VPR News

A campaign to boost construction of new homes in Chittenden County has had mixed results. The effort has resulted in an overall increase in housing stock, but the campaign is lagging behind on its goal to create more affordable housing.

I’ve been in a slump, discouraged by our national politics and a sense that it isn’t truth that matters these days, but which side is better at manipulation when our friend Gretchen asked if we’d like to watch closing arguments in a murder trial. My wife and I were visiting Gretchen in North Carolina and this invitation may sound odd for a supposedly fun trip, but perhaps odder still - we said yes.

The Northeast Kingdom is known for its pastoral beauty — but that’s only part of the view of the region presented in Melanie Finn’s latest novel, The Underneath . Her characters exist in the brutal underbelly of rural Vermont that’s ravaged by the opioid epidemic.

State government almost shut down earlier this year, and the fight was largely over education funding. And all of those debates in Montpelier, and negotiations over taxes and education costs? They’re all rooted in the decisions that local school boards make around this time of year.

In my college town students were not allowed to vote. Heck, they could take over the town, the mayor at the time famously said, and the county election commissioners agreed.

Incumbent Sen. Bernie Sanders is seeking a third term as Vermont's junior Senator, and he faces a crowded field of challengers—including one Republican and seven Independents —on the Nov. 6 ballot. We're talking to candidate Bernie Sanders about the objectives he'd pursue if re-elected.

As of July, Saint Michael's College in Colchester has a new president: Dr. Lorraine Sterritt. She is the first woman to serve in that position in the school's history.

When Baltimore born and raised Alia Malek entered law school in 1997, she wanted to be an Arab face helping people of all groups defend their civil rights.

We're kicking off the first of our general election debates, and partnering with Vermont PBS to air live on both radio and television. Joining us are the two major-party candidates for lieutenant governor: incumbent Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman and his Republican challenger, House Minority Leader Don Turner Jr.

Both of Vermont's major party gubernatorial candidates say they support a long-term plan to clean up Lake Champlain and other waterways in Vermont, but neither candidate is offering a plan to pay for it.

Right now the world seems topsy-turvy. It feels as if the light has been dimmed and we’re at risk of losing our way. But autumn is a brisk reminder that change will come.

Vermont Public Radio's broadcast signal — what listeners hear in the car, or on traditional radios at home or work — emanates from one of 18 transmitters across the state. VPR broadcast engineer Kira Parker travels the state for regular visits to ensure the transmitters are working and keeps the radio signal beaming.

As the harvest nears a close, 2018 is turning out to be a pivotal year for industrial hemp in Vermont. More people are growing it than ever before and millions of dollars are being invested in hemp farms and in the industrial labs needed to extract CBD from hemp.

On October 1, the province of Quebec held the general election for its legislative body - the National Assembly of Quebec. The results were historic - a seven-year-old center-right party that campaigned on limits to immigration won the most seats. That makes it the first time since the 1960s that power hasn't been held by either the Liberals or the Parti Quebecois.

Many birds of the Northern Hemisphere are now migrating southward. Every year I marvel at how they manage to stay aloft over such vast distances.