The following is an open letter from Barre resident Larry McEnany to Treasurer Michael Pieciak.
McEnany: No, Treasurer Pieciak, VT doesn’t need leaders like Tim Walz
Soulia: From $500M to $1.4 BILLION
The Global Warming Solutions Act money pit deepens!
Roper: And what’s the plan for restoring “economic momentum?”
Vermont Futures Project: right diagnosis, (mostly) wrong solutions.
Soulia: VT taxpayers spent $500M on climate policies. The planet didn’t notice.
Two bills sit before the Vermont Senate that would undo the state’s unfolding climate policy disaster. S.110 would repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act’s citizen-suit provision and convert its mandates back to goals. S.68 would repeal the Affordable Heat Act.
Beck: GOP Senate leader concerned about ICE due process infractions
Continued action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials has raised important questions about constitutional due process. The Fifth Amendment is clear: “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law”. Senate Republicans believe that any discussion on this issue must begin with a commitment to due process for all individuals, including non-citizens.
White House: Walz is wrong – immigration policies are saving lives
Editor’s note: the White House released this commentary January 8.
Soulia: VT’s new land-use map rewrites Rutland County, town by town
When Pittsford pushed back on the Rutland Regional Planning Commission’s draft Future Land Use (FLU) map, it sounded like a local fight: one town objecting to being painted dark-green “Rural Conservation” on a new set of regional maps.
Election Integrity Network-Vermont calls for voter ID law
Vermont now mails over half a million absentee ballots to every person on the voter checklist (unless formally challenged) for general elections without request, creating a large pool of unclaimed, unwanted, and misdirected “live” absentee ballots that can be abused to impact the outcome of local elections.
Banzhaf: Three major legal issues in the Minneapolis killing
Reasonable but mistaken, individualization, and lack of reflection
Roper: Freeze taxes? Cap spending? How ‘bout both!
This is the kind of bipartisanship we’re talking about!
Spear and Sullivan: A unified path toward affordability and economic resilience
Vermont can no longer admire the problem. It must act, guided by data, employers, and long-term planning.
McGuinness: Transgender persons would be state trust fund recipients, choose prison cell placement under H.576 and H.550
Two bills sponsored by Vermont Democrat and Progressive legislators continue to push the Transgender Ideology Agenda at the potential expense of Vermont taxpayers and female prison inmates. H.576 intends to establish an “Affirming Health Care Trust Fund,” while H.550 intends to allow transgender incarcerated persons to choose their prison and their cellmate based upon their gender identity.
Blakeman: Punishing landlords won’t solve housing crisis
As Vermont enters another legislative session, lawmakers are once again proposing housing legislation they believe will protect tenants from eviction and homelessness. While the intent may be laudable, the reality on the ground is far messier — and the consequences are increasingly harmful not only to landlords, but also to responsible tenants and to Vermont’s already strained housing supply.
Galfetti: It’s cold outside
Governor Scott proposed a sweeping education reform bill, and many of us went out on a limb to give it a shot. What has happened thus far is that the special committee comprised of a mix of legislators and non-legislators that was tasked with drawing new districts over the summer refused to do their assigned task, with Democrat members that are in the majority refusing to do it.
Ellis: It’s about the oil
We voted for this. And until the Democrats or someone else can articulate a better vision for the country, this is what we have.
Deal: Extraditing narco-dictators nothing new
If you met everyday Americans in Burlington, St. Johnsbury, or Rutland, and asked about the purpose of military power in making them safer and more secure, you may receive a different and less self-aggrandizing answer than some of their elected representatives.
Priestley: Artificial intelligence doesn’t wait. States can’t either.
On the White House executive order targeting state AI laws.
Tiemann: Progress in protecting parents’ rights
But back in Vermont, state policy allows schools to keep two separate records on your child, one of which parents cannot see!
MacDonald: Be the media in 2026, New England, starting with “daycare” centers
Childcare Center US claims there are 687 childcare centers in New Hampshire, over 2100 in Massachusetts, and over 1300 childcare centers in Vermont. We should check them all, but who, besides me, thinks the Vermont number looks a little high?
