Community Forum: Real leaders bridge differences

Governor Phil Scott pulled off a trifecta win in the latest election. The “most popular” governor in the country, a non-MAGA, conservative Republican in a liberal state, was easily reelected to a fifth term.

To envision and create effective change in our health care system, we must be honest with ourselves about the challenges and opportunities that deter or impel strategic change.

If we zoom out and look with cynicism at the health care crisis in America, we see a remarkably effective business plan: Grow the burgeoning health care business even larger from its current $4.5 trillion per year in spending, and do so using two other lu … (read more)

Vermonters seem to have a natural wariness of government. Vermont’s Republican Century had just ended 16 years earlier with the surprise election of Democratic Gov. Phil Hoff in 1962.

I have grave ethical concerns about the behavior, governance, and board leadership at the UVM Health Network and its network of Vermont hospitals (Porter, Central VT, and UVM Medical Center).

Like science, history is an ever-emerging narrative based on curiosity, exploration, discovery, debate and interpretation. But like science (and journalism), it must be informed by fact.The recent screed by former gubernatorial candidate John Klar of Broo … (read more)

A few years back, I remember attending an author event at Bixby Library in Vergennes. It was after hours and the library was closed except to guests. As I entered, I passed a cluster of young kids dressed against the cold huddling on the granite steps in … (read more)

This week’s writer is author and commentator Bill Schubart. In the Morrisville of the 1950s where I grew up, we had limited but vibrant media access. Clyde Limoge’s News and Citizen came into our home weekly, purveying all the local joys and tragedies, po … (read more)

As a grateful user of Vermont’s health care system (UVM hip replacement last year), an observer of its growth (the house I grew up in in Morrisville was next to a pasture in which the current Copley Hospital was built in 1958), and a participant in its gr … (read more)

The Vermont State Auditor’s recent report entitled “Structural Weaknesses and Questionable Gains by Vermont’s Remote Worker Grant Program” not only raises questions about the design and efficacy of the executive and legislative effort to attract telecommu … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Bill Schubart, author, journalist, and VPR commentator, is the keynote speaker for the Annual Dinner and Meeting of the Henry Sheldon Museum on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Schubart will present a talk entitled “The Role of Nonprofit Cultural Organizati … (read more)

In a recent conversation with Governor Scott, one of his principle economic concerns was the gap between job openings and applicants. With Vermont’s population either slightly shrinking or growing, depending on the most recent data, it’s fair to say our p … (read more)

I recently attended a quiet conference that brought together leaders and innovators in the arts, humanities and public broadcasting. We met for two days to explore how the arts and humanities, writ large, contribute to articulating and solving some of soc … (read more)