By Guy Page

Today is Feedback Friday on Hot Off The Press WDEV AM 550 and FM 96.1. It’s your day to call in and let us know what’s on your mind at 802-244-1777.

Here are some of the stories we’re covering today on the Vermont Daily Chronicle – plus we’ll be discussing the Seven Days story by Colin Flanders asking why Vermont has such a low birth rate.

Tomorrow is Green Up Day in Vermont — the one day a year when we all grab a bag, head to the roadside, and take pride in cleaning up our state. It’s simple, it’s local, it’s something almost everybody can agree on. 

Are you planning to go out tomorrow? What are your Green Up Day stories?

In other news, just across the river in Littleton, New Hampshire, a casino developer is moving ahead with plans for a new gambling and entertainment complex — right on the doorstep of the Northeast Kingdom. Is that economic opportunity? Or is it a magnet for problems Vermont will feel without getting the revenue? Should Vermont pass current legislation authorizing its own casinos?

And then there’s the money already here — $22 million more from Big Tobacco flowing into Vermont. Lawmakers have taken in hundreds of millions over the years… yet only a tiny fraction goes directly toward helping people quit smoking. Most of it goes to Medicaid, Compass Vermont reports. Is that responsible budgeting, or a broken promise?

Tomorrow is May Day, celebrated by socialists and communists in the U.S. and across the world. We’ll also touch on a provocative question raising eyebrows: what exactly are Vermont schools – some of which may participate with Indivisible-led student walkouts and rallies – teaching about economics, capitalism, and the American system? Are students getting practical skills — or something more ideological?

These are the kinds of issues that don’t have easy answers — and that’s where you come in.

Join us on Hot Off The Press on WDEV AM 550 and FM 96.1. Call in at 802-244-1777.

Do you support the casino just over the border?

Should tobacco settlement money be spent differently?

Are Vermont’s schools on the right track — or off course?

And what does Green Up Day say about who we are as Vermonters?

Your voice matters. Let’s hear it!