Calling a bill that would add $630 to individual Vermonters’ heating bills the “Affordable Heating Act” is disingenuous.
Bartley: Carbon tax goes to House floor this afternoon
Prescribing abortion reversal drug ‘unprofessional misconduct’ under S.37
S.37, which goes to the House floor today, would allow an abortion-inducing drug mifeprestone but would prohibit prescribing an abortion reversal drug.
VT Headlines: Assisted suicide for out-of-staters on Gov’s desk
Witness says man who died at Springfield prison pleaded for help, was threatened by corrections officer; Burlington’s cannabis marketplace is quickly becoming crowded
Davis: Firearms purchase waiting period in H230 must go
Firearms purchase waiting periods don’t reduce suicides, but they do put people in danger and threaten to end gun shows
‘Safe leave’ in paid-leave bill bumped up to $17 million, veto expected
H.66 includes up to 12 weeks of paid safe leave for sexual and domestic violence survivors.
South Burlington looks at tree planting as a step toward carbon goals
Building bike paths and homes near jobs is part of South Burlington’s carbon reduction plan. So is planting more trees.
Warner: Wolf’s Howl Part 2 – Bio-War Against Americans?
Of all the malevolent findings, the most prominent is the action the vaccine takes against human reproduction.
Act 250 turf battle muted as House committees meet
The chair of the committee with Act 250 jurisdiction said she’s waiting on two important reports – both due next year.
S.5, with contradictory ‘checkback’ wording, sent to House floor
Big climate change and abortion/transgender bills are going to the House floor.
VT Headlines: Jewish Vermonters rally for Palestine on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Traffic Alert: Rolling roadblocks on I-89 Wednesday; UVM aims for carbon neutrality by 2030; UVM training students, faculty in emergency response
Alleged murderer of Fern Feather attempts prison escape
Brunell did not leave the secure section of the facility and did not pose a danger to the public during the event, authorities say.
Bartley: Housing status quo no longer acceptable
It’s clear the process is broken. Status quo can no longer be an excuse.
Simpson found guilty of kidnapping woman and son
A St. Johnsbury man has been found guilty in federal court of kidnapping a mother and son and transporting them across state lines.
Greco: S100 endangers Vermont paradise
There is a distinct possibility that the paradise that is Vermont is on the verge of being lost. Legislators in the Statehouse are considering a bill (S.100) that will force dense housing over rural lands.
RSVP for dinner honoring Linda Kirker
Honoring a longtime GOP mentor and volunteer.
De-transitioned Chloe Cole shares story at Dartmouth
We learned from Chloe Cole the events, emotions and thoughts she experienced from as young as eleven years of age that led her to enter the gender transformation machinery now available at hospitals around the United States.
Correction: House did NOT delete climate bill S.5 checkback. But there is a workaround
The Vermont House of Representatives didn’t eliminate the two-year checkback added to S.5 by popular demand. But another clause creates a possible workaround.
Dame: Housing facade
When this year’s significant housing bill, S.100, arrived at the House’s Committee on Housing, many of the members were looking forward to conducting thoughtful legislation to collaborate and make it possible to increase the housing stock in our state.
Mermel: ChatGPT predicts George Will’s EAI Speech
Columnist George Will will speak at the Ethan Allen Institute dinner May 31. What would his speech sound like if written by ChatGPT? Could you tell the difference?
VT Headlines: What’s keeping runners from this year’s Vermont City Marathon?
Employees at Ben & Jerry’s Burlington store petition to unionize; Vt. man sentenced in Burlington murder, likely to spend life in hospital setting; VTrans looks to expand EV charging locations in Vt.
DePino: Gun grabbers going after LGBTQ+ gun owners
H.230 specifically targets the LGBTQ+ community for gun control, in the name of suicide prevention.
Honoring Lee Zeldin, Linda Kirker this week
Friends, admirers and colleagues of Linda Kirker will gather Saturday night at a dinner in her honor.
Roper: Supermajority’s taxing and spending is divorced from reality
According to the Tax Foundation, in 2022 Vermont already had the 4th highest state and local tax burden in the country at 13.6 percent. But, oh, wait till next year!
Northfield lawmaker warns of $460 million in new taxes, fees
I have grave concerns that Vermonters cannot sustain the nearly one-half billion dollar increase in spending over the next two years.
Bilger: UN Report Calls for Legalizing Sex Between Adults and Children
A disturbing new report from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) adds to growing concerns about global leaders pushing to normalize pedophilia.
Vermont becomes second destination state for assisted suicide
The assisted suicide lobby knows that many states will not legalize assisted suicide, so they are forcing states that have legalized assisted suicide to provide death to every American seeking one.
With president gone and library downgrade on hold, what’s next for Vermont State University?
