News

Colchester is a haven for manufactured housing in pricey Chittenden County

Alkaline hydrolysis — a cremation process that dissolves body tissue in water and chemicals — has been introduced to Vermont as a greener afterlife alternative.

Restrictions on development in certain forested areas spark controversy

Student Government Association approves club after initial denial and pressure from a club member’s parent.

A national shortage of officials threatens to interrupt games across at over 70 high schools in the Vermont Principals’ Association.

Asian longhorned beetle, found in Massachusetts, not spotted here yet

From Nov. 15-30, Vermont Fish and Wildlife will be collecting deer teeth from hunters to evaluate deer population management decisions.

It’s part of a new civic education program led by the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State.

“Right now, we’re just trying to keep our head down and keep serving the community.”

Bin Force One is a new Rutland-based business that offers trash bin sanitization and exterior cleaning for homes and businesses.

New Italian restaurant in Rutland offers spins on old classics and is named after the owner’s grandmother’s hometown in Italy.

Dragonheart Vermont celebrated the pairing of paddling and rehabilitation from cancer at the 19th Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival this August.

Growers gathered at Sam Mazza’s Farm last Saturday to see who had the biggest pumpkin.

Crowds visited the Fair Haven Green for fall foods and crafts on Sept. 20 despite fewer apple stands this year.

The sculpture, revealed on Sept. 19, is dedicated to local health care workers who responded to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Students and professors from two Vermont State University schools went to Canadian Arctic last spring to collect ice and snow samples for studies – including a search for microplastics.

For the businesses that remain open, many said they’ve had to shift their operations to keep up with the disruptions. 

Reliance on on-site septic and well water signifies that a place “is frozen in amber, ain’t nothing gonna happen here again, it is what it is, nothing’s gonna change,” said Chris Campany, executive director of the Windham County Regional Planning Commission.

In May, the University of Vermont published research on a Monkton wildlife underpass that protects amphibians from vehicles. At the same time, a major crossing on Interstate-89 and Route 2 was retracted due to a lack of funding. 

Scientists say the fish are a reliable measure of lake and basin ecological health.

The Bobolink Project pays owners of fields, often farmers, to conduct bird-friendly practices. The birds get time and habitat to nest while the landowners get some compensation for letting them do so.

Activities in the park such as a live music series and a community garden are threatened by flood risk

“The first flush is the most concentrated pollution load, and over time, dripping oil in grease from cars, road grit, and leaf litter are all built up. This system is specifically created to treat that buildup,” said Patrick Hurley, the Project Manager at Memphremagog Watershed Association. 

Here’s what gameday looked like beyond Virtue Field in a historic year for Vermont soccer. 

Now in its second year, the Green State Tattoo Convention drew dozens of artists from across the country and hundreds of potential clients. 

Even the pooches who didn’t win still wagged their tails and grinned ear to ear.

“Every single one of the games is so exciting — they take it right down to the end. You buy the whole seat, but you only use the edge.”

The Telephone Gap Integrated Resource project had a historic level of public engagement, according to advocates, before it passed in June.

“We are always looking for opportunities on the stream where we can feasibly drop wood,” said James King.

Quebec’s first case since 2015 was found just a mile across the border from a rabid raccoon in Highgate.

The Green River Reservoir State Park needed an alternative to a gas-powered boat. Park supporters gave them an electric canoe in order to maintain the land properly without causing a noise disturbance. 

As plant species face population decline, herbalists teach foragers to be mindful of what they are taking

Many residents are familiar with recycling and composting — but one Vermont initiative focuses on making it easier to reuse.

The workout in 2024 and 2025 has since raised $10,000 each, thanks in large part to an anonymous match of the gym’s $5,000 goal.

When Canada geese molt their flying feathers in the summer, scientists see a key window to study and track them.

A food-start up bill exempts home based food producers from requiring state food safety permits if they keep their sales under $30,000.

Watching the cheddar cheese–making process is the centerpoint of Shelburne Farms’ “Sun to Cheese” tour, which opened May 10 and runs into October. 

“Most of our students have immigration backgrounds … and it has not been easy,” said Stevya Mukuzo, an outreach counselor and educator at Winooski High School.

Winooski has French bread and Quebecois roots — and now the taste of chicken banh mi from Vietnam, colorful weave-work crafted by Nepalese hands and Kenyan folk music. 

Since 1900, annual temperatures in Vermont have increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and annual precipitation has increased by 21% over the same span, according to the state.

If any damage is incurred to the town’s culverts before the new fiscal year, Charlotte will be able to cover the costs out of pocket, the road commissioner said.

More than 60 students at Brookside Primary participated in the annual live wax museum last Thursday.

Two wins and two sellouts marked this year’s women’s exhibition matches as a permanent team is in the works.

Check out our interactive map of the roughly 300 articles published by Community News Service for last year.

A corner kick zipped past the goal and landed for a close-range volley 74 minutes in, delivering the Green a 4–0 final.

Ruth Stone House endures as a haven for writers and artists.

How community involvement helped Ava Nnochiri find her home

After 38 years, teacher Chris Costello is set to retire.

Three Rutland area students are headed to Georgia next month to represent the area in the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.

The story behind the clean-up

What South Burlington’s Parks and Open Spaces Master Plan is trying to do

Chocolate is one of Vermont’s top food exports. But cacao doesn’t grow here — and climate change has been disrupting the global supply chain.

“What can I do more?” Abe Rosenberg asks

With post-flood renovations in the basement and upgrades to the theater’s upstairs, the Savoy crew is hitting back against the streaming surge. 

Walleye season started this month. Almost 5 million of the fish have been stocked in Vermont’s waters since 2009, the state says.

Lawmakers earlier this month listened to the report.

A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.

Yellow buoys mark the wrecks’ locations, and divers can follow their lines down to submerged signage identifying each.

Voters will decide whether to provide $15,000.

Katharine Ogden uses what she learned as a competitive skier as a clinician and coach.

Under the bill, fathers in prison would be able to take parenting classes, visit with their children in a child-friendly space and talk to them via free video calls.

The bugs have been spotted in 96 out of Vermont’s 247 municipal areas, the state says.

The event was presented by the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum with funding from Vermont Humanities — from which the Trump administration recently slashed almost $729,000.

The Canadian students say they are frustrated by how tariffs affect their daily lives.

Neither version of the bill will get voted out of the Legislature this year, but lawmakers are making moves to develop the proposals ahead of the second half of the biennium.

Thanks to donors, a Vermont Historical Society program will continue, at least through October.

Elizabeth Nelson paints landscapes stretching from Iceland to the NEK.

“You always need that one thing that excites you”

Construction on the project, which is being overseen by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, is set to start in late May and last until November.

If Vermont ever pursued hosting the Games, it should partner up with its neighbors, said the comptroller of the 1980 Games in Lake Placid.

It comes from the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, newly formed this session in part to prioritize digital technology initiatives that had been overshadowed.

Rutland area residents took to the streets Thursday as part of nationwide protests of the Trump administration.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship When one of Vermont’s oldest lumber mills, run by the A. Johnson Company in Bristol, shut down its saws in 2023 after 117 years in business, it seemed like another sign of a waning timber industry.  Now, a sweeping executive order from President Donald Trump […]

Rutland area residents who have struggled with addiction are writing their way to recovery in a unique workshop.

The concert was the latest in a partnership between the Phoenix and performing arts nonprofit TURNmusic.

