A day after the mayor of Vermont’s largest city proclaimed “the city is back,” a local videographer featured footage of an apparent drug overdose in the park behind City Hall.
“So this one hits pretty close to home, because I am the victim of this assault,” Poitras says in the video.
A potentially deadly tussle between the angry rugby playing college student, armed with a knife, and the 43-year-old retired Marine and martial artist ensued.
Today’s scheduled guests for the inaugural episode are Dave Soulia of FYIVT.com to discuss concerning developments in Vermont’s wetlands map, and former Rep. Bob Frenier to discuss a pending school choice lawsuit and the disparity between school districts.
Today is my last day hosting Hot Off the Press 11 AM on WDEV AM 550. On Monday, I debut “Chronicle Conversations” on WVMT AM 620 at noon Monday-Friday. However, Hot Off the Press will continue full force with a dedicated team of hosts. On this coming Monday you’’ll hear Renee McGuinness of the Vermont Family Alliance interviewed anti-Marxist activist Ed Wheeler. The following Monday Mary Hahn Beerworth of Vermont Right to Life will settle in behind the microphone and interview informed, involved guests. Renee and Mary will trade off Mondays.
Like Biff in a Back to the Future sequel, Becca falls into cow poop, again.
Monday morning, FYIVT published an article examining Vermont’s latest “Tax the Rich-ish” campaign and the economic data behind it. By the end of the day, FYIVT had experienced the largest coordinated login attack recorded in the site’s history.
Ted Kohn, one of the country’s leading Theodore Roosevelt scholars, appears throughout the History Channel’s “Theodore Roosevelt” — newly added to Netflix ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Chair Jen Morway and board member Ellen Howrigan said at the meeting last week they had received phone calls from people upset with the town providing taxpayer funds to a for-profit business.
The quote was parody. The vote was real.
What a dissident Quaker, the Salem Witch Trials, and today’s disinformation debate have in common
But if AI becomes simply the newest tool for satire, parody and political commentary, banning it outright could collide with the First Amendment.
Vermont Public, VT Digger, and Seven Days have done their legislative session wrap-ups. In the year rural Vermonters found their voices, these outlets are mostly disinterested in rural perspectives.
VTGOP Chairman Paul Dame has joined the weekly rotation of hosts on WDEV’s “Vermont Viewpoint” program from 9am to 11am. The station has already given a platform to Vermont Democrat Chair Lachlan Francis for several weeks, and Dame is being added to the weekly rotation for the foreseeable future.
Meta researchers identified Vermont as a unique market — noting that at certain times more teens and young adults in Vermont used Instagram per capita than in any other state.
Donald Batting begin his radio career in Rutland, Vermont, later becoming a legend at WBZ in Boston.
To combat pressures on local media outlets, state leaders awarded taxpayer funding to sixteen media outlets that demonstrated strong “civic journalism.” The awards ranged from $5,000 to $10,000. While intended to address the challenges facing local news, the efforts raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, legality, and questions surrounding which media outlets are winning these awards.
He succeeds Sky Barsch, who joined VTDigger as CEO in April 2023 and announced her departure in January. Barsch’s tenure included reducing the organization’s annual financial losses and completing a new four-year union agreement with newsroom staff. Her last day is June 1.
Several bullet holes confirmed in building located in densely populated residential neighborhood.
Public access television is looking to the state government for additional funding to preserve programming.
Digger, VDC ‘not going to cover Vermont high school basketball game,’ Perchlik says
An anonymous group is spending real money to advertise fictional guided tours of Chittenden County’s very real DHS infrastructure. Seven Days says the tours are coming. The creators aren’t talking.
Anand succeeded interim editor Neal Goswami. His predecessor, Paul Heintz, departed in February, 2025. When Susan Allen starts work in June, she will be the fourth editor-in-chief in 16 months at VTDigger.
I am seeking corrections or the removal of the story and I have filed an ethics complaint with the management of Seven Days. Errors are common and mistakes happen, but not in these amounts. But I’ll leave you with one last thought, would Alison have reported about me if I had gotten a job at McDonalds or a gas station or really anywhere else than at her competition?
Abenaki people who happen to live in Vermont are not fakes, not liars, and not deserving of this public hate campaign.
I now know from personal experience.
A nearly identical law in California has already been struck down by a federal court as unconstitutional and the federal government is actively working to preempt state-level AI rules.
Vermont Sen. Andy Perchlik defends the State paying “independent” news media, blames Trump.
Winners of taxpayer-funded awards to Vermont news outlets will be announced.
VTDigger’s challenges reflect broader pressures on Vermont journalism. In August 2025, Vermont Public eliminated 15 positions. Vermont has lost 75% of its newsroom workforce since 2000.
