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Deb Bucknam, vice chair the Vermont Republican Party, is advising the town of Stamford. File photo by Erin Mansfield/VTDigger Chapter 13 of Title 20 specifies that a municipality can only terminate a state of emergency when it relates directly to a “natural disaster.” A localized flooding event would be applicable, Donovan said. In those cases,…

2020 was a year for the record books in so many ways, not least in the number of commentary submissions you sent to VTDigger.  There was plenty to talk about — Covid, of course, and the elections, local and national. George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests that swept the country brought a huge number…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, an English professor at the University of Vermont. He also represents Chittenden County in the Vermont Senate and currently chairs the Education Committee. Very few lobbying operations in the Vermont Statehouse are as shrewd, or as successful, as that maintained by the state’s flagship university.…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by James H. Maroney Jr. of Leicester, who has a master’s degree in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School and is a former farmer. There comes a time in the trajectory of any problem-solving endeavor, if exertions are not bearing fruit, to go back and question foundational beliefs.…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Michael Shank, of Brandon, who is communications director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. This month witnessed the launch of the first-ever “Gas Index,” which ranks American metropolitan areas on the leakiness of the gas supply chains that…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. Curt McCormack, of Burlington, a Democrat who represents the Chittenden 6-3 district in the Vermont House of Representatives and is the chair of the House Committee on Transportation. If the Covid-19 pandemic can reduce our carbon emissions in one month by the same amount as we need to…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rob Riley, who is president of the Northern Forest Center, which co-founded the national Rural Development Innovation Group with the Aspen Institute and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities. Over the past year, I’ve heard two very different narratives about rural America. The first is that rural people…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Phil Holland, of Pownal, who wrote about the part played by Robert Frost in the early days of Bennington College in the spring 2020 issue of the Bennington Museum’s Walloomsack Review. Robert Frost and his family had just moved into an old stone house in South Shaftsbury in December…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by John McClaughry, the vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute and a former member of the House and Senate. On Dec. 21, Gov. Phil Scott bailed out of the proposed 12-state Transportation and Climate Initiative, at least for 2021. Only three of the 12 hoped-for state participants have agreed…

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Paul D. Manganiello, MD, MPH, of Norwich, an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.  A major factor why Americans are expressing concerns over the integrity of our presidential elections is related to its very process, which is called the “Electoral…