391 stories, newest first.
The Champlain Valley School District board voted 8 to 3 to let the superintendent negotiate with a nonprofit promising to raise $5.7 million for a new field complex at CVU in Hinesburg. Opponents raised environmental and health concerns about artificial turf, from PFAS to microplastics, and the d…
The contract covers BED's 85 union staff and was wrapped up before the new fiscal year even started, a notably drama-free outcome as city labor negotiations go. With BED asking customers to trim usage during heat waves and juggling grid demands, keeping the lineworkers happy is not a small thing.
Beyond the fireworks hype, this one doubles as your logistics cheat sheet for tonight. Organizers recommend the $2 parking at UVM's Gutterson with continuous GMT shuttles, and drivers should expect Battery and Main closed from 9 to 11:30 p.m. Officials also flagged a storm evacuation plan to near…
The August 11 Democratic primary between George and challenger Bram Kranichfeld will almost certainly decide who runs the county prosecutor's office, since no Republican is running. George, one of the nation's more progressive prosecutors, defends declining cash bail and expanding diversion, and …
In the department of very Vermont problems, Strafford keeps losing its Alger Brook Road sign to fans chasing a "Stick Season" lyric. Replacements run $70 to $150 a pop, and the selectboard has floated everything from tougher bolts to a photo op monument. Kahan himself asked fans to knock it off a…
Seven Days parked a team of reporters on the marketplace for a full day ahead of its 45th birthday, and the result is a portrait of a place holding a lot of contradictions on the same block. Tourists, buskers, dispensary regulars, panhandlers, World Cup fans, and last-call partiers all share the …
The four 1940s sketches, "So You Want to See the President!", hung in the West Wing for more than four decades before a family ownership dispute sent them to auction. The White House Historical Association paid over $7 million to keep them out of a private collection, its priciest art purchase ev…
Fresh off council approval of her third budget, the Progressive mayor was pushing back on Democratic councilors who argue her administration has not done enough for downtown business, a fight that flared over the gross receipts tax on meals, hotel rooms and short term rentals. She pointed to cons…
The group says open drug use and a fragile local economy remain daily realities, and it has done the unglamorous work to back that up, from syringe cleanups with the Peace and Justice Center to recovery events and housing advocacy. Last fall, they collaborated with the governor's office on his 14…
A family business that opened in 1933 is decamping for an appointment only showroom in Colchester, and while Berger cites hiring troubles and a pivot toward wholesale, he also says clients tell him they are afraid to shop downtown. It’s tough to say how much of that is based on real experience ve…
A new Streets as Places grant offered modest microgrants for neighborhood block parties and drew 210 applications for just 21 awards, a lopsided demand the organizers tied to lingering post pandemic isolation. Burlington was among the recipients, alongside towns as small as Peacham, and the backe…
Ari Moskowitz, 40, who runs a social media account critical of the mayor and is a fixture at council meetings, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stay 300 feet from City Hall. His attorney frames the case as a First Amendment dispute and accuses the mayor of weaponizing the courts against a co…
The city's celebration runs Saturday from 1 to 9 p.m. across City Hall Park and Church Street Marketplace, with food vendors, live performances, and family activities under this year's theme of freedom as both legacy and ongoing work. Organizers told [NBC5](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/vermont-…
The 10 to 1 vote, with Councilor Evan Litwin the lone no, locks in a 6 percent municipal property tax bump, so the owner of a median $365,000 home will pay roughly $191 more next year. New spending includes $150,000 for added police and private security downtown and in the Old North End, plus $1 …
Williams, the board's longest serving member and a 30 year educator, resigned June 3, citing governance breakdowns and meetings she felt had drifted toward personal agendas. She singled out a recent presentation on classroom neutrality that she read as a rebuke of district staff who helped during…
Charlotte voted this March to drop the floor vote on its budget in favor of Australian ballot, and now residents are pushing for a hybrid model that keeps in-person debate while letting more people vote by ballot afterward. Only about 250 of nearly 3,400 registered voters showed up at town meetin…
Twenty five people are retiring from Champlain Valley School District this year, among them a computer technician with 43 years in and special educator Karen Poulin, who spent three decades at Hinesburg Community School. Poulin's reflections double as a quiet case for the value of long tenure in …
Lakebone is a 48 foot black locust by Shelburne artist Nancy Winship Milliken, hoisted twelve feet above the new Main Street sidewalk after a parade and a slow train ride from Charlotte. It is the priciest of four public art pieces commissioned under the city's 2021 ordinance tying art funding to…
The South End Coordinated Redevelopment Project cleared its first City Council hurdle last month, greenlighting 204 apartments on Lakeside Avenue at a cost near $100 million, with backers hoping the full buildout eventually tops a thousand homes. That scale matters in a city regional planners say…
The $28 million in credits will fund 241 income restricted homes across seven communities, from elderly housing in Highgate to larger family units in Winooski. One award folds directly into the South End story above, with 67 apartments in the Ride Your Bike Building forming the first phase of tha…
Milot runs the state's two year old Animal Welfare Division entirely by herself, on a budget of about $128,000 drawn from dog license surcharges. Lawmakers passed only two modest bills this session rather than the broader overhaul she recommended, one tightening forfeiture rules and another effec…
The Sustainability Academy's annual trout parade caps a months long fourth grade study that begins when hatchery eggs arrive in January and ends with students releasing the fish into the Huntington River. This year's procession drew the mayor, towering papier mâché river goddesses, and stilt walk…
Lawmakers passed close to 250 bills this biennium, and a few will touch Burlington wallets directly. Vermont became the first state to ban paraquat, the herbicide linked to Parkinson's, while also adding a per mile fee for EV owners starting in 2027 and reworking emergency housing in an $83 milli…
The March 11 ICE raid in South Burlington drew more than 100 complaints, and the city's internal reviews cleared every officer involved, including Cpl. Julian Gonzalez, whose body camera caught him forcing a woman to the ground. The citizen police commission broke with city leadership, concluding…
McMahon, the WWE cofounder now leading the effort to shrink the federal Education Department, stopped at the Center for Technology in Essex as part of her Returning Education to the States tour. Dozens of students walked out of nearby Essex High to protest, joined by gubernatorial candidate Amand…
The plan calls for 112 units across two four story buildings at 453 Pine Street, with about a fifth set aside as affordable, on a brownfield that sits beside one of Vermont's most toxic Superfund sites. A long line of proposals has died here before, including herbal entrepreneur Jovial King's Nor…
S.190 speeds up reference based pricing, a system that ties what insurers pay hospitals to a benchmark, usually Medicare rates, and now heads to Gov. Scott's desk. For the coming year it would apply to public school employee plans and to people buying through Vermont Health Connect, with projecte…
The surprise here is Krowinski, the Burlington Democrat who has represented the Old North End since 2012 and led the House since 2021, stepping away after fourteen years in the building. Scott, meanwhile, filed for a sixth term that would make him the longest serving governor in state history if …
This is a big deal for the Essex Junction campus and for Vermont's tech footprint broadly. GF is launching a new quantum computing manufacturing division backed by a $375 million grant from the Department of Commerce CHIPS R&D Office, with the U.S. government taking an approximately 1 percent equ…
The 11 to 1 vote effectively kills a plan to replace the deteriorated "Whispering Giants" sculpture in Battery Park with a new wooden piece commissioned by the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi using city funds. At the heart of the debate is a deepening dispute between the Quebec based Odanak and Wôli…
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's administration is going after nearly 40 properties where owners owe at least $1,500 in taxes for more than a year, part of a broader push to collect roughly $1 million in overdue revenue including unpaid parking tickets and gross receipts taxes from restaurants and bars. T…
The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules voted 5 to 3 along party lines to reject the governor's proposal to cut wetland buffer zones from 50 feet to 25 feet around Class II wetlands in areas designated for housing. The decision stems from a sweeping executive order Scott issued in Septe…
The nearly 30 year old electronic dance music series returns to the Higher Ground Ballroom on Sunday, May 24 with Chicago house pioneer DJ Sneak headlining alongside Texas DJ Kelly Reverb and a deep bench of local talent. Seven Days writer Chris Farnsworth also spotlights Burlington musician Kevi…
After months of study, CVSD has shelved its exploration of merging Charlotte Central School and Hinesburg Community School at the middle school level. The district had hoped combining the two might save money and improve outcomes through larger class sizes and better use of Charlotte's facilities…
The City Council approved the development agreement for the first phase of the South End Coordinated Redevelopment plan, a $100 million public-private partnership between Champlain College and Ride Your Bike. Two six-story buildings with 205 apartments will go up on a Lakeside Avenue parking lot,…
Nearly two years after catastrophic flooding, Montpelier is finally getting $11.78 million for repairs to City Hall, the fire department, and police buildings, while VTrans receives over $9 million for rail trail and railroad damage in Washington County. The money had been held up under former DH…
South Burlington's BETA Technologies posted first-quarter results showing meaningful momentum, including selection for seven of eight FAA and DOT programs (the most of any electric aircraft developer) and a commercial aircraft backlog that has grown to $3.9 billion across 991 planes. The company …
The university is projecting a 7 percent drop in undergraduate enrollment next year, including a 15 percent decline in first-year and transfer students, creating a roughly $12 million hole in the general fund. Because tuition makes up more than two thirds of that fund, the math gets painful fast.…
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's proposal eliminates or delays filling 27 vacant positions, following last year's layoff of 18 city workers. A big part of the squeeze comes from one-time state and federal funds drying up, money that had been bankrolling community safety positions tied to the police depart…
All three members of Vermont's federal delegation, Welch, Sanders, and Balint, have median net worths well above the average Vermonter's while holding zero individual stocks. Welch's net worth surged to over $12.8 million in 2025 thanks to money market accounts and mutual funds, and Sanders still…
H.512 would cap ticket resale prices at 10% above face value for events at independent venues with a capacity of 3,000 or fewer, nonprofits hosting fairs and exhibitions, amateur athletic venues, and colleges. The need is easy to illustrate. When Billy Strings played the Champlain Valley Expo in …
H.739 would ban paraquat sales and use in Vermont after 2030, with farmers able to apply the herbicide until then only with special permission from the Agency of Agriculture. The scale is small here (just 125 gallons were sold statewide last year, mostly by orchardists), but the significance is n…
The 25% drop in 2025 is genuinely encouraging, but context matters. The 170 Vermonters who died from overdoses last year is still more than 2.5 times the number who died in 2014, the year Governor Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State to the opioid crisis. Researchers point to expanded na…
The city's 126-page service assessment, delivered two months ahead of schedule, identifies downtown, the Old North End, and the Riverside-Intervale Avenue corridor as the three potential locations for the center. The report draws on interviews with 50 drug users and feedback from 1,500 community …
[24-Hour Emergency Pet Clinic Opens in South Burlington](https://www.wcax.com/2026/05/07/24-hour-emergency-pet-clinic-opens-south-burlington/)
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth is pushing a statewide ban on firearms in bars and restaurants after Burlington's own charter change, which city voters approved by a large margin in 2025, has repeatedly stalled in the House. The new bill, S.329, sidesteps the patchwork concern that Gover…
The Trump administration's border czar visited Vermont last week to meet with Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison, State Police Colonel Matt Birmingham, and the Burlington and South Burlington police chiefs about the March 11 ICE operation and protest. Morrison called the meeting product…
Employees across Healthy Living's three locations in South Burlington, Williston, and Saratoga Springs voted 105 to 69 to join Workers United, citing concerns about wages and a lack of communication from management around major business decisions. The roughly 300 person workforce is now assemblin…
The Senate passed its $9.4 billion budget with a plan to direct $12 million from the state's Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund toward UVM's proposed 5,000 seat multipurpose center, which would host basketball and concerts. To offset the draw, the bill would funnel 20% of the state's cannabis …