The teachers’ retirement system now has 10,772 retired members and beneficiaries drawing pensions, compared to just 10,526 active teachers contributing to the fund.
Lights, Camera, Safety!
Under VTDigger management’s contract proposal, human journalists can be replaced by Artificial Intelligence to produce the local news you rely on.
Free service gives journalists instant, searchable access to committee hearings—with video verification and shareable SmartClips
Prosecutors allege the funds were diverted to cover personal expenses, including alimony and rent, to finance the purchase of the Eagle Times, and to pay political consultants.
You will believe that a car can fly.
Families in the Plainfield–Marshfield region are voicing alarm over repeated sightings of a registered sex offender on local school property, a situation that has prompted residents to launch a petition aimed at state lawmakers.
Learn more about the new alternative media, Vermont Back Porch, when Hot Off The Press interviews founder Amy Hornblas today at 11:40 AM on WDEV. Call ins welcome at 802-244-1777.
Neurologist Dr. Jessica Lowe brings medical expertise and 230,000 followers to national telemedicine company
Now live at wh.gov/mediabias, the ‘flamethrower on the media’ lays bare those deemed offending journalists and their outlets, and presents what it says are the actual facts they attempted to bury, twist, or invent.
According to an announcement shared with supporters, the platform will serve as a digital gathering space “with room for members to connect with each other, build networks and help us meet our mission.” VSU said the service will prioritize open conversation among “real, human neighbors.”
If you’re nostalgic for a taste of a Thanksgiving from the good old days, you might want to watch “Thanks to Vermont,” a 1955 promotional video for Vermont products.
Helping independent local journalism, or tting its hands?
The restrictions violate Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, the press groups say.
A state-funded “Public Truth-Telling Session” scheduled for Nov. 15 in St. Johnsbury will bar reporters from recording, photographing, or interviewing participants inside the event, according to guidelines released by organizers.
A haunting piece of Vermont history — the story of Ascutney farmer Romaine Tenney — has been brought to life in animation and has earned its creator, Burlington filmmaker Travis Van Alstyne, the 2025 Richard O. Hathaway Award from the Vermont Historical Society.
Make Vermont Healthy Again? We discuss healthy options for food stamp purchase and other initiatives with John Klar today on Hot Off The Press.
In the first half hour, I will cover the weekend and Monday morning’s top headlines, and VDC columnist Alison Despathy and I will discuss her latest post warning against the ‘dumbing down’ and energy consumption downsides of AI. In the second half hour, the Media Monday segment, listeners and I will discuss the pros and cons and rights and wrongs of sharing information following fatal accidents.
No guests on Feedback Friday – only callers! Call in at 802-244-1777 from 11:05 AM – noon.
Today’s top story on Vermont Daily Chronicle has its beginning in yet another Vermonter who was inspired by the life of assassinated free speech and conservative leader Charlie Kirk. Reporter Ted Cohen and Hot Off The Press host Guy Page will discuss the Hartford Diner story in the first half of Hot Off the Press.
Ben Kinsley and Kolby LaMarche join Guy Page today for Hot Off The Press on WDEV at 11AM. What’s happening behind the scenes in the Burlington mayor’s office, the business community and on the City Council and Gov. Phil Scott’s recent executive order aimed at boosting housing construction will be the focus of discussion.
One caller disputed a Democrat lawmaker’s assertion that Vermont isn’t attractive to out-of-state people looking to take advantage of Vermont’s generous public offerings.
I give the headlines and the back story and talk to the reporters who write the day’s top stories. And best of all we take YOUR comments and questions. Tune in at 11 AM every weekday on WDEV AM 550 and 96.1 FM, and livestreamed on WDEVradio.COM.
When Vermonters are asked to donate to VTDigger, they’re told they’re supporting independent journalism. But recent IRS filings by its parent, the Vermont Journalism Trust (VJT), reveal a separation agreement with founder Anne Galloway that raises questions about how donor money is used.
“Freedom and democracy are not about political violence,” said Sanders. “It is not about assassinating public officials. It is not about trying to intimidate people who speak out on an issue. Political violence, in fact, is political cowardice. It means that you cannot convince people of the correctness of your ideas, and you have to impose them through force. Every American, no matter what one’s political point of view may be, must condemn all forms of political violence and all forms of intimidation.”
“It’s not about having Fox News as much as it’s not about having someone who doesn’t denigrate our country constantly… Just give me the news and I will make up my own mind after that. I don’t want to hear your opinion, just give me the news.”
This time they really jumped the shark.
It’s likely the battle isn’t over.
According to the organization’s official announcement, the elimination of 15 positions stem directly from a $2 million shortfall caused by a recent federal rescission bill that eliminated key funding for public broadcasting.
I am dismayed but not surprised that hardly any of the the world’s press will report in any detail why Israel killed this man and his team.