A company with Rutland ties has developed a way to transform human urine into useable fertilizer in a process they refer to as “pee-cycling.”

For years, dams have been built to control river flow, power industry and prevent floods. Ecologists argue they just move the damage further downstream.

Over the last two years, “persistently rainy conditions made many forested areas too wet to harvest,” a logging industry rep told legislators.

It looks like a mobile home park. The state says it isn’t. The folks in this Williston neighborhood are frustrated they can’t access the help that classification would afford them.

The Trump administration paused access to more than $16 million sent to Vermont through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. 

Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and Vermont resident, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Colchester this month.

Farmers say it helps secure their bottom line, and officials in and outside the Legislature say it’s vital to curbing hunger. 

Most witnessed have supported the bill, but a few concerns have come up about free speech and news media’s liabilities.

Lawmakers and officials agree it isn’t ideal to imprison Vermonters out of state, but they say bringing them back would put in-state prisons dangerously over capacity. 

Immigration crackdown makes migrant dairy workers vulnerable, advocates say

A local artist hopes the statue will educate and inspire

Current home set to be torn down soon

Here are four groups across the state that are fighting for a safer, more just Vermont.

Around 100 of the 700 3-acre sites in Vermont are subdivisions, but the state doesn’t know exactly how many people live on those parcels.

The owner of the Rutland-based Funky Flies online store are creating wild skateboard decks and turning some into pet bowls featured on Chewy.com

The biochar project is designed to help curb methane emissions from cow manure at the sprawling property along Lake Champlain.

Program continues in its mission despite attacks and uncertainty.

Sen. Allison Clarkson, one of two lead sponsors, said licensure can provide consistency and professionalization, as well as increased wages. 

The race shows off the ski area’s snow-making infrastructure and capacity to extend the ski season.

The program lives in a space distinct from the cold surfaces of the rest of the prison. In the room two green couches sit atop a patterned rug, with a shelf of toys stacked against the wall.

The buildings in question are the NOAA building in Barre, the HUD building in Burlington and the Natural Resources Conservation Service building in St. Johnsbury

Thousands gather in Montpelier as part of nationwide action.

Silas Loomis, who has been the Castleton constable since Richard Nixon was in the White House, is calling it quits and sharing lots of wild stories from his more than five decades in the position.

The federal government matches every dollar donated to the program roughly threefold so that the $15 stamp purchase turns into $60.

The two owners met playing softball and have been friends for around 30 years.

The bill would guarantee employees can take two weeks of unpaid time off from work after the death of a family member.

Steven Lulek has owned the Green Mountain Climbing Center in Rutland for more than two decades, but finding climbers these days is getting tougher, and he’s not sure why.

Poultney officials have taken action against two dogs in town accused of killing neighbors’ chickens.

With a background in environmental law, she steps into the role at a crucial time for the lake’s health.

Seniors have always been a demographic at Stowe Mountain Resort, which spans Mt. Mansfield and Spruce Peak, receiving discounted passes.

State employees working with victims say the system doesn’t work — some even tell people not to sign up. For one woman, an “unbelievable gap” led to life-altering danger.

Guy Crosby collects plastic waste from farms and brings them to a landfill in New Hampshire, where they are compacted into a bale. 

The bills focus on age-appropriate design, more guards on consumer data and stricter regulations for data brokers.

A perfect storm — that’s how industry leaders describe the challenges Vermont developers face in 2025. 

For three decades, Special Effects salon in Castleton has been catering to locals, college students and Lake Bomoseen visitors.

Merchant’s Row in Rutland now has three thrift stores, offering thrifters lots of options.

Legislators were eyeing a pool of $7.5 million for the 2026 fiscal year, though the bill on the Senate floor now leaves the price tag to be determined.

“The access to fresh locally grown food is something that they’ll miss,” said a founder.

Said a South Burlington teacher: “There has to be a balance, right? I don’t want this to be my only focus because the more the student feels embroiled in this situation, the more unsteady they’re going to feel.”

The yoga routine of a Fair Haven woman sparked a business, aided by some like-minded friends.

Gov. Phil Scott is setting his sights on programs where he believes the state can afford to cut costs. 

The U.S. Postal Service has offered little explanation for the gulf in pricing.

Young Vermonters often decide to leave their small hometowns for jobs elsewhere, but siblings Martin and Whitney VanBuren decided to stay put and make a difference in Poultney.

It was the third-highest snowpack reading for that date since 1954, when the stake was installed, making this winter one of the snowiest on record.

The new building features a cardio and weight room, a track overlooking a full-sized gymnasium, locker rooms, classroom and studio space and a kitchen.

The authors of the resolutions condemned the Trump administration’s actions across the board.

The final vote was 1,181 against and 887 for the pledge.

Town is trying to get FEMA to reimburse millions in flood expenses

Residents voted 130-30 to pass Article 13, which proposed a reserve fund dedicated to expanding the community.

Tax hikes and program cuts spark debate

By a 66-41 vote, residents gave the green light to a project that’s been in the works for three years

Voters share the values behind their votes

Taxes, spending at issue

Amid the lasagna and love, voters weighed in on contentious issues.

Everybody Wins! Vermont is looking for new volunteers

Two House bills would bar service providers from deceptive business practices and require them to offer cheap broadband plans.

Protesters described the event as anti-trans and the speakers as unqualified.

Voters in West Rutland on Town Meeting Day will decide whether to fund a $2.3 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant.

Munger Road in Fair Haven will once again be maintained as a class-four town road after town officials recently cracked a six-decade mystery.

In a state where about 47% of adults never attend religious ceremonies, spirituality is still fostered amid yoga studios, apothecaries, mindfulness retreats and in nature itself through pagan practices.

“Without him, your picture of the history of Vermont is massively incomplete,” said J. Kevin Graffagnino, author of “Ira Allen: A Biography.”

Toad’s Burger Bar in Poultney has become a go-to eatery for locals and a magnet for those passing through. Owners Andrew Breting and Caden Capman have been blown away by the success.

A new committee aims to add more housing while protecting the environment.

The bill is modeled after California’s 2024 School Food Safety Act.

A new bill would inventory state properties for potential for housing development.

Voters in Charlotte are deciding whether to abandon the 236-year-old tradition of direct democracy for the access and convenience of the secret ballot.

Starting in 2027, builders will replace the floodgates with thicker, sturdier ones and swap out the bridge above the spillway.

“I don’t think it’s a partisan issue,” Copeland Hanzas said. “It’s really just to make sure that elections are honest and accurate and fair.”

Rutland Regional Medical Center has installed a Mamava lactation pod providing hospital workers and the public a comfortable, private place for mothers to pump.

“It’s a really gut-wrenching situation for all the parties involved,” said the commission’s executive director.

Vermont State University’s DEI leader answers a variety of questions regarding new DEI challenges and personal questions about his life in Vermont.

Legislators in both chambers have been in talks about chloride’s impact on waterways.

The Central Vermont Refugee Action Network was founded in 2015 due to concerns with how people were being separated and mistreated at the border.

As safeguards to ensure a degree of local input, Scott is calling for the creation of local school advisory councils, which his proposal states will “promote high levels of community engagement.”

Usually up to 20 detainees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are held in state prisons on a given day.

“This event is a way to help people with a little bit more background to show them the tools and give them the opportunity to use the tools without having to purchase things and not know what’s going on,” staff said. 

Engineers’ recommendations revolve largely around the construction of two new bridges on Main Street across tributaries of the Winooski River.

