VPR News

Saturday, May 1, marked the 51 st Green Up Day. During this uniquely Vermont springtime tradition, thousands of Vermonters take to the streets to pick up trash and debris.

By October, Vermont will be among more than 30 states that will require a full 10-digit number to make even local calls. It’s part of the effort to make a nationwide 988 suicide prevention lifeline, and mental health experts hope the change could save lives.

Gov. Phil Scott has vowed to provide summer programming to any student who wants it this year, and education officials are now trying to find the workforce they’ll need to fulfill that promise.

The backcover description for a new sci-fi comic series from Middlebury writer Jeremy Holt describes it as: “Step One: Remove from box. Step Two: Power on. Step Three: Raise your child.” Holt's series Made In Korea is illustrated by George Schall and debuts May 26.

A baseball game scheduled for Thursday afternoon at Montpelier High School will see the Solons take on the Oxbow Olympians. But before the first pitch is thrown, the field where the game takes place will be renamed to honor the memory of Montpelier senior Peyton Smith. Peyton died at the age of 18 in October from an aggressive form of pediatric bone cancer.

President Joe Biden has outlined plans to spend $4 trillion on a massive infrastructure package and a proposal to provide paid family leave, expanded child care and free tuition at community colleges. This hour, we talk through these issues with Congressman Peter Welch and answer your questions.

It was a cross-country road trip, a Vermont version of Cannonball Run. Or, as the two sisters involved might put it, a sisterly ninja rescue mission in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 situation in the U.S. seems to be trending in the right direction, but in India, the pandemic has quickly become catastrophic in the last few weeks. The country has broken world records for daily virus case counts multiple times, with new infections numbering around 350,000 per day. The health system is dangerously strained, and this week the Biden administration pledged to supply medical aid to the country. Here in Vermont, those with family in India are checking in with relatives,

With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine back in use, the state of Vermont is back on track with its vaccination goals to allow the state to lift most COVID-19 restrictions by July 4. In our weekly health update, we hear more about this, plus new outdoor mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ginger and David Isham have been married for over 60 years. They have six children and at one time had about 100 dairy cows. They've lived on their family farm in Williston for decades and watched as the community has changed around them. Their partnership is now one of six highlighted in a Netflix documentary series called My Love , which follows couples in six different countries who've each been together for 40 or more years.

In a new memoir, journalist Elizabeth Wilcox tells both her own story, and her mother's, by recounting the neglectful and isolating experiences her mother endured when separated from her family during World War II. In telling that story, the Fairlee author revisits decades of dialogue with her mother about her undiagnosed PTSD, and the transformation that came from understanding her own trauma.

A cost-cutting plan will merge Castleton University with two other Vermont State Colleges institutions. It may be the only way to save the system, which has been struggling for years. But the move is shaking up the identity of the Castleton community.

As COVID-19 case numbers decrease and the vaccination rate continues to rise, Vermont's Agency of Human Services is moving forward with a plan to wind down the use of hotels and motels as shelter for those who don't have permanent housing.

As former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, Vermonters have been processing the emotions that come with such a conviction.

Bald eagles are soaring again in Vermont. The magnificent birds were pushed to the brink of extinction by hunting, habitat loss and pesticide poisoning.