New House bills would take pension from cops found guilty of excessive force; create “Youth Council”; reduce cash bail; raise income tax; give Legislature nominating board control over candidates for National Guard leadership; increase water quality monitoring and reporting. Also – a bill for background checks on firearms.
For years Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has given hate speeches and tweeted anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel statements, but only Georgia Republican, Marjorie Green, has been displaced from Congress for one similar comment.
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission has delivered its report, and its recommendations should trigger an intense debate. Switching public education support to the income tax and expanding the sales tax to include services will be very controversial. It’s regrettable that the legislature didn’t begin with a performance review, to decide what state government should be doing with $4.5 billion a year, and then address the tax structure needed to pay for it.
A Brattleboro caregiver stole $225,000 from an elderly man over a three-year period, Brattleboro police say.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published VT Digger The Deeper Dig: Bringing students back 2/21/2021 7:52 AM […]
Bills up for House committee review this week would encourage home visitation by school workers, allow candidates to spend campaign money on personal expenses, let a judge order police to take away firearms, study a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” for Vermont, promote BIPOC home ownership, and reimburse farmers for crop damage caused by black bears.
When most of us think of fictional master British spy James “007” Bond, we might imagine the sun-drenched Riviera coast, nasty Karate-chopping villains, or strong female characters played by the likes of actresses Ursula Andress and Honor Blackman. What we probably don’t think about when imagining Mr. Bond is either Vermont’s Echo Lake or New York’s Lake George. Well, it’s time to rethink Secret Agent 007’s fictional espionage playground.
Despite being thrust into the spotlight over the last few days and having to end his franchise with UPS, store owner Michael Desautels is optimistic about the future of his business in downtown Newport.
Bills in the Vermont House of Representatives would merge the remote-worker incentive program, implement rural broadband, add staff for the Ethics Commission, and adjust school property taxes for population density, poverty, and second-language learners, according to a Campaign for Vermont weekly update.
Gov. Phil Scott joined other governors praising the U.S. rejoining of the Paris Climate Accords.
Concerned about the looming loss of adequate early morning police patrol coverage due to “defund the police” measures, Tom Licata of Burlington recently wrote two letters to Burlington City Council and city officials. Receiving no response, he shared them with Vermont Daily.
The Valentine’s Day gift given to Parkland, Florida was the direct result of, a predictable consequence of misunderstood human behavior. Frightening to me is that experts in psychology and human behavior understand well, but this knowledge is being ignored and in its place come Progressive political policies which seek to deny what do many others know.
Through February 19, Vermont lawmakers have claimed $218,144 in the $75/day per diem permitted for at-home expenses.
H.283, providing the right to refuse any unwanted test, treatment, or vaccine, was introduced yesterday into the Vermont House. Sponsored by four Republicans, a Democrat, and an independent, it would specifically prevent employers and state government from requiring vaccination in exchange for jobs, travel, childcare and other benefits.
Vermonters and New Yorkers know much about French explorer Samuel de Champlain from his brief exploits along the shores of the great lake that now bears his name. The French explorer made it at least as far south as the future sites of forts Crown Point or Ticonderoga; he most likely battled native people along the lakeshore, in 1609, somewhere near the sites of the famous 18th-century British citadels.
Vermont has one of the nation’s highest rates of high school and college graduation, according to a new online report.
The Coalition for Tobacco-Free Vermont and other advocacy groups want the Vermont Legislature to pass S24, legislation to eliminate the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, supporters said yesterday at the State House.
VT Watercooler has merged with Vermont Daily. Don’t miss the breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
My introduction to the Late Great Rush Limbaugh happened in 1989 when I was assigned to the Island of Guam as Administrative Officer of the Naval Station there. His syndicated show came on in the wee hours of the morning. I could just barely pick up the broadcast on my personal small radio. But I strained to hear the broadcast, which fed an inner need of mine.
H268, a bill to create a study group “for the purpose of modernizing Vermont’s prostitution laws,” was introduced yesterday into the Vermont House. It alleges state law prohibiting prostitution is steeped in racism.
Another 40 Days for Life Rally – a “Mid-Point Rally” – will be held 3 pm, Sunday, March 7 at Washington Street, Barre, near the local Planned Parenthood clinic.
