The celebration of Christmas culminates from the miraculous advent of His being born of a virgin under hostile circumstances. The second a crescendo of God’s ability to take even death itself and turn it into the most victorious moment in human history.
While Vermont public school officials are carping about returning to the classroom post Covid, calling for higher taxes to pay for their pensions, and are otherwise consumed with controversies over mascot names and what flags get to fly on school grounds, Vermont families have been driving an interesting trend – using Vermont’s 150 year old school choice “tuitioning” program to put their kids into independent schools.
The Vermont Air National Guard will begin three weeks of night flying operations starting Tuesday, April 6.
The Vermont AFL-CIO is calling state employees and teacher unions to strike over the Vermont House’s March 26 rejection of a wealth tax to bail out the public pension deficit.
In recent years, government officials and others have used state and local laws to threaten the freedom of millions of Americans. The laws are known as SOGI laws because they elevate “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to protected class status.
“In Middlebury I own an apartment building,” a caller to WVMT’s Morning Drive told Secretary of State Jim Condos. “There were about 25 (unclaimed) ballots by all the mailboxes in the hallway and the college kids scooped them all up, voted them all, and put them in the mailbox,” the caller alleged.
Saint Michael’s College psychology professor Ari Kirshenbaum has been using a $224,000 National Science Foundation grant he received in September 2020 to develop a mobile app that measures the effects of cannabis on a user’s neurocognitive functions: things such as reaction time, time perception and concentration, which are all affected by THC.
The study was co-authored by UVM Professor Stephanie Seguino, Data Analyst Pat Autilio and Nancy Brooks, a Visiting Associate Professor at Cornell University. The data collected from 2014 to 2019 showed racial disparities statewide, including Shelburne, where Black drivers are 4.4 times more likely to be stopped by police, the study found.
Journalist Auditi Guha bashed communities “full of white people” as “boring” on Twitter on March 15, just two days before VT announced her hiring as a senior editor at VTDigger.
The recurring proposals which endorse eliminating or subverting the Electoral College by some kind of “interstate compact’ is a bad proposal for many reasons. The Electoral College is necessary to help preserve our democracy.
While “there has been no known impact at this time” of Covid-19 vaccinations on current or future pregnancies, “it’s a little premature to answer” whether vaccines are positively safe for pregnant women and the children they carry, Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine said at a press conference Tuesday.
Tuesday the Senate Rules committee met to take the next steps on two proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution, including Proposal 5 which “seeks to ensure the personal reproductive liberty of every Vermonter,” according to a statement from Senate Pro Tem Becca Balint (D-Windham). Opponents like Vermont Right to Life say it would enshrine in the VT Constitution a right to an abortion.
Last Saturday, Steve Merrill, a Northeast Kingdom journalist banned from Gov. Scott’s press conferences earlier this year, told the assembled crowd about that experience and his research into Covid-19 vaccines. The longtime host of a NEKTV program recalled how the governor’s aides first accused him of being called a racist by others, then referred to his show as a ‘hobby entertainment’ not worthy of participating in a press conference before banning him. His appeals for reinstatement have been denied.
NEWPORT — Spring finally made its appearance in Newport this past Saturday, at 4:09 a.m. to be exact.
The Barre Unified Union School District announced this week that starting April 1, all students can now access a free meal for dinner. These meals will be handed out to students during […]
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published VT Digger David Flemming: Global Warming Solutions Act may stop Vermont […]
The current pension proposals seek to shore up the pension plans and reduce annual plan contributions by reneging on the promises made. There is an alternative.
Former Lieutenant Governor Zuckerman took the nearly $200,000 budget he inherited from then-Lieutenant Governor Scott and increased it by more than 27 percent in a single year. As a result, current Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray inherited a much more favorable budget than was the case just a handful of years ago.
An explosive study published March 29 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics and conducted by prominent researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found that teenage marijuana users (aged 12-17) have double the prevalence of a use disorder (addiction) than nicotine, alcohol, and, in most categories of users, even prescription drug misusers.
The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years, and this up-to-date population count is used to ensure that our elected representatives in the legislature are equitably apportioned across the state.
In a fast-paced 10 minute video released recently, Rob Roper of the Ethan Allen Institute outlines what you need to know about S15, the universal mailed ballot bill approved by the Senate and now in the House.
Governor Phil Scott announced yesterday that he has appointed James Pepper of Montpelier, Julie Hulburd of Colchester and Kyle Harris of Montpelier to the Cannabis Control Board (CCB).
Of the estimated 500,000 and three million times a year guns are used in self-defense, the popular AR-15 plays a part. Here are 10 examples that did make the news.
A fast-moving EF1 level tornado roared through a suburban Middlebury neighborhood March 26 uprooting trees, knocking down power lines, and damaging several homes.
