Vermont Digger

Cortney Smith dances as the Juneteenth Celebration Choir performs during a holiday commemoration in Burlington on Saturday, June 20, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger The City of Burlington commemorated the Juneteenth holiday with a block party in downtown Burlington on Saturday. The theme of the event was “Freedom: Yesterday’s legacy, Today’s promise, Tomorrow’s Hope” and was produced by the city’s Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Scroll down for more photos of the

On the heels of its exhibit at the Vermont Statehouse, installed in its permanent home in Barre’s Aldrich Public Library, and reproduced in book form, “Heart of Barre: Building Community After the Floods” is now heading to Washington, D.C. Later this month, a smaller, photographic reproduction of one of the two anchor pieces in the exhibit — the 80-by-80-inch grid of 20 portraits of survivors of the 2023 flood shown here — will represent Vermont at a two-day event to call attention to the needs

The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson sits on the banks of the Gihon River. Seen on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger The river that runs through the Vermont Studio Center has for years been a source of inspiration and solace for the thousands of artists and writers who have filtered through its residency program, one of the largest in the U.S. But three years ago, the Gihon River’s currents were instead the source of damage and destruction when catastrophic floods inunda

From left: René Rentería, Amina Rhoads and Rajnii Eddins. Photo by Emily Rodin. Emily Rodin is an intern for the University of Vermont’s Community News Service through Report for America’s Local News Internship Program. SOUTH BURLINGTON — When Rajnii Eddins and René Rentería met at Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library in 2024, neither knew the encounter would lead to an oral history project documenting the stories of Black Vermonters. Eddins, a poet and activist, and Rentería, a photograp

Buses pick up students at the end of the day at the Westford School in Westford in April 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger The year’s landmark education reform proposal is now law. Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday signed into law H.955, the legislative session’s signature bill that launches a new but familiar round of voluntary school district mergers. The bill’s signing brings some closure to what has been a long year for educators, administrators and legislators. Or lo

Dear Editor, Having read a recent article in VTDigger about electric motorcycles — or e-motos — and as the owner of a registered, licensed, street-legal electric motorcycle, I’m perplexed why Vermont police are not enforcing current statutes on unregistered, unlicensed, unhelmeted e-moto riders on public streets and bike paths.  Electric motorcycles capable of traveling at speeds greater than 30 mph or having a motor output above 750 watts — such as the Sondors Metacycle pictured in t

The Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington in July 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger In a case that may test criminal liability for dog owners, a Vermont woman faces charges including manslaughter after police said her pit bull killed her father after injuring two other people in earlier attacks.  Janna Campbell, 43, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington to a felony count of voluntary manslaughter. That charge s

Vermont State Employees Association attorney Alfred Gordon O’Connell, right, speaks as the Vermont Supreme Court considers the union’s suit against the Scott Administration’s back-to-office order in Montpelier on Thursday, June 18, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger MONTPELIER — The state of Vermont and the Vermont State Employees’ Association presented oral arguments to the Vermont Supreme Court Thursday over whether the state had the right to change employees’ telework

Vermont State Police cruisers seen in Burlington in January 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Months after a chaotic immigration raid at a South Burlington home, state police are asking the public to help identify a man they say smashed a police van window and injured a trooper, even as a Vermont prosecutor declined in April to charge any of the six protesters arrested that day. State police sent out the request this week, alongside body camera footage of the incident and two phot

Carrie Hathaway is a senior financial advisor at Howard Center and owns a home in Vergennes. As the nearest, most affected property owner to Lightshift’s proposed battery energy storage system in Vergennes, I would like to point out that the recent article in VTDigger about the project being put on hold left out some important information. The article says that “while the 4.99-megawatt, five-shipping-container-sized facility could reduce electric bills for Vergennes residents and Vermonter

A crew from Green Mountain Power works on a line in Charlotte in Nov. 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Heavy thunderstorms hit Vermont on Thursday, triggering a flash flood warning for part of Bennington County and causing power outages across the state.  Storms began rolling over the state early Thursday morning, and by the afternoon, the National Weather Service had issued severe thunderstorm warnings for the area around Rutland, Middlebury, Montpelier and much of Windsor

Dear Editor, A recent letter to VTDigger regarding the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s failure to represent Vermonters pointed to a culture that is not reflective of the state at large. It suggested a hiring practice that ensures Vermont values are not reflected in the makeup of staff.  To add to these issues comes the department’s decision to embark upon a greenwashing campaign on Vermont Public. While there are countless sound reasons that businesses and individuals should su

Union members and their supporters attend a press conference in Burlington in July 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger When the University of Vermont Health network laid off more than 140 employees last week, it sent shock waves through the state’s largest healthcare provider. As some staff try to make sense of the sudden news, others weigh just how much the estimated $9.5 million in annual savings can help the hospital meet its goal of cutting expenses by $300 million in three year

Rep. Ralph Wright, D-Bennington, waves after his election as Vermont House speaker in 1985. Photo by Ron MacNeil/UPI, courtesy Vermont Historical Society When Montpelier journalist Chris Graff wrote his 2006 memoir, “Dateline Vermont,” he recounted the rise of such 20th-century politicians as the state’s first woman governor, Madeleine Kunin; its chief executive who died in office, Richard Snelling; and its physician turned presidential candidate, Howard Dean. Then came a secondary yet cen

The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues. Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Amy Goodman is the host, executive producer and co-creator of Democracy Now! Photo by Wolfgang Schmidt For 30 years, journalist Amy Goodman has been “going to where the silence is” to report stories that the powerful would rather you not know about and the corporate m

Dear Editor, I’d like to respond to the recent letters and commentaries in VTDigger about public land use and remind their authors that the overarching goal of setting aside lands for protection is, well, protecting these natural resources for the future, leaving them as wild as possible. No one can predict all the treasures that nature holds until science advances enough to discover them.  READ MORE For example, we’re still learning about mycorrhizae — symbiotic fungi that for

This commentary is by Devon Thomas, the new pastor serving Bethany Church in Montpelier and the United Church of Northfield. He is also a proud Black Vermonter. On June 19, 1865, the U.S. Army proclaimed to the people of Galveston, Texas, that the enslaved Black people of Texas were emancipated. The fact that this proclamation came nearly three years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had freed all enslaved people of the Confederacy, and that this freedom had to be won by force thro

Spent radioactive fuel is seen stored at the site of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon in Oct. 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger After 40 years in operation, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon shuttered in 2014, leaving over 100,000 tons of nuclear waste. More than a decade later, the developer that holds the lease, PowerTransitions, is in the midst of envisioning the site’s future.  Now, the local community and state are mulling th

Gov. Phil Scott listens to an economic briefing at the Statehouse in Montpelier in July 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed S.190, a healthcare bill designed to fast-track premium savings for two groups of insurance customers: public school employees and people buying plans on Vermont’s Affordable Care Act marketplace.  The bill was one of the few healthcare reform initiatives the Legislature passed this session.   It would have sped up t

Members of the Teamsters local 597 union picket outside the Dairy Farmers of America plant in St. Albans in Sept. 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Updated at 5:55 p.m. Dairy Farmers of America will effectively close its St. Albans milk processing plant and the adjoining St. Albans Creamery & Supply, the group announced Wednesday, putting roughly 80 employees out of work. “Both the plant and store have been foundational parts of the St. Albans community for generation