A public panel in Woodstock will examine growing concerns about children, schools, screen use and digital addiction. “Kids, Schools, Screens: Panel with the Experts” will be held Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 6-8 PM at the Norman Williams Public Library.

The discussion will feature attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett of the Social Media Victims Law Center and Dr. Bud Vana, a general pediatrician as well as an adult and child psychiatrist. Rep. Angela Arsenault will moderate.

Organizers say the medical, legal and policy discussion will look at the effects of screens on children and teenagers, the use of digital devices in schools, digital addiction and changes families, schools and policymakers could make now.

The Vermont Coalition for Independence, Reconnection & Liberation is promoting the event, and advance registration is requested.

In Woodbury, a Vermont family has permanently conserved 3,447 acres of working forest, completing the final major phase of the Worcester Woods initiative, which has protected more than 18,000 acres.

The Meyer family’s E.B. Hyde Corporation will continue sustainable timber harvesting under the conservation easement. Another 301 acres were sold to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department for addition to the Buck Lake Wildlife Management Area, home of the Green Mountain Conservation Camp.

And, researchers are working to develop a new generation of American elm trees capable of surviving Dutch elm disease. The Associated Press reports researchers in Vermont deliberately exposed 6,000 young elm trees to the disease this summer, hoping survivors will provide greater genetic diversity for future restoration efforts.