Despathy: Time to talk towers and radiation
A family in Pownal have spent a year dealing with the tortuous telecom siting process called Section 248a, trying to relocate a proposed cell tower away from their children and home in the woods of Vermont.
Soulia: When “inclusion” stops at ideology
Behind Vermont’s DEI debate
Roper: Will 2026 be the year Vermonters realize Democratic Socialist policies don’t work?
And are, in fact, disastrous.
Keelan: Time to get it right
We are running out of time.
Soulia: What are Pharmacy Benefit Managers and why should you care?
PBMs were created to control drug costs, but their profit-driven practices have turned them into key drivers of price inflation.
Klar: Michigan legislators push Orwellian vaccination laws
Restricting parental choice in the name of empowerment.
Soulia: As soon as crime costs the State money, Montpelier will act
The state’s no-bail policies and a perceived “revolving door” justice system have left many residents and businesses feeling unprotected. Beyond the personal pain and financial hardship crime causes, there’s a broader economic toll: individuals, businesses, and even the state suffer under the weight of persistent crime.
Bess: Crime victim says Vermont taxes, criminal justice ‘getting worse and worse’
One afternoon coming home from work, I had to lay on the horn to back into my own driveway as some chick was tweaking, blocking access to my driveway.
Klar: There was an old lady…
My presentation on grass-fed meats.
Kinsley: Why your property taxes are going up 12% next year
The real solution is to reduce current education spending and put in place mechanisms that apply downward pressure on future spending. Many of the components of Act 73 do this, the governance changes are intended to reduce administrative overhead, class size minimums will reduce instructional overhead, and a statewide foundation formula will provide the mechanism for downward pressure on future spending.
Soulia: Agenda 21 puts the “You” in U.N.
Originally introduced at the 1992 Rio Summit, Agenda 21 is an international action plan for sustainable development that aims to address the balance between human activity and environmental sustainability.
Klar: Supreme Court weighs First Amendment rights of pregnancy centers
Planned Parenthood and other abortion service providers have long benefited from public funding of life-ending procedures for pregnant women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. After Roe v Wade was overturned, panic in blue states went into hyperdrive, not just to support abortions but to attack those who offer mothers an alternative. Privately funded pregnancy centers help women who wish to keep their babies by providing diapers, baby bottles, instruction, and moral support.
Soulia: VT’s Special Ed funding gap
When Federal promises meet property tax reality
Despathy: Survey shows high school students want school choice
Last year’s Danville eighth grade class saw 13 out of the 30 students choose another school. In 2023, another mass migration of eighth graders occurred
Keelan: Is now the time to sell Camp David?
The Naval Support Facility in Thurmont, Maryland, more commonly known as Camp David, does not appear to be getting the same level of use it once did.
Soulia: What happens when Vermont ignores reality – Part 2
What Vermont cannot do is continue pretending it can sustain prohibitive regulation, minimal growth, lavish spending, high-cost labor structures, small schools everywhere, expansive public programs, and low taxes at the same time.
Part 2 picks up where that conversation left off, continuing through the remaining structural challenges affecting Vermont’s economy, cost of living, and long-term fiscal stability.
Green: Who cares whether the ref is a white male?
Shouldn’t the qualifications for a referee be based on merit and his or her ability to do the job with skill, excellence, and integrity, instead of an artificially imposed quota of arbitrary external characteristics?
Roper: A VTGOP message for 2026: NO NEW TAXES!
We are already paying more than our fair share.
Ellis: We need to talk about money
Charitable giving should be more public
Tiemann: NEA handbook pushes gender and race-based ideologies on children
I’m very grateful for Jarrod Vaillaincourt’s excellent commentary in the Dec 10th issue of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. He exposes efforts by elementary school staff to market a new school-sanctioned “sexuality” club – to elementary school students! Although such conduct by public school educators is beyond revolting, it’s unfortunately not surprising.