Here in Vermont our bi-weekly briefings given by Governor Phil Scott are currently promoting vaccinations. Like it or not they are experimental at best and with no extensive track record or long-term data to support them.
In Episode #5 of the Ericka Redic Show, Vermont’s newest video news host interviews Shawn Shouldice to learn how the pandemic and government regulation have combined to hurt small business in Vermont – and what can be done to make survival more likely.
Three winters ago, New England narrowly avoided a regional power blackout such as struck Texas this week. What happened here three years ago and what is happening in Texas is strikingly similar.
The same government that seeks to mandate electric school buses to avert climate change, dispatched a fleet of diesel-fueled school buses to deliver lunches! Was that in the best interests of children? Employing the National Guard’s tanks would have been comparably efficient….
Vermont Daily readers have been asking about the State of Vermont’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In particular, they have asked about meetings between state officials, including Gov. Phil Scott, and PRC officials.
Last week’s news of the abrupt departure of the Vermont Democratic Party’s Outreach Director was disturbing on a number of levels.
Legislators are debating how to address the lack of affordable housing in Vermont, coming into conflict with the Scott Administration’s proposals to tackle the problem. While both sides have been keen to invest resources in housing over the past several years, there remains a stark divide over whether or not regulatory burdens need to be reduced in order to lower housing costs.
Town Meeting Day in Vermont is the first Tuesday in March. It will be different this year because of the pandemic lockdown. Many towns, including Cambridge, will not be gathering in person. In this podcast Erica interviews several town meeting moderators about why town meeting is important, and what we will be missing this year.
Last month, after more than ten years in hiding, Lisa Miller surrendered herself to American authorities at the U. S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua. Miller, now in custody at the federal detention center in Miami, faces kidnapping and conspiracy charges. She’ll likely be found guilty but, in reality, she’s a victim of bad ideas. A mom, attempting to protect her daughter from her own bad choices and our society’s attempt to redefine marriage, parenting, and the family.
A bill declaring a fetus a legal person during the third trimester has been introduced into the Vermont House of Representatives. Although unlikely to proceed in the pro-legal abortion House, H248 seems to have science on its side.
According to police, the scammer advises that they are a Deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department (Civil Warrant Processing Unit). The scammer subsequently requests monetary funds via Western Union. The victims are advised that Franklin County Deputies will arrest them in person at their residence if the fines are not paid.
Rutland-born Brig. General Edward Hastings Ripley attained the rank at age 25, and along with Gen. George Armstrong Custer, was among the nation’s youngest generals ever appointed in the War Between the States.
This week, Vermont Daily has scheduled a lineup of five provocative commentaries written by thoughtful Vermonters about current issues.
In my experience, attempting to undo bad policies by instituting more bad policies is not an effective solution to anything. Study after study show that well-intentioned efforts like these do more harm than good especially for the people who are targeted for help.
Founder John Klar said the Vermont Liberty Network celebrates free speech, the U.S. Constitution and traditional values of Vermont Liberty. “Nothing’s Sweeter than Vermont Liberty” is the slogan of the new network, which Klar hopes to bring together diverse groups including pro-Second Amendment, anti-compulsory vaccination, freedom of religion, property rights, and pro-life organizations. He also said he welcomes dialogue with other groups, such as Black Lives Matters.
Overall school spending is only up by 0.68%. Add to this the stronger than expended returns of the consumption taxes dedicated to the education fund and statewide average property taxes are now expected to hold steady in 2022. That’s the good news.
Committees in the Vermont House this week will review bills regarding three of the Legislature’s favorite R’s: race, relinquishing firearms, and reduction of carbon. They also will review three-acre runoff, redemption of beverage containers, reorganizing police under one state agency, and raising the standard for police use of force, and new regulations.
The kickoff rally for the annual 40 Days for Life will be held 3 pm, Sunday, February 14 on the sidewalk right-of-way near the Barre Planned Parenthood clinic on Washington Street.
Seven Republican senators have introduced a bill to expand funding for school resource officers (SROs), A/K/A armed police officers assigned to local schools. S76 was introduced yesterday, a week after four Democratic and Progressive senators introduced S63, to ban school resource officers.
At noon on February 14, supporters of the U.S. Constitution will gather at the Vermont State House lawn for the third in a series of rallies to celebrate the Bill of Rights. Ratified in 1868, the fourteenth amendment secured liberties to newly-emancipated slaves, guaranteeing all citizens “equal protection under the law”.
