Lawmakers wrestle with how to regulate runoff from dairy farms

In late February, and again in late March, Gerard Vorsteveld sat in front of a room of state lawmakers. After remaining mostly quiet during years of legal battles and media scrutiny centered on pollution coming from his family’s Addison County farm, he had the floor.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday, April 2, declared sweeping tariffs on imports from most nations, escalating a trade war that state officials and business leaders have warned could have dire consequences for Vermont’s economy.

Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber stood before a gathering of the state’s lawyers recently and detailed his concerns with the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the rule of law.

Vermont officials are assessing how residents may be affected after the mass firing of federal workers who administer the LIHEAP program, which provides millions of dollars in heating assistance to low-income households in the state.

Valley Vista, the state’s largest substance use disorder treatment provider, will shut its Vergennes women’s facility by the end of the month and consolidate all patients at its Bradford location. The closure will result in the loss of 20 jobs.

A Department for Children and Families official said that a planned Vergennes residential youth facility will not include space for older teens, backtracking on earlier plans to expand the campus.

During the proceedings, Judge John Pacht said Newton was charged with intentionally engaging in behavior that was “open and gross” as well as “lewd and lascivious.”

State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s 52 school districts to just 5 and a new funding formula.

When Vermont Democrats lacked a gubernatorial candidate the afternoon of the primary deadline in August 1972, Rockingham lawyer Tom Salmon, in the most last-minute of Hail Mary passes, threw his hat in the ring.

A plea deal is in the works for the former Addison County sheriff accused in 2022 of sexually assaulting and unlawfully restraining a woman. Under the agreement, Peter Newton would plead guilty to reduced charges and avoid jail time.

Democratic leaders in the Statehouse appear open to changing or abandoning some of the climate and environmental policies they’ve championed in recent years following their party’s major losses in the recent election. 

For two years, the only spots in Brandon with a parking meter racking up fees were the electric vehicle charging spaces. That seemed “fundamentally unfair” to Tim Guiles, a town selectboard member and EV owner.

The cuts — which drew a swift and furious outcry — included closing an inpatient psychiatric unit at Central Vermont Medical Center, ending kidney transplants at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and shuttering a primary care clinic in Waitsfield. … (read more)

Highly pathogenic avian flu was detected in a backyard flock of birds in Franklin County in late December, state officials announced on Dec. 26.

Late last week, at the University of Vermont dairy farm in South Burlington, Jess Waterman climbed up to an opening in a large storage tank, inserted a long metal dipper, and pulled out a test tubes’ worth of raw milk.