Vermont news

• 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
  
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• Titan Potter: There is no such thing as a trauma-informed prison

  19-09-2024 15:41 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Titan Potter, a farmer and former environmental justice coordinator at the Vermont Agency of National Resources, who spent six years as a policy analyst with the Council of State Governments Justice Center. In 2021, The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released data showing that, over a 6-month period, 20% of incarcerated people “reported experiencing some form of physical violence, measured in terms of being hit, slapped, kicked, bit, choked, beat up, or hit wi
  
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• USPS announces plan to keep some local mail processing in Burlington

  19-09-2024 15:37 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Post Office in Burlington seen on Feb. 1, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe United States Postal Service now plans to keep some local mail processing operations at its facility in Burlington, the organization announced on Wednesday.The development, part of a USPS operational strategy proposal, comes four months after the organization said it would delay plans to move sorting operations from facilities in White River Junction and Burlington to Connecticut, following concerns from
  
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• Vermont Conversation: CNN’s Elle Reeve on how far-right extremism became the Republican mainstream

  19-09-2024 14:40 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Author Elle Reeve and her new book, “Black Pill.” Photos courtesy of Elle ReeveThe 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 Spotify to hear more.What do Nazis, fascists, incels, skinheads, misogynists, insurrectioni
  
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• Fall Member Drive: All Gifts Matched

  19-09-2024 02:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear reader, This is Paul Heintz, editor-in-chief of VTDigger. I’ve been told we’re very close to reaching our Fall Member Drive goal of $75,000 by the Sept. 22 deadline. To help us down the final stretch, a group of generous Vermont donors has offered to match all gifts dollar for dollar. This means that your contribution today will have twice the impact on our election coverage, daily news and investigative journalism. And if you sign up for a monthly recurring donation, it wi
  
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• John “Jack” McDonald

  19-09-2024 01:13 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born April 21, 1942Williamsport, PADied Sept. 15, 2024Essex Junction, VTDetails of serviceServices will be held at Holy Family Church in Essex Junction at 11 a.m. on Friday, September 20th. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to: Edmundite Missions, 1401 Broad St. Selma, AL 36701-4314Those wishing to express online condolences may do so at www.guareandsons.com.Jack is dead.  That’s what he told us he wanted as his obituary — always no-nonsense, our father — but there
  
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• In heated meeting, lawmakers hear about working conditions at Vermont’s prisons

  19-09-2024 00:02 via vtdigger.org
  
  Razor wire lines the recreation yard at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Monday, August 27, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerEmotions ran high at a legislative hearing Wednesday morning, where lawmakers heard from Vermont’s Department of Corrections, as well as the state employees’ union and correctional officers, themselves, about working conditions in Vermont’s prisons.Those testifying before the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Comm
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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.
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• Stig Albertsson

  17-09-2024 23:49 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Dec. 13, 1930Lindås, SwedenDied Aug. 22, 2024Shelburne, VermontDetails of servicesA memorial service celebrating his life will be held on October 19, 2024, 11:00 AM at the Charlotte Congregational Church, Charlotte, VT. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Manchester Community Library or United Counseling Service of Bennington County would be greatly appreciated.Stig Lennart Albertsson, 93, formerly of East Dorset, VT, passed away on August 22, 2024, surrounded by family after a short
  
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• Burlington pays out $215K to settle 2019 excessive force lawsuit

  17-09-2024 22:05 via vtdigger.org
  
  Burlington Police Department cruisers parked outside the department in Burlington on Monday, August 26, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe city of Burlington has paid out $215,000 to settle an excessive force lawsuit filed by a man who alleged police brutality, according to the man’s attorney.Mabior Jok, 40, filed the lawsuit in federal court in 2019. He accused Burlington police officer Joe Corrow of causing physical and mental damage and violating his rights after Corrow tackled an
  
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• Support staff at Porter Medical Center approve first union contract

  17-09-2024 20:28 via vtdigger.org
  
  Porter Medical Center in Middlebury. Photo courtesy of Porter Medical CenterRoughly 300 workers at Porter Medical Center ratified their first union contract late Saturday after three months of negotiations.Support staff, licensed practical nurses and technical professionals voted overwhelmingly to join the Vermont chapter of the American Federation of Teachers union in March, almost a decade after nurses at the Middlebury hospital unionized. Together those groups of employees represent about hal
  
