At a time when LGBTQ equality has come under attack by those in the highest levels of government, it is encouraging to see that communities around the nation, and especially here in Vermont, continue to champion equality rights.
There are two certainties in life: We all want to debate taxes, and we all know we’re going to die debating how we should be taxed.
Following the confirmation and swearing-in of Brett Kavanaugh as the 114th Supreme Court justice, the national conversation swiftly turned to the political impact his partisan and dramatic confirmation process will have on the pending midterm elections. There was some analysis dedicated to h…
American politics has always been blood sport. But these days, blood matters more.
Some excerpted views from newspapers around New England.
Millennials often get a bad rap. But for all the grief they take for being “on screens” all of the time or living at home, their activism may be having a measurable effect on the world. That’s a very good thing.
Support or oppose it, Medicare for All is a controversial idea.
A poll released Wednesday suggests a strong majority of Americans do not trust the nation’s voting systems.
Well, the end just got a little closer.
It’s good to know patriarchy is alive and well. It would be a shame to think that white privilege might have to ever be dented or derailed.
Days after Saturday Night Live made a mockery of Vermont’s “whiteness” in a comedy sketch about racism, the membership of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns has approved two resolutions that tackle head-on the systemic racism that seems to be afflicting the state.
The United States needs a major reform of its political system. A democracy should reflect the will of the people. That has not been happening, and it appears to only be worsening.
The audience cheered. They cheered as the president of the United States mocked the account of a woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sex assault — a witness he previously called “credible.” They cheered.
This week’s announcement that the United States, Mexico and Canada reached a new trade agreement is good news for Vermont.
The changes can come so slowly that it can be difficult to see. Often times, something that was remarkably noticeable when it first happened, slowly becomes part of the fabric of our daily lives until it’s no longer immediately visible.
Go ahead and use “qi” in a sentence. Consider it a challenge.
Go ahead and use “qi” in a sentence. Consider it a challenge.
Recently, Vote Smart began distributing a booklet that outlines how members of Congress voted on 17 pieces of key legislation that ranged from crime and defense to the environment and taxes. The free resource is provided prior to every election. What made this particular Vote Smart booklet s…
Advocates for public access around the country are touting a federal judge’s decision last week that counters a claim by Comcast that conditions allowing it to operate in Vermont violated the cable giant’s First Amendment rights.
Got water? You’re lucky. Many Vermonters do not right now, and they may not have it going into the winter months.
In recent weeks, since The New York Times published an anonymously penned guest column from a source allegedly inside the Trump White House, our editorial board has been asked what the implications might be to local journalism. The short answer: Not much. The longer answer follows.
An impending Trump administration plan could deny Clean Water Act protections to most of our nation’s wetlands and more than half of the stream miles in the lower 48 states. This rollback could be released as early as next month without further intervention or advocacy.
Our fascination with squirrels is, well, getting kind of nuts.
Sen. Patrick Leahy has joined other lawmakers in a lawsuit to compel the National Archives and the CIA to release all records involving Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his time as an associate in the White House Counsel’s office and as White House staff secretary.
Information released early this week shows that while Vermonters are healthier than many Americans around the country, we are still tracking toward more higher obesity rates and health-related issues.