Galvion, a defense manufacturer in Newport and one of the Northeast Kingdom's largest employers with 238 workers, produces ballistic helmets for the U.S. military and NATO. VTDigger's investigation matched the company's helmet designs to headgear worn by federal agents at high profile immigration…
UVM's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is tackling flood resilience on two fronts; Barsky's recently published research on how rural communities weather natural disasters, and the Ecological Planning Laboratory's ongoing partnerships with Mad River Valley towns to manage invasive knotweed…
[DoubleTree by Hilton Burlington Wins Global Award of Excellence](https://www.vtcng.com/otherpapersbvt/community/noteworthy/doubletree-awarded-for-quality-stay-experiences/article_99796bbf-a3c3-4e62-aa63-f206da2d3c0a.html)
This is the kickoff piece in Seven Days' new "Gen Zero" series examining what's behind Vermont's shrinking youth population. The story puts real faces to the numbers: young couples priced out of homeownership by a median home price that's doubled to $500,000 in a decade, renters shelling out $2,0…
Barnes & Noble employees at the Dorset Street location in South Burlington held a union vote this week and could become the eighth store in the country to unionize. The effort, led by booksellers Willow Guppy and Sebastian Ryder, has been 10 months in the making and took a deliberately low key ap…
After last summer's budget woes forced BCA to scale back to a single block party, the festival is officially back for 2026 with a two day run on Church Street and City Hall Park. The funding picture has shifted: there's still no presenting sponsor, but BCA reworked its model with community backer…
The vote is scheduled for April 30, covering roughly 300 hourly employees across stores in South Burlington, Williston, and Saratoga Springs. Workers are looking to join Workers United, citing low pay hovering near minimum wage, reduced employee discounts, and poor communication from management o…
The Trump administration's move to shift medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III gives licensed medical cannabis businesses the ability to deduct expenses from federal taxes for the first time, a potentially huge financial break. But Vermont's situation is uniquely complicated. When the…
During the council's annual reorganization, Democrats replaced Progressive Councilor Melo Grant as chair of the Public Safety Committee with Ranjit "Buddy" Singh, whose approach is shaped by 18 years on the Church Street Marketplace Commission. Singh's priorities include accelerating the search f…
[Burlington Ranks 5th Snowiest City in Eastern US](https://www.wcax.com/2026/04/21/burlington-ranks-5th-snowiest-city-eastern-us-after-recent-measurable-snow/)
George's decision not to prosecute drew a sharp response from state law enforcement leaders, who called it "a disheartening decision that sets a dangerous precedent." The six were arrested during the March 11 ICE raid on Dorset Street, an operation later found to have been triggered by mistaken i…
The South Burlington City Council awarded a $20.14 million contract to Engineers Construction, Inc. for Phase I of the long discussed walk and bike bridge over I-89 at Exit 14. If you've ever tried to cross that cloverleaf interchange on foot or by bike, you understand why this has been in the wo…
Vermont is very much a buyer's market for cannabis right now. Burlington alone has 11 dispensaries, and Morrisville (population 2,000) somehow has five. Seven Days takes a look at how retailers are differentiating themselves amid tight competition and strict Cannabis Control Board rules that ban …
[Burlington Mayor Announces New Chief of Staff](https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/local-news/vermont/burlington-mayor-announces-new-hire-for-chief-of-staff-position/)
[FEMA Approves $2.2M for Vermont Flood Recovery Projects](https://www.wcax.com/2026/04/24/fema-approves-22m-vermont-flood-recovery-projects/)
[Become a Btown Brief Core Reader Between my night-shift job, this Burlington newsletter takes quite a bit of effort to keep going. From tracking city council meetings to uncovering weekly events and meetups you won't find elsewhere. As a one-person operation, your support directly keeps this pro…
Raj Bhakta, the WhistlePig Whiskey founder and former "Apprentice" contestant, bought the shuttered Green Mountain College campus in Poultney for $4.5 million in 2020 with grand promises of luxury hotels, restaurants, condos, and a world class distillery school. Six years and a claimed $15 millio…
Last week we covered the release of South Burlington's body camera footage from the March 11 Dorset Street ICE raid. Seven Days dug deeper this week. Both South Burlington and Vermont State Police concluded their officers did not use excessive force or violate the state's Fair and Impartial Polic…
Gov. Phil Scott appointed former Burlington Police Chief Kevin Scully to fill the New North End House seat vacated by Bob Hooper, who resigned in March after a sexual harassment finding. The rub: Scully wasn't on the three person list that the local Democratic committee submitted, and Democrats s…
After Burlington's voter approved charter change banning guns in bars stalled in a House committee that didn't have the votes to advance it, Baruth is trying a new angle: a statewide ban. His new bill, S.329, would make it illegal to carry firearms into any establishment serving alcohol. Governor…
Vermont has just 1,400 registered residential contractors, a number regulators believe is far below the actual count. Currently, contractors only need to register if they're entering a contract worth $10,000 or more, and that registration is just a fee, proof of insurance, and a criminal backgrou…
The department published 51 body camera videos to YouTube showing officers' perspectives during the Dorset Street operation that drew hundreds of protesters and ended with federal agents deploying tear gas and flashbangs. A letter from the city manager found no South Burlington officers used exce…
The numbers paint a grim picture: 38 percent of state roads are in poor or very poor condition now, and VTrans predicts that will hit 60 percent by 2030. Gas tax revenue, a key funding source, is declining as more drivers switch to EVs and hybrids, and construction costs have jumped over 60 perce…
GMT's No. 4 route serving Essex Junction and Essex Town costs about $28 per passenger per trip, compared to an agency average of $7, making it the agency's least cost effective line. Cutting it would save $112,000 a year, but there's a potential lifeline: the Essex Westford School District has of…
Rising property taxes are colliding with stagnant incomes across rural Vermont, and the fallout is landing hardest on the state's smallest towns. In Cambridge, over $500,000 in unpaid taxes forced officials to cut capital fund contributions, delaying purchases like fire trucks. In Granville, deli…
The community meeting at Contois Auditorium gave the public its first chance to hear directly from one of the people swept up in the March 11 raid, which targeted a Mexican citizen who was never actually taken into custody. All three people detained were later ordered released by a federal judge.…
The Vermont History Museum in Montpelier is displaying 13 of 44 paintings originally commissioned for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial, each one depicting a supposed "Vermont First." The twist is that the museum has paired them with corrections and context that gently dismantle many of the original cla…
The post resurfaced during the heated Ward 8 city council race between Jeff Nick's son Ryan and incumbent Marek Broderick. Food Not Cops had served daily lunches at the Marketplace Garage for five years before community pressure, including an open letter from over 180 business owners, led to a re…
Welch and Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia have introduced a bill to update the Farm Credit Act of 1971 for the first time in six decades. The key change would raise the population cap for towns eligible for Farm Credit System loans from 2,500 to 10,000 residents, potentially opening …
Vermont's entire congressional delegation is pushing back on what they call an illegal withholding of Community Services Block Grant funding by the Trump administration, now stretching past three months. The money flows to five community action agencies across the state, including CVOEO and BROC,…
[Colchester Dental Clinic Promises to Be the Largest in Vermont](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/new-dental-clinic-colchester/70929495)
Mulvaney-Stanak's State of the City address was heavy on optimism, pointing to the new high school opening this fall and the long awaited completion of the Champlain Parkway and Main Street construction this summer. She also floated a "tax fairness proposal" that could shift property tax burdens …
The city has identified 32 "problem properties," vacant or deteriorating buildings that are dragging down neighborhoods and sitting empty during a housing crisis. The mayor's office has directed the permitting department to ramp up enforcement of the vacant building ordinance, which gives owners …
The city is staring down a budget gap of up to $12 million, marking the third consecutive year of significant shortfalls. A voter approved 5-cent increase to the police and fire tax covers about $3 million of that, but the rest will likely come from a painful combination of unfilled positions, de…
Vermont received federal approval over a year ago to use Medicaid funds to cover rent for homeless individuals with serious medical needs, with the feds picking up nearly 60% of the cost. But the state hasn't set up the program or budgeted its share of the money. Internal emails obtained by VTDig…
UVM is asking the legislature for $15 million from the state's Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund to help finish its stalled multipurpose center, a 5,000 seat indoor venue that broke ground in 2019 but hasn't progressed since the pandemic. The fund, which normally pays for student financial ai…
Richards, former CEO of the child care advocacy organization Let's Grow Kids, has entered the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary with a platform centered on affordability, housing, healthcare costs, and rural economic development. She's widely credited with helping mobilize support for Vermont…
New Census data shows Chittenden County gained just 220 international migrants between 2024 and 2025, roughly half the previous year's figure. Combined with losses from deaths and domestic migration, the county shed more than 500 residents overall. Experts point to the Trump administration's halt…
VTDigger's David Goodman spoke with attendees and legislators at the Montpelier Statehouse during the third No Kings protest on March 28, which organizers say was part of the largest single day of protest in American history, with 8 to 9 million people at over 3,000 demonstrations nationwide. Ver…
The Vermont Labor Relations Board ruled in a 60 page decision that Gov. Scott exceeded his authority when he ordered about 3,000 state employees back to the office at least three days a week without bargaining with the union. The board ordered the policy rescinded and said workers should be given…
Vermont is moving toward charging EV drivers 1.4 cents per mile, calculated from odometer readings at annual inspections and billed by the DMV. The fee would replace the current flat $89 annual charge and is expected to cost the average EV driver about $154 a year. It has bipartisan support in th…
Stockbridge native Kevin Chap is the creator and host of "Wild Foods," a new PBS series premiering in April that blends documentary storytelling with environmental stewardship and food culture. The show argues for "rewilding" the American food system by visiting farmers, ranchers, fishers and che…
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak outlined the status of Burlington's internal review of the March 11 encounter between ICE agents and local police in South Burlington, which has generated 121 citizen complaints to date. BPD is conducting a supervisor review expected to wrap within 30 days of the incide…
The House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed a $9.3 billion budget that lands within about $1 million of what Governor Phil Scott proposed. The bill creates six new state positions, including a labor mediator to fill gaps left by Trump administration cuts to the National Labor Relations …
More than 50 No Kings Day events are planned across Vermont for Saturday, part of a national day of action that organizers say could be the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. In Burlington, marches will depart from three locations and converge at City Hall Park for a rally. Many of the s…
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Vermont State Police Sgt. Jacob Zorn is immune from a lawsuit brought by protester Shela Linton, who suffered permanent wrist and shoulder injuries and PTSD after being forcibly removed from the Statehouse during a 2015 demonstration. The conservative majority fou…
The Governor insists state police did not violate Vermont's Fair and Impartial Policing policy, while Public Safety Commissioner Morrison argued that withdrawing would have led to worse outcomes for protesters. Body camera footage is under review. The administration also acknowledged it did not r…
The Community Resource Center on North Winooski Avenue, which shares space with Feeding Champlain Valley's food shelf, faces a $650,000 shortfall after Gov. Scott proposed cutting state funding. The center serves up to 150 people daily with hot meals, social workers, and housing coordinators, and…
Former lieutenant governor Molly Gray and Ryan McLaren, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, filed nearly identical fundraising totals by the March 15 deadline: Gray brought in $154,527 in cash to McLaren's $151,251, though McLaren edged her slightly when noncash donations were included. T…
The House Judiciary Committee passed H.606 on a strict party line vote, with all six Democrats in favor and all five Republicans opposed. The bill would make it a felony to steal a firearm, ban machine guns and conversion devices under state law, and, most controversially, prohibit gun ownership …
[South Burlington Looks to Develop Section of Hubbard Recreation & Natural Area](https://www.wcax.com/2026/03/19/south-burlington-looks-develop-section-hubbard-park/)