The 40 Days for Life – Barre event concluded Palm Sunday, March 28 with a final rally in front of the Barre Planned Parenthood office. About 50 people attended on the rainy, blustery day, organizer Tom Kelly of Barre said.
by Tom Licata Where’s Vermont’s attorney general when you need him? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly makes racism illegal. It states: “No person in the United States shall, on the grounds […]
DENVER, March 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Business intelligence from Akerna shows that Wednesday, March 17, St Patrick’s Day and the day that most qualifying Americans received their $1,400 stimulus checks was by far the largest cannabis sales day […]
Essex County, the rural heart of the Northeast Kingdom, was the only county to vote red for Donald Trump in the November, 2020 general election. State officials say many residents also are showing ‘vaccine hesitancy’ – the term for unwillingness to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Is there a connection?
If I were still “allowed” to participate in Governor Scott’s news conferences, the question I would ask Dr. Levine: “Are there HIV (AIDs, incurable) and HCV (Hep—C, curable) ‘parts’ in this vaccine?”
Word began circulating last week that the Speaker had a “secret group” of legislators working on a pension plan, the Campaign for Vermont (CFV) reports. That “secret group” turned out to be the leaders of the House Government Operations Committee, who released their proposal on Wednesday.
This country is facing a “fiscal crisis” exacerbated by Congress. In the past 18 months our fiscal debt INCREASED 30 percent to $28T. This is 25 percent more than all goods and services produced in a year.
If you own or work at a Vermont consulting practice that focuses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness (DEI), Climate Change, or Ethnic Affairs, you are in the right place for exponential growth.
The State of Vermont created the $5.7 billion pension shortfall, and it shouldn’t expect employees and retirees to clean up the mess.
Which Vermont industries received the most assistance from the SBA Paycheck Protection loan program?
It’s like suing Ford Motor Company for providing the car that Bonnie and Clyde used to get out of town after robbing the bank. Or, to bring it home to Vermont, to sue a ski manufacturer when a skier veers off the slope and crashes into a tree. Or as Bernie Sanders put it when supporting the protection law in 2005, “If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer … do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer.”
The bottom of Vermont’s 548-acre Lake Morey, originally known as Fairlee Pond, is alleged to be the watery grave of the world’s first steamboat.
On Saturday March 27, the Vermont Liberty Network will gather at noon on the State House steps to celebrate the Green Mountain Boys of many generations past who served in the cause of Liberty. Public access TV host Steve Merrill will be a guest speaker.
Vermont Daily Water Cooler for Thu, Mar 25
The Vermont House Wednesday, March 24 gave preliminary approval to spending millions on tourism, workforce development, and BIPOC business development. It also created a health care equity council and toughened laws surrounding sexual violence.
The mainstream media has finally woken up and realized that conservatives no longer care what they think. Now they’re trying to woo us back – in the case of the Burlington Free Press, with $25 gift cards.
A coalition of Rutland interfaith and activist groups is seeking housing sponsors to bring refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers (including those here illegally) to Rutland.
Surprise! I checked my bank account this morning and found my $1,400 stimulus check from Joe O’Biden. Guess what…I’m going to donate it all to the NRA-ILA, Judicial Watch, Vermont Daily, the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, and buy a year subscription of Epoch Times.
The proposed Mendon firearms discharge ordinance has been tabled while town officials gather more information and evaluate citizen comments from a March 15 hearing, Town Administrator Sara Tully told Vermont Daily today.
The Montpelier charter change allowing non-citizen voting passed the House with little difficulty, 103-39. One expected Winooski, with this precedent set, to sail through as well. But it didn’t. There’s a catch – one that should also inspire some second thoughts about Montpelier as that bill goes to the Senate.
Vermont was ranked low, 41 among 50 states, when it comes to taxpayers’ return on investment (ROI). In other words, taxpayers pay in to Montpelier but don’t see much overall for their investment.
S.15 is a monumental step forward for voter access to the ballot box. Here in Vermont, and nationally, vote by mail has been shown to dramatically increase voter participation in the elections process. I am a firm believer that our democracy is stronger when we all participate.
The Vermont House yesterday referred a contractor registry bill to the Appropriations Committee and gave preliminary approval to statewide broadband spending and Dr. Dynasaur healthcare for illegal immigrants.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published WCAX Vt. Senate looks to fast-track comprehensive stimulus bill 3/18/2021 5:26 […]
A week after the well-received visit by Turning Point USA spokesperson Isabel Brown in Montpelier, TPUSA is organizing at the University of Vermont and is offering virtual events for conservative-minded young Vermonters.
By Guy Page The Vermont Department of Health doesn’t know how many young Vermonters suffer from longterm, debilitating “Long Covid” that reportedly afflicts young people nationwide. ‘Long Covid’ was cited today by […]
The report recites some obvious challenges, such as “development pressure on farmland, generational transfer of farm assets, [and] changing consumer preferences and markets”. But in its Vision Statement for 2030 the report wanders off into what might be called “Ceres in Wonderland.” That’s a collection of correct and happy outcomes, an exercise noticeably infused with political correctness.
