VPR News

The frequent news stories these days about the countless hungry and homeless strangers seeking shelter and security, both in Europe and the US, raise the same issues that are raised in Robert Frost’s famous poem “Two Tramps in Mud Time.”

"The alternatives are to dig, die or get out — and we certainly don't want to die." That assessment in 1954 by a Midwestern governor encapsulates the massive but deeply problematic redundancy planning civilian and military leaders undertook to prepare for a Soviet nuclear attack. This shadowy legacy of the Cold War is explored in the new book Raven Rock by Vermont-based journalist Garrett Graff.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is seeking a nearly 13 percent increase in rates for people who get their coverage through Vermont Health Connect, the state's health care exchange.

It always makes the headlines when a police officer shoots someone who is undergoing a mental health crisis. But when the police defuse a potentially violent situation, the news doesn't travel as far.

There’s a book in my library titled “Whisperers” by a Russian historian of the Stalin era in which everyone tells on everyone else. And I was reminded of it recently, when I set out for a hike with my dog Fred in my rusty old pick-up truck. I love the old wreck and when Fred and I go places in it, we’re kings of the road.

If you’re trying to come up with that Next Big Thing you should know that the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office will only award a patent if it includes an “illogical step.” I love that. But it also makes me think hard about how it’s possible to find or create illogical steps.

South Burlington voters have rejected two school budgets amidst the ongoing debate over the changing of the high school's "rebel" nickname. They'll vote on a third in June.

The highest ranking military officer in the United States says the risk in letting Afghanistan destabilize further is the possibility of more terrorist attacks against the West.

A seemingly unbridgeable divide between Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic lawmakers has again postponed legislative adjournment, forcing the two sides back to the Statehouse next week to try to negotiate a compromise over the issue of teacher health care benefits.

Lawmakers and Republican Gov. Phil Scott are in a late-session standoff over the issue of Vermont teachers' health care plans.

Daniel Lillie - nicknamed Tiger by his men - was one of the most popular officers in the Civil War’s Vermont Brigade.

A conference in Stowe featuring anti-vaccination advocates is attracting negative backlash from the community, and raising concern that local parents could skip vaccinating their kids.

We Americans have always headed into our workshops, spare rooms and garages, and made stuff. From smart eighteenth century New England farm boys who brought their inventions south to Worcester, MA, where there was power to rent, to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak tinkering on the first personal computer prototypes, this is what we do. But as school districts tighten their belts by cutting all but academic basics, we sacrifice practice in fabrication, the training ground for innovation.

A late proposal by Governor Phil Scott on teachers' health care plans sent the Legislative session into overtime. We hear from Governor Scott about the plan and the timing of introducing the idea so late in the session.

Severe flooding has hit 173 municipalities around Quebec. More than 4,000 homes were flooded, and about 3,000 people were forced out of their homes. And more rain is expected this weekend.