Guest editorial: Vermont can no longer sustain its 14 hospitals

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 growth (I chaired Fletcher Allen in 2003), I value and care deeply about health care in Vermont. And, full disclosure, I’m an advocate for universal health care coverage and hope to see it in my lifetime. Having said all this, it may come as a surprise that I … (read more)

Editor’s note: Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was the only Republican to break with his party and support removing President Trump from office. In doing so, he put his principles above party loyalty to a president whose actions he could not, in goo … (read more)

Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, has introduced a bill to create a Community College Scholarship Program that would provide tuition-free scholarships for Vermont residents attending CCV. It would, from the outset, require a $6 million appropriation. It’s a sma … (read more)

The start of the new year provides an opportunity to reflect and set out our intentions for the months ahead. This year, I am asking all legislators to join me in committing to protect and expand access for Vermonters who are seeking access to public reco … (read more)

The temptation with bad news, like that of the closing of Green Mountain College, is to sit on one’s hands, paralyzed by structural change beyond immediate local control. The alternative is to come together, line up strategies and do what is in your power … (read more)

Editor’s note: As this country enters a new decade and tries to put the first two tumultuous decades of this new century behind us, Americans face a peril unknown in the country’s 220 year history: a president who would willingly trade our democratic form … (read more)

Editor’s note: An editorial about the credibility of Santa Claus appeared more than 100 years ago in The New York Sun. It was written by Francis Pharcellus Church, an assistant to the paper’s editor. A true Christmas classic, it has outlived its writer, t … (read more)

It’s the season of joy and light. And among the most heartening local developments this year has been the proposal for a greatly needed solar energy field off South Street Extension in Middlebury.  Yet a small, vocal group of people warn us that we should … (read more)

I am distressed by the proposals for school closings in Addison County. The Legislature’s Education Committees took many weeks of testimony over a six-year period regarding how we move forward as a state in providing quality education for Vermont children … (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)

Lately the media has paid some much-needed attention to Vermont’s financial challenges related to unfunded pension liabilities, demographic changes, and labor force at the state level. However, our towns must deal with many of the same and similar challen … (read more)

The latest round of flagellation of dead horse flesh has been provoked by the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. After 20 years of overall progress, many of the scores went down. While all groups improved over the lo … (read more)

The recent passing of Paul Bruhn, a champion of preservation and community development for more than 40 years, is a blow to the heritage conservation movement. Much like the vacant lots and storefronts in the historic town centers that Paul spent his life … (read more)

What happens when you speak truth to power? Often no immediate impact. But the words themselves can be like planting an acorn that grows into an impressive oak tree. It usually takes about 50 years for a small acorn to grow into a big oak tree, a well-kno … (read more)

In accusing the intelligence community whistleblower of partisanship and treason, President Trump has redefined whistleblowing to serve his private interests rather than the rule of law. In the American tradition, whistleblowers expose illegal or unconsti … (read more)