TopFeatured.com

This commentary is by Jack Mayer, M.D., MPH, of Middlebury, a retired pediatrician and writer who founded Rainbow Pediatrics in Middlebury in 1991. He has been a persistent critic of the private health care system in the United States. I’ve spent my professional life as a primary care pediatrician, mostly in Vermont. Now I’m retired…

This commentary is by Chloe Learey, executive director of Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro. She chairs the steering committee of the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance. One of the lessons the Covid-19 pandemic hit home is the important role child care plays in our communities and economies.  Fortunately, this brought…

This commentary is by Isaac Evans-Frantz, executive director of Action Corps, an advisory board member of Freedom Forward, and co-leader of a national coalition to stop the Saudi blockade of Yemen. He chairs the Vermont Democratic Party’s LGBT+ caucus. He lives in southern Vermont. Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to advance his Yemen War…

This commentary is by John McClaughry, vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. One day in 1903 a police officer in Rutland accosted Andrew Rosenthal. We don’t know why he was accosted — whether he was in the act of committing a crime or otherwise attracted attention.  In any case, he was arrested and cited…

This commentary is by Lee Russ of Bennington, a retired legal editor who was the lead editor/author of both the third edition of “Couch on Insurance” and the Attorneys Medical Advisor. Imagine a group of people watching a house burn. They are gathered around a fire hydrant and a hose is coiled at their feet.…

This commentary is by Reps. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, and Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury, who are returning leaders of the nonpartisan Vermont House of Representatives Rural Caucus. Right now, towns in Vermont are faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, Vermont was allocated approximately $1.05 billion in State…

This commentary is by Elayne Clift, a columnist who writes from Brattleboro. I had been looking forward to a holiday respite while contemplating what my first commentary for 2023 might be. My notes suggested global warming, immigration challenges, and the earliest ever election season, which had started a nanosecond after the November election.  Then came…

This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former state legislator and lobbyist. So this is ChristmasAnd what have you doneAnother year overAnd a new one just begunAnd so this is ChristmasI hope you have funThe near and the dear onesThe old and the youngA very Merry ChristmasAnd a Happy New…

This commentary is by Judy Dow of Essex, executive director of Gedakina and an educator for the last 38 years. I take serious issue with a recent VTGOP e-newsletter released to supporters just before the Thanksgiving holiday by the Vermont Republican Party chair, a former state representative from Essex Junction, Paul Dame.  In it, Dame…

This commentary is by Anne Jameson, a resident of Marshfield. On a sunny day in May 2017, community members in Hyde Park, Vermont, were horrified to see a red fox with a steel-jaw leghold trap on one of her legs.  In a desperate attempt to escape, the fox unearthed the trap’s stake and was left…