[CSWD Expects New Recycling Processing Center to Open in January 2027](https://vermontbiz.com/news/2026/march/15/cswd-expects-new-recycling-processing-center-open-january-2027)
This ward by ward snapshot from UVM's Community News Service captures the texture of Town Meeting Day across the city. In Ward 4, voters largely backed the proposed $140.8 million school budget, which would bring per student spending to about $15,775. Ward 5 saw split opinions on permanently esta…
On Town Meeting Day, 70% of Burlington voters approved a $0.05 police and fire tax rate increase, and 57% approved a charter change formally establishing the Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. The tax increase funds negotiated salary and benefit agreements, two new firefighter pos…
Attorney General Charity Clark joined 23 other states in filing suit at the U.S. Court of International Trade after the president imposed new across the board tariffs under a different legal authority following the Supreme Court's rejection of his original tariff regime. Vermont has skin in this …
That's Sen. Andrew Perchlik, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, explaining why lawmakers held off on committing to Gov. Scott's proposal to use $74.9 million in excess revenue for property tax relief. The concern is that federal funding cuts could force the state to redirect those doll…
The 5 cent police and fire tax bump is expected to generate about $3 million in new revenue, but that still leaves a sizable chunk of the city's $12 million budget gap unresolved. For homeowners, the math works out to roughly $186 more per year on a home valued at $353,000. The closest vote was t…
Democrats hold seven of 12 council seats after both incumbents ran the table: Litwin took 75 percent in Ward 7, and Broderick held Ward 8 with about 60 percent. The big strategic takeaway is that Mulvaney-Stanak's veto power stays intact, since Democrats needed Ward 8 to reach the eight seat supe…
The 82 percent passage rate is well above the 2024 bloodbath when a third of budgets went down, but 19 rejections still came in above historic norms. The deeper story is the equity gap: per pupil spending across Vermont ranges from about $10,800 to over $19,000, and it's consistently the lower in…
At least 19 towns weighed new 1 percent taxes on meals, rooms, alcohol, or sales, and a majority of them passed. Bristol stood out by earmarking 20 percent of its projected $250,000 in new revenue specifically for climate resilience and emergency preparedness, a direct response to FEMA denying Ve…
Vermont's entire congressional delegation issued forceful statements after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, with all three condemning the strikes as illegal or unconstitutional and demanding Congress reconvene to vote on a War Powers Resolution. Sanders framed the strikes as fulfilli…
This deep dive from Seven Days' Media Issue profiles an organization at a crossroads. Vermont Public's 41,000 members largely covered the federal funding gap through a wave of donations, but the station ran operating deficits of roughly $4 million to $4.7 million in each of the last two fiscal ye…
Sen. Bernie Sanders has called for a national moratorium on new data centers, and Vermont lawmakers are considering two bills that would either regulate or outright pause construction for four years. The concern is largely preemptive since no serious proposals exist to build a large scale facilit…
[Winooski Asking Voters to Approve $950K Bond](https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/winooski-asking-voters-to-approve-950k-bond/)
[WCAX to Premiere 'Aging Untold'](https://www.wcax.com/2026/02/24/wcax-premiere-aging-untold-new-show-aging-process/)
With Town Meeting Day landing on March 3, the public access station formerly known as Channel 17 is gearing up for its annual live election night results show, a charmingly scrappy affair that has become one of the most reliable sources of local election coverage in the greater Burlington area. T…
BETA Technologies founder and CEO Kyle Clark, an Essex native, will deliver the keynote at Champlain College's May 9 commencement and receive an honorary doctorate. The choice is a natural fit given BETA's deep ties to Vermont higher education, including its co-op program with UVM and its retenti…
Warmer winters and midseason thaws are disrupting the delicate freeze/thaw cycle that sugar maples depend on, pushing prime sugaring season earlier into February and March. Producers are turning to reverse osmosis machines and modern tubing systems to offset erratic conditions, but those investme…
The League of Conservation Voters' 2025 scorecard gave Rep. Becca Balint a perfect 100%, Sen. Peter Welch 97%, and Sen. Bernie Sanders 94%. The scores come in the context of what LCV called a record 66 votes in Congress that undermined environmental protections and democratic safeguards. Vermont …
Seven Days is kicking off a new yearlong series called "Gen Zero: Where Are Vermont's Young People?" that digs into the state's shrinking youth population from every angle. The numbers are stark: Vermont has the oldest population in the country and the lowest birth rate, and even the brand new Bu…
Baruth's retirement announcement ends what will be a 16 year run in the Senate and leaves a significant power vacuum in Montpelier. As president pro tempore since 2022, the Burlington Democrat/Progressive has controlled which bills get airtime and which committee assignments get made. His departu…
The annual State Report Card found that fewer than 50% of students are proficient in math and fewer than 60% in English across every grade level, with four year graduation rates dropping from 89% in 2017 to 82% in 2025. Governor Scott immediately seized on the findings to push his education trans…
The biggest local headline here is the $8 million earmarked for Hula's Ride Your Bike project, a 200 unit development that would convert an industrial parking area in Burlington's South End into mixed income housing with a focus on walkability, sustainability, and local arts. It's the first phase…
Town Meeting Day could reshape the council's balance of power. The Democratic 7-5 majority has recently blocked Progressive measures, including an "apartheid-free" pledge and a "tax fairness" plan, citing concerns over divisiveness and economic impact. If Progressives win contested seats in Wards…
The most interesting detail buried in the numbers is the spending on town committees, which is set to more than double to $328,600, with nearly two thirds of that going to the newly established Community and Economic Development Committee. That committee's budget funds everything from business re…
The 2026 Annual Energy Report paints a complicated picture for one of Vermont's key climate strategies. Heat pumps are among the cheapest heating options available, but three factors are blunting their impact: federal tax credits ended in December under Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, Vermo…
A nice community moment: the entire Charlotte Central School loaded up seven buses to cheer on the UVM women's basketball team earlier this month. The piece also highlights the school's expanding after school club offerings (everything from Dungeons & Dragons to pickleball to Spanish), a fourth g…
[Common Roots Launches "Wellness Wednesdays"](https://www.vtcng.com/otherpapersbvt/community/noteworthy/common-roots-launches-wellness-wednesdays/article_723050f8-7dff-45ed-b687-52ce53f86d87.html)
This is a deeply reported piece and worth the full read. The numbers in Burlington alone tell the story: K through 12 enrollment has dropped from 3,528 to 2,972 over 20 years, and the brand new high school opening this fall was built with capacity for 1,150 students but currently has only 850 to …
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak signed an executive order Tuesday laying out the city's playbook if federal immigration enforcement escalates locally. The order directs emergency plan reviews, establishes communication lines with neighboring towns and the school district, and mandates training for city emp…
A federal judge in New Hampshire granted Tendo's habeas petition on Friday, ordering the release of the Ugandan asylum seeker who was detained by immigration agents in a Shelburne parking lot earlier this month. Tendo, a pastor and health care worker who has lived in Vermont since 2021, was immed…
This op ed from Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation president Frank Cioffi offers a progress report on Governor Scott's downtown Burlington action plan, now past the 100 day mark. Cioffi points to a restored sense of confidence among business owners, noting that state trooper presence on Ch…
The Senate passed S.208, which bans all law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty, and S.209, which prohibits warrantless civil arrests at "sensitive locations" like schools, hospitals, and polling places. Both bills were carefully written to apply to all law enforcement, not just…
Vermont's federal election security funding dropped from $1 million annually to just $272,000 in 2025, and the Trump administration has also pulled support from the nationwide cybersecurity information sharing system that helps states detect threats to voting infrastructure. In an election year, …
The Burlington women's clothing shop that closed last spring when it merged into the now shuttered Dear Lucy is coming back to 62 Church Street this April under new ownership. Stanley, 27, who managed Whim from 2018 to 2021, is closing her children's clothing shop Olive & Ollie to relaunch the br…
Seven Days takes a deep and detailed look at how committee chairs in Montpelier shape legislation long before it reaches the floor. The piece traces the contrast between House Education Chair Peter Conlon, who leaned on public school advocacy groups, and Senate Education Chair Seth Bongartz, who …
Balint's comments came after a Congressional oversight trip to Minneapolis, where she said roughly 3,000 masked federal agents were conducting operations she described as being about "power and control and submission" rather than law enforcement. On Wednesday, she got into a heated exchange with …
Starksboro resident Ellen Yount will take over the Vermont Afghan Alliance on March 4, replacing Molly Gray, who is stepping down to run for lieutenant governor. Yount brings a resume that includes stints as press secretary for former Congressman Tom Ridge and director of the press office at USAI…
If passed, this would be the first time Vermont regulates AI in statute. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Matt Birong of Vergennes, would require anyone distributing "synthetic media" they know to be deceptive within 90 days of an election to include a clear disclosure. It gained momentum after an ill…
[White House Cancels Governors' Meeting Scott Planned to Boycott](https://www.wcax.com/2026/02/12/gov-phil-scott-says-he-would-not-have-attended-white-house-governors-visit-regardless-cancellation/)
The scope of preparation here is striking. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak met with Burlington's police and fire chiefs last week to game out a response to a potential large scale ICE operation, while Migrant Justice has built a rapid response network of roughly 2,000 people and tallied 107 immigration det…
[See the Hometowns for Every Olympian in the Milan Cortina Games From Vermont](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/olympian-hometowns-vermont-athletes/70269556)
Selectboard member Chunka Mui hosted a two-hour presentation last week to explain what Experience Shelburne, a new nonprofit, actually is. The short answer: a downtown organization that partners with the town on grants, financial analysis, and branding, and also happens to be a requirement for Ve…
The Winter Games kick off Friday in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, and Vermont's delegation runs deep. Beyond marquee names like Jessie Diggins, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, and Mikaela Shiffrin, the state is sending competitors across disciplines. South Burlington's Kevin Drury just notched his first ski …
Activists are targeting two Williston locations that house ICE operations, with the White Cap Business Park becoming a particular flashpoint. A four hour sit in there last week drew backlash from tenants, including a café owner forced to close early. The property manager called police and demande…
Senate bill S.208, sponsored by Sen. Nader Hashim (a former state trooper) and 12 other senators, would prohibit law enforcement officers from concealing their faces while on duty, with exceptions for illness, hazards, and undercover work. Officers would also need to display their name, badge num…
Dan Chiasson's nearly 600 page unauthorized biography drops tomorrow and traces Sanders' arc from Brooklyn transplant to Burlington's transformative mayor. Chiasson, a Wellesley College English professor who grew up on Colchester Avenue, draws on hours of interviews with Sanders' longtime associa…
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak confirmed that ICE has been active in Burlington and elsewhere in Vermont in recent months, while noting the city has credible information disputing a circulating rumor about an upcoming surge. The city launched a dedicated webpage for verified updates and the mayor is conve…
Starting yesterday, travelers showing up at the airport without a REAL ID or other acceptable identification will be charged $45 through TSA Confirm ID to board their flight. Burlington International Airport officials say more than 95% of Vermonters already have a REAL ID, so most local flyers wo…
The Senate Transportation Committee is seriously considering a bill to shift Vermont from annual to biennial car inspections, noting the state is one of just eight still requiring yearly checks. Lead sponsor Sen. Becca White cited studies showing no link between annual inspections and serious cra…
[Vermont House Passes Mid-Year Budget Adjustment](https://www.wcax.com/2026/02/01/vermont-house-passes-mid-year-budget-adjustment/)
['ICE Out' Rally Draws Huge Crowd in Burlington](https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/ice-out-rally-draws-huge-crowd-in-burlington/)
Businesses across Vermont are navigating today's nationwide general strike in response to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and ICE's aggressive enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis. While Santiago's closed entirely after a staff vote, most local businesses are finding middle g…