Soulia: When Vermont ignores reality – Part 1
What Vermonters are experiencing now is the predictable result of multiple systems breaking down at the same time: education finance, demographic decline, housing scarcity, regulatory overreach, healthcare inflation, workforce deterioration, and a tax base that continues to shrink while public obligations grow.
Klar: MAHA’s war on ultra-processed foods was just vindicated
The medical journal The Lancet has just released three companion studies that vindicate this MAHA message.
Banzhaf: If “Jingle Bells” is racist, so are milk and fitness
Some intellectuals claim that they are
Roper: Given AI’s appetite for electricity, does it make sense to electrify heat and transportation?
Short answer: Nope.
Soulia: Act 47 and a story of Vermont’s compact future
The pressures shaping Vermont’s future are very real.
Steidler: As AI grows in the U.S., so grows affordability
Today, artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that is more profound in its capacity to change and improve lives than electricity, holds the promise of transforming America. Indeed, it can take us to the golden age President Trump envisions.
Klar: Toxic Chinese pet food killed thousands of U.S. pets
A wary eye on the food supply
Roper: Baruth offers partisanship, higher taxes, and zero solutions
VT Senate leader vows to fight Trump rather than solve Vermont issues.
Vaillancourt: Know your parental rights
Parents have the right to know what is going on with their child at school. That right is not surrendered at the schoolhouse door.
Soulia: Is Montpelier coming for your woodpile?
Vermont likes to call itself a leader in combating climate change, but leadership implies setting an example others want to follow. Instead, Vermont is becoming a cautionary tale of what happens when ideology trumps practicality. The result? A state struggling under the weight of policies that deliver the opposite of what they promise.
Bossange: Is Trump bigoted? And does anyone care?
Whether or not you respect President Trump’s approach, the fact remains America has never had a president who has had so many documented incidents of using racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic language.
Soulia: The hidden cost of government-run welfare
Public aid vs. private generosity
Roper: Healthcare in Vermont is a government facilitated grift
And EVERYBODY is paying the price.
Soulia: What parents need to know about Vermont’s minor-consent laws
Vermont’s consent laws for minors allow adolescents to seek medical care for STIs, mental health, and gender-affirming services without parental consent or notification. Supporters highlight the seeming public health benefits, but others highlight the dangers posed.
Compass Vermont: Armed with questionable data, GMCB sets its sights on Gifford Hospital
The Green Mountain Care Board seems to continue to prioritize standardized billing data in order to support their policy goals even after receiving the more reliable clinical reality.
Frenier: Act 73 is a danger to ALL independent schools
Parents of independent school students: rattle a few cages and get your school’s leaders to step up.
Keelan: And then there was one…
Governor Phil Scott has been, for some time, the clarion: the State is losing its young people. Flood recovery, increasing school taxes, healthcare costs, illegal drug use, and climate change took center stage. Meanwhile, the workforce kept descending. And institutions of learning have kept closing.
Soulia: VT’s Constitutional consistency on trial: Non-citizen voting vs. gun restrictions
If constitutional silence is grounds for exceptions, how does this logic apply to Vermont’s other rights not involving voting—specifically, Article 16, which guarantees the right to bear arms?
MacDonald: Illegal and unconstitutional
No one breaks laws or violates rights like Democrats. Keep that in mind as they work to build their latest anti-Trump “unlawful orders” narrative.
Moffett: Rep. Maggie Goodlander: Seditious or just shameful?
There are many angles from which to view the “Scandalous Saga of the Seditious Six,” the recent Video-Gate story of six Democrat congresspeople who went public to admonish serving military personnel that they don’t need to follow orders they deem illegal.
Lanese: ‘Refuse illegal orders’ lawmakers are wolves in sheep’s clothing
Six wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Klar: Days of reckoning for $125 billion Obamacare
In an NPR interview on Oct. 30, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, regarded as one of the “architects” of the ACA, conceded that Obamacare has not delivered. He described the “incredibly complicated” labyrinth of the US healthcare system, admitting, “[F]rankly, the affordable care added to that complication by putting in the exchanges.”