In Tuesday's Rutland Herald and Times Argus appeared a commentary, "The Media is not 'The Press,'" a response by the Ethan Allen Institute's Rob Roper to coordinated editorials by hundreds of newspapers nationwide decrying President Donald Trump's vilification of the free press as the "Enemy…
We consume information much differently now than even a generation ago. It's at our fingertips, and as such, its accessibility is empowering. Yet the argument can be made that algorithms and search engines that monitor what we look at online are also feeding us information (and marketing), a…
In general, Americans are pretty happy about the state of the economy, which is approaching nearly a decade of sustained growth. But behind that general feeling, there is a divide. If you think the economy is doing better, you're likely a Republican. If you think it's doing more poorly, you'…
Unsurprisingly, nearly every American adult has a cellphone of some kind. Globally, two-thirds of the world's population is connected by mobile devices. This milestone of 5 billion unique mobile subscribers globally was achieved in the second quarter of 2017. By 2020, almost 75 percent of th…
Today is primary day in Vermont. The summer's national headlines have diverted a lot of attention away from local and state politics. But the 2018 election cycle has become one to watch – not just at the community level, but for changes in the political landscape across the nation. Voter tur…
There's nothing insignificant about 32.5 million Americans. Statistically speaking, that number represents the percentage of U.S. citizens who are left-handed. That's a bloc worthy of attention. Just imagine if “they” actually smudged their signatures across a petition to nominate candidates…
We all know that person who can rattle off gas prices around town. At least the two extremes: the deals and the ones to avoid. It's serious business — and not just bargain hunting. Every year, we use more gasoline than any other fuel source in the state, including electricity, according to t…
The intersection of Route 4 and North Main Street in Rutland City is one of the busiest in the state. The Agency of Transportation has figures showing an average of more than 17,000 vehicles per day passing through that intersection in 2015. Tourists from across the Northeast use that inters…
This summer has been one of the best “swimming summers” in ages. While the conditions have been less than ideal for certain crops, water sports have been quite popular. This week marks Clean Water Week, which is an opportunity to celebrate Vermont’s lakes, rivers and wetlands. More than 90 b…
Scrambling to soften the blow of his destructive trade wars, President Donald Trump is offering a $12 billion bailout for farmers facing retaliation from America’s trading partners hurt by his tariffs. It’s a desperation move, and it won’t do much to reverse the damage the administration has…
On Friday, our sister paper, the Times Argus, published an article about the killing of Courtney Gaboriault and the subsequent suicide of her ex-boyfriend, Luke Lacroix, her killer. The article ran in the Herald the same day. Following publication, the article received criticism from multipl…
Louis Brandeis, an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson, once wrote, “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.” Since the last presidential election cycle, this concept has become even more pronounced. Pr…
Last week's mass shooting at a Maryland newspaper was a gut-punch to the nation. But journalists nationwide had a different kind of reaction: Resolve. The tragedy at the Capital Gazette that claimed five newspaper employees and injured two others was shocking and disturbing. The adage, “Don'…
Rutland City savored a moment on June 23 when Mayor David Allaire and Recreation Superintendent Kim Peters cut the ribbon, officially opening the new municipal pools at White's Park. “Since 2014, the city has been without a swimming pool," the mayor said. "I’m excited to say, the wait is ove…
This Sunday, it will be legal for adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana under state law. That will have implications — related to both growing and driving — of which Vermonters will want to be ever mindful. And wary. After all, this is what state residents said they want…
We all should be concerned and a bit alarmed that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the much-followed “cakeshop” case, siding with the bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Supreme Court justic…
The standoff continues today. The Scott administration and the Legislature reconvenes Wednesday to hammer out a state budget. But both sides have dug in deep and the political rhetoric is shrill. Will there be a veto? Are there enough votes to override? How long will the negotiations last? T…
There were cheers last week when trustees of the College of St. Joseph in Rutland voted to keep the school open. Trustees voted 13-3 to continue operating while the college enacts a number of new programs intended to increase revenue. “After today, we will go forward and everything will be j…
If the Trump White House has taught the American public anything by now, it's that the administration's lack of shame has no discernible bottom. There is no lie too big for the president and his underlings to embrace. According to The Washington Post, Trump has eclipsed the 2,000 mark when i…
In a perfect world, the federal Medicare system that provides health care and prescription benefits for millions of older American would negotiate the prices of prescription drugs purchased from pharmaceutical companies. With Medicare accounting for about 29 percent of the country's retail p…
It's a strange phenomenon — one that seems to be at least a hallmark of the internet age. You mention to someone that you are planning a vacation and, as if by magic, a link to a cruise ship appears on your screen. Or you think about making a purchase, and a link to a nearby store shows up. …
The next time you get pulled over on a state or town road and a police officer hands you a ticket, you might ask yourself whether you were cited for legitimate safety reasons or because the town where you were pulled over needs the money. It's a fair question, given the state's unseemly syst…
It would not be overstating the case to say that modern Vermont history began with Phil Hoff's election to governor in 1962. As the first Democrat elected to the state's highest office in more than a century, he upended Vermont's existing path and charted a new one, the extension of which ou…
The revelation that officials at the College of St. Joseph are thinking about closing the small school shouldn't come as a shock, given the state of higher education. Earlier this month, Mount Ida College in Massachusetts announced it was closing and exploring a merger with UMass-Amherst, an…
Members of the Republican Party, who hold a majority in the U.S. House and Senate, have been content to stand idly by while President Donald Trump has attacked any number of democratic institutions in word and deed.In Trump's mind, what these institutions have in common is that they are part…
