Back in the day, meaning Cicero’s day, being a Roman citizen was a big deal. Citizens could vote, hold office, appeal legal decisions and engage in contracts. In an age when brutality characterized the criminal justice system, citizens were exempt from torture and nearly exempt from capital …
If you hate numbers, stop reading.
As longtime former state legislators, we know how difficult the budget allocation process can be. Inevitably, there are more deserving projects than dollars to support them.
About a week ago, in literally the blink of an eye, I went from giving Kiki a treat to lying face-down on the tile floor of the kitchen. It was, thankfully, my own damn fault, and not a systemic collapse. I often dispense treats by holding them between my lips and bending over, holding onto …
Returning to Vermont after months away reminds you why you came here 32 years ago.
When we sift through the wreckage of the past year, much of the debris we uncover is rooted in fear that’s quite reasonable, a natural response to the pandemic double-edged sword offered by the limitations it proscribes: Remain sequestered only to find your risk-free isolation eventually bec…
Will Vermont’s 2022 broadband bonanza come to be remembered as Vermont’s 2024 broadband boondoggle?
Proposition 4: Vermont must reduce economic disparity, advance economic opportunity and rebuild the middle class.
Vermont as a model
High-speed broadband internet service is a necessity for every Vermont household, yet one out of every four households struggle without it. H.360, the $150 million broadband bill that passed the Vermont House last week, offers a clear, bold, community-based strategy for universal broadband a…
It is Easter weekend. Because of the pandemic, it is not a traditional holiday weekend.
Proposition 2, “We Are All Vermonters,” certainly spoke to me as someone new to this amazing state. In 2013 I left a long-term pastorate in Ohio to serve as interim pastor in an Upper Valley congregation. I soon fell in love with Vermont and became determined to find a place here of my own. …
We are now living and working under accelerated change and disruption.
I was 13 in 1963, the year Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech. I was sitting on my parents’ bed, watching the March on Washington on our television. John Kennedy was still president.
For the first time in a long time, I’m feeling optimistic. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), passed by Congress and signed on March 11 by President Biden, brings much needed support to families hit hard economically by the pandemic. When it comes to direct hunger relief, the ARP boosts 3Sq…
Full disclosure — As I was tinkering with this piece, I believed the “Easter Weasel” existed only in my head, titled because the beast showed up at the beginning of Holy Week, another Catholic fossil buried in my subconscious. I was unaware two lawyers — one sent an elderly woman to jail for…
If you were born and raised in New England, you most likely have been involved in a conversation that went something like this. “My ancestors came over on the Mayflower, and we were among the first settlers of America.” As I’m probably older than you, I’ve had, or heard, this conversation do…
The maxim “elections have consequences” has never meant more to me than in the past six months. After a steady barrage of lies, complicity and violence that underscored how fragile our democracy is, a friend told me that New Year’s Day seemed to wait until Jan. 20 this year, when President B…
The horrible murders at three massage parlors in Atlanta, we now know, had a great deal to do with religion. The shooter’s motivation appears to be first and foremost driven by a twisted religious construct, secondly by a hatred of women and third by an anti-Asian bias. I know I may take som…
While mass shootings attract our attention and our horror (and rightfully so), we tend to overlook the fact gun violence is a ubiquitous, everyday problem in the United States. While many of us experienced mass shooting amnesia – due to fewer mass shootings in the news during the pandemic – …
A few days ago, after the supermarket shooting in Boulder had become the topic du jour, I engaged in an exchange with a Facebook “friend.” Here it is, (sic)-free:
The pandemic has changed how we see the world — literally.
For several years, Vermont has made millions selling Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to other states. But the 2020 Global Warming Solutions Act will soon cut off this cash flow, which would raise rates. There is also the chance the GWSA might set in motion a chain of events culminating in el…
A local zoning administrator once told me — when I served as chairman of the Brandon Planning Commission — that Vermont was the “Wild West” when it came to rules and regs. He’s not wrong. I’ve witnessed this in the lax rules regarding toxic pesticide spraying and animal abuse, and it is appa…
I grew up with race in the news. I knew about segregation and integration. I knew about Freedom Riders and the Klan, Medgar Evers and Viola Liuzzo, Strom Thurmond and Bull Connor. I knew about fire hoses and police dogs. I knew about the March on Washington and the riots in Newark, about Mar…
Call this a govment! why, just look at it and see what it’s like ... The law takes a man worth six thousand dollars and up’ards, and jams him into an old trap of a cabin like this, and lets him go round in clothes that ain’t fitten for a hog. They call that govment! ... I’ll never vote ag’in…
One of the most dangerous and communicable variants of the previous viral administration, enabled by cowardly congressional Republican parasites, was the shameless bigotry and domestic terrorism spawned by irresponsible rhetoric. The “Good People” praise of racists and neo-Nazis in Charlotte…
Dear Gov. Scott, Sens. Leahy and Sanders, Congressman Welch, mayors, friends, colleagues:
Proposition 2: Vermonters must oppose racism, renew and expand our collective identity, and welcome new Vermonters.I am a proud Vermonter. Born and raised in this state, my husband and I made Vermont our home because there is no place that we love more. We cherish the land, the people, even …
We need to hear from you. It comes down to that.
Vermont’s pandemic recovery is a catalytic opportunity for creative renewal. How do we work together to revitalize Vermont? Where do our values, principles, culture and economy fit together as we search for common paths to a more resilient, prosperous and welcoming state?