Aaliyah Johnson pleaded guilty to second degree murder Thursday in the August 2024 shooting death of Teville Williams outside Red Square on Church Street. The 13.5 year sentence falls between the defense's request of eight years and the typical 20 to life. The case, which stemmed from a dispute o…
Governor Scott's proposal to spur housing development by relaxing wetlands regulations has drawn sharp criticism from environmentalists and wetland scientists. The changes would reduce buffer zones from 50 to 25 feet and allow housing on unmapped wetlands in designated growth areas. A proposed de…
Tonight's vote comes after Council President Ben Traverse initially tried to keep the item off the agenda, citing safety concerns and the divisive atmosphere surrounding the issue. The city attorney ruled he couldn't block it. Democrats, who hold seven of 12 seats, have voted against similar meas…
Nikhil Goyal, an adjunct assistant professor at UVM and former senior policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders, launched his campaign for the Chittenden Central seat as a Democrat/Progressive. His platform centers on property tax relief, education funding, healthcare costs, and affordable housing. G…
Senate Bill 278 would eliminate THC concentration limits for flower, raise the cap for concentrates to 70%, and double the retail purchase limit to two ounces. It would also authorize cannabis events, delivery services, and on premises consumption alongside food service. Perhaps most notably for …
The South Burlington firm has proposed partnering with helicopter operator Metro Aviation to move medical supplies between Vermont and northern New York, potentially launching later this year. The proposal responds to Trump's "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" executive order, which instructs …
The governor's $9.4 billion budget proposes a record $105 million to reduce property tax increases, but even that may not prevent an average 6 percent hike. Scott is conditioning his support on school districts keeping budgets in check and lawmakers continuing education reforms under Act 73. The …
The Robert Miller Community Center will serve as an emergency overnight shelter from Friday through Tuesday morning, accommodating roughly 100 people. That's about half the number believed to be living outside in the greater Burlington area. The timing is significant: the annual Point-in-Time Cou…
Jacobsen will leave City Hall on February 6 to return to immigration law through a fellowship with the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. She played a central role in building the Mulvaney-Stanak administration from the start. Kara Alnasrawi, currently director of CEDO, will step in as interim ch…
Nineteen Vermonters will lose their jobs under the plan to address a $33 million deficit in the transportation fund, driven by stagnating gas tax revenues. This marks the second round of layoffs in four months. The governor also wants to redirect $10 million in sales tax revenue from the educatio…
The council tabled a resolution to formally support Let's Build Homes, the pro-housing advocacy group led by former Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. Some councilors and residents argued South Burlington is already doing its part, pointing to tax increment financing, form-based zoning, and the ci…
State agencies have identified about 140 properties that could potentially be sold or leased to housing developers, including a former prison in Windsor, the Northlands Job Corps Center in Vergennes, and a former National Guard armory in Waterbury. Governor Scott's executive order calls for an ex…
The three-pronged strategy aims to put Burlington on track to create 7,000 housing units by 2050. It includes modernizing the city's inclusionary zoning ordinance and housing trust fund, helping residents and small developers actually use the Neighborhood Code to build infill housing, and leverag…
The town approved two new scoping studies for bike and pedestrian infrastructure along Bay Road and across the LaPlatte River near Shelburne Bay Park, building on similar studies from 2010 and 2017 that never moved forward. Previous proposals met resistance over cost and property concerns. The se…
The governor wants nuclear power reclassified under Vermont's Renewable Energy Standard, which requires the state to source all electricity from renewables by 2030. Vermont utilities already draw about 20% of their power from out of state nuclear plants, and the administration argues reclassifica…
South Burlington's proposed $58.5 million budget includes a 3.55% spending increase and a 3.3% tax rate bump, roughly mirroring inflation. For an average home valued at $440,000, that translates to about $79 more in property taxes. Also on the Town Meeting Day ballot: a $2.3 million vote on an ad…
Deputy Adjutant General Henry "Hank" Harder and Col. Roger "Brent" Zeigler, the two candidates vying to succeed Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight as head of the Vermont National Guard, both told lawmakers they would step down rather than carry out an unlawful order. The testimony comes as members of the V…
The on demand shuttle program serving older adults and people with disabilities in Chittenden County has nearly exhausted its $455,000 annual budget, prompting restrictions on work and personal trips. Ridership has jumped nearly 25% this fiscal year, while costs have spiked due to fewer volunteer…
The mayor's new housing strategy focuses on modernizing zoning ordinances, strengthening housing trust funds, and pressuring owners of vacant or rundown properties to act. A dedicated city team is now tracking underutilized buildings and pushing for redevelopment plans. The city is also looking a…
The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings for Christina Nolan and Michael Drescher, both veteran federal prosecutors appointed by Gov. Phil Scott to fill two Supreme Court vacancies. Nolan, who led the U.S. attorney's Vermont office under Trump before entering private practice, faced question…
The Burlington City Council unanimously approved an updated Open Space Plan Monday, the first revision since the original was adopted in 2000. The plan serves as a roadmap for growing and stewarding the city's parks and open spaces, including an inventory of more than three dozen sites and guidel…
State economists Tom Kavet and Jeff Carr told lawmakers and Gov. Scott on Friday that revenue collections over the first half of fiscal year 2026 varied less than 1% from previous estimates. Corporate tax revenue came in slightly below expectations, but personal income tax receipts made up the di…
A $33 million gap in state transportation funding threatens to cost Vermont an estimated $163 million in federal revenue unless lawmakers and the governor find a fix. More than half the state's transportation budget comes from federal sources, but Vermont must provide matching funds to draw that …
[Burlington City Council to Consider Mayor's Tax Fairness Proposal](https://www.wcax.com/2026/01/13/burlington-city-council-consider-mayors-tax-fairness-proposal/)
[Vermont Responders Train for Ice Rescues on Lake Champlain](https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/local-news/vermont-responders-train-for-ice-rescues-on-lake-champlain/)
The Vermont Futures Project's latest data paints a bleak picture: the state ranks dead last nationally for economic momentum, driven by population loss, an aging workforce, and a severe housing shortage. Vermont is one of just three states that lost population between 2023 and 2024, and it ranks …
South Burlington High School student Isa Harrington and fellow participants in the Governor's Institute are pushing legislation that would give student representatives binding votes on school board decisions. Rep. Leanne Harple, who plans to sponsor the bill, notes that eight Maryland school dist…
After years of planning and a budget scare when contractors came back with a $28 million price tag (nearly double the original estimate), the long awaited pedestrian and bicycle bridge over I-89 at Exit 14 could break ground this spring. The city received council authorization to request addition…
That's party chair Ryan Addario talking about Ryan Nick, the sole Democratic challenger nominated to take on a Progressive incumbent this cycle. Nick will face Progressive Councilor Marek Broderick in Ward 8, a college student heavy area that has historically swung between the two parties. All fo…
Senator Peter Welch has joined Rep. Gwen Moore in reintroducing the COLAs Don't Count Act, which would prevent Social Security cost of living adjustments from counting as income when calculating SNAP eligibility. Currently, when a household's income rises due to a COLA, beneficiaries can see thei…
Hundreds gathered at Burlington City Hall Thursday evening before marching up Church Street to the federal courthouse, joining nationwide demonstrations over the fatal shooting of 37 year old Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Federal officials called …
That's Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak on the frustration of watching voter approved charter changes stall in Montpelier. Since 2021, Burlington voters have overwhelmingly approved measures to ban guns from bars, protect renters from no cause evictions, and adopt a new police oversight model, but none…
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency's annual report highlights a year of significant investment in affordable housing. VHFA awarded tax credits generating an estimated $63 million in equity for new construction, closed over $80 million in construction loans, and invested $48 million through the st…
Champlain Valley School District is putting forward $13 million in building bonds for voter approval on Town Meeting Day, separate from its $107.8 million operations budget. The bonds would fund 16 projects across every school in the district over 2027 and 2028, including $3.2 million for heating…
Americans awoke Saturday to news that U.S. troops had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight operation dubbed "Absolute Resolve." President Trump announced the U.S. will now "run" Venezuela. Vermont's entire Congressional delegation swiftly condemned the action,…
The former Senate president pro tempore and current deputy state auditor announced Friday he'll seek to succeed the retiring Doug Hoffer, who has held the office since 2012. Ashe, who lost a 2020 lieutenant governor primary to Molly Gray, said he plans to focus on health care, affordable housing,…
[Sanders Praises Mamdani at New York City Mayoral Inauguration](https://www.wcax.com/2026/01/01/sanders-praises-mamdani-new-york-city-mayoral-inauguration/)
[Mad River Glen Nears Acquisition of 1,000 Acres for Ski Expansion](https://www.wcax.com/2026/01/05/mad-river-glen-nears-acquisition-1000-acres-ski-expansion/)
The Residential Clean Energy Credit, which knocked 30% off home solar installation costs, expired with the new year as part of President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." Williston solar company Building Energy was fully booked by August as crews raced to finish projects before the deadline. The Verm…
Despite union warnings of a mass exodus when Governor Scott's three day in office mandate took effect December 1, resignations actually dropped nearly 10% compared to the same period last year. Still, the policy has its critics and costs, including $430,000 in the first year for new Waterbury off…
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak is laying the groundwork for what promises to be a difficult budget season. The gap stems from workforce growth in prior administrations, overreliance on temporary funding, and a grand list that's only grown about 1% annually. Her proposed solutions include a 5 cent Police a…
Back in 2021, Burlington voters passed ballot language giving local owners a 36 month head start over corporate chains. The result: at least 10 of Burlington's 12 cannabis retailers are locally owned. But the market isn't without challenges. Donnelly (yes, the same Paddy from Bern Gallery, which …
Seven Days' annual Backstories feature pulls back the curtain on how reporters actually do their jobs. Highlights include Kevin McCallum sweating through deadline after deadline as Congress upended his Bernie Sanders cover story, Courtney Lamdin catching city councilors texting during meetings, a…
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requiring warning labels on social media platforms that use features like autoplay and infinite scrolling. The labels would mirror those on alcohol and tobacco products, and violations carry a $5,000 civil penalty. While this is New York law, Verm…
South Burlington's Tax Increment Financing district is performing well on paper (the grand list is nearly three times its 2012 value), but projections show the math only works if development keeps pace. The city estimates it needs 56 new rental units added annually just to break even by 2038. Mea…
Starting February 1, New Hampshire will no longer require vehicle inspections, a move its Republican controlled Legislature justified by citing studies showing no correlation between inspections and fewer crashes. Mechanics on both sides of the Connecticut River aren't thrilled. Lakeside Automoti…
President Trump's executive order encouraging the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III has Vermont dispensary owners cautiously optimistic. The biggest immediate impact would be tax relief: current federal law blocks cannabis businesses from taking standard deductions, creatin…
The Department of Public Works announced it would stop servicing 54 roads, many of which are private or "unaccepted" streets not built to city code, by next October. The proposal caught residents off guard, with at least 600 homes affected. After pushback from councilors, officials agreed to slow…
The Vermont Department of Taxes projected an average 11.9% rise in education property taxes, which would push CVSD's rate up 12.3% even with a modest 5% budget increase. The district has already cut 82 positions over two years and is now aiming for what superintendent Adam Bunting calls "level se…
The deployment is part of Operation Southern Spear, the Pentagon's military buildup in the Caribbean aimed at countering narcotics trafficking and pressuring Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Senator Peter Welch isn't mincing words, calling the mobilization "a relentless march to war" and insisti…
