VPR News

Most states, like Vermont, use primary elections to award delegates to Democratic presidential candidates. In less than two weeks, Iowa will hold caucuses to do so. And as VPR senior political reporter Bob Kinzel explains, Iowa's votes will be tabulated in an additional, new way. In a primary election, a person has the opportunity to swing by the polls and vote pretty much anytime they want. You go in, you vote, you’re done. Now in a caucus system, you have to be at a neighborhood site, like a

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg made a campaign stop Monday in Burlington, the hometown of rival candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.

At the newly opened Vermont Donor Milk Center in Essex Junction, there is a bar. "We offer hot beverages, cold beverages," said the nonprofit's co-executive director Rachel Foxx. "And donor human milk."

Vermont schools have been undergoing a major shift in recent years toward proficiency-based learning. Now Vermont’s high school class of 2020 is sending off transcripts and grades based on this new system. We're talking with educators about grading under Vermont's proficiency-based system. And how schools make these student assessment work not only for college admissions, but for scholarship applications, military enlistments and employers.

Proficiency-based graduation requirements have been phased in over the past several years in Vermont high schools, but 2020 is the first year all high schools statewide must have them implemented. This change has come with challenges, especially for graduating seniors.

Each week, VPR reaches out to local newspaper reporters to get more details on a big story in their community. This week, John Gregg from the Valley News talks about the Lebanon City Council's decision to send a "Welcoming Lebanon" ordinance to voters.

The Department of Mental Health will soon release a 10-year plan for psychiatric care in Vermont. Mental Health Commissioner Sarah Squirrell said even before the Brattleboro Retreat’s financial crisis became public, lawmakers were looking for a new model for caring for people with mental health issues.

Gov. Phil Scott delivered his 2020 budget address to lawmakers Tuesday. We're diving into the details of those proposals with a roundtable of Vermont political reporters.

The Vermont Legislature has given final approval to legislation that would create a statewide paid family leave program, but its passage into law remains uncertain.

Vermont's annual Point-in-Time count takes place this week, surveying the state's homeless population over a 24-hour period between Wednesday, January 22 and Thursday, January 23. Last year's count reported a decline in homelessness in the state. But shelters remain in high demand. On this episode of Vermont Edition : a look at homelessness in Vermont. We talk trends and consider what's being done to make affordable housing a reality for more people.

Two women, living a couple dozen miles away from each other in Vermont, both lost a child in the last decade. Both children, oddly enough, were named Sam F. And both have mothers now connected through an inadvertent phone call.

Goddard College has launched a $4 million fundraising campaign as part of an effort to stabilize the struggling college’s finances.

Kimball Brook Farm is no longer in the milk business. The family-owned organic dairy sold many of its cows and halted production at its bottling plant recently, another sign of the financial pressures affecting Vermont’s signature dairy industry.

On the first day of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Vermont Edition spoke with Sen. Patrick Leahy for his take on the trial, and a sense of the Senate on the historic day.

Updated 5:40 p.m. Governor Phil Scott has proposed a state budget he said will help Vermont's "demographic crisis." It increases state spending by roughly 2%, though it doesn't include any new taxes or fees. It does offer tax cuts for workers, financial incentives for businesses and entrepreneurs, and new money for the tourism economy.