Veteran executive problem-solver Mike Smith is out of retirement as the new president of Vermont State University. The deplored ‘all-digital’ library plan is on hold. But fiscal challenges remain.
Your letters: Zombies, masks, and a house divided
Will mask requirements be like zombies? Right now, they are on the wane, but might they just wake up again?
Frustrated lawmaker demands answer to chair’s refusal to allow Act 250 amendment
“You want to have it both ways. You want to say we can’t work on this, we’ve got no time, and then you want to say we can’t do this because we haven’t worked on it, I’ll tell you what word I would put in my mouth – gaslighting, that’s what that is,” Rep. Caleb Elder told Housing and General Chair Tom Stevens.
Koch: Support your legislators’ wallets?
Who do you know who is slated to get a raise of 23% plus? Answer: Your local legislator! And what’s more, that’s only part of the story—it gets worse!
Climate bill S.5 ‘checkback’ weakened by House committee
Disregarding the thousands of emails and phone calls made by citizens to legislators, the House Energy and Environment Committee mostly removed the Senate-imposed ‘checkback’ safety valve from S.5.
ESTIMATED pay/benefits package for lawmakers: $52K
The average, rank and file lawmaker would receive an ESTIMATED pay and benefits package worth about $52,000 if S.39 becomes law.
Stenger to court: don’t make me pay $250K
Mike Donoghue reports that the former president of Jay Peak wants the court to strike his $250,000 restitution order. Also, Vermont authorities knew in early 2015 of financial concerns raised about the EB-5 / NEK development deal.
House housing committee not allowed to vote on Act 250 amendment
Act 250 has its roots in Vermonters’ backlash to the civil rights movements of the 1960’s, and in practice has stopped would-be landowners of color from developing generational wealth, a Starksboro Democrat said.
Video: Special support to the youth of “marginalized communities”
H.511 would “establish a pilot program to provide community health and wellness programming and services to youth in Black, Brown, and marginalized communities throughout the State.
VT Headlines: Vt. bank rolls out “Halal Loans” specifically for Muslim Vermonters
Burlington sees post-pandemic glut of office space; UVM rolls out new life-saving stations on campus; Jewish Community of Stowe honors Holocaust Remembrance Day
Defense lawyer, prosecutor picked for Superior Court
The high-profile defense attorney who defended Ariel Quiros and the driver who killed five Harwood Union High School students has been named a Superior Court judge.
Wilson: Feeling like the Last of the Mohicans…or Republicans
The current supermajority rules and it is all about programs and committees, out-of-state agendas, and a huge growing bureaucracy. Who really stands to benefit? The very few elites.
Roper: Giving 16 and 17-year-olds the vote
Why not? Who cares if it’s ridiculous and unconstitutional?
FBI infiltrates Churches and dioceses to combat ‘domestic terrorism’
The FBI recently sought to develop sources inside Christian churches and Catholic dioceses as part of an effort to combat domestic terrorism, according to released internal documents.
Climate, housing bills both voted out to House floor
House committees yesterday approved the Affordable Heating Act and a housing bill that keeps the lid on rural new home construction.
Senate OKs big legislative pay, benefit hike
In addition to a big base pay hike, S.39 would give lawmakers $200/week adjournment pay, child care support, $69 in daily food money, and much more.
VT Headlines: Fraudsters target VT town bank acct.
Springfield prison super faces allegations of misconduct; Vt. delegation pushes to protect abortion pill access; VT students have been restrained or secluded at least 125 times this school year
Legislature removes 16-17 year olds’ right to marry, moves towards giving them right to vote
Teens, here’s what the grown-ups in the State House say is okay for you to do: vote in Brattleboro. But don’t get married.
Naomi Wolf’s Howl: Pfizer COVID documents reveal ‘Greatest Crime in Human History’
Author Naomi Wolf and 2,500 volunteer researchers took a deep dive on 55,000 documents released by Pfizer. And oh, what they found……
VT’s $39.5 million opioid settlement share divvied up among State, towns, cities
Each state has been allocated a percentage of the settlement funds based on opioid deaths, the number of people with opioid use disorder, the amount of state opioid sales, and population.
Warner: Convention of States Needed Now More Than Ever
The term convention of states (COS) can be confusing to the average citizen given its vague federal and constitutional implications. What are the risks if any?
Klar: Woke Theocracy Dominates America
Doubtless this new religion will eventually be challenged by American secular jurisprudence. The outcome of that court battle will determine whether America remains a land of the Constitutionally free.
Vermont has the worst internet quality for remote working
New research has revealed which US states have the worst internet for remote working, with Vermont ranking bottom, behind West Virginia and Maine.
