News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Guy Page 
The City of Burlington will go slow on a plan to increase the property tax exemption and shift the burden to higher-value properties. The City Charter Change Committee had planned to move forward Monday night with discussions on a new homestead property value exemption of up to the first $50,000 of real estate value. The exemption – … Read more
As the federal government shutdown threatens to halt food benefits next week, Governor Phil Scott said Monday that Vermont is prepared to join other states in suing the federal government if Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments stop after November 1. In a separate action, Vermont House of Representatives’ leaders said they will seek to … Read more
Seth Fewer and Javion Kastner are freshmen at Spaulding High School in Barre. Last night, they attended the Americans for Prosperity legislative forum in Barre, where they told VDC about their plans to start Vermont’s (for now) only high school Turning Point USA club. Since June, Seth – a big Charlie Kirk fan who, like … Read more
As noted by Behind the Lines columnist Rob Roper (“Roper: More climate propaganda and left-wing bias from VT Digger“) and FYIVT researcher Dave Soulia (“Dark Money in Vermont: It’s Not Coming From AFP“) there has been widespread protest from many politicians and non-profit organizations about the decision by Americans for Prosperity to support efforts to reduce taxation and … Read more
HHS wants states to remove all references to “gender ideology” from federally funded Education Program materials
Vermont’s Attorney General Charity Clark took pains to say she ‘plays no role in immigration enforcement’ in an August 28 statement that decries the Trump administration’s immigration policies and outlines what she says are constitutional rights ‘regardless of a person’s citizenship or immigration status.’ The State of Vermont was declared a sanctuary state earlier this month by … Read more
Gov. Phil Scott today vowed to veto S.131, Burlington’s ban on firearms and a bill that would establish permanent funding and government programs for services to unhoused Vermonters. Neither bill has cleared the Legislature yet. At his weekly press conference at the Vermont State House, Scott said Burlington’s charter change banning carrying guns in bars lacks … Read more
Federal officials are reevaluating the security risks posed by Chinese-manufactured components found in solar power equipment after discovering undocumented communication devices capable of compromising the U.S. energy infrastructure, according to a new report from Reuters. The devices are installed inside Chinese-made inverters, which convert solar energy into electricity. They transform the DC current that the panels … Read more
Chris Goodwin, coach of the Mid-Vermont Christian School girls basketball team, tells podcaster and former Olympic swimmer Riley Gaines that his private Christian school team is under a permanent ban from participating in Vermont school athletics, because the school forfeited a 2023 tournament game against an opposing team that included a biological male. The school … Read more
The U.S. Border Patrol conducted a raid yesterday evening, Monday, April 21, at Pleasant Valley Farms in Berkshire, the largest dairy farm in Vermont. Operating since 1986, Pleasant Valley milks over 3,000 cows across 10,000 acres. The farm is owned and operated by Mark and Amanda St. Pierre, with their sons Bradley and Jamie St. … Read more
Two days after transgender activists disrupted a peaceful, educational National Detransitioning Awareness Day event at the Vermont State House, and one day after the Senate and House (Democrat) Majority Leaders blamed the Vermont Family Alliance event organizers for their “attack” on trans rights, the VFA is demanding an apology. VDC’s video footage of biological males dressed … Read more
What do the impending, across-the-board Trump administration and Congressional cuts to federal education, energy, and human services mean to Vermont? Ask this question to legislators and advocates in the State House and the response is like a Greek chorus chanting, ‘We don’t know, we don’t know, we don’t know.’ (Whether the play is a comedy … Read more
You can call it the ‘Michael Reynolds Law,’ after the Burlington-area transient with more than 1600 police interactions since 2012 and still going strong this month with reported abusive, disruptive, threatening behavior. Or you could call it the ‘Abdirahman Mohammed Law,’ after the 22-year-old Burlington man with a mere 35 run-ins with law enforcement, 11 … Read more
Eagle-eyed New England energy observer Meredith Angwin of Wilder pointed out an inconvenient fact on X this Monday: when it’s cold (like this week) and people are home more than usual (like this week), ‘green’ New England burns oil and coal to make electricity. “We are having our first real cold snap,” the author of Shorting … Read more
Vermont’s largest abortion provider wants the 2025 Legislature to make up a projected $8.6 million, three-year shortfall. According to the Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Action Fund PAC 2024 candidate survey, the culprit is stingy, unsympathetic state and federal government services. “In recent years, Planned Parenthood patients’ access to care has been under attack … Read more
The Vermont resident in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration – which has some oversight over drone operation – is on the hot seat as the NY/ northern New Jersey Drone Mystery continues. A Pennsylvania state senator told Michael Whitaker of Norwich she will introduce a resolution allowing states to destroy drones deemed a threat. … Read more
Montpelier’s Progressive-minded City Council repealed a ban on panhandling in 2018 and refused requests to ban loitering in 2019. In 2021, it adopted a “general non-involvement approach” towards emergency (read: homeless) encampments, except for those located in ‘high-sensitivity areas.’ In 2023, former City Councilor and newly elected House member Conor Casey argued on behalf of homeless city residents … Read more
A Vermont judge on November 3 told a New Hampshire man pleading guilty to nine crimes that he was lucky to be in a Vermont courtroom instead of facing sterner justice his home state. Judge Michael Kainen’s remarkable admission about Vermont’s criminal justice system was reported by Caledonian-Record editor Dana Gray in the Nov. 4 edition of … Read more
In an election in which a socialist third-party candidate won 13,000 votes, Democrat-turned-Republican John Rodgers defeated Progressive/Democrat incumbent David Zuckerman to win the general election for lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor race featured two farmers – Rodgers, hemp, and cannabis on his fifth-generation farm in Glover, and also a contractor, and Zuckerman, on the fruit … Read more
BIG GOP WINS IN HOUSE AND SENATE – the Franklin County House and Senate delegation (see St. Albans Rep. Casey Toof above) will be all Republicans in January, and the Senate has six new Republican senators – including Chittenden North winner Chris Mattos (to right of Toof) and Larry Hart of Orange County. It’s six … Read more