TopFeatured.com

This commentary is by John Bossange of South Burlington, a retired middle school principal. We may ride through this latest Omicron tsunami with fewer and fewer infected and dead Vermonters, but it could have been different in our small state if we had a governor who ordered a temporary statewide mask mandate to offset those…

This commentary is by Nick Santoro, a resident of Rutland. With the deathly mess American government and the privatized medical industry have made with their Covid slapdash strategy, it seems a wee bit timely to design a universal health care system for those who need it (most of us), in conjunction with existing privatized health…

This commentary is by David Flemming, a policy analyst at the Ethan Allen Institute. When we talk about Vermont’s nearly $6 billion unfunded liability, most of us think about the teachers’ and state employees’ pensions. But these two giant liabilities account for only half of the state’s total unfunded liabilities. Where’s the other half? Well,…

This commentary is by Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director, Vermont Public Interest Research Group; along with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Conservation Voters, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club. As the Vermont Legislature swings into gear,…

This commentary is by Robby Porter of East Montpelier, a self-employed woodworker and owner of small hydroelectric projects. I try to limit my superstitions to knocking on wood and not making predictions about the future.  Having winnowed my overt irrational belief system to these two pillars, I cling to them for support at the slightest…

This commentary is by Eileen Haupt of Jericho, a board member of the Vermont Right to Life Committee. In Dr. Lauren MacAfee’s commentary, she claims that opponents of the proposed amendment (Proposal 5) are spreading “false and misleading information” about what the amendment does and doesn’t do. She takes particular issue with opponents’ claims that…

This commentary is by Karen Saunders of Brattleboro, vice president of the Vermont Workers’ Center.  In the final years of his life, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took up the Poor People’s Campaign — a crusade to unite the poor across color lines in a broad-based movement to end poverty, racism and militarism and…

This commentary is by Rev. Joan Javier-Duval of Montpelier, a Unitarian Universalist minister. I am an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and I support the Reproductive Liberty Amendment (Prop 5), a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution that would protect every Vermonter’s right to make their own reproductive decisions. Within the past month, I have heard…

This commentary is by Susan Aranoff, senior planner and policy analyst for the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council.  The Covid-19 global pandemic has laid bare disparities in health, health care and education that exist in Vermont, throughout the United States, and indeed, throughout the entire world.  During the first year of this biennium, our Legislature —…

This commentary is by Joe Boutin of Sunderland, a contractor in a business partnership with his two sons. He has been in construction for 51 years and has worked in five countries, under EU and Norwegian code regulations. VTDigger states that bill H.157 is the “first-ever certification process for construction.” The bill would “mandate registration…

This commentary is by Deborah Lisi-Baker of Waterbury, a member of the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights; she has been active in disability rights and policy initiatives for over 40 years. Before retiring, she was associate director of UVM’s Center on Disability and Community Inclusion.  I read Jonah Richard’s commentary on Vermont’s Access Rules as…