Writing & Reporting
Vermont Becomes Second State in the Country to Ban Harmful Neonic Pesticide
Vermont has become the second state in the country to ban neonicotinoid pesticides – neonics for short – marking a major victory for environmentalists, researchers, beekeepers, and concerned residents who have long advocated for such restrictions.
The new law, Act 182, overcame a gubernatorial veto when the required two-thirds of legislators voted to override the veto. This successful vote was due to a vast coalition of groups and a growing body of evidence about the harm neonics cause to pollinators and other wildlife.
Ben Carson’s ‘signature’ HUD initiative has gone nowhere
“No one actually knows what they are supposed to do,” one public housing authority director said.
Last June, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson traveled to his hometown of Detroit to unveil his “signature” initiative: one-stop shops for social services known as EnVision Centers in 17 communities nationwide. The centers were described in lofty terms as “centralized hubs” offering low-income residents “support services that can help them achieve self-sufficiency.”
But eight months later, not one has opened and the program remains mired in confusion and bureaucratic tangles, according to interviews with HUD officials and staffers for nonprofits and housing authorities that have been designated as EnVision Centers.
Thirteen states now investigating alleged sexual abuse linked to Catholic church
WASHINGTON — Florida’s attorney general said Thursday she is launching an investigation of potential sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, making Florida at least the 13th state with an ongoing statewide probe of the church.
“Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the church and a threat to society,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement.
The Attorney General’s Office will coordinate its probe with local prosecutors and review records from all seven of Florida’s Catholic dioceses. It is also launching a tip line for victims.
Documents: Immigrants’ ID card info was fed to Customs
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont motor vehicle department gave federal officials information on immigrants living in the country illegally, documents show, giving life to longstanding fears that programs providing such immigrants with documentation could be used against them.
Copies of emails requested and recently obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show that investigators with the state Department of Motor Vehicles coordinated with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last year to identify noncitizens.
Many of the emails show department investigators sent information to ICE on migrants they suspect gave false information on their applications for driver identification cards. The state’s card program was created in 2013 to provide immigrants living in the country illegally with a way to drive.
Burlington official resolves bruising California eviction battle
In San Francisco, it seems that a 99-year-old woman will get to live out her life in her longtime apartment after a judge granted a tentative stay on eviction proceedings. But here in the East, the Burlington official who co-owns the apartment says he is out $137,000 in legal fees, is soon to be out of a job, and continues to be on the receiving end of a media firestorm.
Peter Owens, director of Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office, had planned to step down June 30, he told Mayor Miro Weinberger in a letter. He’s now decided to leave early next month after coming under intense scrutiny for trying to evict Iris Canada, who has lived for more than six decades in the San Francisco apartment Owens has owned since 2002.
But Owens and other owners of the property say they never wanted to evict Canada, a longtime friend. They wanted her signature.
UVM quiet on response to sexual harassment complaint
University of Vermont officials declined to say if a sexual harassment investigation three years ago led to a policy change.
The investigation, under the federal Title IX law, was triggered in April 2013 after a student filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education's Boston office, according to records from the federal agency.
The student, a female whose name was redacted from the documents under a privacy law, alleged that one of her male professors had sexually harassed her during a conference they attended the previous year.
PODCAST: When are student newspaper budget cuts unconstitutional?
If you take a close look at any tuition breakdown, you’ll almost always see some money put aside for a student fee, or an activity fee, or a club fee — but they almost always mean pretty much the same thing.
This money goes to student government so they can distribute it to clubs, student organizations, and themselves. At many schools, student news organizations get a cut of this money.
But things get complicated when a student newspaper does accountability reporting on student government. Inevitably, budgeting season rolls around, and editors find themselves in the hot seat, asking a panel of those very same students they’ve been covering to give money to the paper.
Leahy renews call for safeguarding Mueller probe
SOUTH BURLINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., renewed his call Monday for legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.
Leahy was in the news this weekend when he released a Jan. 30 letter to the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, imploring Grassley to hold open hearings to “examine the escalating attacks on, and risk of politicization of, the FBI.”
“Never before have I been more concerned for the institutions we rely on to maintain our government’s integrity than I am today,” Leahy wrote, adding in a handwritten note at the end of the letter “Chuck — it is serious.”
At forum, Sanders looks to make Germany an example
BURLINGTON — It isn't often that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., comes across as a moderate. Sanders, a self-avowed social Democrat, has long burnished his lefty credentials with the promotion of universal health care, protections for Social Security, free college tuition and higher taxes for the wealthy to support programs that would benefit society at large.
Sanders' proposals have not gained traction in the House or the Senate over the course of his 27-year career in Congress, but his ideas galvanized a millennial movement when he ran for president in 2016. Sanders nearly ousted Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and is now considered to be a national standard-bearer for the far left.
Vermont Environmentalists Plan for Depleted Federal Funds
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Aging water treatment plants strapped for cash. Lake cleanup efforts undermined. Stream and river protection groups with slashed budgets.
These are the concerns of Vermont environmental groups, who say they are looking at their budgets and making contingency plans to prepare for deep proposed federal cuts to programs that rely heavily on them. President Donald Trump proposed a budget that includes a 31 percent reduction for the Environmental Protection Agency and a 20 percent cut for the Department of Agriculture.
"Obviously, we are gravely concerned," said Julie Moore, secretary of Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources, which gets a third of its funding from federal sources.