Most of us are thinking ahead to gardens, lawns, and spring and summer projects. It’s like that every winter, but this winter felt more acute with the pandemic outside the door, adding to the chill in the air.
Then the wolf shall live with the sheep, and the leopard lie down with the kid … the cow and the bear shall be friends … The lion shall eat straw like cattle; the infant shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the young child dance over the viper’s nest.
Now that Andrew Cuomo has joined the hierarchy of American icons such as Kermit the Frog, Mr. Potato Head and Ted Cruz, invoking “Cancel Culture” as the rationale behind the push for his resignation, perhaps the phrase should be ushered into obscurity along with New York’s rapacious governor…
In 1969, Poor Elijah and his roommate, Darnley, were college sophomores. “Sophomore” comes from two Greek words and means “wise fool.”
A week or so ago, Pope Francis went to Iraq and met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, as well as with the country’s government officials. Should we care? Was it a big deal? Yes, to both those questions. This was the first time any pope has gone into Iraq, even though the birthplace of Abr…
As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vermonters have reason to be proud of their commitment and sacrifices in mitigating the virus, keeping our infection rate one of the lowest in the world. The low community spread of the virus, combined with the extraordinary efforts and f…
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
This week marks the anniversary of the lockdown caused by COVID-19 that has come to reshape our lives. Now, with a “new normal” well established, we look forward to getting back to a semblance of our year-ago lives.
In my decades-long war with anyone trying to sell me anything, I’ve always cut Steve Jobs some slack, awed by his amazing ability to create devices a technical neophyte such as myself couldn’t remotely understand — what they did or how they might benefit me were always a little mysterious — …
I was skeptical when I heard that the stage at the recent CPAC conference mirrored a Nazi symbol worn by SS troops. Then I saw the stage. Its design was unmistakable and unusual enough that it seemed an unlikely coincidence. The symbol is sufficiently associated with Nazism that it’s outlawe…
Vermont’s Amtrak trains have now been gone for almost a year. When they do return, we will be virtually initiating new services. This can’t wait any longer. For many months, I’ve supported (albeit reluctantly) their suspension, because of the tragic second wave of the pandemic. But with vacc…
Our Vermont legislators recently commissioned a state-of-the-art study to investigate how best to apportion funds to schools equitably. Unfortunately for the students of Vermont, it detailed serious inequities in school funding. What this study unveiled was an outdated distribution of funds …
Under normal conditions, the new year is a time of reflection on the year past. 2020 was no ordinary year.
Our most successful recycling program — known as the bottle bill — is long overdue for an upgrade. For years, we’ve mostly relied on single-stream recycling programs that allow people to toss all of their recyclables into one bin. Although this seems like a convenient solution, the real stor…
Climate change threatens to destroy everything you care about. It is the one of the biggest threats to prosperity and security we have ever faced. If we lose the fight against climate change, every other cause becomes lost. The good news is that addressing climate change will strengthen Verm…
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Five Questions With
Just over three months ago we started “Five Questions With ...” to put a human face to this pandemic. Today marks the final installment in this stage of the project, but it will continue with a new set of questions more focused on Vermont’s recovery. Here, Paul Costello, of Montpelier, offer…
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Alayna Martel, of Barre Town, is a registered nurse at UVM Medical Center. She talks about how, as a frontline workers, her life has been affected by the pandemic.
Gayle Townsend-Lang, of Rutland, works full time wearing many hats for the Rutland City Public Schools as “Miss Gayle.” Here she talks about how she has been affected by the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Yankee Notebook columnist Willem Lange, of East Montpelier, talks about how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
CPA Thomas Lauzon, of Barre, discusses how his life has been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation. Earlier this spring Lauzon was named to the governor’s Economic Mitigation & Recovery Task Force.
Chrispin White, of Rutland, discusses how he has been adapting to self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting him.
Christina Sweet, of Rutland, discusses how she and her family have been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation over these months.
Educator and Vermont Mountaineers General Manager Brian Gallagher, of East Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected his life. Earlier this spring, the Mountaineers’ organizers announced they would cancel the 2020 season.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Salon owner and fitness instructor April Rogers Farnham, of Plainfield, talks about how she has been affected by self-isolation.
Barre Partnership Executive Director Tracie Lewis talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting her life.
Montpelier writer Thomas Greene discusses how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
Drew Smith, of Rutland, talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected his life.
Jessica Van Orman talks about her experience in self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her life.
Artist Jen Rondinone, of Rutland, reflects on self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her and her family.
Mark Breen, the "Eye on the Sky" guy from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, shares his thoughts in self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting his life.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe discusses how self-isolation and the pandemic have affected his life.
Executive Director of the Paramount Bruce Bouchard, of Rutland, talks about how his life has been affected by the pandemic and its consequences.
Stay-at-home mom and low-income advocate Roni Lynn Shrout, of Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected her family.
Carrie Allen, of Rutland, explains how she has been coping with self-isolation and what she hopes will come from it after the pandemic is over.
Vermont cartoonist Tim Newcomb provides a bit of levity to his answers about self-isolation and how he is coping.
Recovery Vermont’s Melissa Story, of Montpelier, shares her thoughts on self-isolation and how it has affected her.
Major Jackson is a poet and professor at the University of Vermont. He lives in South Burlington.
Former governor Jim Douglas shared his thoughts on self-isolation.
Danziger: Five Questions With