The Public Utility Commission, at the direction of the legislature, has “joined the chorus of voices seeking climate action”. Its all-fuels energy report takes note of the state’s ambitious carbon dioxide emission reduction goals, and almost screams what’s needed on every page: “More Funding!”
Late yesterday afternoon, the City of Burlington received test results from its Covid-19 Wastewater Monitoring Program that detected evidence of two Covid-19 mutations that are associated with the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom. Though this finding will not be definitive until it is confirmed through genomic sequencing, it indicates that the B.1.1.7 variant is likely now present in Burlington at a low level. The B.1.1.7 variant has been found in 34 U.S. states according to the C.D.C., and has not previously been identified in Vermont.
A high-ranking Massachusetts climate change official has resigned after he was caught on a January 25 video advising the Vermont Climate Council it must ‘turn the screws” on elderly fixed-income citizens and “break their will” in order to meet climate change mandates.
Legislation that would tweak state law about elections (non-citizen and ranked choice voting), climate change, home ownership, school mergers, sale of unpasteurized milk, and child welfare are among the bills introduced into the Vermont House this week.
On this week’s episode of the Ericka Redic Show, host/analyst Ericka Redic tells which towns will and won’t have the Retail Marijuana question on their March Town Meeting ballots. (Clarification: Londonderry will vote on the question this year but has not decided when to hold the vote.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is planning to construct two new video surveillance towers 120 feet high along the U.S.-Canadian border in Derby and North Troy.
Chandler Music Hall owes its existence to private philanthropy on a scale that might be difficult to imagine, according to chandler-arts.org. Chandler was a gift of Colonel Albert B. Chandler, a Randolph native, who kept up visits to his hometown of Randolph across his life. As a young man he served as a telegraph operator to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
Federal drug officials warn that methamphetamine trafficking and use is on the rise in Vermont.
Veronica Lewis, 36, of Worcester pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday, Feb. 9 to Interference with Commerce by Robbery, and Possession of a Stolen Firearm. The woman who allegedly shot a Westford firearms instructor three times on June 29, 2015 also is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday to attempted murder in Vermont courts, US Attorney Christina Nolan said.
Hartford Selectboard member Alicia Barrow has stepped down, saying in a letter to the editor that “I no longer feel safe nor welcome in a place I have called home for 15 years.” Ms. Barrow, an African-American, said “My life has been threatened and my children have been adversely affected by it.” (See link for news report, details.)
Senate bill S74 would eliminate several requirements included in Act 39, Vermont’s ‘aid-in-dying’ law, to protect patients against potential mistakes or abuses.
A Vermont Senate resolution affirming the friendship between Vermont and Taiwan Tuesday, Feb. 9 was denied a floor vote, and instead was diverted into committee.
A cyber-insurance policy taken out by the State of Vermont in 2019 will save almost $7 million in projected losses from the inadvertent disclosure of many 1099-G forms last month, the Scott administration announced today. Thanks to the policy, the State of Vermont will owe only the $250,000 deductible, rather than an expected $7 million expense.
Governor Phil Scott doesn’t want the State of Vermont to “turn the screws” on” Vermonters or “break their wills” when it comes to climate-change reduction policies. His position runs contrary to advice given to the Vermont Climate Council by a Massachusetts climate official.
Northeast Kingdom TV news producer Steve Merrill was banned last week from asking questions at Gov. Phil Scott’s twice-weekly press conference.
To create order from this confusion, to determine what is nonsense, to detect gaslighting and decide what is valid, we need to revisit three classic sources. These re-reads will remind us that we are capable as individuals of sorting out what is good for us and what is being foisted on us by the masters of group think.
Staunchly liberal Time Magazine reported Feb. 4, approvingly and in great detail, how a shadow, progressive-led campaign to defeat the re-elect Trump campaign persuaded Big Tech to suppress conservative “disinformation.”
Taken together, three Vermont Senate bills would expel active-duty police from schools, limit suspensions of law-breaking students, and prevent off-duty cops and retired military from responding to a school shooting.
The Senate Education Committee was briefed this week on the school choice policy impacts of Espinoza v. Montana in which the U.S. Supreme Court last year determined that religious schools shall not be excluded from public tuition dollars under federal law.