About half the shares of Calabash Gardens are owned by family and friends, and 39% are owned by people of color.

It’s been over a year since the Westbury mobile home park in Colchester became the Village of Westbury, the first village established in Vermont in nearly a century.

Almogalli sees herself in the students: Winooski is the only majority-minority school district in Vermont, and its students come from more than two dozen countries.

Sarah Jayne Kennelly creates showcases in South Burlington’s Public Art Gallery.

Dec. 11 was owner Dan Hock’s 38th birthday and Winooski Wheels’ second.

Bob Murray and his wife, Carlie, bought the 60-acre plot of land and planted their first tree in 1976.

Robin Shover founded the Shelburne-based non-profit in 2014 and has since rescued over 3,000 dogs.

Group members say weather patterns may have contributed to the huge uptick in sightings this year.

The lieutenant governor-elect sits down with the Winooski News to talk about his upset victory, path in politics and what he wants to prioritize come January.

The state advisory group plans to keep monitoring research and policy around psilocybin nationwide.

The Greater Randolph Senior Center delivers about 45 meals per day to homebound people 60 and older, as well as adults with disabilities.

Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner emphasized three goals city leaders are looking at: affordability, multi-bedroom units and putting units up for sale.

“I just came off a 14-hour workday to come to this meeting, and I’m sick of all this ridiculous spending,” said one Moretown resident.

The change comes at what seems to be a significant time for regional co-ops as two other within 30 minutes have undergone significant changes in the last six years.

The event, taking place for the third time, was a way for Jewish orgs and members to share stories, jokes and dishes.

Following a population dip in the 1960s and 1970s, the muskellunge were seemingly wiped out after an untreated waste spill.

The project is part of the Vermont Green Schools Initiative, a partnership between the Lake Champlain Sea Grant, state environmental conservation department and Greenprint Partners.

The third such expo hosted nearly 1,000 visitors to celebrate steampunk culture, said an organizer.

Poll officials field voting questions and preside over a calm Election Day.

Despite election anxiety, Charlotters report a welcoming atmosphere at the polls.

Hundreds of enthusiasts come every year in search of supernatural experiences.

Data on sidewalk defects will help South Burlington officials make walking safer and more enjoyable.

A steady stream of voters, volunteers and candidates made for a busy day at Brookside Primary School.

Vignettes from Election Day In Chelsea and Tunbridge.

Vermonters volunteering at the polls faced anxious voters this election but assured that there are plenty of steps taken to keep ballots safe.

Scenes on the ground in Barre and Montpelier for Election Day 2024

Check out vignettes from polling places around Chittenden County.

“I don’t want to be a single-issue person in the Statehouse because of my background, so I always want to prioritize what’s important to Winooski.”

Both neighbors agree their aim is to call attention to the election, and they hope passersby will be reminded to vote. 

The project aims to eventually provide New York City with 20% of its annual energy needs through hydropower. It’s pegged to cost some $6 billion.

“Anecdotally, it does increase voter participation because it puts the ballot in front of every voter and they have the opportunity to return the ballot early if they aren’t able to make it on Election Day,” the town clerk said.

Both farmers with long histories of public service, O’Brien and Post are running to represent the Windsor-Orange 2 House district.

Incumbent Democrat Carl Demrow and Republican challenger Michael Tagliavia will face off on housing affordability, public safety and education this Election Day.

Beck, a Republican representing the Caledonia 3 House district, is vying for a seat in the Senate.

Amanda Cochrane is running as a Democrat for the Caledonia Senate district, advocating investment on mental health and housing to bring young residents to Vermont.

Since 2016, the number of Vermont schools serving as polling places has decreased by more than half.

The July 2024 flooding was more destructive downstream while the December 2023 flooding resulted in higher flow because it involved snow and rain, said one scientist.

“Prisons are the least transparent and most understudied public institutions in the country. So doing research inside prisons — people just don’t do it, and therefore they’re like these black boxes.”

In a unanimous resolution, city councilors said Winooski had “greatly benefitted from his dedicated work and effective leadership” and that he made the city “a better place for years to come.”

Harwood students posed questions on taxes, school funding, flood mitigation and housing.

Vermont Superior Court Judge Robert Mello’s collection of 475 artifacts were up for auction, drawing a crowd of collectors and dealers to Burlington.

From the president of the United States to all 180 seats in the Vermont Legislature, here is what’s on the ballot.

Tomlinson is running for one of two seats to represent Winooski in the House as a member of the Vermont Progressive and Democratic parties.

The bakery, opened by Bosnian couple Alma and Orhan Smailhodzic, opened this April right off the Winooski roundabout.

A judge in August sided with the cannabis and duck farmer, but his neighbors are pursuing an appeal of that decision.

The survey, done with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center, focused on 212 Spanish-speaking migrants working on farms.

CNS journalists plan to delve into the data to tease out trends and provide Vermonters with a deeper understanding of the state’s vote-by-mail system.

The event marked the first Abenaki log burn in the delta in over 300 years, said a member of the Nulhegan Abenaki tribe.

Your guide to Election Day 2024.

Here are answers to your voting questions.

Here are answers to frequently asked voting questions.

Here is how to be vote-ready in Vermont, including a unique voter’s oath that originated with adoption of the state’s 1777 Constitution.

“I don’t know if the worst breath is a bragging right, but hey, you won something!”

More than 60 units are planned in total across the two towns. Both project planners say state brownfield grants have helped get the ball rolling.

The ancient spear-throwing tool predates the bow and arrow and was used by Indigenous people all over the world for hunting. It lets someone launch the spear like a mini-catapult.

Frequently asked questions and answers ahead of Election Day in Hinesburg.

Frequently asked questions and answers ahead of Election Day in Shelburne.

Frequently asked questions and answers ahead of Election Day in Charlotte.

Frequently asked questions and answers ahead of Election Day in South Burlington.

A voting resource from the Winooski News.

“You can control a lot of things — but the one thing you can’t control is if the fish is gonna bite,” said the coach of last year’s state champs.

Lewis has turned Rusty Parker Memorial Park into a venue for Waterbury traditions like sunflower and zucchini growing competitions.

The over $28 million project began in April and is slated to continue into 2026. Officials say it’s an investment for the city’s future.

Following an Act 250 investigation last year, the shipyard was issued an after-the-fact permit for construction.

The PSA, “Not Losing You,” will be filmed on Sept. 21 and 22, then released by Oct. 1 to local television stations in Pennsylvania, Lantz said.

The 2024 celebration boasted music, food, vendor tables and interactive projects.

The stockpile can reimburse search and rescue efforts in the Green Mountain National Forest, said the state treasurer.

The Heritage Winooski Mill Museum, which organized the fair, brimmed with posters, quilts and blankets as exhibits traced the threads between modern Winooski and its wool manufacturing past. 

Any Brattleboroean can benefit from MicroMoo2 but the influx of resettled refugees made the need even more urgent.

With their own kits, groups measure E.coli bacteria levels, the marker used by the EPA to measure how safe water is to swim in.

Backed by $7 million in grants, the center aims to study and grow partnerships between higher education and news outlets.

September Long Trail Day fundraiser aims to power ongoing trail work.

Martz describes her exhibition, which runs until the end of September, as an exploration of nature’s adaptability and how, over time, it erases human imprints to restore equilibrium

Supernatural senses and well-running AC filled the air, occasionally pierced by drumbeats and the echoes of singing bowls.