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• State police identify Pawlet Selectboard member and family members as victims in triple-homicide

  17-09-2024 17:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Pawlet Town Hall seen on Sunday, March 14, 2021. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerBrian Crossman at an Aug. 6, 2024, Pawlet Selectboard meeting. Screenshot via PEGTV RutlandUpdated at 9:37 p.m.Days after the bodies of three people were found in a Pawlet home, Vermont State Police identified the victims late Tuesday. They did not, however, name a suspect. Police said in a press release that the deceased were Brian Crossman Sr., 46, a member of the town selectboard; Erica (Pawlusiak) Crossman,
  
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• Pawlet Selectboard mourns one of its own following ‘suspicious deaths’ of 3 in town

  17-09-2024 17:20 via vtdigger.org
  
  Pawlet Town Hall seen on Sunday, March 14, 2021. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Pawlet Selectboard on Tuesday morning released a statement mourning the loss of board member Brian Crossman.Vermont State Police have yet to release the identities of three people who were found dead in Pawlet on Sunday, but Crossman has been widely identified as one of the victims, including by the Manchester Journal. Police have yet to name a suspect, nor have they released further details in the case.In its st
  
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• Tulloch requests resentencing in Zantop case

  17-09-2024 16:57 via vtdigger.org
  
  Robert Tulloch departs, left, leaves the Grafton County courthouse in North Haverhill, N.H., following a hearing in 2001. Photo by Tom Retting/Valley News This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on Sept. 16. CONCORD — Robert Tulloch is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for his part in the murders of two Dartmouth College professors in 2001.For years, Tulloch, who was 17 years old when he murdered Half Zantop, has been challenging hi
  
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• James Douglas: Bipartisanship on Constitution Day

  17-09-2024 14:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by James Douglas, who served as the 80th Vermont governor from 2003-2011.Constitution Day reminds us of our obligation ascitizens to protect and defend our democracy and therule of law. This has been our sacred trust asAmericans since that document was signed in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787. I know this charge well, having led our state as governor. This year, the chief executives of all 50 states and the District of Columbia will have a new and crucial obligation under
  
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• Green Mountain Care Board trims hospital requests for increases to 2025 budget, service charges

  17-09-2024 00:45 via vtdigger.org
  
  Chart by Erin Petenko/VTDiggerA key Vermont health care regulator reduced hospital budgets by millions of dollars for the 2025 fiscal year, setting out financial guardrails for how the facilities can operate over the next 12 months.  The decisions, announced Friday by the Green Mountain Care Board, place caps on how much Vermont hospitals can charge for services and how much revenue they can bring in from those services. Earlier this year, Vermont’s hospitals asked the board
  
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• Welch and Vermont doctors tout new Medicare bill to increase payments to primary care

  17-09-2024 00:23 via vtdigger.org
  
  U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, at a press conference to discuss prescription medicine cost caps in Rutland on January 9, 2023.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerPrimary care practices across the country are being squeezed by a 35-year old provision in Medicare that has resulted in declining payments for services. In Vermont, where much of the state’s Medicaid fee schedule is based on what Medicare is paying, the impact has been worse, local providers said on Monday. They joined U.
  
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• Peter Welch and Vermont doctors tout new Medicare bill to increase payments to primary care

  17-09-2024 00:23 via vtdigger.org
  U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, at a press conference to discuss prescription medicine cost caps in Rutland on January 9, 2023.File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerPrimary care practices across the country are being squeezed by a 35-year old provision in Medicare that has resulted in declining payments for services. In Vermont, where much of the state’s Medicaid fee schedule is based on what Medicare is paying, the impact has been worse, local providers said on Monday. They joined U.
  
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• VT Coyotes are bringing professional basketball back to Barre

  16-09-2024 23:12 via vtdigger.org
  
  The logo of the VT Coyotes, a new semi-pro basketball team joining the American Basketball Association. Image courtesy of the VT CoyotesAfter a 13-year hiatus, professional basketball is coming back to Barre. The VT Coyotes, a new minor league team under the American Basketball Association (ABA), will begin competing in the 2025-26 season. The team plans to play its home games at the Barre Municipal Auditorium.“We are very excited to be back in Barre,” American Basketball Associ
  
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