VERMONT – Drive for a few minutes in any direction in Vermont and you’ll notice the significant changes the rivers have had on the landscape this past year. Guardrails are falling into rivers, streams are flowing over and under our roads, sediment deposits of all sizes are providing nutrients to[Read More…]
Another Opinion
Natural Spaces Transcend Generational Ownership
GREENSBORO – Vermont is well known for its beautiful rural lands and history of rich tradition. Where the two intersect, at the focal point of outdoorsmanship and recreation, is a special point of pride for Vermonters across the state. However, it is also increasingly becoming a point of contention. With[Read More…]
Remembering Senator Bill Doyle
GREENSBORO — Bill Doyle, who died August 15, wasn’t just the longest-serving state senator in Vermont history: he represented Washington County in the upper chamber for 48 years. He was a mentor to many other office holders and to so many of the students to whom he taught poli-sci and[Read More…]
Administrative Waffling Creates Confused, Disheartened Student Experience
HARDWICK – I began my college education at Castleton University. I was privileged to experience campus life prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which effectively ended my freshman year. In September of 2021, the board of trustees voted to create a single institution, merging our campus with Northern[Read More…]
The Affordable Housing Discussion
GREENBSORO – I generally hesitate to chime in on heated conversations, but for several reasons, it is incredibly important that I make my voice heard in the one surrounding town hall and affordable housing in Greensboro. I have lived in Greensboro for roughly two years, and I was born and[Read More…]
Sims Says She’ll Listen and Fight for the Future
CRAFTSBURY – I’m Katherine Sims, and I’m running for Senate to fight for the future of our towns. Twenty years ago, I moved to the Kingdom to milk cows at Butterworks Farm. While I initially came for a job, I discovered a vibrant community. I love living in a place[Read More…]
Mother Nature’s Punching Bag
EAST MONTPELIER — I can remember a time, not that long ago, when we believed the worst effect of climate change on Vermont would be a potential influx of climate refugees: people from coastal areas looking for safe havens in the hills and mountains of our state. Yeah, about that.[Read More…]
Working for All Vermonters
ST. JOHNSBURY – Of the four candidates vying to be the next Caledonia District Senator, I am the only one with policy making experience in a legislature or a public voting record: 10 years in the Vermont House of Representatives. Every legislator in Montpelier has their own style, some jump[Read More…]
Jasper Hill Cheese Leads Quiet Greensboro Revolution
GREENSBORO – For the better part of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century there has been a significant transfer of wealth from rural America to urban America. There is a little-known revolution taking place in Greensboro, with two men trying to change that dynamic. The men are Andy[Read More…]
It Has Been an Honor to Have Served our Three Communities
Many of you in our communities may have heard I am retiring from my seat in the Vermont House at the end of this session. It has been an honor to have served our three communities for the past 10 years. I retire as the vice chair of the Corrections[Read More…]
Can we Afford Not to Pass the Renewable Energy Standard?
GREENSBORO – Governor Scott recently vetoed H.289, the Renewable Energy Standard (the RES), because he claims the bill would unnecessarily increase Vermonters’ utility bills by “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Estimates from the Vermont legislative Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) now put the cost of implementing the RES at between $150[Read More…]
The Youth Vote: Making Politics Palatable for the Next Generation
I spent the evening and the morning trying to parse out the most effective way to launch a new generation of voters into the political fray. Obvious to most of us, so much in politics isn’t working. In fact, it feels particularly grim at the moment, although I am cognizant[Read More…]