Farmers in Vermont and in Latin America face many of the same challenges, and events like the picnic help make that connection for people here, an organizer said.

This is the third year of the Summer Six Pack series, which drew its inspiration for the open-start format from the Covid-19 pandemic

The public will get a chance to learn more about the project at an August public meeting.

The exhibit opened in Shelburne last month as the first stop on its national tour and will run until Oct. 20.

The federally funded aviation group undertakes search and rescue missions, helps after disasters and collects landscape data from the skies.

Researchers also announced the Lake Champlain Sea Grant was awarded just under $300,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As of mid-July, none of the property owners nor local officials had heard back from FEMA. A year after floods ripped through Vermont, they have been left in the lurch. 

The NEK org’s $1 million fundraising goal from last summer has gone up to $2.5 million.

Barely a month after workers cut a tree off a bridge from last year’s floods, two more logs are jammed into the structure.

Oohs and aahs filled the air as performers entered the stage under the bright lights and tent ceiling dazzling with colorful stars.

“We’re trying to start small and tackle this issue,” said a junior involved in the effort. “It’s hard to see the world destructing and not take action.”

Mejia was working with her legal team to file for asylum and apply for a visa for human trafficking victims, said Migrant Justice.

The sound of rain during the press conference brought a sense of déjà vu as foreboding forecasts rolled in — and then delivered on their worst promise by flooding the town again.

“We want to bring to bear for good, but we also want to do that in a very humble and a servant style.”

The project was showcased as a success story for collaborations between municipalities and businesses coming together to spur economic development in Vermont’s small towns.

The trail demands much of the rider and offers rewards. Its 301 miles are peppered with 30,300 feet in total climb — all on public dirt roads between a dozen rocky sections. 

Tent City, as the encampment was known, sat tucked in a patch of woods behind the downtown train station and Food City grocery store.

Most attendees said the school’s small size and project-based learning style gives students an edge over those from other schools.

“We’re not on the level of having gigantic fires in Vermont yet,” Dillner said. But officials believe Vermonters should pay attention and prepare to protect their homes and health.

Where can you buy a cheap hardware desk, find an antique embalming machine and pick up the pocket knife you had to give to security officials when you flew from the airport?

The event, hosted by the Vermont Community Development Association, will be held June 25 at the Hardwick Town House on Church Street.

Elkins and Gravel became co-executive directors in January. Putting the statement into writing, said Elkins, was a way for AWARE to take a concrete step toward committing to diversity.

The gals in green will face off in a friendly match against Quebec’s FC Laval at 6 p.m. Saturday. In donning the jersey, they have a chance to inspire fans with a high-level showcase of the women’s game

The students in Cabot’s Class of 2024, like most graduating seniors around the world, started their high school careers in the thick of Covid-19 quarantines in 2020.

The town-owned library in Hardwick is getting an expansion for more books, space for quiet reading and youth sections and events.

In early May, a salesman was telling customers they could buy a Tesla online and pick it up at the dealership only if they had their own financing.

Cabot residents have since had to travel nearly five miles to Marshfield for mail services, including access to post office boxes and package pickup and drop-off.

Participants slept outside to raise awareness of veteran homelessness and to fundraise for a nonprofit called The Veterans’ Place in Northfield.

A land trust in Vermont has a program to help people of color make a down payment on their house.

Close to 500 landowners have expressed interest in being paid around $300 an acre, dispersed over a 20-year period, for preserving forestland.

Former programming director at the Shelburne’s library, Broder took the Hinesburg position in October and said he tries to be funny and silly in an otherwise serious job.

It has become increasingly more expensive to keep and repopulate his hives, the vetoed bill’s sponsor said, because colonies are dying at faster rates in recent years.

The trend has accelerated since the peak of the pandemic, data shows. More and more people are trekking off-path without being prepared, increasing the danger, say those in the field.

The event included music, costumes and an auction to raise money to help a 9-year-old diagnosed with cancer last year.

Staffing shortages in Waterbury are among post office problems across Vermont that have disrupted deliveries and inconvenienced residents.

While these big wins sound alluring, very few sports bettors leave with any profit. The average sports bettor has lost around 8 cents for every dollar they spent since 2018, according to a review of sportsbooks’ earnings last year.

Some business owners have mixed feelings.

The city’s long-delayed Main Street Revitalization project began last month.

The bill seeks to ensure better legal protections for donors.

The commission denied the project March 27 after seven months of deliberation.

Part of the bill aimed to ban hunters from using dogs and bait — without a trappers’ license — to hunt coyotes in the state.

In recent years, libraries across the country have come under fire for housing books that focus on gender, sexual and racial identity, especially those for children.

Vermont’s only women’s prison, Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, is half a century old and in terrible shape. The state has set aside millions for a new facility, but construction is years away.

The storytimes give parents a chance to do a chore while their kids learn. Organizers hope people will turn out for the next event May 30.

Five years of data analyzed by Community News Service shows the state’s largest transit system is approaching an inflection point on the back of haywire trends.

The hope is to train volunteers in planting and caring for the 50-plus trees set to occupy the green space over the next two years.

The complicated state funding formula gave additional weight to students who speak a first language other than English and who live in low-income households.

The food shelf, a service of the church on West Allen Street, welcomes visitors on the second and fourth Wednesday and Saturday of the month.

Sunita Dholakia, of Rutland, is one of 114 finalists competing in Haut Monde Mrs. India Worldwide, an annual beauty pageant for married Indian women across the globe.

It’s a conundrum with many variables and few easy answers. As Murdoch put it, “What other tools do we have in our toolkit?”

The bill would bar people from having guns, frames or receivers that lack serial numbers or transferring them to someone else.

Under S.310, all state emergency communications would by default be accompanied by language assistance services.

Vermont only has five medical cannabis dispensaries as opposed to at least 51 recreational businesses opening within the last two years.

It’s a scaled down version of the event from its high in 2022.

The project has amassed 123,000 entries since its founding in 1994.

Legislators added the original bill’s language to H.878, which deals with “miscellaneous judiciary procedures.”

After seven years, Fair Haven students and faculty share the merits, as well as the challenges, of the proficiency-based grading system.

Winooski officials, like many across Vermont, have sought solutions for housing challenges in the city for several years.

The bill would target shoplifters who steal multiple things in one county within a two-week period. If the combined value of the goods exceeds $900, an offender would face the same fines and imprisonment as the current felony.

If cameras catch you driving more than 10 mph over the limit, the rig takes a photo of your license plate and you’ll get a ticket in the mail. 

The library plans on expanding next March to promote inclusivity in the state’s most diverse city.

Wingman of the Year, a company aiming to redefine dating shows, is coming to Rutland on Saturday for a live dating show.

Winooski’s population is roughly 60% renters, meaning the regulations could impact a lot of residents.

The new nonprofit provides wrestling education to anyone, and hopes to grow the sport amongst young people across the state.

April is National Fair Housing Month. Advocates in Winooski are spending it educating people on their rights.

Rutland County Pride co-founder and Executive Director William Fourney-Mills talks about the organization’s current programs, goals for the future and the atmosphere for the LGBTQIA+ community in Rutland.

The bill says companies that distribute PCBs must pay for the testing and removal of the chemicals in Vermont’s schools.

As April 20 approaches, Autumn Records, like many independent vinyl stores across the country, prepares for one of its busiest days.

Under the bill, companies would be barred from the sale, lease, or disclosure of people’s biometric identification unless it is necessary for the service or the person gives consent. 

