Koch: Throwing tax money at a problem won’t solve it

Frequently, those on the hunt for more tax revenue suggest that the sales and use tax law should be expanded to charge the tax on services—think attorney fees, physician and hospital charges, automobile repairs and maintenance, and the like.  How about making the person who cuts or styles your hair a tax collector?  Or maybe the neighborhood kid who cuts your lawn? 

Keelan: Vermont losing colleges and Catholics, gaining cannabis and tax collection

Two long-established state institutions, the Vermont State Police and the Vermont Veterans Home, are finding it difficult to fully carry out their missions. Why? Over the years, their staffing has been depleted and nearly impossible to fill. A long-time member of the VSP noted to this writer that their ranks are down approximately 60 troopers from an authorized strength of 328 to a force of 268 today.

Heck: Lamoille County’s battle cry!

I also concur with the Governor that the Supermajority’s policies do not represent Vermonters overall views and more importantly their purse strings.  Our families expect reasonable legislation with policies that will help hard working Vermonters. Not drive them out of the state.  At the Lamoille County Field Days, folks told me they want to see the return of local control of their school budgets, programs, and staffing.

A Little Parable

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other, “Do you believe in life after delivery?”The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

Is It Vermont’s Water Pollution Problem?

Burlington, known for its progressive environmental values, has ironically contributed millions of gallons of partially treated or untreated sewage to Lake Champlain due to aging wastewater systems. These events, along with Vermont’s broader struggles with phosphorus contamination, raise the question of whether the state’s regulatory and economic policies are counterproductive in solving the very problems they claim to address.

UVM maps the brain of a fruit fly

“If we want to understand how the brain works, we need a mechanistic understanding of how all the neurons fit together and let you think,” remarked study co-lead Gregory Jefferis, Ph.D. “For most brains we have no idea how these networks function. Now for the fly we have this complete wiring diagram, a key step in understanding complex brain functions”

Lynx sightings continue

Reports indicate that the lynx has moved about 60 miles north of where it was first sighted in Rutland County into Addison County, traveling around a dozen miles at a time and then staying in the same general area for several days before moving on. 

McGuinness: is the State of Vermont responsible to provide mental health care to your children?

The State of Vermont believes it is their responsibility to provide mental health care to your children. No wonder mental health services expenses have gone up at public schools! Many people and parents think these services are needed. Please be aware of the potential dangers of turning over mental health services to the State via the public school system without parental direction, consent, and oversight.

Fernandez: The pager attacks in Lebanon:

Attallah also commented on the pager attacks in Lebanon, in which Israel has not officially claimed responsibility: “Taiwan manufactures pagers, and Israel injects them with a few milligrams of explosives, and then it does it again, and it can do this yet again in the future, in a way that will be much more lethal and criminal.