VPR News

Updated 8 p.m. 3/8/2020 A Bennington County resident has Vermont’s first confirmed case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus , the Vermont Health Department announced Sunday.

We’ve been hearing a lot about how to prevent and prepare for the health effects of the novel coronavirus, but what about the turbulence the virus is causing in the stock market? Vermont's Commissioner of Financial Regulation is urging investors not to overreact.

Super Tuesday is behind us. And the field of Democratic presidential contenders has narrowed. We'll look at what lies ahead for the two remaining major candidates: Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Plus, a preview of next week's Michigan primary. Sanders won the Great Lakes State in 2016. Will he manage to do it again this year?

Officials from across state government are preparing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

A crested caracara has been attracting attention and turning heads in Woodstock over the past couple of days. It's an impressive bird with a range that ordinarily includes Central and South America. To see it in the United States outside of the Deep South or Florida is rare, so this specimen has Vermont birders thrilled.

If there’s an outbreak of the new coronavirus here, Vermont’s first responders will be on the front lines of the health crisis.

The individual risk of contracting the new coronavirus is very low, state health officials say . But now is a good time to prepare for the potential impact of a COVID-19 outbreak, even if you don't get sick. So, how are you preparing? We talk with health officials and take your questions and suggestions for planning for the coronavirus in Vermont.

The novel coronavirus has now been positively identified in cases in all of Vermont's border regions: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Quebec. And Seven Days reported Tuesday the Vermont Department of Health is testing three patients for the disease known as COVID-19. Michael Leyden, Emergency Management Director for Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, said there is a "high likelihood" for cases in Vermont.

Town Meeting Day saw Vermonters weigh in on major issues that will shape their communities for years to come, like major school bonding projects, charging local option taxes, forming broadband districts to expand high-speed internet access and more. We look at Town Meeting Day results and the big issues Vermont towns took up this year.

What is the purpose of a town plan? Is it a philosophical statement about what a town wants to be? Or a practical planning document? This hour, we talk to planners at the town, regional, and state levels. We also hear from you.

The first Tuesday in March, at least in Vermont, always means one thing: Town Meeting Day. March 3 was also Super Tuesday, and Vermont was one of 14 states and one territory that held presidential primary contests.

On Town Meeting Day, March 3, one of the issues Orwell voters will decide is whether to approve a nearly $60 million bond to renovate the Orwell Village School. The project would deck the school out with a new addition, including a cafeteria and a gym. The problem is, the expansion could mean saying goodbye to the adjacent 179-year-old town hall that overlooks the village green.

What is the right response to hate speech – free speech, or censorship? This hour, we listen back to a recent hear from a Middlebury College conversation between two experts on free speech.

Town Meeting voters in Proctor will weigh in Monday night on a controversial land sale. A Florida man is offering $1.5 million for 1,650 acres of town land that’s surrounded by national forest. Hunters, snowmobilers, skiers and hikers worry the deal will threaten the access they’ve had for years. But Proctor officials say the deal could help pay down the cost of the town’s new water system.

Do hyper-local, Town Meeting Day issues resonate with younger and first-time Vermont voters? Or are they more interested in the Super Tuesday presidential primary races? Harriet Garner LeFavour is a local editor for The Campus , Middlebury College's student-run newspaper. She spoke with VPR's Mary Engisch about the political atmosphere on campus and shared her reporting on the uptick in student participation in local ballot measures . Read Garner LeFavour's voting guide story here.