This is one of four priorities the mayor and council have identified for 2026. The DMV enforcement team has already been monitoring Route 127 during commute hours and confirmed there's a genuine traffic safety problem. State lawmakers will need to address privacy concerns when they reconvene in J…
At last week's nominating caucus, Progressives endorsed incumbents Carter Neubieser, Gene Bergman, and Marek Broderick for Wards 1, 2, and 8, while Laura Sánchez-Parkinson won a contested race for Ward 3 (replacing Joe Kane, who isn't running). Notably, the party isn't challenging any sitting Dem…
This marks the third consecutive year of significant budget shortfalls, with the city facing a $10 to $12 million gap driven largely by rising personnel costs. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak is proposing a 5 cent increase to the police and fire tax, which would close about $3 million but leave the rest un…
Marlene Tromp arrived in July from Boise State, where she weathered years of political battles over DEI programs with Idaho's Republican legislature. The contrast with predecessor Suresh Garimella, who was seen as distant and inaccessible, has been stark. Tromp has been on a charm offensive, meet…
Over 140 noncitizen households in Vermont lost or saw reduced nutrition benefits following changes from July's federal budget law. New USDA guidance this week means refugees and asylees with green cards, plus Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, should start receiving benefits again as early as…
As Burlington faces budget pressures, BCA is feeling the squeeze and making the case for community support. The organization just unveiled "Anthology," an 11 foot tall sculpture on Main Street made with flowers collected from Burlington residents, one of six permanent public artworks coming by 20…
Nearly 30,000 Vermonters who buy insurance through Vermont Health Connect benefit from federal subsidies that Congress failed to extend Thursday. Without action, premiums could double or triple for some families. State lawmakers may try to fill the gap through Vermont's premium assistance program…
City councilors unanimously approved pursuing legislative approval for automatic license plate readers to enforce speed limits and red lights. The technology was once common in Vermont, with over 40 departments using it a decade ago, but fell out of favor due to costs, regulations, and limited us…
[Comedian Nick Offerman to Perform at The Flynn](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/comedian-nick-offerman-flynn-burlington/69675287)
The Cynic's Kennedy Connors sat down with Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak as she approaches the midpoint of her three year term, and she pointed to rebuilding the police department as one of her key achievements. When she took office in 2024, crime was up 23% and the department was operating with 50% fewer…
Shelburne's selectboard continues debating proposed zoning changes that would restrict development in defined forest blocks and ecological corridors. Resident David Webster, whose property is roughly 80% within a designated forest block, objects to provisions that would make 60% of that land non-…
This is genuinely good news for a project that has tested Burlington's patience. Students have been attending classes in a former Macy's since 2021 after PCB contamination forced the closure of the original building. Superintendent Tom Flanagan credits careful fiscal management of the bond and ea…
The tension here is real. A task force created by the Legislature to redraw school district maps came back with a different recommendation: voluntary mergers and cooperative sharing agreements instead of forced consolidation. House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth a…
South Burlington's proposed $37.2 million general fund budget represents a 2.87% increase with an associated 2.51% tax rate bump. For the average homeowner, that's about $60 more annually. City Manager Jessie Baker's team trimmed operating budgets nearly 5.1% from department requests by scrutiniz…
Governor Scott called the projection "totally unacceptable," and the numbers land amid ongoing tension over Act 73, the controversial consolidation plan passed last year. The legislature has twice bailed out the education fund with general fund dollars to blunt projected hikes, spending $118 mill…
Teachers will receive 4.25 percent raises for the first two years with the third year tied to inflation between 2 and 5 percent. Support staff get 5.25 percent the first year with a similar inflation adjustment for year two. Notably, negotiations wrapped up without the impasse declarations, media…
Former Burlington mayor and Let's Build Homes executive chair Miro Weinberger broke down Vermont's housing crisis for local Rotarians, noting the state is building at roughly a third of its historical rate. The nonprofit recently helped create the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program, whi…
South Burlington's City Council approved a parking management study that will likely bring paid parking to Market Street, Garden Street and Dattilio Drive. Consultants are proposing a two hour maximum at $1 per hour from 8 AM to 8 PM, with payment via smartphone app or physical kiosk. The goal is…
The state's aging information systems, many built in the 1980s and 1990s on obsolete programming languages, continue to hamper everything from emergency response to basic policy decisions. The school redistricting task force discovered this firsthand when the Agency of Education provided data tha…
The fire department's prevention team, currently crammed into a 350 square foot trailer that's miserable in both winter and summer, would get a proper 2,000 square foot addition with offices, a conference room, and public meeting space. The $2 million project heads to voters on Town Meeting Day, …
Act 76, passed in 2023, has created more than 1,700 new childcare slots and enrolled 4,000 additional children in state financial assistance programs. The law directs $125 million annually through payroll taxes to expand subsidies for families and funds for providers. Families earning up to $248,…
The City Council delayed voting Monday on transferring the city's CARES mental health response program to Howard Center after Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak announced the program would end next month. The program has responded to 600 incidents since launching last year but struggled to hire more than…
City councilors unanimously passed a resolution seeking accountability from UVM and Champlain College after students described mold, leaks, rodent infestations and defective heating in dorms. The resolution requires universities to share inspection data and complaint procedures within three month…
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak's legislative priorities for 2026 remain nearly identical to 2025's agenda after what she described as "very little progress" last session. These include authority to ban firearms in bars (approved by 87% of voters in March 2025), just-cause eviction requirements, and a…
After weeks of uncertainty during the federal government shutdown, USDA confirmed Thursday that full SNAP benefits will arrive Friday for over 63,000 Vermonters who rely on 3SquaresVT. The state's Emergency Board had approved $6.3 million in stopgap funding to cover 15 days of benefits during the…
Downtown Burlington's safety metrics are showing meaningful improvement, with violent crime trending downward and gunfire incidents dropping significantly from their 2022 peak, according to interim Police Chief Shawn Burke's October report to the Police Commission. The city's innovative Situation…
Vermont's homelessness rates have increased 200% since 2020, with the state now holding the nation's fourth-highest per capita rate of unhoused individuals. The crisis intensified after Governor Scott vetoed a bill extending the hotel-motel voucher program, leading to hundreds of evictions earlie…
The City Charter Change Committee paused Monday on Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's proposal for a $50,000 homestead property value exemption that would shift tax burden to commercial properties and homes valued above $800,000, which would see bills rise 4-6%. Burlington Business Association's Kelly Devin…
Main Street will fully reopen to traffic by Thanksgiving as the Great Streets BTV project pauses for winter, marking a key milestone after 21 months of disruptions. The $30 million initiative, which will resume in April 2026, aims to shift 60% of the street's space from cars to pedestrians and pu…
VTGOP Chair Paul Dame narrowly won reelection with 50 votes to conservative Sen. Russ Ingalls' 47 at the party's Burlington convention. Dame successfully argued he works well with the media and Gov. Scott's administration, while Ingalls' challenge claimed the party is "broke" and he would be bett…
New York City's democratic socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, called Bernie Sanders "the single most influential political figure in my life," crediting Sanders' 2016 campaign for his political language, reports VTDigger. Mamdani, who defeated Andrew Cuomo, studied Sanders' 1981 Burlington ma…
The Burlington City Council has unanimously passed a resolution to reinforce the role of the city's eight Neighborhood Planning Assemblies (NPAs), the ward-based citizen groups originating from Bernie Sanders' 1981 mayoral campaign. The measure, signed by Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak, directs CEDO to st…
With Lake Champlain at its lowest level since 1918 (nearly three feet below normal) the Burlington City Council has approved $631,000 for emergency harbor dredging. The low water has left boat slips in mud and forced staff to manually move vessels at the Community Boathouse Marina. The project, t…
Troopers can sign up for voluntary overtime shifts Monday through Sunday from noon to 4 PM or 4 PM to 8 PM, working alongside Burlington police to free up city officers for other calls. This is one of 14 points in Governor Phil Scott's short-term action plan for the city. Local businesses welcome…
The UVM Student Tenant Union presented photographic evidence to Burlington City Council, including fungi in bathrooms, perpetually leaky ceilings, and silverfish infestations. Unlike traditional apartments, college dorms are exempt from routine city inspections, and UVM hasn't filed required annu…
From fiscal 2023 to 2024, Burlington's revenues swelled by nearly $12 million while outstanding debt shrank by $6 million, with reserves now exceeding 20% of operating revenues. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak credited "structurally balanced budgets," though the upgrade caps a redemption arc begun und…
Mindel's son Lei just beat leukemia after 174 days in the hospital and $2 million in medical care. Her family paid $19,192 this year with subsidized insurance, but next year's premium alone will exceed $40,000 without federal help. Nearly 30,000 Vermonters face similar impossible math as enhanced…
The new "accountability court" targets 110 people with five or more pending cases who Burlington Police say account for 842 downtown incidents among just 20 individuals. Special prosecutor Zach Weight and retired Judge Martin Maley oversee the docket, part of Governor Scott's public safety push t…
George met with Governor Scott about the backlog crisis, ultimately agreeing to add prosecutor Zack Weight who's "immediately started taking folks with 5 or more dockets that are really the folks in the community that people are most upset about." Burlington Police resolved August's Church Street…
Since 2013, Emerge Vermont has trained over 230 Democratic women for office, with graduates holding 62 of 78 women's seats in the legislature and chairing over half the standing committees. Their 81% election success rate in 2024 helped push women to a record 43% of legislative seats. Meanwhile, …
Despite zero e-bike accidents in South Burlington according to police data, the bicycle committee recommends 15 mph advisories on paths and 10 mph on sidewalks after complaints about speed and safety. Earl's Cyclery owner Joe Drennan sees problems arising from mixing older cyclists seeking assist…
State leaders voted Wednesday to spend $6 million ensuring 65,000 low-income Vermonters keep receiving food benefits for November's first two weeks despite the federal shutdown. The Emergency Board initially debated whether to fund half or full benefits, but Democrats successfully argued that wit…
Attorney General Charity Clark joined 24 states suing the federal government to prevent suspension of food benefits, marking her 32nd lawsuit against the Trump administration. The suit argues Congress has already set aside $6 billion in reserves for SNAP that USDA is illegally refusing to release…
Governor Scott and Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak unveiled a 14-point public safety plan offering state police patrols, a pretrial supervision program for repeat offenders, and a UVM Medical Center mobile addiction treatment van. The plan includes both accountability measures like requiring service provid…
Building Burlington's Future launched a recruitment video featuring Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak and current officers promoting the Burlington Police Department's $15,000 recruitment bonus and starting salaries of $74,415-$81,030. The campaign comes as BPD intensifies recruitment amid national staffing …
Another article about Scott's 14-point action plan as it tries tackling Burlington's public safety through a combination of increased state police presence, expanded substance use treatment, and a special court docket to address case backlogs. The plan sidesteps specifics on funding, with officia…
Brett Yates and Michelle Sagalchik are transforming a former College Street yoga studio into Partizanfilm, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit micro-cinema with two screening rooms seating 19 and 31 people. The theater aims to fill Burlington's cinema void with curated programming and a cafe-hangout lobby spac…
Burlington's struggling municipal recycling program faces a pivotal decision after Casella submitted a revised seven-year contract bid following their initial five-year proposal at $1.55 million annually. With only one of four recycling staff positions filled despite 70% tax increases and hiring …
