News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Rob Roper 
Does CNBC’s “Best States” ranking make any sense? Yogi Berra famously said of a once favorite Yankees hangout, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” I feel like there’s a way to tweak that phrase regarding Vermont’s just winning CNBC’s “Best States to Live” for the sixth straight year: “Nobody wants to live there anymore. … Read more
Young people (18 to 34) apparently really don’t like Vermont. According to the recent University of New Hampshire Green Mountain State Poll, a whopping 64 percent of that demographic wants to very much or somewhat leave the Green Mountains for greener pastures. Less than half, just 45 percent, think Vermont is a “good place to … Read more
I’ve got to say it’s more than a bit distressing to head into the celebration of our great nation’s 250th birthday on the heels of Democratic Socialists winning a bunch of elections in New York and Colorado. So, this semiquincentennial (yes, I had to look it up, and even my spellcheck still doesn’t believe that’s … Read more
The Vermont Futures Project made something of a splash when it released a statistic showing that Vermont ranks 51st among 50 states (D.C. thrown in for giggles) for something they call “economic momentum.” This sounds really bad and, spoiler alert, it is. But, full confession, it’s not a statistic I was familiar with. Other organizations … Read more
Rural Vermont Rising clearly has the Left spooked. Rightly so. Any organization that goes from zero to nearly 16,000 followers in a matter of a few months and is organizing itself with town-based chapters aimed at rolling back big chunks of the Democratic Socialist (or progressive, or “woke,” or whatever you want to call it) … Read more
In the midst of unprecedented national division, Republicans and Democrats have apparently found something upon which they agree: that US moral values are “poor.” A May 1-17 Gallup survey offered a sobering assessment of Americans’ negative views of their country’s moral trajectory. For Better or Worse Gallup reported a 12-percentage-point increase (to 56%) from last … Read more
In the wake of Act 73/H.955 education “reform” and the emphasis on consolidation, there has been considerable worry in rural Vermont about what this means for their small, local schools. For many, it will mean closure. A recent op-ed by Nina Antin notes, “When Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, presented H.955 on the Vermont Senate floor, … Read more
Both Vermont’s Senate President Pro-Tem Philip Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) and Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington), the top leaders in the state legislature, announced that they will be retiring after sixteen and fourteen years, respectively. And, not to put too fine a point on it, they, and more importantly the entire clown car they’ve been … Read more
I just read, I think, the most important op-ed to appear anywhere in Vermont this year. It is by Shawn Tester, CEO of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, and it is about school choice. Why is a healthcare guy writing about the importance of school choice? Because access to school choice and a variety of independent … Read more
A pathetic attempt to look like you’re doing something when actually doing nothing. So, the Vermont House and Senate both approved H.727 – An act relating to sustainable data center deployment, sending it off to the Governor’s desk for a signature or a veto. What this bill does is create a number of logistical hurdles … Read more
Thirteen of seventeen Senate Democrats joined every Republican in repealing Act 18, the Clean Heat Standard, in a significant moral victory for the GOP. (For those wondering, the four colossally out of touch “no” votes came from Andrew Perchlik (D/P- Washington), Ann Cummings (D-Washington), Becca White (D-Windsor), and Tanya Vyhovsky (D/P -Chittenden C.) But it … Read more
There is a political spat brewing under the Golden Dome regarding a $700,000 appropriation – or lack thereof – for a childhood literacy program called Read Vermont. In a nutshell, the program funds “literary coaches” who train teachers how to use phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension to teach kids how to read. This … Read more
This is supposed to be an election integrity measure, protecting voters from “…bribery, intimidation, threats, coercion, or other means…” by those attempting to influence how — or preventing them entirely — from voting at a polling place. Sounds good. But here’s the problem: two-thirds of Vermonters no longer vote at a polling place. Since the … Read more
Next week, Proposition 4, a proposed amendment to our state constitution, will come before the full House of Representatives – the final hurdle in a four-year process before it goes to the voters this November in a popular referendum. What is Proposition 4? It is the so-called “Equality of Rights” amendment. Don’t be fooled. That … Read more
The Vermont Senate Republicans dropped a post earlier this week outlining just how out of control state spending is and has been for a long time. Though they cite a figure for FY27 spending of $9.1 billion (projected) and a 1.6 percent year-over-year increase, where I see a $9.34 billion number coming out of the … Read more
For the past two years, Vermont politicians have been telling Vermont property taxpayers that they heard us after 2024 and are working to reform our education system to provide property tax relief. It’s not happening. The debate today as we close out the 2026 legislative session is whether to pay for 4%-plus increase in spending … Read more
A collection of Vermont legislators led by Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden SE) and Treasurer Mike Pieciak (D-VT) gathered in the Cedar Creek Room of the State House to decry and bemoan proposed reforms to the SNAP (Supplemental NUTRITION Assistance Program, aka Food Stamps) that would disallow taxpayer-funded EBT cards from purchasing junk … Read more
Rural Vermonters have certainly woken up to the dangers of Act 181, the state land use law that threatens to basically steal the property rights away from landowners living outside the 2.5 percent of the state deemed to be “urban settlement.” The “Vermont Act 181” Facebook group has exploded almost overnight to 11,400 members, the … Read more
If there is one thing I’ve learned watching and often finding myself neck deep in Vermont politics over the past quarter century, it is that you have to evaluate every word that comes out of Democrats’ mouths for linguistic loopholes. This, after all, is the party of “it depends on what the definition of “is” … Read more
Many Vermont Democrats are giddy over the prospect of a genuinely competitive opponent to take on Phil Scott for the first time in 10 years: Aly Richards. All I can say is, it’s cute that you think that. While I’ll buy that Richards is likely to put up a better show than Esther Charlestin or … Read more