The city is responsible for paying 5%, or $3.09 million (whichever is less) for project expenses.

Researchers have concerns about the relation between the bald eagles’ rise and a receding blue heron population in the state.

Lawmakers made the changes after hearing testimony from state officials that called the bill’s language vague and lacking in precedent.

Over the past two years of partnering with farms, Farm Stand Together has provided over 250 families with access to organic food.

A group of five VTSU Castleton students and their professor have spent a year working on a documentary following the controversial, and now rescinded, decision to get rid of all VTSU libraries. They plan to premiere the film on campus later this month.

The bill would fill what supporters say is a gap in the law. 

The bill says if people agree to use protection before or during sex, neither party can remove or tamper with the condom without the other’s consent. The bill would allow survivors to seek damages in court.

Reapportionment occurs every 10 years and is based on census data.

Right now, putting on sunscreen in Vermont schools is a tall order. 

The bill would hold drug sellers responsible for deaths caused by their distribution of laced drugs, even if doing so was down to mere carelessness.

Many Vermont schools faced dramatic increases in their proposed school budgets this year, partly due to state requirements for higher spending in areas such as special education and educator insurance.

Kayon Morgan, VTSU Castleton senior and NAACP chapter president, discusses the importance of the chapter, and the challenges faced, at a predominantly white institution.

The bill would limit Vermont police interrogators from lying to detainees. But lawmakers doubled down on details that got last year’s version of the plan shot down.

The simultaneous eatery openings on Friday, March 22, set up something of a competition.

In a survey by the state after last summer’s flooding, 70% of farmers said they didn’t have crop or livestock insurance. Another 10% said the insurance didn’t apply to their industry — meaning only around one in five had coverage for those losses.

Zach Pratico recently moved back to Rutland to launch his business, SmartScale360, that helps small and medium-sized business leverage offshore hiring.

Charlotte has debated the addition of sidewalks in its West Village for more than a decade.

With this winter’s relatively weak snowfall, more people may have turned to birding as an outdoor activity for the season.

Through her work with the Turning Point Center in Rutland, executive director Tracie Hauck hopes to support those in recovery from substance abuse and de-stigmatize addiction.

The bill would codify the practice of pre-charge referrals so the process is the same regardless of county.

Expungement entirely wipes someone’s conviction from the official record — the goal being to see them treated as if they had never been convicted.

By meeting a slew of conditions, producers wouldn’t need inspections to sell raw chicken products from the farm, at farmers markets or to restaurants in Vermont.

International Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual dedication that falls on the final day of March in many cities across the world.

For Castleton’s 10th Annual International Film Festival, filmmaker Jethro Waters visited campus for a Q&A after the screening of his film.

After their church burned to the ground, the congregation met in an abandoned church nearby. Then they decided to revive it.

‘It was a constant battle’ to keep JetBlue in the Green Mountain State — a conflict that started long before the airline pulled out in 2023.

The hotel would serve as a cornerstone of the city’s vision for economic growth downtown.

Students from Windham Elementary School and Compass Middle School were tasked with the mushroom selection.

Washington district constituents approached their senator after they were turned away from a business because they only carried cash.

Andrew Breting graduated from Castleton University in 2017, but his love of the Castleton community inspired him to open multiple restaurants in the area.

They came to vote on the town budget and other matters but, just as importantly, to wave goodbye to their town clerk and treasurer, Cynthia Flannigan, who retired after 25 years in office.

The bill would rebrand the board that sets rules for implementing Act 250.

Once collapsing ruins, the two old barns are becoming rustic venues.

The most heated debate arose over a topic that wasn’t even up for a vote: construction of a new fire department.

Waitsfield residents voted to approve two different articles that would establish reserve funds for the road crew and the town planning commission.

Money-related issues were the most notable ballot items for South Burlington voters.

A high voter turnout resulted after a respectful but passionate debate from townspeople over the two select board candidates.

With property taxes increasing across Vermont, town and school budgets are becoming an even more contentious source of debate. 

A proposed town budget increase caused concern among some residents.

Residents cited patrol issues in town and approved a bumping up of the budget for public safety in support of a new contract with the sheriff’s department.

The town hall didn’t have enough seats for the roughly 100 residents who showed up to vote.

Residents showed out to advocate for Lakeview Elementary, which may no longer be a school for much longer.

The town meeting moderator said this year’s meeting was cordial and those who held opposing views agreed to disagree.

Residents decided whether to give the town manager position more power and balked at a steep school budget proposal.

Several towns asked Vermonters to authorize cannabis retailers Tuesday during annual town meetings.

Of the issues voted on, residents voted in a slate of LGBTQ+ city councilors and approved a project to upgrade and potentially relocate the Winooski bridge.

However, some voters were advocating for the change.

The group is fundraising with donations and grant applications, but they still need town approval.

Jeanette Langston’s non-profit Social Tinkering seeks to build and strengthen community connections.

The changes address problems prompted by education officials.

The rule requires short-term rental hosts to register with the city, apply for a license and, if approved, pay annual fees.

One drone operator understands the lawmakers’ concern, but said he thinks details in the bill are too arbitrary.

But companies like Meta and TikTok would be responsible for assessing their data protection policies under the bill — and for determining whether they are in compliance with the law.

Management last year rolled out parking fees, carpooling incentives and bus service improvements — but it may not be doing enough. 

Deborah and Arthur Laiacona’s new restaurant thrives under their care.

Nationwide, 27 other states have a maximum fine for towing, but Vermont doesn’t.

For the first time, residents will vote by Australian ballot.

Professional artists worked with students to design the community artwork.

Montalban asked neighbors within a 3-mile radius to not use seeds treated with the pesticide, and he said many have been receptive to the request.

Members from selectboards across valley towns including Waitsfield, Warren and Moretown say they aren’t considering the idea right now. 

The Ride for Mental Health organization, started by Killington Mountain School student Pippa Scott, recently held an event to fundraise and start a conversation around mental health awareness.

McNeil & Reedy is a staple of downtown Rutland, and third-generation owner Casey McNeil is doing his best to maintain that legacy.

Groton will decide via floor vote to approve an increasing town budget, and Ryegate residents will vote to allow cannabis shops in town.

Among the many increases in general and administrative costs, the budget includes a big jump in funding for cemetery maintenance.

“In the damages part of the legal process, some defendants were still using the argument that a person could be responsible for their assault,” said one of the sponsors of the bill. 

Laura Collins bakes and decorates cookies by hand for events like children’s birthday parties and bachelorette parties.

Voters approved the change on last year’s ballot. Soon they’ll see its effects.

Connective Physical Therapy focuses on neurologic and pelvic health conditions in a state where generalized practices dominate.

Homelessness rates in Vermont have shot up by 18.5% since last year, as of this past January.

Neonicotinoids are insecticides that coat plants’ seeds, so the toxins are taken up into a plant’s tissue as it grows.

The gathering encouraged the community to reconnect and rejoice in the wake of a disaster.

Krishna Guthrie is making a name for himself in music, while still paying tribute to his family.

One selectboard member said he thinks the rise in the tax rate will come as a real shock to Charlotters. 

This year’s circuit spotlights the diversity of performances as the Statehouse opens its doors to valued but underrepresented cultures and groups in Vermont, one legislator said.

The garden metaphor has brought seven artists from different backgrounds to share and indulge in interpretations of paradise, privilege, boundaries and cultivation.

The Burlington lounge’s latest endeavor, the Emerging Songwriters Contest, has drawn musicians from across the state. The last semifinals show is Feb. 20.