Walch: Shadowy outside groups hijack Vermont town meetings
There is a shadowy international group behind Dan DeWalt’s proposed ballot items.
Bean: Augustus Doricko’s “rainmaking” is no “solution”: Part 1
“We can refill the Great Salt Lake,” writes Augustus in a post on X last week.“This month, Rainmaker began the largest cloud seeding project in modern American history. With Utah and Idaho, we are enhancing snowpack across 7,500 square miles of the Bear River Basin.”
Benedict: The School Redistricting Task Force – A stunning failure
In all, a stunning failure and lack of respect for the will of Vermonters who have said that the status quo of our schools – educationally and financially is no longer working and needs dramatic change, very soon.
Page: finger-pointing Bernie has himself to blame for looming AI power crisis
The U.S. power supply shortage is largely the fault of Bernie and other Green New Dealers who have intentionally pushed increased electricity consumption – heat pumps and electric cars, anyone? – while shutting down power producers that actually keep the grid afloat.
Kinsley: Act 73 Task Force didn’t fail. They listened.
After hearing from more than 5,000 Vermonters who overwhelmingly said, “keep our local schools and local boards,” the Task Force chose to protect the community connections that make Vermont schools more than just buildings. Just as importantly, they recognized that the research shows no cost savings from consolidation and instead put forward a plan that actually achieves those goals.
Harrison: What would Mark Twain say about Act 73?
What Sam Clemens said about his demise may be true about the plan contained in Act 73.
Roper: Vermont’s public schools are now worse than Mississippi’s
It’s time to hold the Unions accountable.
Tiemann: Court says schools can’t force students to use ‘preferred pronouns’
According to the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, public school students cannot be forced to use “preferred pronouns” when referring to others who claim to be “transgender.” The Court ruled that doing so is compelled speech and a violation of students’ First Amendment rights.
Soulia: Becca and the policy cliff
The situation Vermonters are being warned about is not just a story of one spending bill or one vote. It is the product of a deeper policy design choice: treating a major subsidy as a temporary “emergency” measure, extending it in short increments, and allowing that structure to create a recurring policy cliff that repeatedly hangs over consumers and taxpayers.
Klar: Harvard revamps grading integrity, students howl
Gen Z wants straight A’s.
Keelan: Trouble in Vermont’s rural communities?
From a physical landscape perspective, Vermont offers interesting views: mountains, lakes, rivers, and miles of working farmland. In contrast, semi-congested urban areas begin on VT RT 7, entering Shelburne and extending northward to Burlington and its surrounds.
Warner: School mandates ‘trans-positive’ book for middle schoolers
“The novel includes passages suggesting to children that hating one’s body to the point of wanting to mutilate it might be normal for some of them.”
Roper: So, Act 73 imploded
And Republicans have a second chance to avoid disaster.
Despite new law, Vermont police get more DHS cash than ever for patrols along border
The funding flows from the federal government to Vermont’s Department of Public Safety, which then distributes it to local agencies, who then conducts patrols coordinated with the U.S. Border Patrol.
Soulia: What IS a “fair share”?
Searching for truth behind the buzzword.
Martin: On the restoration of liberty in education
What was once a proud and local endeavor to cultivate the minds of our youth has become a labyrinth of policy, regulation, and bureaucratic entanglement—so dense and disjointed that even the most earnest reformers find themselves ensnared.
Benjamin: Freedom from trauma
Healing hearts in Vermont
Bossange: Our aging Presidents
America deserves better
Roper: Courts say NY MUST implement unaffordable climate law
What does this portend for Vermont?
Soulia: Vermont traditions: Regulatory collectivism and administrative creep
Vermont’s forests are not dying; they are being managed into bureaucracy. The danger is not fragmentation of trees but fragmentation of responsibility—where the authority to decide is collective, but the obligation to pay is individual. The landscape that once symbolized independence is now the backdrop for rulemaking by committee.