If the debate is going to happen, let’s at least base it on facts — not furry blue nostalgia.
Trained problem-solver, veteran, and former guv candidate.
“Other Presidents have engaged with potential senior leaders before nominating them. JFK knew Maxwell Taylor very well before nominating him to be Chairman,” Deal said.
The passing of a journalistic giant.
This week the online news outlet VT Digger hosted an event in Brookfield titled, “In Facts We Trust: Local Journalism in the ‘Fake News’ Era.” They described it thus, “In an era of misinformation, how do we know the news we’re seeing is accurate? Let’s talk about it together.” VT Digger, are you joking?
Is this payback or just doing their job?
For the Vermont place called Satans Kingdom, the devil lays only in the details.
A growing discrepancy over content standards
Political satire song lampoons Vermont congresswoman who says on the floor of the U.S. House that ICE agents are ‘vigilantes’ who ‘kidnap’ their immigrant targets.
See clips on our discussion of explosive events since Trump’s inauguration, Balint’s butt-wiping comment, and how we’ve gone from a little blog to making national headlines.
Vermont lawmakers voted Monday to ban smartphones and other electronic devices used by students during the school day. The goal is to improve academic performance as well as battle a disturbing rise in the rates of depression and anxiety among young people in the state.
Rep. Becca Balint took to Facebook recently and warned that VA doctors can now refuse care to Democrats — a claim that must have caused fear and concern to her Vermont constituents and veterans. But the troubling part isn’t just the claim itself: it’s that a sitting member of Congress, with access to primary documents and official statements, fell for a debunked narrative without pausing to verify the facts.
Independent journalism must have independent-minded, committed readers.
VDC estimates our clip has been viewed 2.5 million times on X alone and millions more on national television.
Amanda Wheeler hopes to show you don’t have to leave home to make an impact.
Vermont Public’s propaganda superficially simplifies a complex issue into ‘the Democrats want climate policy and the Republicans are pushing back’.
Department refuses to release even anonymized data about where recipients came from — or if they’re from Vermont at all.
Gaffney, a 2024–2025 New York Times climate desk fellow, has reported on federal environmental policy, sea level rise, and extreme weather for the NYT and other major outlets. Her investigative work has earned national recognition, including the prestigious Sidney Award from the Sidney Hillman Foundation.
Her stories on corporate corruption won the Wall Street Journal a Pulitzer Prize in 2002, and she was lead reporter in a series on healthcare that was a finalist in 2003.
Statewide advertising campaign by radio and social media to provide Vermont parents who believe their minor children may have been given medical interventions without their consent an opportunity to confer for free with legal counsel.
Most witnesses have supported the bill, but a few concerns have come up about free speech and news media’s liabilities.
According to a February 2025 article on Vermont Public, losing this 10% could mean cuts to local journalism or educational programs, with rural stations hit hardest.
The Anarchist and the Republican both championed the decentralization of power.
We are all teachers and students simultaneously. Lifelong learners in the most technical sense.
“People that are gonna be watching this and hearing about this, could be taken as supporting a terrorist organization,” Rep. Zachary Harvey warned.
SANDERS: No, you want to do nonsense. Do nonsense.
Every floor and committee meeting of the Vermont Legislature now has an AI-generated transcript, video, and summary. Bookmark THAT, news junkies!
Thank you to every reader and/or viewer who has shared our posts! That’s what in the old-fashioned business world we used to call ‘word of mouth advertising,’ the very best kind.
“I would like to see a public apology from Vermont Senate and House Democrats for mischaracterizing our event as an attack on the transgender community,” Rene McGuinness said.
Public servants’ lives are the stakes
Troopers determined that Benoit was at fault for failing to yield the right of way to Moats before crossing the highway.
Demanding Bobby Kennedy cancels others’ messaging is absurd!
The left has news blind spots. The right has them too. “Blindspot” opens everyone’s eyes, every day.
Ingalls, owner of All Seasons Realty, and Green Mountain Broadcasters LLC have purchased Vermont Broadcast Associates from Bruce James.
Despite Trump’s possible conditional support, TikTok plans to shut down its app nationwide on Sunday unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.
Paul and Guy will issue breaking news on the Clean Heat Standard.
At 11:30AM Guy and John Klar will discuss the Alliance for Defending Freedom opening a VT office.
Woodstock residents are not being permitted to read the investigative report they are paying for concerning management concerns within the village PD.
VDC and many other news organizations, advocacy groups, and interested citizens now have a clear, searchable, timely transcript of legislative committee meetings, courtesy of One of Vermont’s most accomplished high tech wizards.
Democracy is many things. One of those things is delicate. May we never live in a society where we believe that either violence or despair are the only options.
Generally, folks are upset but not surprised. Some are ready to take this media to the City Council.
