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“Houses from the Past,” by Amelia Van Driesche, 18, of Burlington Young Writers Project is a creative online community of teen writers, photographers and artists, which has been based in Vermont since 2006. Each week, VTDigger features the writing and art of young Vermonters who publish their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for 12-…

Sean Trombly looks over his plants when cutting clones at his cannabis farm in Chelsea. Photo by Jennifer Huack/Valley News This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on August 27. SHARON — A Chelsea cannabis grower wants to bring pot, pizza and creamies to Sharon by taking over a once-popular…

Bordoville Road as seen from Route 108 in Enosburgh on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. A telecommunications tower has been proposed for a property up the street. Photo by Shaun Robinson/VTDigger A federal judge rejected a challenge to the state’s Public Utility Commission brought by a national telecommunications company whose proposal to build a 140-foot radio…

This commentary is by Will Marlier of Greensboro, state director of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy. Vermont is well known for its beautiful rural lands and history of rich tradition. Where the two intersect, at the focal point of outdoorsmanship and recreation, is a special point of pride for Vermonters across…

A still-frame image from the new documentary “Far Out: Life On & After the Commune” pictures revelers dancing around a maypole in Guilford on May 1, 1969. Courtesy Charles Light Ray Mungo’s origin story reads like the stuff of a movie script: Born in 1946, the Roman Catholic schoolboy morphed into a Marxist Boston University…

Whether the state should regulate or ban alcohol was a major political issue in Vermont starting in the early 1800s. Photo by Mark Bushnell This is an updated version of a column that originally ran in Feb. 2017. Vermont had a drinking problem. Like the rest of the young nation, Vermont during the early 1800s…

I think the heat-drunk garter snake living in our mailbox is an omen. As I lower the dented cover and reach gingerly inside to get our mail, I wonder if our battered mailbox won’t soon become an artifact of a bygone era. Our iconic U.S. Postal Service is nearly bankrupt. Its valiant history calls up…

The Sanborn Covered Bridge in Lyndon on Aug 8, 2024. Courtesy of Bill Caswell, President of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges The Lyndon community has spoken. The town’s hazard mitigation committee decided against taking any steps toward permanently removing the historic Sanborn Covered Bridge from its perch over the Passumpsic River,…

Construction continues on a housing project in Colchester on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Vermont would need to build between 24,000 and 36,000 new housing units to meet estimated demand over the next five years, according to the latest Vermont Housing Needs Assessment.  The new report, put together by the Vermont Housing…

People walk on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on September 20, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger More Vermonters are enrolled in the University of Vermont’s incoming first-year class this year, bucking — for the second year in a row — a slow decline in in-state enrollment. UVM administrators said the incoming class…

This commentary is by Ivy Enoch, SNAP policy and training lead at Hunger Free Vermont. As we mark the 60th anniversary of the Food Stamps Act, now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) nationally and 3SquaresVT here in Vermont, it is crucial to recognize the profound impact this landmark legislation has had on reducing…

The Border Patrol Swanton Sector headquarters in Swanton. Photo by Sawyer Loftus/VTDigger U.S. Border Patrol is reporting record numbers of migrants attempting to cross the Canadian border into Vermont and neighboring states — prompting the agency to bolster its ranks and apprehend more people in the region in response. At the same time, the cross-border…

An electric vehicle plugged into a fast charger in Rutland on Feb. 17, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger The Burlington Electric Department has received a $4.8 million Federal Highway Administration grant to install 200 new electric vehicle charging ports across the city over the next six years. The new ports will greatly expand the…

School buses are parked outside Mt. Mansfield Union High School in Jericho on March 5, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger When the Peacham School lost its bus route last November due to a bus driver shortage, Principal Samuel McLeod was in a quandary. The Caledonia County K-7 school has about 70 students and most of…

This commentary is by Sally Giddings Smith of Montpelier. I am not Catholic, nor am I a professional critic. However, I love great buildings and great parks, particularly when they go together, and especially in places which do not have many great buildings or much urban green space. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, designed…

This commentary is by Dr. Stephen Leffler, president and COO of the University of Vermont Medical Center. As Vermont’s population ages and in many places declines, we’re seeing the impact in all aspects of our daily lives — whether it’s housing, education or health care. What’s the core problem in Vermont’s health care system? At…

Dear Editor, I read with interest and some amusement the letter from Louis Meyers about the low turnout in the recent primaries and the apparent lack of participation in recent elections. I wondered if it was a case of sour grapes. Yes, incumbents won in August. In Burlington, Stewart Ledbetter, a retired newscaster, apparently thought…

A newly released poll from the University of New Hampshire found that nearly 40% of Vermonters surveyed feel their personal financial conditions are worse off than they were one year ago, and 42% of Vermonters surveyed reported at least some difficulty paying for basic necessities in the past year. Largely coloring respondents’ views of the…

Global Foundries in Essex Junction on Oct. 17, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Updated at 8:51 a.m. August 28 A coalition of environmental groups is raising concerns about the presence of PFAS chemicals in effluent from GlobalFoundries, a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Essex Junction. The plant routinely discharges into the Winooski River.  The organization…

Photo: Kelly Goslant-Durand (Mom), BryAnna Goslant, and Wayne Durand (Dad), at BryAnna’s college graduation. Back in the spring of 2022, VSAC profiled BryAnna Goslant of Danville, who was then a rising senior at Husson University, majoring in criminal justice, and gearing up for an internship with the Vermont Department of Corrections’ Probation and Parole Office…

This commentary is by Christine Hallquist — executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, Democratic nominee for Vermont governor in 2018 and former CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative — and Tee Thomas — CEO of Quantified Ventures and former water finance director for the state of Vermont. Vermonters are suffering from damage caused by…

This commentary is by John Greenberg of Marlboro. With no end in sight to the unavoidable expenses (e.g. health care costs, insurance, etc.) which prompted this year’s substantial rise in property taxes, tax policy is likely to feature prominently in November’s elections. Realistically, the choice that confronts policymakers is not whether or not to raise…