Vermont Edition

Both the University of Vermont and Middlebury College have new presidents: Marlene Tromp at UVM and Ian Baucom at Middlebury. These new leaders entered their role at a time of heightened federal scrutiny on higher education.Today on Vermont Edition, we’ll talk with these two new presidents of leading higher education institutions. We’ll hear about town-gown relations in both Burlington and Middlebury, and discuss the schools’ role in building housing, employing locals and more. The White House has threatened to take away federal funding from colleges and universities if they don’t fall in line around DEI and other issues. Marlene Tromp and Ian Baucom will weigh in on that delicate balance between protecting free speech and following White House dictum.

Vermont state senator Sam Douglass has resigned, effective today. He participated in a Young Republicans group chat that included racist, misogynist and antisemitic messages.Today on Vermont Edition: the fallout of the group chat in our region. Vermont GOP chair Paul Dame will comment on Douglass’s reputation as a lawmaker, his decision to resign, and political rhetoric in the state at large.Then, the federal government has changed eligibility for food stamps programs like 3SquaresVT. Some previously eligible immigrants, refugees and asylees no longer qualify. The federal government shutdown could also affect food stamps and heating assistance. Reporter Pete Hirschfeld will share what he knows.

For Vermont Edition's new monthly series, Town by Town, we’ll hone in on one of Vermont’s 252 towns or cities and talk to residents, share local history and lore, and learn about what it’s like to live there. At the end of the hour, a guest will help us randomly select our next town by spinning a big Wheel of Fortune style spinner.Today's show focused on Belvidere, in Lamoille County. At the time of the 2020 census, Belvidere had just over 350 residents. It was chartered in 1791 to an Irish lawyer from New York by the name of John Kelly. The theory is that he named Belvidere after a beautiful lake in Ireland. The word itself comes from the Italian for “beautiful view.”A trio of longtime Belvidereans gave us insights into the town and its history: Cathy Manders-Adams, Belvidere's town clerk, her husband Ken Adams, a select board member who has lived there his entire life, and Neal Brown, who grew up in Belvidere and is the organizer of the Belvidere Bluegrass Festival. Tyler Barber, one of the town's newest residents, is helping create a community hub out of the old schoolhouse.We also heard passages from the diary of the late Lena Eldred Rich, a Belvidere resident who recounted details from her life there in the early 20th century.Broadcast live on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Nearly 13,000 Vermonters aged 65 and older had Alzheimer’s disease as of 2020 — 10% of the state's over-65 population. Around each of those people orbits nurses, doctors, home health aides and family members who devote their lives to care. The documentary "Walk With Me" by filmmaker and casting director Heidi Levitt tells the story of her husband Charlie Hess's early-onset Alzheimer's. The film screened earlier this year at the Middlebury International Film Festival, and it will screen again this Saturday at the Vermont International Film Festival in Burlington. Levitt and Hess split their time between Stowe and southern California.While Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease with no cure, there is a lot of positive news right now in terms of research, medications and health guidance that can slow cognitive loss, and supports for caregivers. We discussed these bright spots with Rhonda Williams, the public health program director for the Vermont Department of Health and the director of the Alzheimer’s and Healthy Aging program, and Meg Polyte, policy director for the Vermont chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.The Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline is a free service of support for people living with dementia, caregivers, families and the public. Connect with a live person who can provide information, local resources, crisis assistance and emotional support at 800.272.3900.

Censorship, imagination and healing with Vermont's literary community

Birds to look out for this fall migration season

After nearly two weeks on the picket line, St. Albans dairy processors have signed a new contract with their employer, Dairy Farmers of America, based in Kansas. The St. Albans plant processes Vermont milk for vendors like Ben and Jerry’s, Cabot, and Kate’s Butter. We speak with Curtis Clough, president of Vermont Teamsters Local 597 union, tells us about the negotiations, strike and return to work.About one in ten workers in the United States is part of a union. That's not a lot, if you're comparing it to the height of union membership in the 1950s. One third of the American workforce used to be unionized. In the northeast, the most prominent unions have changed along with the economy. Labor organizers from three different sectors — public school teaching, mental health work, and farm labor — join Vermont Edition to discuss the state of today's labor movement. Nolan Rampy is a clinician at the Baird School, part of the Howard Center in Burlington, and the vice president of AFSCME 1674, a union representing mental healthcare workers. Will Lambek is an organizer with Migrant Justice, which supports immigrant farm workers in Vermont. And Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver is a Winooski High School teacher and a member of the Winooski Education Association, an affiliate of the Vermont-NEA. She was named Vermont’s 2025 Teacher of the Year.

The federal government shutdown is entering its second week. Democrats say they’ll hold the line until health insurance subsidies are renewed.Today on Vermont Edition, Senator Peter Welch will share his perspective on the negotiations underway on Capitol Hill and why Democrats picked this moment to fight. Senator Welch says it’s because millions of Americans could see their health insurance premiums double next year.Then, most of Vermont is experiencing severe to extreme drought. State leaders are asking for federal aid for farms. We’ll hear what it’s been like for two farmers, one in West Corinth and the other in Orwell. Plus, a state forester will explain how drought affects fall foliage and forest fire risk.