Cartoon: For all of us civilians, some perspective
Thank you
Roper: Cut taxes and spending, or increase taxes and spending?
That is the question.
Soulia: How “New Math” broke America’s grip on numbers
Beginning in the 1990s and accelerating with the Common Core State Standards in the 2010s, American education policymakers sought to “modernize” math instruction. The stated goal was reasonable: help students understand why math works, not just how. But the result has been a system so abstract and bureaucratic that many parents — and even teachers — struggle to follow it. Vermont remains part of that experiment, still aligning its math curriculum with Common Core as of 2024 despite years of flat test scores and growing classroom frustration.
Vaillancourt: State education standards replete with leftist jargon
Vermont’s EQS is failing miserably at its goal of enabling each student to achieve or exceed the performance standards approved by the State Board of Education. Vermont students are struggling with basic educational concepts, and there is no evidence that EQS is improving academic outcomes. It is unconscionable to continue to promote and spend taxpayers’ money on these programs.
Rodgers: A year of balance, progress, and putting Vermonters first
Here’s the good news: this year, we proved that when Montpelier is balanced — when no one party can simply bulldoze the other — we can actually roll up our sleeves and get things done. For the first time in a while, there was real collaboration.
Roper: Orange man bad (for down ticket Republicans)
You can mock the No Kings rallies, but the Left’s base is fired up to strike a blow against Trump. Vermont Republicans need an agenda that fires up their base every bit as much if not more if they want to hold their gains from 2024 and add to them in 2026.
Vermont’s “appalling” housing costs rooted in excessive regulation
“The problem when you talk about housing affordability is an immediate assumption is that the state’s got to spend more money to create affordable housing and low-income housing,” the now-retired economist said. “That’s not the answer because the middle-income people you want to attract to the state aren’t going to be eligible for it.”
Page: Mamdani and the tech center bond
They saw older folks making bank and owning homes. They felt shut out. They’re rent serfs, paying thousands of dollars a month, huge cuts out of their paychecks, money they’ll never see back. They’re hungry for a piece of the pie.
Swenson: Vermont’s crisis isn’t compassion — it’s capacity
Phil Scott’s 14-point Burlington plan repeats the same mistake Vermont has made for years: mistaking compassion for policy.
Moore: Mississippi students now outperform Vermont students
Education agency admits a years-long failure as student performance nosedives
Green: The closing of the Copley Hospital Birthing Center is a local tragedy
Such center can be saved if the money given to Planned Parenthood and abortions is rededicated to promote life.
Keelan: Small towns down on leaf-peeping, housing
Vermont needs to stay off the front page of the WSJ unless, of course, it is a positive story.
McGuinness: Paying teens $125 to study reproductive health
The LGBTQ-inclusive program pays students to learn about gender identity and expression, sexual orientation spectrum, contraception, and safe sex practices for the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s) and HIV/AIDS:
Soulia: Those nickels & dimes add up
The high cost of living in Vermont isn’t driven by any one law or policy. Instead, it’s the cumulative weight of countless costs—fees, surcharges, and mandates—that drive up prices for goods and services while shrinking Vermonters’ paychecks.
Watson: Tailgating: the chase is on!
Road rage is for fools.
Roper: Gates cops to climate change hoax
Will Vermont legislators continue with the lies, or heed the call to pivot?
Holt: When Public Service becomes a lifetime throne
In the United States today, political office too often resembles a throne more than a term of service. But it was not always this way.
Moore and Johnson: Vermont’s housing needs require decisive action – step up or step away
Governor Scott has taken action. We stand ready to implement solutions. The question now is whether environmental interest groups who claim to care about Vermont’s future will contribute to solving this crisis or perpetuate the status quo.
Soulia: Strike-alls: How a bill metastasized into your backyard
A single sentence added to Vermont’s planning code in 2016 has redrawn how the state thinks about its forests — and about the rights of Vermonters to use their property.