The steady flow of students across busy Main Street at University Heights creates constant conflict between vehicles and pedestrians.

While the Murray family has searched for answers in the case, a growing cadre of amateur sleuths have fixated on the mystery, causing disruption for Haverhill residents.

Winooski residents approved the project six years ago, and after a series of delays, construction is set to begin in two months.

That money would make up what lawmakers are calling a climate superfund to help pay for natural disaster recovery in Vermont. 

The bill aims to prevent Vermont from becoming a place for puppy farms or mills — commercial dog breeding operations that raise animals in poor conditions.

The bill would dramatically limit the use of electronic devices, digital platforms and more in all Vermont schools.

About 75 cows died after a fire broke Jan. 20 and turned a 400-foot-long barn into a pile of rubble and ash. 

The crowd included families with young children, experienced anglers, locals and visitors, all there for a day out on the ice.

Under current law, first responders employed by the state don’t have to prove PTSD is related to work when seeking workers’ compensation. The new bill would give that presumption to more state workers.

What started as a food truck has grown into the opening of a second cafe location.

Ghost guns are firearms built at home using kits that come with all the parts needed for a gun. The unassembled parts aren’t considered guns by federal law and have no serial number.

Eleven judges reported supplemental rental income over the past four years, totaling $341,953 from 2019 to 2022. While some judges only reported a couple thousand in rental income annually, other judges reported over $20,000 in some years.

The bill seeks to update the state endangered species list more frequently, establish critical habitat spaces, prohibit the sale of species and curtail rules that allow endangered animals to be taken from the land. 

If a business is culpable, H.614 allows police to seize any equipment it used for illegal activity. Furthermore, the bill increases fines and limits the logging activities of businesses with two or more outstanding fines or judgements.

‘It’s not necessarily doing anything to reinvent restorative justice or restorative approaches; it is making it so it is more streamlined access across the state,’ Dolan said. ‘This is trying to get some consistency and also respect the uniqueness of each county.’

The bill aims to expand the legal definition of mobile home parks to include communities of mobile home owners who own their own lots. Currently, state law defines mobile home parks as land with at least two mobile homes or mobile home lots, or adjacent land owned by the same person.

“What does it hurt to do this? What if you’re a student who, for the first time, is getting a period, and you forgot something?” said the bill sponsor.

Vermont State Police announced last week that troopers had finished an investigation into the incident and that no criminal charges would be filed. 

U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier has joined dozens of schools in the state testing positive for the toxins, also called polychlorinated biphenyls.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Green Mountain Transit rides have been free.

Meanwhile, a state police investigation lingers and the boy’s family is in touch with an attorney.

After 27 years with the Winooski Police Department – nine of them as chief – Rick Hebert retired at the end of last month, leaving a legacy of strong community-based policing. Now, the city has a gap to fill, and Winooski residents have a question to answer: What do they want from a new police chief?

Support from migrant rights activists is competing with concerns about the legality of the proposed policy change and, from law enforcement, wariness about restrictions on their jobs.  

Food insecurity doesn’t recognize state lines. New Hampshire and Vermont both battle the problem, and that’s where Rivendell Academy stepped in.

Agricultural, food and nutrition advocates in the state want to see increased focus on climate, protection for nutrition initiatives and stronger support for small-scale growers and dairy farmers, among other things, in the next bill.

As Burlington International Airport braces for the holidays, officials with the city’s vehicle-for-hire licensing board want to see more action on a slew of proposals to improve peoples’ experience going to and from the airport.

Winooski residents want infrastructure improvements along Main Street to make crossing, walking and biking safer, according to local leaders working on a new walk-bike plan for the city.

On the final night of the Palace 9 movie theater’s operation, the hottest ticket was for the three-hour Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” costing only a dollar.

The engineering firm that’s overseeing the upcoming replacement of the 95-year-old bridge connecting Burlington and Winooski held its first public meeting last week, inciting questions and feedback from anxious residents.

The Spartans bested previously unbeaten and no. 1 seed Twin Valley 1-0 at Applejack Stadium in Manchester on Nov. 4. 

Sickles is the founder and owner of Standing Stone Wines, the newest business on the rotary, at 33 Main St., which plans to open this Wednesday, November 15.

For the last two years, a heated debate has swirled around the serene setting, stemming from the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to cut and harvest 690 acres of trees around the lake.

Now the Vermont Department for Children and Families is perhaps two months away from setting up temporary quarters in Middlesex in a state complex most recently used for inpatient mental health.

The situation around Struthers, his weed and his ducks has evolved into yelling matches, lawsuits, letters to legislators and an Essex Junction neighborhood on edge.

Invasive species are a big issue in Vermont, and the debates surrounding their management often center on another contentious issue — herbicides and pesticides.   

Rebecca Wasserman was appointed executive director of VT Saves on Oct. 16.

Committee members are confused on what their vote meant — and now need to revote, a Criminal Justice Council admin told CNS.

The Hinesburg Fire Department will be conducting a staged burn for training purposes that day on the corner of Route 116 and Hollow Road.

At a special meeting in August, the Vermont Board of Armory Commissioners decided it was time to address the fate of the Waterbury Armory. 

Construction on the walk-bike bridge known as the East-West Crossing in South Burlington is expected to start at the end of 2024.

FreshAir is entering its 10th year and focusing on growth after spending its first five years as a start-up. To get the word out, the company made its fourth-ever appearance at Tech Jam in Burlington, Vermont, an annual convention that plays host to high-tech companies in and around Vermont seeking new employees and interns.

“I’ve been wanting a place like this for like 10 years,” Kao said in a recent interview. “I grew up in a family business and a family restaurant.”

People in the industry believe the problems caused by the floods will worsen with winter weather soon setting in and, within the next few months, artists could be left wondering what they’ll do without accessible indoor spaces.

The 1950s-era Ho Hum Motel underwent nine months of reconstruction to open a doorway to permanent and affordable housing for those in need.

Open 24 hours a day, the gym serves as a convenient place for locals to cultivate their fitness journey without the hassle of a commute or a time restriction.

The expo is a hotspot for networking and career development that works to bridge the gap between career seekers and Vermont recruiters.

Forest preservation activists are waiting to see whether their lawsuit to stop logging on about 3,760 acres on public lands around Camel’s Hump still has life.

Just 12 schools in Vermont guarantee students a personal finance class as part of their graduation requirements — including Winooski High School, where business teacher Courtney Poquette is working hard to change that. 

“We rely on that water for training, and if those beaches are closed because of the quality of the water, that really impacts us,” said the Burlington diving center’s co-owner.

The commission plans to look at draft amendments to the regulations at its next meeting on Oct. 19.

Fewer than one-fifth of agricultural business applicants had received payments. Those that did, on average, received tens of thousands of dollars less than needed.

A small crowd of students and even fewer parents oversaw the Winooski boys’ dramatic 1–0 victory over Twinfield that Wednesday.

A coalition of Vermont organizations has begun a new project to shed light on harassment, hazing and bullying in schools.

At the DoubleTree Hotel in South Burlington, shoppers browsed the wares of crafters for the Crafts Vermont Show on Nov. 12. We talked to Elizabeth Boudreau, director of events for Vermont Hand Crafters, which organizes the event. The group is celebrating its 70th year.

Our journalists interviewed 16 lawmakers about their environmental priorities ahead of the session.

With the three respiratory viruses circulating, the challenges could be more difficult than previous years.