ISLAND POND — There will be little or no sleep on Easter weekend this year for several members of the Green Mountain Bible Church in Island Pond, as an out-loud reading of […]
by Tom McLinden If you are a fellow conservative, I invite you to join me in forming a new conservative action network in Vermont. Our mission would be to promote conservative ideals, […]
Too few Vermont news organizations believe that sacred cows make good hamburger.
S.15 An act relating to correcting defective ballots, passed in the State Senate Thursday, March 18 by a vote of 27-3. Its purpose: To make the election policies and procedures adopted during the Covid pandemic emergency permanent features of Vermont elections.
No-one in power in Congress is talking about pandemic spending repayment. Like credit card companies at Christmastime, Congress has pressured us to spend now and worry about payments letter. This morning, the first notice of Payment Due came in the mail, hidden in a predictably worded press release from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders.
United they stand, divided they fall. That’s the gist of the Vermont State College consolidation plan pitched Thursday March 18 by (VSC) Chancellor Sophie Zdatny to the Senate Education Committee.
Governor Phil Scott Friday, March 18 laid out the projected timeline for all remaining age bands, which will govern the state’s vaccination distribution process moving forward.
Friday, March 19 the Vermont House approved the expanded sale of raw unpasteurized milk after refusing an amendment to require bacteria testing. It also approved three spending bills aimed at improving public school learning and facilities.
There will be a Second Amendment Picnic at the Slate Ridge firearms facility on Briar Hill Road in West Pawlet on April 17.
by Lou Varricchio Republished from the March 20 Sun Community News BRISTOL | How a legend grows over the centuries is a subject worthy of a university dissertation. In the case of […]
Heather was a force of biblical proportions. She knew she was “fearfully and wonderfully made” in her mother’s womb by the Hand of God. He endowed her with the gift of speaking His word, His truth. She gave us a glimpse of what it will be like to sit in the presence of our Lord and Savior.
by Tom Evslin Back when this picture was taken, VP Biden was running the stimulus program for the Obama Administration and I was stimulus czar in Vermont. The other two people in the picture are Vermont […]
Dozens of Vermont youth attended a Turning Point USA gathering at Capitol Plaza in Montpelier Thursday night. TPUSA spokesperson and Newsmax news analyst Isabel Brown earlier told the young audience there’s a surefire way to defeat the Cancel Culture: “telling the truth.”
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published True North Reports Bernie Sanders introduces bill raising taxes on companies […]
Asked point-blank today by a reporter whether unvaccinated Vermonters will be denied service at restaurants and stores as the Covid-19 vaccination campaign gathers steam, Scott and senior administration officials refused to answer directly. However, they promised information next month. Later in the press conference, Scott suggested unvaccinated Vermonters would be required to wear masks in public places.
If you feel the need to wear a mask and stand on a dot, feel free to do so. Those of us who know you quarantine sick and vulnerable people, and don’t punish healthy people, want our lives back. That’s the definition of Normal.
Currently, the Fish and Wildlife board is made up of ordinary Vermonters who are considered practitioners of wildlife management by their peers. They represent a grassroots level of control of a Vermont tradition. They are not necessarily schooled in the sciences, but represent local, public opinion and their practical views and experience add to the decision making process-not emotion or politics. The current system of the Fish and Wildlife board is working, so why do we need to fix it?
A bill creating an unelected state board with oversight over the Vermont environment, including hunting and fishing, was scheduled for review this week by the House Natural Resources, Fish & Wildlife Committee.
Not surprisingly, Vermont is not among the 21 states suing Pres. Joe Biden in federal court for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline project.
The Vermont House of Representatives yesterday, March 17 reclassified felonies and misdemeanors, banned police use of chokeholds except to prevent death or bodily injury, and removed the motivation of malice from punishable hate crimes.
Those voting YES believe H133 and court-ordered gun seizure is a reasonable protection for victims of domestic abuse. Those voting NO believe this is a violation of the Second Amendment the US and Article 16 of the Vermont Constitutions, by taking away rights to bear arms without due process of law, noting that the subject of the order is not required to be informed of the hearing and the order can be granted without the defendant having an opportunity to be present, present evidence or have any representation.
In 2035 in Vermont, it came to pass that only one gas station remained in operation, and it was located in Randolph. The State’s fossil fuel czar had established that the gas station would be in Randolph because it is almost at the State’s geographic center.
Americans once regarded themselves as sharing agreement on most goals, just differing in desired means. But “social justice ideology” does not broach dissent: it negates traditional liberalism and free speech protections. Thus, “liberal” professors will be silenced as readily as conservative speakers such as those at Middlebury College. “Social justice” ideology behaves much like an institutionalized cult.