TROY — Authorities say a snowmobile was the cause of a fire that destroyed a covered bridge in Troy this morning, according to a report in the Newport Dispatch.
At noon on February 14, supporters of the U.S. Constitution will gather at the Vermont State House lawn for the third in a series of rallies to celebrate the Bill of Rights. Ratified in 1868, the fourteenth amendment secured liberties to newly-emancipated slaves, guaranteeing all citizens “equal protection under the law”.
Ismay’s said, “So let me say that again, 60% of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right… there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly….”
At the January 25 Vermont Climate Council meeting, members can be seen nodding their heads in apparent agreement as the Massachusetts climate czar tells them his plans to “turn the screws” on ordinary people, including senior citizens on fixed incomes, and “break their will.”
Yesterday the VTGOP launched a petition to stop an expansion of the sales tax on to services like haircuts, auto repairs, home renovations, even child care and tuition payments, Party Chair Deb Billado said.
Ron Lawrence: This calls into question our Governor’s support for the Party to which he claims to belong. It certainly calls into question his leadership and devotion to uniting the Party. And, it calls into question his personal character. What kind of person engages in this sort of smear tactic—except only silence his opposition?
But the pandemic has not been kind to Vermont small businesses, especially the large hospitality sector. In the fourth quarter of 2019, economic growth in Vermont surpassed the nation’s. But due to the pandemic and its State of Emergency restrictions, by April 2020 unemployment was 15.6% – almost a point above the national average.
The kickoff rally for the annual 40 Days for Life will be held 3 pm, Sunday, February 14 on the sidewalk right-of-way near the Barre Planned Parenthood clinic on Washington Street.
A new Vermont House member disputes a veteran senator’s claim that communities should be able to decide by next March whether to ask voters if a retail marijuana store is a good fit.
This year, watching the Super Bowl could be more hazardous than playing in it. And a “super spread” no longer means a great snack buffet.
Vermonter Marshall Harvey Twitchell was the poster boy of “carpetbaggers” most Southerners loved to hate in the post Civil War years.
In his second Deepcapture.com post about the 2020 General Election and concerns about election fraud, journalist and CEO Patrick Byrne posts a document that appears to show heavy internet traffic between China and election centers in the battleground states of Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
At a Feb. 1 meeting of the Essex County supervisors, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY21, said her office had been in touch with the ferry company and reopening the Essex route was a priority. She said the company would be eligible for another round of stimulus — a previous allocation had helpedAlong with reduced business, Stefanik said the company had also had trouble finding adequate help needed to run all its boats. it maintain its routes last year.
On Town Meeting Day, March 2, voters in 20 Vermont cities and towns will decide whether to allow retail marijuana. The new state law says local voter approval is needed before a marijuana store can open. But what about towns that don’t want to vote on retail pot? 41 towns won’t even have the question on the Town Meeting ballot.
Attorney General T.J. Donovan has filed a lawsuit on behalf of State Auditor Doug Hoffer against OneCare Vermont after the accountable care organization breached its contract with the State by repeatedly refusing to provide accounting records to the State Auditor.
Would Phil Scott – lifelong Republican – pull a Jim Jeffords and leave the GOP? Ericka Redic discusses why voices from the left, right and media are talking about the Vermont governor leaving his party.
Vermonter’s are doing what is asked of us. We are wearing masks, not gathering, quarantining if we leave the state, limiting our children’s ability to go to school full time, etc. We are doing this all because you said we need to protect fellow Vermonter’s. It seems to me, you are asking a lot of us while turning the other way when it comes to protecting us from others.
Police have a tool they can use to immediately correct the problem of a person carrying a firearm into a prohibited place; it allows them to remove that person; it allows them to cite or arrest and at that point they can confiscate weapons. That’s current law today. To quote the lead sponsor one more time: “… if in fact there are other laws that do what S.30 purports to do, then I would say it is a strong argument for not passing it.”
The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) has received more than $26 million in federal funding through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) to support public transit across the state, Gov. Phil Scott said today.
Opportunity Vermont has released a petition calling on the Mayor and City Council to abandon any proposal that taxes residents who need gas for heat, hot water, or cooking.
A bill under review by the Senate Education Committee today at 1:30 pm seeks more data on whether Vermont schools unfairly discipline racial minorities. Sponsors want this information to “understand what strategies are effective and to encourage the adoption of these strategies at the local level.”