Waterbury residents expressed concerns to the Development Review Board recently about the design of a three-story 26-unit apartment building proposed for 51 South Main Street. 

Hinesburg locals flooded the gathering space with kids and dogs, taking advantage of activities like old-timey apple pressing, a puppet show and local food offerings.

On Sept. 30, Goodling will join other Vermont sheep farmers and New England fiber artists for the 35th Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds.

What looks like a new state-of-the-art shopping mall is actually the newly constructed home of Winooski schools. 

Adjusting after a natural disaster takes many forms, and for Vermonters in the wake of this summer’s flooding, that includes changes to used car purchases. 

Lacking waste services, poor access to safe drinking water and frustration with the state’s composting requirement were highlighted as common concerns across the state in a report released late last month by state environmental officials.

Federal officials are set to disclose next month the environmental effects of a proposal to cut down trees on about 11,800 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest — and activist groups are hoping to see some changes to the plan amid campaigning to let trees stay up.

Colorful flags flew, pop music filled the air and kids leaped through the greenery trying to puncture drifting bubbles as Pride celebrations enveloped Winooski’s Rotary Park in a rainbowy display of community and performances earlier this month.

Here’s how the heating Charlotte selectboard meeting played out.

New Hampshire homeowners struggling with financial pressures related to COVID-19 still have a chance to seek relief from money provided through the state’s Homeowner Assistance Fund. 

More than 50 years, a slew of roadblocks and $45 million later, the controversial Champlain Parkway is set to push forward along Burlington’s southern edge.

When it was introduced in the Legislature last year, a bill called S.201 proposed prohibiting the use of leg-hold traps in Vermont — rigs with metal pressure plates that, when stepped on, trigger spring-loaded claws to ensnare an animal’s leg.

Even though Winooksi was spared direct damages from the recent Vermont floods, farms that benefit businesses and food programs in the city have been wiped out, causing delays in restaurants and disrupting free food services people relied on. 

Even with these losses, and 10 of the 45 acres of pasture taking significant water damage, Sanford-Long considered herself one of the luckier farms last week.

With the passage of Act 11 this past Statehouse session, legislators have cleared the way for survivors of sexual and domestic violence to take matters to a nearby community justice center. 

Earlier this month, In a backyard overlooking Spear Street, dozens of Vermont Republicans watched a four-part performed history of patriotic songs and munched on barbecue beneath an American flag the width of a two-car garage in the leadup to Independence Day. 

Come next election, if you’re 16 and live in Brattleboro, you’ll get a say in your town elections.

The state’s pandemic-era motel voucher program will continue for Winooskians and other Vermonters until April 2024. 

Lawmakers and advocates say photo-generative software represents a serious escalation of “image-based sexual abuse”

Moved inside from the rain, state and federal leaders joined together at SunCommon in Waterbury on Wednesday to announce new funding through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program.

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke that night as part of the Gen. John Stark lecture series hosted by the Ethan Allen Institute, the small-government conservative think tank named for one of Vermont’s founding fathers. 

A small group of folks made a series of weekly trips around the New North End this past winter to remove the stickers — often found on signs or poles — and the effort is set to pick back up this summer.

On Friday, April 28, the Community College of Vermont held a town meeting on its Winooski campus with Senator Bernie Sanders.

Rees, 48, has dedicated most of her life to serving the South Burlington community.

As the state pushes toward its solar goals, what environmental questions must be examined?

The Vermont Agency of Digital Services banned use of the popular app TikTok on all state-owned devices, joining more than half the states and the federal government as concerns about the app’s Chinese ownership continue to swirl.

South Burlington officials want to eliminate 60 percent of the city’s carbon footprint by 2030, and with transportation accounting for two-thirds of that figure, the city’s climate action plan finalized last October is pushing for more electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.

The Harwood Unified School District’s $45.4 million proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year represents 6.5% increase in spending for the coming year, although programs and services remain level with the current year. Voters in the district approved the request by a vote of 1,192 to 599, according to results released Wednesday.

For more than a month, members of the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) community have told school officials they don’t want Principal John Broadley to leave.

For the first time since 2007, properties in Winooski will be reappraised.

Vermont lawmakers are seeking to give workers increased protections when it comes to collective bargaining and union organizing through a bill that has passed in the Senate with a number of changes since it was introduced. 

H.45 proposes a specific protection many might not be familiar with: protection from abusive litigation.

Vermont is the only state in the country where farmers cannot readily access a program meant to pay them back for restoring habitats around their farms.

Vermont’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, formed by legislators last year to document and examine state-sanctioned discrimination against historically oppressed groups, is in the process of hiring an executive director, legal counsel, an administrative assistant and research staff.

The bill, H.483, looks to implement a nondiscriminatory admissions process for prospective students on public tuition.

The Department for Children and Families has been in and out of the Statehouse in recent weeks to initiate the process of building a new rehab and detention facility for juveniles in Vermont, the latest steps in a plan drafted back in December. 

A proposed solar farm in Charlotte would see about 12,500 panels lined in rows across 21 acres on Lake Road.

Vermont students may have more protections when it comes to discrimination and harassment in schools as advocates are urging lawmakers to include them in a bill that right now only focuses on workplaces and places of public accommodations. 

This legislative session’s major housing bill drew a lot of attention last month for its impacts on Act 250 reform and single-family zoning.

A bill that would remove the residency requirement in Vermont’s law allowing terminally ill patients to receive medication with which to end their own life has passed the Legislature and awaits the governor’s approval. 

Vermont continues to see spikes in housing prices with the median home price rising 15% in 2022, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. Communities and state officials alike have spent a lot of time discussing how the growth of short-term rentals in Vermont has contributed to the state’s housing crisis.

A bill to help small farmers diversify their products with a new grant program crossed over from the House to the Senate, but not without a significant cut in the money behind it. 

Vermonters are one step closer to receiving job-protected leave to deal with the fallout of sexual and domestic violence as part of Democrats’ major paid leave bill, which passed through the House and into the Senate last month.

South Burlington officials want to eliminate 60% of the city’s carbon footprint by 2030, and with transportation accounting for two-thirds of that figure, the city’s climate action plan finalized last October is pushing for more electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. 

As lawmakers aim to make universal school meals a permanent measure, they are also looking to make sure more of those meals are made with local food. 

Landlords would’ve had to register rental units in a statewide list under the original version of a bill moving through the Senate, but lawmakers backed away from the plan and now the bill would only commission a study of the idea.

More than 130 students came out to Vermont Technical College for the first-ever Youth Chess Day, an informal tournament organized by Bernie Sanders.

Senate legislators are considering a bill that would end a policy that suspends driver’s licenses as a result of not paying civil traffic violations within 30 days.

House lawmakers passed a sweeping land and water conservation bill March 24, in what is effectively a do-over of legislation vetoed last year by Gov. Phil Scott. 

House legislators passed a bill that would legalize mobile sports betting last week, putting Vermont on the road to joining other states in legalizing the practice.

Communities near proposed telecommunications facilities may get to have more involvement in the siting process through a bill in the House Committee on Energy and Environment.

Lawmakers in the Vermont House are expected to vote this week on a bill that would create a civil recourse for victims of stealthing — the nonconsensual removal or tampering with a condom during sex.

Voters in Brookfield secured a new town clerk, Carol Monness, to follow in the footsteps of Teresa Godfrey, but failed to decide on just one town treasurer—the vote ended in a tie.