Yesterday’s announcement that Burlington racial equity director Tyeastia Green would oversee the policing study comes just two days after Mayor Miro Weinberger said it would be conducted by another city official. The decision to perform the assessment was made last summer, in the midst of civic unrest that began with the killing of George Floyd. Weinberger announced his decision to reinstate Green in a public mea culpa.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
Heading into 2020, Vermont had one of the most solvent unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds in the country. Indeed, Vermont’s unemployment rate was the lowest in the nation, and there were far more people paying into the fund drawing down from it. However, that all changed with the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, policymakers are scrambling to determine how to get out of their current predicament.
the READABLE Tuesday, March 16 Journal of the House of the Vermont House of Representatives, edited, abbreviated, and faithfully translated from the original Parliamentary, includes information about Dr. Dynasaur health care for illegal immigrant children, non-citizen voting in Winooski, and allowing child care as a campaign expense, and registering and licensing contractors.
Vermont Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski yesterday issued an $84 million higher education, scholarship, and workforce development package that “stabilizes our higher education system.” This added funding would be paid from state and federal revenues.
Dustin Beloin from North Country Career Center spoke at a ‘town meeting’ Monday night about the challenges he experienced with online learning. “One of the biggest struggles for me was staying connected. At home I struggled with Wi-Fi, living in rural Vermont. I have always been a straight ‘A’ student, but missing the connection to teachers took a toll on me. As a hands-on-worker, sitting behind a computer for 8 hours a day with no physical connection to teachers and classmates was really hard.”
Sarah Smiley had been a passenger in the northbound Jeep on Rte. 7 in Danby when she apparently intentionally exited the vehicle.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says warm spring weather and melting snows will cause bears to come out of their winter dens in search of food. The department recommends taking down bird feeders by April 1 to avoid attracting bears.
Excerpt from March 8 video, “Racism and the Secular Religion,” by UVM Prof. Aaron Kindsvatter: “There’s a new kind of discrimination on campus that’s going on that I really feel that we need to talk about, and I think that everybody is afraid to talk about it, and this discrimination is against whiteness.”
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published Ethan Allen Institute Activists Can’t Identify Systemic Problems in Systemically Racist […]
Gov. Phil Scott says China should be held accountable for transparency over the origins of Covid-19.
When you’re the conservative minority in the Vermont Legislature, events like TPUSA are how you bring along the next generation. When you’re the liberal majority, you also hold events like that. And – some critics say – you create a taxpayer-funded State Youth Council.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published True North Reports Letters to legislators: HR 1 will encourage voter […]
Six Dr. Seuss books are now blacklisted, probably never to be published again in the Uptight States of America. It seems that Dr. Seuss, tennis great Martina Navratilova and Vermont female athletes may soon have something uncommon in common.
Published below: the Friday, March 12 Journal of the House of the Vermont House of Representatives, edited, abbreviated, and faithfully translated from the original Parliamentary.
One would think that activists who are and have been for years dedicated to identifying and fixing systemic racism would be able to provide A) at least one example of some mechanism within a system(s) that is racist and responsible for disparate outcomes, and B) have some concrete suggestions for how to change the system(s) so that they will no longer be racist.
Vermont state law requires that ice fishing shanties be removed from the ice before the ice becomes unsafe or loses its ability to support the shanty out of the water, or before the last Sunday in March — the 28th this year — whichever comes first.
On March 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier, Isabel Brown of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) will meet Vermonters, speak, and hold a Q & A.
Under school merger law Act 46, “like so many pairs of misplaced reading glasses that can never be found when you want to read something,” Clarendon has lost its authority to replace its own resigning school board member.
Neither bill supported by Health Choice Vermont, a Waitsfield-based advocacy group opposed to mandatory vaccination, survived the Friday March 12 crossover deadline in the Vermont House of Representatives.
Everyone should winterize their electrical power grids. But each grid will encounter winter conditions that are extreme compared to the usual winters. For that, what you need is a robust grid with (for example) some nuclear plants with fuel stored on site, so the problems of winter do not become grid-wide catastrophes. Just-in-time renewables plus Just-in-Time natural gas is a recipe for the kind of disaster Texas had, and the kind that is embedded in many of ISO-NE’s future scenarios.
Orleans Superior Court Judge Mary Miles Teachout Friday ruled for the state on the final merits of its enforcement action against HNR Desautels LLC, currently doing business as Derby Port Press, and its owner, Andre “Michael” Desautels.
See the past week’s top 10 news stories in Vermont Daily.
The changes allow two unvaccinated households to gather at a time, and permitting restaurants to seat multiple households together, but no more than six people can be seated at the same table.
On March 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier, Isabel Brown of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) will meet Vermonters, speak, and hold a Q & A.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published WCAX EWSD to go to full in-person learning at the end […]
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