VPR News

Governor Scott’s proposal to save $26 million in the state education fund by reforming the health care coverage for teachers put him at loggerheads with the opposing legislative majority and the VTNEA, which has deep financial resources to influence public opinion.

Late Thursday night, the Legislature adjourned for the year after passing a state budget that Gov. Phil Scott has said he will veto. Our panel of top political reporters looks at the two weeks of deadlock over the budget, and what happens next.

The 2017 legislative session has adjourned, but Vermont’s fiercest political fight in recent memory has only just begun.

The Vermont Legislature sent its marijuana legalization bill to the desk of Republican Gov. Phil Scott Thursday, initiating a five-day countdown during which Scott will have to decide whether to sign the legislation, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

Every year as the Legislature is finishing up in Montpelier, lawmakers pass a bunch of new bills. And around that time, the governor signs some of them. But how exactly does a bill get from lawmakers to the governor?

What happens to the Vermont dairy industry if migrant workers are deported? That was the question being answered at a community forum in Hardwick on Wednesday night.

This weekend a seminar is being held in Stowe that critics say will spread misinformation about the risks of vaccines. It's topic in which science and emotion collide for parents and communities.

Even before the Justice Department named former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, all three members of Vermont's congressional delegation said events in Washington this week highlighted the urgent need for an independent investigation into the issue.

It seems like every time I turn on the news there’s another story about the Russian investigation, possible leaks of classified information, denials, explanations, and alternative facts. This comes after months of environmental rollbacks, healthcare cuts and attacks on basic civil rights. It’s getting hard to bear!

There's a phrase from sports that has always been intriguing to me: People say something is or isn't “in the interest of baseball.” The word “baseball,” spoken in this way, carries with it a whole value system or code of conduct.

A news conference was held Wednesday at noon in Montpelier by House Speaker Mitzi Johnson and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe to discuss the status of negotiations around Vermont teachers' health care and subsequently the Vermont state budget.

As Gov. Phil Scott ponders the future of the marijuana legalization bill, both supporters and opponents of the legislation are calling the governor's office hoping to influence his decision.

Democratic House Speaker Mitzi Johnson has unveiled a plan she hopes will end the month-long standoff in Montpelier over the issue of health benefits for public school employees. But Democrats’ efforts to appease Republican Gov. Phil Scott could cost them a key political ally in the process.

Rep. Peter Welch is urging Vermonters to contact the Federal Communications Commission and show their support for Obama-era net neutrality rules. Welch says net neutrality is vital to the U.S. economy.

Relatively late in the legislative game, Governor Phil Scott suggested that property taxpayers could save twenty-six million dollars a year if all teacher health insurance plans were rolled into one state contract.