Efficiency Vermont's Button Up campaign highlights available tax credits and weatherization programs as heating season approaches, with state-funded assistance available across all income levels despite federal funding cuts. Vermont Gas, Burlington Electric, and state officials are coordinating o…
Governor Phil Scott's new initiative includes expanding prison drug treatment, offering additional police patrols, and launching a "mass volunteer clean-up and beautification event," but omits any expansion of homeless shelter capacity despite urgent need. The plan arrives after months of public …
South Burlington collected over $7.5 million in local option taxes in FY2024, ranking among the highest in Vermont and making up 15% of the city's general fund revenue. A new state law increases the municipal share from 70% to 75% starting this October, bringing an additional $350,000 annually to…
Justice Sotomayor delivered the first Supreme Court address at UVM in over two decades, engaging with students about perseverance in divisive times and the importance of civic engagement. The liberal justice, part of the Court's 6-3 minority, emphasized that young people are her source of hope wh…
President Trump rejected Vermont's request for FEMA aid following July's devastating Northeast Kingdom floods that caused nearly $2 million in damage, while approving declarations for states where he won elections. Governor Scott's office won't appeal the decision, leaving small towns like Sutton…
Ever felt like our healthcare system up in Burlington isn’t quite up-to-par? Political scientist Alex Garlick's new book "Pre-Existing Conditions" explores how lobbying shapes health policy, finding that each state lobbyist adds roughly $7 per capita to health care costs. Garlick, who worked as a…
Sen. Sam Douglass broke his silence Wednesday after Politico revealed his participation in a racist Young Republican group chat containing jokes about gas chambers and slavery. Governor Phil Scott, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, and Republican minority leaders have all called for his r…
Vermont Comforts of Home has become especially popular in Burlington's Bhutanese Nepali community, with 84 of 126 participants in northern Vermont coming from this population. The Medicaid funded program pays family caregivers annual tax free stipends ranging from $29,000 to $70,000 to provide nu…
Scott's appointing a special prosecutor to handle cases involving "service-resistant" repeat offenders with five or more pending criminal cases, who'll be sent to a dedicated courtroom with a specific judge. This "community accountability court" represents the first step in addressing what the go…
Two years after the "Hey Bub" product line sparked allegations of workplace harassment, homophobia, and misogyny that led 180 businesses to drop their products, the hard cider maker prepares to open a new Burlington pub. While some establishments like The Mill in South Burlington remain firm in t…
Burlington's first overdose prevention center faces mounting opposition despite securing $2.2 million in state opioid settlement funds, with the Ward 3 Neighborhood Planning Assembly passing a resolution "vigorously opposing" a downtown location while supporting the concept at a medical facility …
The Essex planning commission unanimously rejected the state's 14-month effort to build a new women's correctional facility on state-owned property, with members citing the lack of guaranteed public transportation and other infrastructure commitments. The decision sends officials back to square o…
Police Chief Shawn Burke's data shows a spike in downtown drug-related incidents, while Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak reported productive meetings with Governor Scott about state partnership opportunities. The mayor announced three key administration departures by mid-October, including the Senior Adviso…
A proposal in Burlington that would require local candidates to disclose their personal finances is now headed to a committee for more debate. The measure's sponsor, Councilor Carter Neubieser, argues it's a common-sense move for transparency. However, some Democrats and the city's School Board w…
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is losing three critical staff members halfway through her term: deputy chief of staff Joe Magee, special assistant to end homelessness Sarah Russell, and senior adviser on community safety Ingrid Jonas. Magee's replacement will be Jen Monroe Zakaras, the Progressive wh…
Former Planned Parenthood organizer Sam Donnelly has launched Building Burlington's Future, a new nonprofit aimed at grassroots advocacy and policy change. The group's already supporting needle cleanup efforts downtown and backing City Council resolutions to improve City Hall Park. With Burlingto…
Vermont's losing two federal energy grants as the Department of Energy terminates over 200 renewable energy projects nationwide. UVM's losing $3.4 million for studying place based renewable power generation while South Burlington's Beta Technologies is losing $1.8 million meant to develop battery…
Governor Phil Scott says Vermont's seeing no immediate significant impacts from the federal government shutdown, though about 6,600 federal employees in the state face potential furloughs. The state drew down federal funding in advance as a precaution, and 3SquaresVT benefits should continue thro…
Artist Clark Derbes and 90 volunteers spent Saturday painting "Building Blocks," a 3,461-square-foot geometric mural at 266 Main Street, only to find it vandalized with graffiti by Sunday morning. Undeterred, 60 more volunteers including Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's chief of staff and half the city co…
The McNair Scholars program at VTSU Castleton, which helps first-generation and low-income students pursue graduate school, has secured funding for one more year after facing potential closure on September 30. Program director Debbie Warnock says they're now recruiting their next cohort of underg…
If confirmed by city council Monday, Perkins will become the third permanent director of the department since its creation in 2019, earning $130,331 annually. She beat out 40 other applicants and brings experience from her recent role as HR and JEDI director at Vital Communities. The department h…
Kimmel's back on air after a week's suspension for comments about Charlie Kirk's murder, but Vermonters still can't watch because local ABC affiliate WVNY is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which continues to preempt the show. Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Nexstar's CEO calling the decisi…
Burlington's overdose prevention center, approved by City Council in April, still has no opening date. A service assessment report is due by June 2026 (goal is spring), with a public survey launching November 1. Vermont has seen 54 overdose deaths this year, down from previous years but advocates…
Progressive councilors announced plans to grow Burlington's housing trust fund by $1 million through a city property transfer tax, require UVM to maintain affordable student housing, use the state CHIP program for permanently affordable homes, and seek a charter change for rent stabilization. The…
An investigation reveals Vermont directed over $789 million in public funds toward housing between 2020 and 2024, creating 2,249 new homes and rehabilitating 1,156 units. But skyrocketing construction costs meant less bang for the buck: new affordable rentals now cost over $500,000 per unit to bu…
Governor Scott's new executive order requires monthly performance metrics on permit processing times and regulatory barriers, while rolling back some energy and environmental standards to expedite construction. The order aims to help fill Vermont's need for 40,000 new homes over the next five yea…
Vermont quietly renewed its contract to hold federal immigration detainees with virtually no changes except a $5 nightly rate increase to $185, disappointing lawmakers and advocates who pushed for better legal services and protections. The agreement, signed September 4, comes as ICE detainee numb…
The Green Mountain Care Board slashed nearly $95 million from hospital revenues, with UVM Medical Center absorbing $88.5 million in cuts. Board chair Owen Foster excoriated the health network as "an expensive and ineffective layer of overpriced and unnecessary corporate bureaucracy," citing the "…
The Green Mountain Care Board slashed the medical center's $2.4 billion budget, demanding reduced charges to commercial insurers and accusing the UVM Health Network of using inflated Vermont rates to subsidize its failing New York operations. The board also cut funding for a proposed 9% executive…
Kristine Lott, mayor since 2019, is expecting her first child and navigating a career transition, with Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner serving as interim until March elections. Lott cited economic vitality, municipal infrastructure improvements, housing progress, and building an inclusive community as…
Governor Phil Scott announced his administration will present recommendations to Burlington leaders in coming weeks to address what he termed a crisis of homelessness and public drug use. The governor met with Burlington business owners Tuesday and plans additional meetings with residents and aca…
Champlain Valley School District officials are rushing a $13 million bond proposal for Town Meeting Day, viewing it as potentially their last chance for major infrastructure investments before Act 73's education funding overhaul takes effect. The bond would address critical maintenance across the…
Former Human Services secretary Mike Smith's scathing memo accused UVM Medical Center of "spinning" the narrative about its proposed $2.4 billion budget, noting that despite claims of cost-cutting through layoffs and service reductions, the hospital actually projects increases in revenue, staff, …
The governor and Burlington's mayor are locked in a public blame game over who's responsible for addressing the city's visible struggles with homelessness and drug use. Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison called visiting Burlington "terrifying" while Scott suggested the mayor's strategie…
Governor Scott is requiring most state employees to return to the office at least three days per week starting December 1, ending the pandemic era of widespread remote work. The administration claims the change will improve collaboration and make government more accessible to Vermonters, though u…
Following recent assaults including an August 11 attack that left a man dead and an August 17 shooting incident, Council President Ben Traverse will introduce a resolution tonight calling for police presence during all park hours, enforcement of the 10 PM to 7 AM closure, and aggressive action ag…
Pizzeria Verita owner Leslie Wells reports sales down 30% from last year during Tuesday's virtual town hall with Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak. Business owners attribute the slump to multiple factors: fewer Canadian visitors, downtown construction, and public safety concerns including open drug use. Iron…
Governor Phil Scott responded to Burlington's cry for help, though tensions are evident between state and city leadership. WCAX's data analysis shows Burlington's retail, restaurant and bar tax revenues have been declining when adjusted for inflation, suggesting the Queen City is losing business …
The People's Kitchen has joined Food Not Cops in providing free meals at City Hall Park, now serving hot dinners three nights a week. Organizer FaReid Munarsyah launched the effort after 150 businesses complained about Food Not Cops' impact on downtown. Recent Tuesday dinners have served 120 to 1…
Kristine Lott, Winooski's first female mayor, will step down September 15 as she expects her first child. Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner will serve as interim mayor until Town Meeting Day elections. During her tenure, Lott fostered relationships across the diverse community, from visiting the local m…
This marks the second time in as many months that Vermont's Republican governor has told the Trump administration no thanks when it comes to using our National Guard for federal domestic operations. The first rejection came in July when Scott declined to let a dozen Vermont guard troops do cleric…
Governor Scott's casual announcement about bringing state workers back to offices sent ripples through the workforce last week, prompting Agency of Administration Secretary Sarah Clark to quickly reassure 8,000-plus employees that any changes are still being figured out. The state employees union…
Sanders received a standing ovation at the Hotel Champlain Sunday before launching into critiques of wealth inequality and Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." The senator spent most of the time listening to older Vermonters' concerns about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and even AI. While some su…
The Québec-based band plans to oppose a donated Native American sculpture meant for Battery Park, calling it inauthentic and offensive. The wooden carving would replace the rotting 42-year-old "Chief Greylock" statue removed last month, but has reignited the heated debate over who can claim Abena…
Vermont just secured $68 million in federal community development block grants aimed at helping towns devastated by the 2023 floods build back stronger. The bulk of the funding targets Lamoille and Washington counties for infrastructure improvements, housing development, and planning initiatives.…
Vermont's Solar for All program, designed to reduce electricity costs for low-income households through solar installations, was killed Thursday evening when the EPA withdrew its $62.5 million grant. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the nationwide $7 billion initiative a "grift" with excessive…
Drivers take note: the Maple and Pine intersection will be completely shut down 24/7 this week for traffic signal installation as part of the Champlain Parkway project. Pine Street access will be limited to local traffic only, with sections accessible from either north or south depending on your …
Governor Phil Scott has denied a Trump administration request to deploy Vermont National Guard troops to assist ICE operations, citing insufficient detail and planning in the proposal. The Department of Defense had announced Guard members would replace Marine and Navy reservists in tasks like tra…
William Breault will lead South Burlington's police department starting October 6, bringing 26 years of experience from Dover, New Hampshire where he oversees 54 officers. Selected from 14 nationwide applicants through what officials described as an extensive process involving community input, Br…
