Instrumart is a 34-year-old Vermont-based company that was recently voted one of the best places to work in Vermont. Happily calling ourselves an employee-focused company, we are keenly interested in the health and well-being of the families that make up our collective Instrumart family.

H.31 is a bill that has been introduced by Rep. Seth Bongartz, D-Manchester. The bill calls for a moratorium on the issuance of permits to spray our lakes with toxic chemicals to kill a plant known as Eurasian milfoil. Why is a moratorium needed? After spraying our lakes for almost two decad…

I want to thank John Klimenok for responding to my recent letter. It is always good to know that at least one person has read it. Indeed, it is even more satisfying that the reader is a critic, willing to challenge my thoughts and actions. It is only when our ideas are challenged that we grow.

The Perfect Little Climate Conscious State now has its own Perfect Little Climate Action Plan. Although the Climate Action Plan won’t have any impact on climate, it will have an only too real impact on Vermonters’ wallets.

Shame on us. For every single day, we citizens, our students, their teachers and their families wonder whether someone stalking the school halls could force their days to end in tragedy. And yet we still sit on our hands.

The Democrat Party has become a cult. Anytime an individual writes in with an opposing viewpoint of the mainstream left, or the far left as Vermont is becoming, there are three days of shouting down their opposing viewpoints and then dragging their character through the mud.

Last month, we lost another child Holocaust survivor, Erika Hecht, as that generation finds its final resting place. Erika recalls a story of her wartime experience in her memoir “Don’t Ask My Name” — “One night, (my mother) wakes me and asks me my name. ‘Erika Bleier,’ I say. ‘What did you …

On Jan. 11, the Department of Children & Families presented their budget to the House Appropriations Committee. Its proposal would redirect $4.6 million that has been earmarked for “child development” to a fund that will be used to pay for building a temporary, architecturally secure str…

Imagine you are on a walk with your dog in a Vermont state forest. The woods are alive with the colors of fall and are seemingly harmless as you explore deeper. Your dog is ahead of you on the trail and within eyesight when you notice him stop for a few seconds and then let out a horrific sc…

The Vermont Mayors Coalition recently announced a 2023 legislative agenda that supports the eight communities represented in the coalition, from Vermont’s largest, Burlington, to some of the smallest, Winooski and Vergennes. It’s exciting to see our elected officials coming together over a p…

Vermont lawmakers and the governor’s office are rightly focused on expanding access to paid family and medical leave to Vermonters statewide. Vermont is one of 14 states with a paid sick time law in place, guaranteeing up to five paid sick days to many workers. It is just one of the two stat…

Recent Times Argus editorials make clear the editors’ commitment to robust, varied and factual reader commentary and debate of current key issues. And, oh, how Vermonter opinions from politics, to religion, to abortion, to climate change, often support totally opposed points of view. Lurking…

Ever since arriving in the Legislature in 1979, Rep. and Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Orleans, has pursued his one great legislative passion: to get dairy farmers more money. As chair of House Agriculture (16 Years) and Senate Agriculture (2013-present), Starr has pushed hard for a long series of sch…

Vermonters have mistakenly thought we are immune from the believers of The Big Lie and election deniers who have permeated national politics.

My girlfriend Carol and I were running errands during last week’s mild weather when she suggested we get my car washed. It was undeniable that the vehicle was dirty. From November to April, cars in Vermont unite in a fleet of grunge. Regardless of the age, make or type of vehicle, by January…

OneCare is an Accountable Care Organization. We partner with health insurance companies, hospitals, independent medical practices, community health organizations and community collaborators to improve the quality of health care and make it more affordable for Vermonters. OneCare is an import…

The Rutland City Board of School Commissioners has finally arrived at a name for the Rutland school teams. Hereinafter they are to be known as — are you ready — just “Rutland.”

Legislative leadership has already laid out its agenda for this session. Despite the dire state of health care for the almost half of Vermonters younger than the age of 65 who are “underinsured,” it is clear they have no intention of doing anything meaningful to address the state’s health ca…

There were two threads running through Gov. Phil Scott’s fourth inaugural address. One was a clear, even refreshing, acknowledgement of the role government and money played in the last few years to protect Vermonters and improve their lives. The other was the governor’s vision of a future Ve…

To all Vermonters who enjoy fishing, boating and swimming in our lakes and ponds, a call to arms, or rather your rods, paddles and shimmies, and I ask you to bring your focus to Lake Bomoseen in Castleton. There is a club of beach owners who are making plans amongst themselves to poison the …

This Jan. 22, we should have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade; instead, our country is confronting a stark reality in which younger generations have fewer rights than the last, and one in three Americans no longer have the right to safe, legal abortion in their home state.

In the weekend prior to MLK Day edition of the Rutland Herald, articles and editorials included a list of celebrations and anecdotes honoring Dr. King; the Vermont shortage of affordable housing; an essay about “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (with paragraphs on Simon Legree, noting the character was a …

Soft policing is a failure here in good ol’ Rutland that should be called “A Clockwork Green.” For those who have not seen the epic Kubrick masterpiece, “A Clockwork Orange,” about criminal rehabilitation, watch it now. That movie is this town — more a rural ghetto than the charming New Engl…

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont issued a press release on Dec. 20, 2022, announcing it would forego its 2023 participation in OneCare Vermont, the state’s sole Accountable Care Organization.

In his letter “Not by chance,” Thomas Prindiville claims the “Big Bang” was an “irrational act,” but that we now see “a well-ordered universe and our beautiful world.” Are exploding supernovas and colliding galaxies that occur from time to time and that in the future may cause major dangers …

The headline on the letter from Gregory Thayer in Tuesday’s Herald titled “Pro-Trump” should really say “Pro-stupidity.”

Greenhouse gases are causing severe damage to our planet and its human inhabitants. Burning fossil fuels is the primary generator of greenhouse gases, yet fossil fuel exploration and drilling continue as our planetary emergency worsens.

When we consider Vermont, we must recognize the vast majority of Vermont is rural.

How is it that a dozen of our Vermont lakes have become “addicted” to the use of toxic chemicals to manage unwanted aquatic vegetation? And how is it that this situation has gone unnoticed by Vermont residents for whom the lakes are held in trust?

For more than 35 years, it has been my great honor to serve the people of Vermont as a public servant: Secretary of State (12-years), State Senator (eight years), and South Burlington City Councilor (18 years). During this time, I have always worked hard to serve Vermont’s citizens in a prof…

A recent recap article on 2022 seemed to highlight what seemed to be a long-past controversy involving a bogus racist claim but was very light on success, pride and accomplishments.

I enjoy the ‘Weekend Edition’ for its gardening tips, local flavor and environmental observations. Typically insightful and reflective, I was surprised and interested by the article on the Carolina wren and its more recent appearance in central Vermont.

Happy New Year. Every January, I like to take the time to read the governor’s address to the state. This helps me determine if he understands the challenges and triumphs of every Vermonter. I was buoyed by his 500-mile trip around our state to not only see what condition our state is in, but…

There have been many recent commentaries by opponents of regulated trapping in Vermont, in which the authors make numerous misstatements as well as unsubstantiated claims to make their point.

On Martin Luther King Day, write for social justice.