by Guy Page

Federal immigration officials detained 10 migrant workers during a raid at a construction site in Newport, Vermont last week, the Journal-Opinion reports, citing multiple other media sources.

The raid took place on Wednesday, May 28, reports Seven Days. The construction project was at an affordable housing development to be operated by Rural Edge, a housing organization operating in the Northeast Kingdom. 

The contractor for the project is H.P. Cummings, which has an office in Woodsville. The detained migrants worked for a subcontractor based in Londonderry, New Hampshire, according to the Caledonian Record. 

Five of the workers were released the following day after providing proof of immigration status, reports the Newport Daily Express.

Vermont housing shortage second worst in the nation – trailing only our neighbor to the east, New Hampshire.

According to a May 29 report released by housing consulting firm ATTOM, The vacancy rate for residential properties in the U.S. has remained steady around 1.3 percent for thirteen consecutive quarters.

The states with the lowest home vacancy rates in the most recent quarter were New Hampshire (0.3 percent), Vermont (0.4 percent), New Jersey (0.5 percent), Idaho (0.5 percent), and Connecticut (0.5 percent).

The states with the highest home vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2025 were Oklahoma (2.4 percent), Kansas (2.3 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent), Missouri (2.2 percent), and West Virginia (2.1 percent).

Landowners can make a difference in declining songbird populations by altering the times of year they mow fields, allowing them to give birth to and raise their young.

Save the Bobolinks, mow grassland in August – Bobolinks (in photo, above), Savannah sparrows and eastern meadowlarks enrich our summers with their songs, but their populations continue to suffer long-term declines due to the loss in quantity and quality of their grassland habitat.

Bobolinks, Savannah sparrows, eastern meadowlarks and wild turkeys build their nests right on the ground, among the grasses and wildflowers.  Deer fawns and other animals take refuge in grass fields, and other birds such as bluebirds, kestrels, whip-poor-wills, and northern harriers rely on grass fields for food.

According to Renfrew, landowners who do not need to mow for animal forage can accommodate nesting birds by cutting late in the summer, preferably after August 1. 

Landowners who face a loss of income from delaying mowing can apply for assistance through the Natural Resources Conservation Service EQIP program or The Bobolink Project.

Avian flu clean cattle – Thorough testing by the USDA has not revealed any HPAI (’avian flu’) infected dairy cattle in Vermont, Vermont farm officials say. 

 With this declaration comes confidence that Vermont’s dairy cattle herds are healthy and producing HPAI free milk for the marketplace. Vermont is the first state in New England to achieve this status.