Burlington City Arts' Festival of Fools will happen after all this weekend, though scaled down to a two-day block party after funding cuts initially forced its cancellation. The grassroots rescue effort began when Café HOT. owners Travis and Allan Walker-Hodkin rallied fellow business owners to d…
New UVM President Marlene Tromp arrives from Boise State at a precarious moment, facing federal research funding cuts, enrollment pressures, and ongoing budget challenges. In her first major interview, Tromp committed to increasing Vermont student enrollment while acknowledging the demographic re…
The Boys and Girls Club unveiled its newly renovated pool Monday, a $600,000 project four years in the making that now serves 100 kids daily with swimming lessons and recreation. The surprise dedication to longtime staff member Joyce McEntee added an emotional touch to the ribbon-cutting ceremony…
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak rescinded her January executive order requiring mayoral review of police press releases, following the police commission's approval of an updated media policy Wednesday. The new guidelines specifically prohibit police from releasing statements about individuals' charact…
The Vermont Foodbank has laid off seven employees, nearly 9% of staff, as federal COVID funding dries up and USDA food allocations drop by 20%. CEO John Sayles assures that food distribution won't be affected, but these cuts highlight how fragile our safety net remains. The silver lining: the sta…
Dean Roy, a 14-year-old from Stowe running for governor on the Freedom and Unity Party ticket, might not unseat Phil Scott, but he's making points that resonate. The former legislative page who challenged Lt. Governor Rodgers on EVs is centering his campaign on property taxes and affordability; i…
South Burlington's considering joining Essex, Colchester, and Winooski in actually compensating the volunteers who keep municipal government running. At an estimated $60,000 annually, it's a recognition that asking people to donate hours of their time to review development proposals or plan city …
Federal cuts are hitting our regional public media hard: Vermont Public faces a $4 million shortfall (10% of budget), North Country Public Radio loses $650,000 over two years, and Mountain Lake PBS takes a devastating 35% cut. Vermont Public CEO Vijay Singh acknowledges they'll need to lean even …
This symbolic renaming highlights the very real economic anxieties tied to our relationship with Canada. With data showing a 30 to 40 percent drop in border crossings and spending from our northern neighbors, city and state officials are trying to send a clear message that Vermont remains a welco…
It's been a big week for the local economy, with several major funding awards announced for key projects across the area. The aging [Winooski River Bridge](https://www.wcax.com/2025/07/17/federal-money-secured-winooski-bridge-replacement/), a critical artery handling 25,000 cars a day, has secure…
This is the latest front in the ongoing battle between states like Vermont and the Trump administration over federal funding. The freezing of $26 million designated for Vermont schools could have immediate, tangible impacts on staffing and programs just weeks before the school year begins. Attorn…
This is the second major lawsuit this week pitting Vermont against the Trump administration over frozen funds. This one targets a key FEMA program that funds projects designed to protect against natural disasters like floods, which is critical for a state that has seen the devastation of events l…
This is a seismic event for our region's social safety net. As Vermont's designated agency for mental health and substance use, the Howard Center is a linchpin; its stability affects our hospitals, emergency services, and schools. The fact that it was down to "single-digit days of operating cash"…
After a period of considerable turnover and public debate, Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak is making a clear move to stabilize leadership in the city's public safety departments. The appointment of a department veteran like Michael Curtin as Fire Chief and the return of Jon Young as Deputy Police Chief are…
Vermont Rep. Balint is essentially translating the fine print of the new federal budget, arguing that its tax cuts are funded by gutting programs essential to Vermonters. The core issue is that new federal rules, like proof-of-work requirements for Medicaid, are viewed by local officials not as a…
The situation with the Food Not Cops meal service remains complicated. After pressure from businesses, the group relocated from the downtown garage but their new, self selected spot in City Hall Park was chosen without city input. This unilateral move has frustrated the Burlington Business Associ…
The long running debate over a housing project next to Wheeler Nature Park in South Burlington continues. Despite the developer clearing legal hurdles, opponents are not giving up, now petitioning the City Council directly to buy the land back. Residents argue the 32 unit project threatens a vita…
Holy smokes, that’s intense. The swift reversal on the Perkins Pier overnight parking program highlights the intense pressure and division surrounding solutions to homelessness in Burlington. While the city intended it as a temporary, controlled measure, the backlash was immediate and severe. Thi…
This is arguably one of the most significant overhauls to Vermont's education system in decades, aimed squarely at reining in costs by forcing school district consolidation. While supporters argue it will address inequities and inefficiencies, critics fear it will erode local control and harm sma…
This federal funding, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is a significant boost for BTV. The work aims to improve passenger flow and accessibility, which is welcome news for anyone who has navigated the sometimes crowded upstairs corridor or boarded a plane via the aging jet bridges. It’s…
After a protracted fight that included a multistate lawsuit, these COVID relief funds are finally back in Vermont’s hands. School districts had earmarked this money for critical projects, including building renovations and vital summer and after school programs. For local schools struggling with …
This budget represents the first real test of Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's "ModernGov" initiative, aiming to streamline a city government that has grown significantly over the last decade. The plan walks a tightrope, cutting staff and programs while simultaneously increasing funding for police and soc…
This new organization hopes to succeed where the often divided City Council has struggled: finding consensus. While its leadership includes some familiar faces from Democratic and Progressive circles, the stated goal is to be a nonpartisan force for change on housing and the economy. It’s an inte…
Responding to a letter from over 100 downtown businesses, the council is exploring a public nudity ordinance. The proposal now heads to a committee, which will have to sort out the details, such as potential exceptions for events like UVM’s traditional naked bike ride. This is a delicate balancin…
In a unanimous and rather theatrical City Council vote, complete with miniature flag waving, Church Street will be known as "Rue Canada" through Labor Day. This is a pointedly friendly gesture towards our northern neighbors, aiming to counteract the chilling effect of political tensions on touris…
Just when the city was grappling with an $8 million budget gap, a $1.8 million accounting oopsie—a double count of commercial property tax revenue—surfaced. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's proposed fix includes freezing her own salary and asking department heads to take a smaller cost of living increase,…
The Community College of Vermont's 802Opportunity program is getting a major expansion, thanks to approval from lawmakers and the governor. By doubling the household income eligibility to $100,000 for Vermonters without a bachelor's degree, the program now opens the door to free tuition for a hug…
Amidst local news of budgets and businesses, there's a significant point of pride for our community's healthcare. The University of Vermont Children's Hospital has been recognized as one of the top pediatric centers in the nation. This accolade speaks volumes about the quality of care and the ded…
Governor Phil Scott has signed a new bill into law that prevents landlords from requiring a Social Security number to rent or sell housing. This legislation directly addresses a significant barrier faced by many immigrants and new Vermonters when trying to secure a place to live. By allowing alte…
A resolution before the City Council tonight proposes a symbolic designation of Church Street as "Canada Street." Proponents see it as a simple, welcoming gesture to encourage Canadian tourism, a vital part of the downtown economy. The discussion highlights the ongoing effort to find creative way…
The contentious debate over Vermont's emergency hotel housing program continues. Governor Scott's veto of a bill that would have shifted program management to community agencies means the state is, for now, sticking with the current system. With nearly 1,300 adults and over 400 children housed in…
The Mayor is moving forward with her "ModernGov" initiative, merging the city’s economic development office (CEDO) with business and workforce development, including the Church Street Marketplace. This move aims to create a more unified strategy for tackling Burlington's big challenges like the h…
Tonight’s City Council meeting at 6 PM (as this newsletter releases) will see Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak lay out her proposed 2026 budget. The administration is grappling with a significant $8 million shortfall, leading to some tough decisions including job cuts and the proposed end of adult programmi…
The discussion around downtown vibrancy and safety has taken a contentious turn. Following a letter from business owners expressing concerns and a subsequent City Council resolution to relocate the Food Not Bombs free lunch program, fraudulent letters misrepresenting business owners' views began …
A familiar face is poised to take the helm of the Church Street Marketplace. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak has announced Samantha McGinnis as her nominee for the Director role. McGinnis, currently the Assistant Director of Downtown Projects & Programs, brings significant experience in organizing many of …
The debate over the Food Not Cops meal service, particularly its presence near the Marketplace Garage, has a new development with the Mayor asking the City Council to reconsider a resolution to move the program. This situation brings familiar Burlington tensions to the forefront: how to support d…
Here’s some unequivocally good news. Governor Scott has approved state assistance for the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters grant program. This initiative, run through the Vermont Food Bank, does double duty by purchasing food from local farmers and distributing it to those in need. It’s a practical …
This issue touches on how Burlington defines fair policing and interacts with all its residents. Back in 2020, the city adopted its own distinct rules that, among other things, limited how much our local police would assist federal immigration enforcement, a move often intended to build trust wit…
This is a significant development out of Winooski, as a vote of no confidence from such a large majority of teaching staff against Co Principal Jean Berthiaume indicates deep seated issues. The union states concerns date back to 2022, while the School Board's response emphasizes the superintenden…
South Burlington is tapping the brakes on allowing all legal residents, including noncitizens, to vote in local elections, a measure already adopted by Burlington, Winooski, and Montpelier. The split on their charter committee highlights a difficult balancing act: concerns over potential federal …
The contentious City Council decision mandating the meal program relocate from the downtown parking garage by July 14 vividly exposed the deep divisions within the community. While over 100 businesses cited negative impacts and safety issues, program organizers and supporters emphasized they are …
Burlington's proposed charter change to ban guns in establishments serving alcohol is once again navigating the tricky waters of Montpelier. The debate pits public safety concerns voiced by bar owners against gun rights arguments, with the added complexity of how such a ban would be enforced and …
This resolution addresses some pressing concerns, especially with local leaders noting a 10% drop in municipal revenue over the past year. It is not just talk; the proposal sets some firm deadlines for action. For instance, the Department of Public Works has a June 15th target to figure out costs…
This is a significant leadership change for a key city department, especially as it coincides with a planned merger between CEDO and Business & Workforce Development aimed at addressing the city's budget gap. Alnasrawi, currently leading the Church Street Marketplace and Business & Workforce Deve…
The city is navigating some challenging financial waters, leading to the difficult decision of workforce reductions intended to address an $8 million budget gap. Mayor Mulvaney Stanak emphasized that these measures followed careful assessment, aiming to maintain core services despite what she des…
The green light for an overdose prevention center is a significant step, but the conversation is now shifting to its location. Advocates stress the need for a downtown presence to be effective, while some neighborhood groups express concerns and suggest placement near medical facilities. This wil…
It seems the city's checkbook is facing some serious headwinds again. This in depth piece lays out the tough choices ahead for Mayor Mulvaney Stanak and the council, balancing services we rely on with the costs of running them. Expect more discussions about what our city government can, and shoul…
After seven years of leading some of Burlington’s most beloved outdoor spaces, Wight is packing up. She helped grow the city’s green footprint and shepherded the department through the pandemic. The mayor’s office will name an interim in May before launching a full search.
