an order from the Department of Homeland Security suspended a legal parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.The two Champlain Valley teenagers are originally from Nicarag
  
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• Less than one week left: Stand up for local reporting

  10-04-2025 19:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Reader,Your support powers journalism that holds decision makers to account — and brings Vermonters’ stories to light. Will you make a gift now during our Spring Member Drive?Join the Spring DriveLast fall, over 1,500 unhoused people exhausted their stays through Vermont’s motel voucher program – including 378 kids.The evictions were the result of new restrictions placed on the state’s politically contentious emergency housing program. I was in the room when la
  
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• The Rev. Janet K. Brown

  10-04-2025 17:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Aug. 1, 1942Queens, New YorkDied April 5, 2025Burlington, VermontThe Rev. Janet Kelly Brown, Vermont’s first woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest, and a clinical psychologist in private practice in Milton and Burlington for 29 years, died April 5, 2025, after a brief illness. She was 82. A service in celebration of her life will be on May 10 at 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington, with the Right Rev. Tom Ely presiding. A reception will follow at St. James
  
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• JC Butler: It’s time to teach the truth about Abenaki history and culture in our schools

  10-04-2025 13:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by JC Butler, a social studies teacher who lives in Essex.In Vermont, the truth about Indigenous history is buried under layers of myth, false narratives and outright deception. Our schools are failing students by presenting a sanitized, feel-good version of Native history — one that prioritizes the comfort of the settler majority over the hard and necessary truths about colonization, erasure and identity fraud.Nowhere is this failure more evident than in the state&rsquo
  
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• Nikhil Goyal and Kerry Kennedy: Vermont can show that we can be smart on crime by treating youth like youth

  10-04-2025 13:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Nikhil Goyal, a sociologist at the University of Vermont and founder of the Treat Youth Like Youth coalition, and by Kerry Kennedy, an activist, attorney and the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.A few years ago, an 18-year-old Vermont boy was struggling to cope with the death of a friend while working a shift at a gas station. All he wanted to do was return home and grieve. He didn’t own a car, and nobody was able to pick him up apart from a family friend w
  
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• Melissa Volansky and John G. King: We need to act to preserve primary care in Vermont

  10-04-2025 13:01 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Melissa Volansky and John G. King. Melissa Volansky is a primary care family physician working for Lamoille Health Partners and serving as Maple Mountain Consortium’s designated institutional official. John G. King is Maple Mountain Family Medicine Residency program director and professor of family medicine at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine.There is widespread debate about the future of health care, both in Vermont and at the federal leve
  
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• State police probe deaths of two people found inside Eden home

  10-04-2025 02:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Vermont State Police cruiser seen in Burlington on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAn investigation by Vermont State Police is underway into the deaths of two people found inside a home Wednesday afternoon in Eden.The bodies of the two deceased are expected to be taken to Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death, Vermont State Police stated in a press release Wednesday evening.The names of th
  
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• State police probe deaths of 2 people found inside Eden home

  10-04-2025 02:50 via vtdigger.org
  
  A Vermont State Police cruiser seen in Burlington on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAn investigation by Vermont State Police is underway into the deaths of two people found inside a home Wednesday afternoon in Eden.The bodies of the two deceased are expected to be taken to Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death, Vermont State Police stated in a press release Wednesday evening.The names of th
  
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