In February, Vermont House committees turn from January’s “welcome back, here’s what happened when you were gone” reports from state officials and lobbyists, settle into their seats, and begin to look at bills. This week, several bills of interest will come “off the wall” of introduction and get a serious look by committee members.
When Governor Scott declared a state of emergency on March 13, 2020, a whole new world of “small business challenges” landed on the backs of those small business owners from which they may not recover.
Vaccination Day +1: I planned on some cross-country skiing but didn’t have much energy. “What’s going on?” I asked my Chief of Intrapersonal Security.
Many of the cold-water swimmers in this month’s Seventh Annual Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival have been swimming in socially distanced “pods” regularly through the fall and winter as the sport of Winter Swimming has spread across the country and blossomed.
With a mortality rate rivaling that of baby sea turtles crossing the sand to the ocean, most bills proceed no further than introduction. For a list of all House bills, see the Vermont Legislature website. To contact media and lawmakers about legislation, see Vermont Daily media/legislator contact list in article and Google Doc formats.
“The breeding population of greater snow geese has grown from approximately 50,000 birds in the mid-1960s to 714,000 birds today,” said David Sausville, Vermont’s waterfowl project biologist. “This increase has resulted in damage to agricultural crops and marsh vegetation in staging and wintering areas from Quebec to North Carolina. Hunting pressure to date has aided in reducing the population from its high point of just over one million birds during the period of 2000-2010. The Atlantic Flyway has established a goal of 500,000 greater snow geese to bring populations in balance with their habitat and reduce crop depredation.”
Governor Phil Scott today announced that Vermont businesses will see another rate decrease in workers’ compensation insurance in 2021. This is the fifth straight year workers’ compensation rates have decreased, and when combined with decreases from 2017-2020, Vermont employers will pay an average of 36% less in workers’ compensation premiums than they did in 2016.
Many secular-minded parents have no interest in having their kids attend evangelical churches. Well, I have had the chance to get to know some of these young people at my church. I also had the chance to get to know some secular young people with whom I worked with at a store awhile back. I offer the following observations.
Rep. Peter Welch responds to election fraud petition: “The court system, members of Congress, and the former President should respect the American people’s decision. Undermining the results of the election with false claims of voter fraud is deeply irresponsible and damages the core of our democratic system honoring the will of the voters and the election outcome.”
The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) cautions Vermonters about the significant risks associated with investing in publicly traded companies that are experiencing extreme price volatility due to stock speculation.
Gov. Phil Scott would consider expanding sales tax on services, products, but only to reduce the overall burden. Asked about a plan to reduce the percentage of the sales tax but expand the scope of taxable products and services, Scott said: “This isn’t the time to increase taxes on anyone….if the Legislature is talking about reducing the burden, I’m all ears.”
A bill sponsored by Sen. Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden) to prohibit carrying guns in some public places lacks support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, committee member Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) confirmed yesterday.
Ms. Billado: There is no need for you to respond to my request for confirmation of certain FB posts. They have been exposed by the full force of John Walters’ Vermont Political Observer, who, like so many others, if not burning Hester Prynne (I mean Ellie Martin) at the stake for witchcraft, are forcing upon her, and those who dare associate with her, the Scarlet Letter R, for Republican.
The following blog post by journalist/entrepreneur/cybergeek Patrick Byrne was posted January 27. It provides the first “insider” look at the president’s election fraud investigation handled (Byrne would say mishandled) by key top aides of President Trump.
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission released its 180 page draft report to the legislature, and one of the major recommendations it makes is to expand Vermont’s 6% sales tax, currently limited to goods and a few singled out services such as ski rentals, to everything but healthcare, and to reduce the overall rate to 3.6%.
Friedman is complaining – correctly IMO – that much of what is sold as recession relief is actually socialism for the rich at the expense of everyone else and at great long-term danger to the economy.
“Down 25 percent from the end of 2019, Vermont had the largest drop in construction employment out of all states,” Construction Coverage’s Brian Medina reported.
There can be large-scale test kit contamination, as both the US and the UK (and several African countries) discovered during the early phase of the pandemic.
21,000 Vermonters signed up Monday for Covid-19 vaccination on the first day of the 75 and over registration. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
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