'It's an equity issue': Gov. Phil Scott defends his return-to-office order

The New England Sacred Harp Convention is coming up in Burlington on Oct. 4th and 5th. Hundreds of singers will come together to celebrate one of the country’s oldest Christian music traditions. But Sacred Harp goes beyond Christianity — all are welcome to sing. And this year, sacred harp aficionados are celebrating a brand new edition of their songbook.Anya Skibbe and Anna Mays share the history and culture of Sacred Harp, and why it still feels relevant and resonant today. They also demonstrate four songs from the new songbook, alongside Colleen Hayes, Sarah Galper Maika, Jim, Linda, and Dan Coppick, Nicandra Galper, and Sage Chase-Dempsey.Broadcast live on Tuesday, October 2, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Americans pay more for health care–as a nation and individually–than citizens of any other nation on earth, even as access to health insurance continues to dwindle. And as a state, Vermont's per-person health care spending and health insurance costs are among the highest in the country.We delve into one of the reasons there’s so much sticker shock–the behind-the-scenes influence of lobbyists on health care legislation as we speak with UVM professor Alex Garlick about his new book Pre-Existing Conditions: How Lobbying Makes Health Care More Expensive.Then, former Vermont Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Amestoy has written a new legal thriller based on a murder trial in the Green Mountain State from the 1920’s. We hear about Winters’ Time: A Secret Pledge, a Severed Head, and the Murder That Brought America's Most Famous Lawyer to Vermont. 

Ever drive past a park n ride full of cars and wonder, what happens there? What are all those people using that giant parking lot for? The team at Brave Little State recently spent 12 hours at the Richmond park and ride, all to answer a listener's question.The whole Brave Little State team — Josh Crane, Sabina Poux and Burgess Brown — shared some insights from their reporting.

Vermont developers try to keep building houses, amid new tariffs and rising costs

Betty Smith is known as Vermont Public’s founding mother. She’s been with the station since its very first day, and this year, she celebrates her 50th anniversary in public radio. She’ll tell us stories from the early days of VPR, when they weren’t sure the station would survive, and her thoughts on public media's future. Then: a new film about the melting ice of Greenland features a University of Vermont professor. 

Lawmakers respond to controversial Israel trip

It's the fourth installment of our annual fall series, School Stories. Every Tuesday this month, we’ve focused on issues related to Vermont schools. For this edition, we discuss pre-kindergarten.In 2014, Vermont’s governor Peter Shumlin signed a universal pre-K bill into law. Thereafter, 3 and 4-year-olds could get free pre-K for 10 hours a week through their public school system, or through subsidy on tuition to a private or home-based childcare centers. We’re about a decade into the implementation of this law, and there have been some big wins. But the pre-K world in Vermont is far from some stable, done deal. Our guests this hour are helping to shape the vision for pre-k education in Vermont. We're joined by Vermont Secretary of Education, Zoie Saunders, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, Janet McLaughlin, executive director of the nonprofit Building Bright Futures, Morgan Crossman, and Executive Director of Turtle Island Children’s Center in Montpelier, Jocelyn York.Broadcast live on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Some Vermont towns are adopting a new strategy to help people in crisis. It’s called situation tables.We’ll learn about this initiative that’s underway from Bennington to Burlington. Police and social services groups come together for weekly meetings to help specific community members with housing, addiction and other stressors. We’ll hear from a Vermont Public reporter, and a retired police chief-turned-situation table trainer.Then: some communities offer a program that pays repeat offenders not to do drugs. It’s funded with settlement money from opioid manufacturers. We’ll hear from a UVM psychiatrist who helped develop this controversial approach.

Over the next year, some of Vermont’s hospitals are going to see less money coming in than they wanted. Their budgets for the year are now set, and they know exactly how much they can charge insurance companies for patient care. Green Mountain Care Board chair Owen Foster joins us for the hour. The Board is in charge of approving budgets for Vermont’s 14 hospitals. He explains this year’s decisions, including some major cuts to UVM Medical Center’s rate requests. That’s the state’s largest hospital.The Green Mountain Care Board also approves insurance premiums in Vermont. All these choices the board makes affect how much you will have to pay for health care. It’s a complicated knot we’ll untangle together.Broadcast live on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

There are two new record holders for fastest supported and unsupported Long Trial hikes. One athlete, Tara "Candy Mama" Dower, is a professional ultramarathoner from Colorado. The other, Tori "Chewy" Constantine, is a nurse from Waterbury. They’ll tell us about the mental and physical preparation it takes to hike the spine of the Green Mountains at top speed.Plus: Investigators have identified the last remaining victim in the Bear Brook murder case. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jason Moon hosted a blockbuster podcast about the case. He’s just released an update about this final twist in the story.

It's the fourth installment of our annual fall series, School Stories. Every Tuesday this month, we’ve been focusing on issues related to Vermont schools. On this episode we focus on AI in the classroom.Tech companies are investing billions of dollars in data centers to power artificial intelligence, and some of the biggest users of AI are students. Are they using generative AI to cheat, or to enhance their learning?First we focus on higher ed when we speak with Hector Vila, an associate professor in Writing & Rhetoric at Middlebury. He teaches a first-year seminar at Middlebury College called “AI, Writing and Creativity" and is one of the organizers of the upcoming Clifford Symposium about AI.Then, we hear from educators in the Essex Westford School District who are monitoring and regulating the use of AI in their district. Peter Drescher is the director of technology and innovation, and Renee Langevin is the digital learning leader. She’s also the co-host of ExplAIned, a podcast about AI and education.Broadcast live on Tuesday, September 15, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.