VPR News

VPR has been following the developing story of refugee settlement and the impact in Vermont of President Donald Trump's policy change last week. Here is an update on work that has halted and work that continues with refugees in Vermont.

Vermont lawmakers are debating whether they should slow the process for implementing the state's school consolidation law in order to give more challenging districts extra time to figure things out.

The world premiere coming into its final weekend at Northern Stage , in White River Junction, is called Trick or Treat , and it’s an emotional roller coaster ride. Playwright Jack Neary gives us a working class family trying to hold itself together in Lowell, Massachusetts. For years, they’ve been keeping dark secrets from each other, and from the rest of the town.

A recent web headline read, ‘Trump sacking acting Attorney General raises new questions about his respect for the rule of law.’ And while most people might be most interested in the politics behind the headline, my attention went straight to the last three words: Rule of Law - an intrinsically moral notion and legal concept thought to symbolize an enlightened, civilized and stable society.

It's a long list. Federal money flows into Vermont to fund a lot of things that you might or might not use everyday. Highways, libraries, school lunches, law enforcement, and wildlife restoration are just a few programs that are sustained by money from Washington.

President Donald Trump has a tense and at times hostile relationship with the media, and news organizations have been grappling to figure out how to cover an administration where a top official has referred to the press as the “opposition party.”

Ata Anzali is an assistant professor of religion at Middlebury College and an Iranian citizen with a green card. He's been in Iran on sabbatical doing research, and he is now dealing with the issue of when to return to the United States with his wife and children.

The Senate Education committee has unanimously voted to oppose Gov. Phil Scott's plan to mandate that all school budgets be leveled-funded next year — and that rejection has broad budget implications.

As President Trump's executive order was sparking confusion in the U.S. this weekend, VPR's Nina Keck was on her way to Jordan, where many Syrian refugees are waiting to be resettled in the U.S. and elsewhere.

I like to take in the news with a critical eye, and can understand why some people don’t trust the media. After all, these days the news is less Walter Cronkite and more Bill O’Reilly than it used to be - with more variety and partisanship in news reporting than ever before.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote this week on the nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as the country's next attorney general. Sen. Patrick Leahy spoke to VPR about Sesssions' nomination and a number of policies proposed by President Trump during his first week in office.

I’ve attended a number of events recently dealing with Vermont business or entrepreneurship or growth. Governor Scott, like most governors before him, sees economic development as his critical issue. But time and again, we seem to have trouble moving the needle forward in a meaningful way. So I’ve been thinking about what our unique differentiator is when it comes to business, and life, here in Vermont.

President Donald Trump's far-reaching executive orders on immigration rocked the country last week, and the reaction has been widespread and furious.

Gov. Phil Scott says Vermont will not cooperate with a federal crackdown on immigration that calls on state and local officials to aid in heightened border-security measures. And he says his administration is "exploring a legal challenge" to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last week.

In the U.S., protests, confusion and anger have followed President Trump’s executive order that prevents new refugees from entering the country for 120 days, suspends resettlement for Syrians indefinitely and bars travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days.