News That Affects You!
Please call House Speaker Mitzi Johnson at 802-828-2245 and leave the message. “No to H.610, a bill that needlessly violates Vermont gun owners rights. We are frustrated that our concerns regarding the legal defects in the bill are being ignored and that the bill is still being pushed through the House Judiciary Committee“ Yesterday afternoon Read More…
It’s official: Vermont’s government has been usurped by elitist bureaucrats who have decided that Constitutions, and voting, are annoying impediments to their enlightened oversight. This is not an exaggeration. Bureaucratic agencies have swollen in costs (salaries) and powers in all areas of Vermonters’ lives: farms close, but the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Read More…
Over the past fifty years I have seen a lot of bills introduced into the Vermont legislature. Of all the bills over all those years, the absolute worst was just introduced in the House, with 87 co-sponsors (all Democratic and Progressive). It’s titled the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA, H.688). The Climate Action Coalition believes Read More…
On December 17, 2019, a bipartisan group of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that make up the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) invited the public to provide feedback on a new draft proposal for a regional program that would establish a cap on global warming pollution from transportation fuels and invest millions annually to achieve additional benefits through reduced emissions, cleaner transportation, healthier Read More…
VTDigger (Vermont Journalism Trust) is Vermont’s largest media outlet, and benefits from tax-exempt status (and solicits donations as tax deductible) as a qualified Sec. 501(c)(3) organization, stating yearly on its Form 990 that : “THE MISSION OF VERMONT JOURNALISM TRUST AND VTDIGGER IS TO PRODUCE RIGOROUS JOURNALISM THAT EXPLAINS COMPLEX ISSUES, HOLDS THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE Read More…
An article on vtdigger by Grace Ellitson on January 21 was entitled “Halquist calls for Agri-publicans to condemn candidate’s ‘transphobic’ comments.” In response, Agripublican leader John Klar has requested that H Brooke Paige, the author of these facebook posts from his previous run(s) for office, disassociate from the agripublican campaign, and Mr. Paige has complied. Read More…
Reading about the Legislature’s ongoing effort to revise Act 250, Vermont’s land use and development law, is both intimidating and important. And that’s a problem. Eyes unused to environmental regulatory language are apt to glaze over after just a few paragraphs discussing “criteria” and “jurisdiction.” And there are a lot of paragraphs. New ideas, testimony Read More…
Vermont has nearly twice as many state workers per capita than neighboring New Hampshire. Those now governing wish to add many more.
The Hearing on H.610 was held this morning [January 9, 2020] and only the first four witnesses listed below had time to testify. Pro-gun rights witnesses are now supposed to be scheduled to testify next Wednesday. [January 15, 2020. Time to be determined] Below is the Agenda that was published for today’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2020/18 Thursday, Read More…
[Senate] ACTION CALENDAR 1/9/20 UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 ,2020 GOVERNOR VETO S.37. An act relating to medical monitoring. Pending question (to be voted by call of the roll): Shall the bill pass, not withstanding the Governor’s refusal to approve the bill? (Two-thirds of the members present required to override the Governor’s veto.) (For Read More…
With costs to Rutland County adding up into the tens of millions, the real question is, who is responsible for the price tag? FYIVT is working on that answer. For now, watch the linked video to find out what’s coming to your way. PEG TV recording of the Act 64 Stormwater Runoff/3 Acre Rule Public Read More…
Most Vermonters don’t hear or pay attention to the constant drone of legislation consuming their standard of living anymore, perhaps due in part to a realization that our government never seems to listen anyway. But what if that deafness was merely a result of lawmakers being distracted from their true purpose? For many years this Read More…
In confronting directly the question of whether Vermont has higher arrest and incarceration rates for blacks because of fentanyl/heroin trafficking rather than innate racial bias in Vermont’s police and judiciary, I sought to challenge Attorney General TJ Donovan’s campaign rhetoric. I submitted an article (“Collective Guilt in Vermont”) to vtdigger on November 26, 2018. Six Read More…
The primary thrust of my article criticizing Phil Scott and TJ Donovan was that it is unprofessional to label a population racist solely based on arrest and incarceration rates, in the midst of a fentanyl/heroin epidemic. If in fact the Governor and Attorney General have made an error, the stakes are enormous, and that failure Read More…
By John Klar In a June 21 press release, Vermont governor Phil Scott announced his decision to hire Xusana Davis, a thirty-year-old from New York City, as “the state’s first executive director of racial disparity.” Ms. Davis has been commissioned “to identify and address systemic racial disparities and support the state’s efforts to expand and Read More…
By John Klar On June 8, Brattleboro, Vermont hosted its annual celebration of local agriculture, the “Strolling of the Heifers” Parade. But this year, a small group of climate change protesters obstructed the parade for about fifteen minutes, refusing to disperse. Two of the youngsters were carried off the roadway on backboards by authorities. No arrests were made. Read More…