Kauffman: Conversion therapy is reproductive freedom, too – and VT law prevents it
H89 and S37, the so-called shield bills, do not extend equal personal reproductive protection as required under Article 22.
Project Features Wild Native Lake Trout
A sign project at Vermont’s state fishing access areas featuring wild native lake trout got underway this month in a joint effort by the VT Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and the Native Fish Coalition.
Willoughby Steelhead Rainbow Trout Will Be Jumping
One of the state’s premier wildlife watching opportunities is taking place in Vermont. The steelhead rainbow trout have started their upstream migration.
Legislators young and old talk generational politics and ageism
Rep. Lucy Boyden was born almost a quarter century after Sen. Dick Mazza graduated from high school in 1957.
VT, NE SWAT police ops suffer three snafus in seven days
Bad radio communications in an active shooter situation in Middlebury. Unintentional discharge of a weapon during a SWAT training on the Church Street Marketplace. And then there’s what happened in Boston….
Dem Senator slams journalistic integrity of True North
I don’t recommend True North Reports as a source for journalistic integrity,” the junior senator from Windham County told a Burlington resident this week.
Roper: Will the Clean Heat Standard destroy Vermont’s maple sugar industry?
Could the real existential threat to Vermont maple syrup be very actions taken to prevent climate change?
VT Headlines: VT man dies in motorcycle crash in Windham County
UVM students protests guns; Border communities support migrants; BFA-Fairfax threat investigated; Suicide in returned military personnel
House Dem’s appetite for new programs place water quality projects at risk, Senate GOP says
It makes both fiscal and environmental sense to budget now for the small state share in multi-year federally-funded water quality and roads programs, Sen. Randy Brock says – but House Dems won’t do it.
Fairfax school shut down after threat
A school resource officer was a vital link in reporting the latest mass violence threat to a Vermont school.
Grateful Dead summer festival moves to Cabot
Twin tribes of Grateful Dead fans will gather for a summer music festival in Cabot.
Evslin: Homeowners and Hotels Swap Guests
Government should allow and encourage (not require, not subsidize) more building of less expensive housing including rental units.
DMV fees will rise 20% if Transportation bill passes
It is becoming so clear that the Democratic/Progressives want to control everything: healthcare, wages, vehicles, food, guns, our children, religion, lightbulbs and even straws.
Scott likely to veto 16-year-old voting, waits for abortion ruling, wants illegal immigrants in VT
A bill allowing Brattleboro 16-year-olds to vote will face a gubernatorial veto if it passes the Senate.
Fernandez: UVM’S Anthony Lamb, NBA Warrior
Anthony Lamb is by far the finest competitor to ever lace up basketball shoes for UVM, and he is enjoying the most expansive post-collegiate success of any Vermont college cager.
California man rents gun, shoots himself at shop’s gun range
The gun range at a popular Waterbury gun shop was the scene of a fatal self-inflicted gunshot Saturday.
Smith: Despite absymal school proficiency, State Board focuses on DEI ‘ad nauseum’
None of the State’s findings/reports contain substantial evidence of widespread discrimination in Vermont. They don’t even provide the number of occurring incidents.
VT Headlines: Pandemic housing supports ending soon
Homeless shelter staff take “pause” after co-worker killed; Colchester Fire Dept. confronts Town about staffing shortages; Burlington police patrols, response plan prepared for summer
“Legislature is not being told the truth” about S.5 decision-making
Turns out the Vermont Climate Council left most of the decision-making analysis about S.5 to a small ‘working’ group that included many renewable power and natural gas industry advocates.
Middlesex man arrested for plotting violence at Minnesota college
The grandson of a Vermont superior court judge and nephew of a well-known campaign ‘surrogate’ for Bernie Sanders faces charges of threatening terrorism and conspiracy to commit assault.
Bananas: VPA Reinstates MVCS Thanks To Cocaine Bear
Rather than simply acknowledge their constitutional right to follow their consciences and exercise their religious liberties the VPA did what principals live to do best – hand out punishments.
Vermont’s Spring Turkey Hunting Starts Soon
It’s almost time for spring turkey hunting in Vermont. Youth and novice turkey hunting weekend is April 29 and 30 this year, and the regular spring turkey season is May 1-31.
Speaking Truth, Opening Minds, and Reading on the Beach
Crisis struck. With two whole beach days left, I finished my designated beach book.
‘Force of nature’ takes on vax & climate mandates
Despathy is perhaps Vermont’s most outspoken opponent of the hypocrisy of equity advocates supporting S.5, the climate reduction bill that adversely punishes poor rural Vermonters and rewards a renewable energy industry benefiting from horrific third world mining of essential metals.
With adjournment in sight, vast differences remain on key issues
Major differences remain.