Advocates say the bill would pull the rug out from under low-income families and small grocers alike. With the state potentially on the hook for $140 million over the next decade, local food security groups are urging residents to speak up before the vote moves forward.
Senator Welch’s bill to rein in presidential tariff powers didn’t clear the hurdle this week. For Vermont businesses still juggling high costs on imports, that means more waiting—and more number crunching—before any changes arrive.
Free-speech debates rarely draw ratings, but this one could rewrite how area campuses handle federal requests. Worth a livestream if you care where activism and policy intersect, City Council meeting starting right now at 6pm.
Burlington’s activism showed up loud and clear, as Pine Street became the latest stage for national policy pushback. While DC debates budgets, locals reminded everyone that Vermont doesn’t stay quiet when safety nets are on the chopping block.
Recycling has been a city service for 35 years, but budget pressures might hand your blue bin to private haulers. It’s a classic Burlington debate—save tax dollars or safeguard public services? Either way, expect this conversation to stick around longer.
Hula’s Russ Scully is banking on state‑backed infrastructure dollars; without them, that vast Lakeside Avenue parking lot stays exactly that. Lawmakers will have to decide whether the new ‘CHIP’ financing tool is worth the risk or if Burlington’s biggest housing vision stalls in committee.
City Council’s unanimous vote gives Higher Ground room to build the bigger stage it wants closer to downtown. Parking headaches remain unsolved, but music fans may soon swap Williston Road trips for Pine Street strolls.
The detention of a Palestinian student in Colchester has sparked new scrutiny over Vermont’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. What began as a quiet contract is now a public flashpoint, with lawmakers divided over whether continuing that partnership aligns with the state’s values—…
The case that rattled North Winooski Avenue is inching toward trial, and legal strategy looks fluid. Expect a long docket and even longer comment threads once jury selection begins.
Emissions are down 18 percent since 2018, but engineers say we’re still off‑pace for the 2030 finish line. Incentives for heat pumps and e‑bikes sweeten the pot; the real hurdle is convincing landlords to ditch oil before the next cold snap.
Turns out democracy is still a contact sport. From Winooski’s rotary to Barton’s back roads, folks grabbed signs and let the horns do the harmony. Expect more sidewalk civics as election season stretches its legs.
Fifteen dollars is so 2019. The senator’s latest wage crusade would bump a Champlain Valley barista’s paycheck before the next total solar eclipse. Opponents say the economy is humming; supporters say workers are not.
Allie Schachter and Buddy Singh join the dais, Mayor Mulvaney‑Stanak delivers her State of the City, and the gavel may change hands if Progressive Carter Neubieser flips a couple of Democrats. Bring popcorn or a public comment.
Even if politics aren’t your favorite dinner topic, this ongoing clash over short-term housing is worth keeping on your radar. It’s a real balancing act between funding and policy. Stay tuned—this one isn’t wrapping up quietly.
While it might sound technical, these budget moves ripple through everything from patient billing to local job stability. It’s encouraging to see some traction on these talks, even if the road has been bumpy.
The governor’s plan aims to give veterans and Social Security recipients a little more breathing room and perhaps attract new residents. With labor shortages pretty much everywhere, rolling out the welcome mat for retirees looking to keep working could be a savvy move. We will see whether lawmake…
After much arguing, some folks in crisis now have a temporary safety net through June. It’s a relief for families on the brink, but the ultimate goal remains stable, long-term support rather than quick fixes.
These grants funded crucial programs like vaccine access and mental health support—now suddenly gone. It’s a setback, but one that puts a spotlight on how essential these services are and just how much is at stake for many Vermonters.
While this settlement adds some clarity to the financial puzzle, it doesn’t exactly roll back the serious cuts already on the table. Still, local officials hope these moves stabilize a hospital system that’s been strapped for funds and facing tough decisions. Fingers crossed this is a step toward…
The city council and local nonprofits want to get it done, but regulatory hoops and site selection are proving tricky. Neighbors are anxious for a solution to opioid-related emergencies, yet opinions vary on the best location. For many, the hope is that slow and steady will still save lives when …
A look back at Burlington’s finances shows the party’s reputation took a hit from that old telecom debacle, but current leadership wants to carve a new path. With recent mayors juggling budgets in the tens of millions, voters are watching closely to see who can really deliver fiscal responsibilit…
The governor wants legislators to move quickly to transform Vermont’s school system. Whether you’re pro or con, keep an eye on how this debate shakes out — it could impact property taxes, district lines, and local communities across the state.
It’s a stressful turn for anyone hoping to join the university in the near future. Administration says the pause is temporary, but folks on campus are bracing for ripple effects as state and federal budget battles continue.
Weinberger’s pivot to academia keeps him in the conversation about one of the region’s biggest challenges: finding enough places for everyone to live comfortably. Students might end up shaping policy that could affect the rest of us in the coming years.
Voters gave a thumbs-up to big spending for city infrastructure and water system upgrades, so expect construction news in your mailbox soon. It’s looking like we’ll stay on track for some overdue repairs, though the monthly bill for water and wastewater is headed upward.
While official party responses grabbed headlines, our famously independent senator doubled down with a livestream. No surprise to see him emphasizing the plight of everyday folks. Expect those debates to keep heating up as we move deeper into budget season.
Most of the big ballot items passed easily, continuing the city’s focus on managing housing, infrastructure, and public safety. On redistricting, the voters also handed more authority to the council. We’ll see if the Legislature follows through.
Governor Scott signaled the unofficial start of spring’s sweetest tradition. Producers say the below-freezing nights and milder days are the perfect recipe for sap flow. Watch out for steam rising from local sugarhouses as the first batches start boiling.
Senator Bernie Sanders isn’t slowing down at 83. He plans to rally crowds in Michigan and Wisconsin, urging them to stand against billionaire-driven policy decisions. His message? It’s time for working folks to speak up—or risk being overshadowed by big-money influence.
Their push comes as the bar-related shooting last year remains on people’s minds. The measure will go before voters on Town Meeting Day, so expect more conversation around this charter change as Election Day approaches.
Officials hope to streamline school districts and manage rising education costs. Keep an eye on how the legislature reacts, because some of these proposals—like mandatory class sizes—could spark lively debate.
This year’s votes also include a school budget proposal, three infrastructure bonds, and some notable charter changes. Whether you’re Team Progressive, Team Democrat, or just want that pothole fixed, get your ballot in by Tuesday.
Burlington residents will decide on nearly $200 million in bonds this Town Meeting Day, mostly to upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure. Rate hikes could follow—one proposal may raise water bills nearly 90% by 2030. City Hall hopes voters see it as an investment in a modern system, not just…
Regardless of Sanders’ age, he keeps pressing on with that familiar vigor. For those banking on Bernie stepping aside soon, don’t bet on it just yet.
The challenge came from a national conservative group arguing the city’s charter amendment violated the state constitution. But Burlington joins Montpelier and Winooski in allowing noncitizen residents to vote in local elections.
It’s still a big parking lot today, but maybe not forever. Keep an eye on Lakeside Avenue—2026 might bring fresh housing, jobs, and a new vibe to the South End.
Some lawmakers were openly skeptical about recent service cuts, while others offered more supportive feedback. The ongoing conversation signals that statehouse pressure on the network will remain high as officials debate funding, bonuses, and Vermont-to-New-York cash flow.
Burke steps in after leading the South Burlington force and 20 years with Burlington’s department prior to that. Fingers crossed he brings good energy to BPD and continues to build trust around town.
Determined to nudge our government back to “we the people,” Hubbard strolled from LA to D.C. to spread the word. Clearly, some folks are willing to go the distance, literally, when it comes to civic engagement.
If the thought of your W-2 gives you heart palpitations, Vermont Law’s got your back. Expect them to handle the complicated stuff while you daydream about springtime on Church Street.