VERMONT – Last year, Andy Kehler, a co-owner of Jasper Hill Farm, was looking to renew his employees’ health insurance plans. The first quote the Greensboro-based cheesemaker received, for an “apples to apples” renewal of the plans, Kehler said in an interview, would have cost 74% more than the 2024[Read More…]
Peter D'Auria, VTDigger
How a High-Profile Vermont Murder Case Fell Apart
VERMONT – In April 2022, the stabbing death of Hinesburg transgender woman Fern Feather shocked and saddened the state of Vermont. In the days after the killing, as the investigation progressed, it emerged that Feather had had an altercation with another man a year prior. a man who, Vermont State Police said,[Read More…]
Seth Brunell Reaches Plea Deal in Feather Death
HYDE PARK – Seth Brunell, who was charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 killing of Hinesburg transgender woman Fern Feather, reached a surprise plea deal Thursday midway through the trial. Under the terms of the deal, Brunell will plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and will serve[Read More…]
State, Copley Shared Confidential Info, says ACLU
VERMONT – A new lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont allege the Vermont Department for Children and Families went to extraordinary and illegal lengths to remove a child from its mother’s custody, aided by an internal program that monitors the pregnancies of multiple Vermonters, The 30-page[Read More…]
Auditor Questions Legality of $1M Yellow Barn Grant
MONTPELIER – Vermont allocated more than $50 million in federal Covid-19 stimulus money without properly conducting due diligence on the businesses and nonprofits who received that funding, the state auditor said in a new report. The 83-page report, dated Sept. 27, raised concerns about two federally funded grants administered by Vermont’s[Read More…]
New Student Enrollment at VSU Ticks Up
VERMONT – More than 1,700 first-year students are expected to enroll at Vermont State University, an increase of about 14% compared with fall 2023 and a sign of hope for the public, multicampus university. The roughly 200-student enrollment bump in the university’s second-ever fall semester, just over a year after[Read More…]
Toxic Substances in Craftsbury & Woodbury Schools
CRAFTSBURY – For just over two years, Craftsbury Academy, which educates roughly 140 students on its Craftsbury Common campus, has had no potable running water. Instead of using fountains, students and staff drink from bottled water that is trucked in at the state’s expense. But it’s not only drinking water[Read More…]