McGuinness: Suicide rate 19 times higher after sex change surgery
50% of (birth-registered) males experience complications from gender-assignment surgery – pain, surgical site bleeding, urinary dysfunction, sexual dysfunction. For (birth-registered) females, hysterectomy causes sterility.
VT Headlines: Robbery spree in Fairfield
Vermont eviction rules’; Swatting at Vermont school; Vt. father pleads not guilty to manslaughter of son; Colchester fire chief says he was pushed out over staffing disagreement with town manager.
FBI subpoenaed for using informants in Catholic churches to find ‘domestic terrorists’
Remember when the FBI went after Islamic terrorists and the KKK? Now they’re going after pro-life activists in Christian churches.
Roper: Vermont does not need or want a full time, professional legislature
Virginia is for part-time legislature lovers – thirty calendar days in odd years and sixty in even years.
Keelan: Do we really need ESG?
With the pool of future accountants already thinning, ESG will add another layer of distracting responsibility. And the fraudsters are waiting.
McClaughry: Diminishing the culture of violence
Banning sales of certain classes of firearms because they can be used in mass shootings – the so-called “assault weapons” ban – was tried for ten years with approximately zero positive results.
SoBu man sentenced for dealing coke
Bruce Erdmann was sentenced for a 2021 cocaine deal which resulted in a non-fatal overdose.
House drops rental registry over cost kerfuffle
Setting up a rental registry proved so costly that House leaders have dropped implementation in favor of a study.
Voting for Brattleboro 16-year-olds goes to House vote
The House will vote this week on allowing 16-year-olds to vote in local Brattleboro elections.
Big legislative pay, benefits hike on Senate agenda tomorrow
A big legislative pay hike and hefty benefits package are on tomorrow’s Senate agenda.
Shorts: High school students banned from ordering pizza, Starbucks deliveries
A high school principal goes on TikTok to tell students to stop ordering pizza and Starbucks deliveries during the school day – or else.
Police: toddler dies after drunk father loses him in brook fleeing early morning crash
Rescue workers pulled a two-year-old boy from a brook in Clarksburg, MA after his Readsboro, VT father dropped him while leaving the scene of an early Saturday morning crash.
VT Headlines: Former newsman J.B. McKinley finishes his last page
J.B. McKinley never, ever showed off his vast understanding of the world and the English language. He just lived it and loved it.
Report: Vermont 4th highest SF home property tax rate in U.S.
Windham, Orange and Caledonia counties ranked 1-2-3 in effective property tax rates. Chittenden and Lamoille were near or at the bottom.
Bill would protect girls’ right to play sports against girls only
A bill prohibiting biologically-male transgender students from playing school sports designated for girls or women has been introduced into the Vermont Legislature – and immediately labeled as “hate” by transgender activists.
Welch: bill would protect independent pharmacies, reduce Medicaid costs
The problem is that independent pharmacies are getting paid less than what it costs to fill the prescription for the patient.
Attorney General Charity Clark ducks question about GWSA lawsuit
Rep. Brian Smith asked Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark if she could defeat a Global Warming Solutions Act lawsuit brought by an environmental group.
Lynch: the unknowable nature of being
I became a self-avowed atheist. Not just a happy-go-lucky atheist. A radical atheist – one that reveled in the oratorical brilliance of Hitchens as he verbally dismantled cohorts of Christian apologists.
Klar: Vermont trash policy, farms, and human nature
At what point do dump fees become so high that people leave their household trash and old couch on the side of the road? Especially if they are feeding their children, or feeding an addiction.
VT Headlines: Rutland student threatens classmate with gun online
VT students address substance abuse; Burl. PD threatens to arrest doc treating gunshot; Standardized testing changes
House allocates $16 million for new Burlington High School
The Vermont House of Representatives voted to give $16 million of state funds to the new BHS demolition and construction project and rejected a lawmaker’s request for a refund if Burlington wins its suit against Monsanto.
Report: Over-charging persists at Dollar General stores
A retailer with 39 Vermont stores continues to overcharge customers nationwide, a recent report claims.
Tribute planned for VT military officer who suffered from PTSD
John Sandvil lost his battle to PTSD after a distinguished military career, including combat in Iraq. On May 12, friends and loved ones will honor him with a motorcycle ride to his resting place in Randolph.
Hinesburg confronts destruction of beaver dams by landowner
“All I do out back is knock it down and prevent the water from flooding everybody’s property,” Lyman said. However, the Town of Hinesburg has taken action.
McClaughry: Regulations weaponized to resist housing development
The enviros are sometimes willing to allow more more housing in urban areas – but never, ever out in the countryside.
New grassroots group wants biofuels out of S.5
Burning biofuels and biomass emits as much CO2 as fossil fuels and should not be exempted from S.5, the proposed carbon reduction law, Stop VT Biomass says.
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