Vermont’s post offices have been experiencing staffing shortages since the pandemic began, and the U.S. Postal Service is still playing catch-up.

Cyclists and pedestrians may soon have a safer time on Vermont roadways as state lawmakers look to improve access to certain highways by lowering speed limits and narrowing lanes to create more shoulder space.

The conflict between the desire to maintain open space and the need for more housing in Shelburne came to the forefront on Town Meeting Day when residents cast votes on whether the town should set aside funds to acquire and preserve more undeveloped land.

A new Senate bill would prohibit the manufacture and sale of cosmetic and menstrual products and textiles containing PFAS and dozens of other materials dangerous for people and the environment.

Legislators may be looking at a bill to provide two hours paid leave for employees to vote in primary, general and Town Meeting Day elections. 

As lawmakers evaluate a bill focused on universal public preschool, they are also considering ways to strengthen Vermont’s fragile network of private child care providers.

Lawmakers are looking to create a new grant program to help small farmers diversify their products or transition from one type of farm to another.

House legislators passed a bill last Friday that would allow victims of “stealthing” — when someone secretly removes or tampers with a condom during sex — to bring a civil case against their assailant. 

Residents in Bethel will tackle articles to authorize $2.5 million in bonds to improve the town’s water system, fill two openings on the selectboard, and decide if the town will move to Australian ballot voting in the following year.

Two seats on Winooski’s school board are up for grabs on Town Meeting Day, but only one of them is contested.

A year into its creation as a standalone school district, the Central Vermont Career Center is asking voters in the 18 towns it serves to approve a 17.8% increase in its annual budget to expand its offerings.

Vermonters with disabilities could soon have an easier time on the trails if a new bill is passed. 

City councilors want to drop funding for an equity director in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, putting a “pause” on a role meant to address racial disparities in Vermont’s most racially diverse city.

Barnard residents will vote Town Meeting Day on whether the town should use $400,000 from budget surpluses to reduce property taxes and fund road repairs, along with deciding several open spots in the town government.

Guidelines for Vermont school districts’ curricula and reading materials may be changing for the first time in 10 years as a working group looks to push the state education board to put greater focus on racial and ethnic diversity and historically persecuted groups. 

South Burlington voters will decide on Town Meeting Day whether to approve a $60,000 capital improvement plan, including renovations to Farrell Dog Park, as part of the city’s fiscal 2024 budget.

More than a dozen House Republicans are looking to repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act and scrap the Vermont Climate Council — but even Gov. Phil Scott doesn’t think their bill will go anywhere.  The bill, H.74, would move away from the expansive 2020 law and toward the state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan, which is renewed […]

As high school winter sports seasons come to a close, The Valley Reporter checked in with all Harwood Union High School winter sports coaches.

A plan to add another mural to downtown Waterbury has found its blank canvas: the northeast side of Stowe Street Cafe and Bridgeside Books.

When Randolph voters hit the ballot box on Town Meeting Day, they will be deciding how to fill four spots on the selectboard and whether to boost the police budget to over $770,000 for the following fiscal year, up 121%.

Residents, teachers, and students turned out in recent weeks to persuade the Bellows Falls Union High School and Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) boards to reinstate Principal John Broadley, who in a letter last month announced that he will not seek to renew his contract.

Harwood Basketball fans had much to cheer for in Wednesday night’s doubleheader as both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams took home victories for their senior night games.

U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont — the first woman and first openly LGBTQ individual to represent Vermont in Congress — attended her first State of the Union address that night. 

Nearly one in five positions sits empty within Washington County’s state-designated mental health provider.

Officials hope a new state fund can sway landlords to rent to people who might otherwise lack housing.

Lawmakers are looking to pass a bill to make universal school meals permanent in Vermont — an extension of pandemic-era policies with a price tag pegged at $29 million for next year.

With the rise of politicized medical procedures in recent years, some liberal-majority legislatures like Vermont’s are trying to protect patients who receive reproductive and gender-affirming care — and their providers.

Social services leaders say they’re scrambling to figure out what to do when the state’s program to help homeless people stay in hotels ends.

The group, created by the Waterbury Select Board last June, had its first-ever meeting this week in person at the Waterbury municipal center and carried online via Zoom as it begins to address the scarcity of affordable housing in Waterbury.

Environmental advocates across the state head into this year’s legislative session with the goal of updating Act 250 — Vermont’s land use and development law — to protect one of the state’s biggest natural resources: working forests. 

Eleven organic dairy farms in Vermont closed in 2021. The next year, 18 more followed. And this year the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont expects to lose another 28 farms. 

Vermont schools face “critical” staff shortages midway through the academic year.

Communities statewide are set to start a series of wastewater projects funded by federal Covid-19 relief money.

Around a third of Vermont’s towns have adopted declarations condemning discrimination and committing themselves to welcoming all people, and Bethel was one of the first.

Underwater robots developed by Greensea in Richmond help militaries with underwater explosive disposal and maritime industries with ship streamlining.

With a veto-proof majority, Democrats aim to take another crack at a clean heat bill and make climate issues their first priority next year in the State House.

Town leaders can get more tools to welcome newer Vermonters through a statewide program launched last month by Gov. Phil Scott and the state Office of Racial Equity.

Rachel Elliott is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. A possible plan to cut down trees on nearly 11,000 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest is heightening tension between climate advocates and federal officials who claim the logging would help ecosystems. The U.S. […]

Vermont’s recreational cannabis market has taken off this fall in the White River Valley, with more than 25 cultivators licensed by the state Cannabis Control Board in the region and more still pending.

One in every five taps tested was at or above the level requiring that it be removed, because it has a higher chance of harming children. Thousands of lead-tainted taps have been replaced or are no longer in use. Photo illustration by Natalie Williams; photo by Skitterphoto via Pexels State officials have been making the […]

New changes in state guidelines around cosmetology licensing allow technical schools like River Bend, which offer career training in a variety of fields, to provide the full 1,000 hours required by state law for students to go work in the field.

Exit polling across central Vermont on Tuesday would suggest the statewide ballot item on reproductive rights, Article 22, was a leading driver for getting voters out to the polls.

Almost 70% of registered voters in Winooski cast ballots this election.

Voters went to the Orchard School Tuesday morning to cast their ballots.

The board Oct. 17 declined to approve a $3,500 request from the Andrews Town Forest Committee to pay for a trail plan study the committee had contracted and completed without approval. Officials then approved it Nov. 7 after some discussion, said Duncan Wardwell, assistant to the town manager.

Environmental groups see an opportunity to change Vermont’s energy standards and infrastructure next year as more than a third of the state’s legislators will be new to the State House.

Grafton County Commissioner Linda D. Lauer’s decision not to seek reelection this year has given two longtime public servants the chance to win the District 2 commission seat. 

Hinesburg landowners have clashed with town planners over proposed zoning changes that, to prioritize forest conservation, would more strictly govern land use across a large stretch of town.

Bridgeside Books turned down the lights for Spooky Tales readings.

The Hinesburg Firefighters’ Association Halloween Party is back this year.

have to do with funding grant projects?

At the Shelburne Community School, Dynamic Dates fundraiser raffles off adventures from teachers and staff to kids at the school.

Town officials across Washington County are anticipating higher voter turnout than previous elections this year — a trend attributed to wider use of mail-in absentee ballots.

An informational meeting to address lingering questions and concerns regarding the upcoming vote on whether to sell the property at 51 South Main Street attracted approximately 100 village residents on Tuesday.