Sarah George, Eric Gonzalez and Miriam Aroni Krinsky: It’s time for state and local leaders to embrace overdose prevention centers

This commentary is by Sarah George, elected state’s attorney in Chittenden County; Eric Gonzalez, elected district attorney in Brooklyn; and Miriam Aroni Krinsky, executive director of the Fair and Just Prosecution organization. Overdose deaths in the United States have risen nearly 540% since 1999, a heartbreaking public health crisis that continues unabated.  We urgently need…

Suresh Garimella: UVM and Burlington, collaborating for a brighter future

This commentary is by Suresh Garimella, president of the University of Vermont. On behalf of the University of Vermont community, I congratulate Mayor-elect Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and the recently elected members of the Burlington City Council. The Queen City is a special place to live, work, and study, and it is with great optimism that I…

Nonprofit seeks to restore, reopen historic Miss Bellows Falls Diner

An architect’s rendering of the renovated and expanded Miss Bellows Falls Diner. Image via The Commons This story by Robert F. Smith was first published by The Commons on March 13. Plans are falling into place to make sure that a restored and reopened historic diner installed in downtown Bellows Falls 80 years ago heads…

Why does education matter? Ask Elaine Collins.

Elaine Collins. Photo courtesy of Elaine Collins Elaine Collins, the superintendent of North Country Supervisory Union, sat down before the Vermont House Education Committee on Thursday morning and apologized to those in the room. “I wrote this testimony at 4 a.m,” she said, adding that she was “too tired” to go off script. Collins had…

New film puts a human face on Vermonters who are ‘Just Getting By’

Colby Lynch is one of the people featured in Vermont filmmaker Bess O’Brien’s new documentary “Just Getting By.” Courtesy photo A Vermonter who identifies herself only as Katelyn is explaining how, five months pregnant in the coldest confines of winter, she had to sleep on the street. “The very first thing my grandmother had said…

Cats of Cambridge village: Long-operating cat colony gets community support

Gray Baby, a member of the Gates farm cat colony in Cambridge, lurks in a corner of the barn among the beef cattle. Photo by Gordon Miller/News & Citizen Gray Baby, a member of the Gates farm cat colony in Cambridge, lurks in a corner of the barn among the beef cattle. Photo by Gordon…

Irena Holubowsky Case

Born Dec. 23, 1935 Montreal, Canada Died Feb. 22, 2024 Hinesburg, Vermont Details of services A Memorial Mass and celebration will be planned for late Spring. Donations in her memory may be made to the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation (Chicago,IL) and the Vermont Forest Cemetery (Roxbury,VT). Irena Holubowsky Case swooped away from this world hand-in-hand…

Vermont shelves Newbury juvenile facility plan

The Newbury property that was being considered for the proposed juvenile detention facility. Photo by Rob Strong This story by John Lippman was first published by The Valley News on March 15. NEWBURY — In a sharp reversal, the state of Vermont has backed off a contentious plan to open a locked juvenile facility in…

Corrections officer accused of stealing incarcerated person’s wallet

The Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield in 2016. File photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger The Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield in 2016. File photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger The Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield in 2016. File photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger A corrections officer is accused of stealing an incarcerated person’s wallet while booking…

Elena Botts: Goddard College’s very existence is threatened

This commentary is by Elena Botts, who lives in Reykjavik, Iceland. She is the winner of four poetry contests and has had many books published. Her poems and writings have been published in more than 100 literary and scholarly magazines, and her visual artwork has won numerous awards and has been exhibited in various galleries. …

Josie Daigle: Vermont should be a leader on conservation

This commentary is by Josie Daigle of Burlington. As a student interested in policy and the environment, I wanted to learn more about the ways that wildlife policy decisions are made.  Given that Vermont is a state full of people who care deeply about the natural world and our interactions with it, I hoped to…

Paul F. Noel: Common sense and S.258

This commentary is by Paul F. Noel of Irasburg. He is a member of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board from Orleans County. He is also a volunteer instructor for the Fish & Wildlife Department and has a degree in fisheries and wildlife management from SUNY Cobleskill.  The introduction of bill S.258 and the reasoning…

Nancy Tips: Windham and the curse of Norman Rockwell

This commentary is by Nancy Tips of Windham. Somehow, our little town of Windham down here in southern Vermont made it through yet another Town Meeting without any untoward events. It was a marathon meeting, lasting eight hours, but for the most part, a certain hostile civility reigned. The truth is, we in Windham have…

Sarah Copeland Hanzas: Celebrate Civic Learning Week

This commentary is by Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont’s 39th secretary of state. She was a teacher, coach, small business owner and an 18-year member of the Vermont House before being elected as secretary of state in 2022. With Town Meeting Day and the presidential primary only a few days behind us, civic life is front…

At Copley Hospital, a top doctor’s firing has sparked a backlash

Copley Hospital in Morrisville. Courtesy photo Copley Hospital in Morrisville. Courtesy photo Copley Hospital in Morrisville. Courtesy photo In November, administrators at Copley Hospital fired Liam Gannon, a senior emergency department physician and former director of the department. That decision was a controversial one. In the immediate wake of the firing, current and former staff…

New owners of Sharon’s Midway Station seek to create community hub

The Tracy’s Midway Station building in Sharon was built in 1926 and served as a garage until 1986 when it became a convenience store, and closed in 2021. Photo by James M. Patterson/Valley News The Tracy’s Midway Station building in Sharon was built in 1926 and served as a garage until 1986 when it became…

Since 2021, Vermont’s religious schools have received an increasing amount of public education money

In 2021, court rulings gradually opened the door for religious schools to receive money through Vermont’s school tuitioning program, which allows students in districts without a designated public option to attend the school of their choice.  Then, a landmark June 2022 Supreme Court decision pushed it wide open.  Since the 2020-2021 school year, the public…

Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky: Bring Vermont seized and forfeited property into the light

This commentary is by Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky of Essex. She is a Progressive/Democrat representing the Chittenden-Central District. Vermont law enforcement agencies alert the media when they seize large amounts of drugs. They like the publicity. But once the photo op ends, no one knows what happens to the cash, cars and even entire houses that…

Ken Fredette: Smoke and mirrors on school spending

This commentary is by Ken Fredette of Wallingford. We have come to an even more unusual place than, well, usual, with public schools taking it squarely on the jaw as the purported challenge to Vermonters being able to remain Vermonters. I am compelled to try to cut through the smoke and mirrors: 1. Our public…

Cate Phypers: Town Meeting Day 2024, a day to remember 

This commentary is by Cate Phypers of Burlington. The dregs of winter in Burlington can be brutal. It’s gray. It’s damp. What’s left of the snow is dirty and littered with fossilized fall garbage, surfacing for the first time since November. It can be isolating and lonely.  March 5 wasn’t any different. It was cloudy…

Savannah Sly: No housing for the unchaste

This commentary is by Savannah Sly. She was raised in Orange County, where she continues to live and work. Savannah is the founder and co-director of New Moon Network, a national organization dedicated to advancing the rights and welfare of people in the sex trade. Vermonters, ask yourselves: Are you …  An unmarried individual who…

Vermont man incarcerated in Mississippi prison dies

A Barre man lodged in an out-of-state prison has died, according to the Vermont Department of Corrections.  Sean Ousterhout, 43, was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Prison staff attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead roughly half an hour…

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