VPR News

The Burlington City Council voted last week to create a special committee examining law enforcement policy following several incidents in which officers allegedly used excessive force.

Witold Pilecki was a Polish resistance fighter who intentionally allowed himself to be captured and sent to Auschwitz. His mission was to sabotage and gather information about the camp — well before the full truth of its horrifying purpose was revealed to the world. We're talking to the author of a new book on Pilecki about what he accomplished and why he isn't better known today.

Police in Vermont’s largest city face scrutiny following several incidents in which officers allegedly used excessive force. First, there were questions about a case in which a man died a few days after getting into a fight with a Burlington cop. Then there were two men — both of whom were black — who filed federal lawsuits following their encounters with the department, which were caught on tape. City leaders and residents have since called for reform, including some activists who are taking

In summer, our road up Jewell Hill fits the name. It's a gem of a path running along a meadow – and to my eye, it's much more attractive than any strip of blacktop. But last winter, for a time I literally couldn't get home. The nasty brew of snow, ice, slush, and mud was too much for my trusty all-wheel drive car. At times even the plow couldn't make it up to our driveway.

A bill passed by the Legislature would require the state to test all schools and child care centers in Vermont for lead levels in the water. The legislation focuses on the cohort most susceptible to neurological damage caused by lead: children up to age six. We'll hear about the effects of lead on children and the logistics of the program being set up to test these facilities.

Ferns have been around for hundreds of millions of years, have survived several mass extinctions and may well be thriving after humanity has gone the way of the dodo. A new book describes ferns' remarkable survival skills and teaches fern enthusiasts how to identify species that live in our region.

When I fly into Vermont I enjoy having a birds-eye view of the landscape. We can learn a lot about the health of the environment from that height. But, this May when I looked out the window, I was alarmed. From thousands of feet up, it was easy to see that we’ve a massive amount of work ahead of us if we're serious about cleaning up Lake Champlain.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed legislation that would have made Vermont the 10th state in the country to institute a waiting period for gun sales.

Most scientists are not seeking glory or honors for the research they do. But when a prestigious award or nomination comes along, it is gratifying to know that your peers are paying attention. On April 30, Mark Nelson, the chair of the pharmacology department at UVM, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He spoke with Vermont Edition about his election and the research that got him there.

The sun's shining. The weather's warm. It's the perfect time for a bike ride or summer stroll. But as more drivers, cyclists and pedestrians take to our roads, sharing them becomes more of a challenge. We're talking about Vermont's "rules of the road," whether you're on four wheels, two wheels or on foot.

Now that elected officials have finally come up with most of the money needed to address water quality issues in Vermont, the state faces another clean-water conundrum: how to spend it.

Vermont's mountains were in tough shape. Delicate ecological areas like the arctic-alpine zones on Mansfield and Camel's Hump were being pounded by tens of thousands of Vibram-soled boots or devastated by indiscriminate camping and fires. Fifty years ago, traffic on major summits increased 30% every year as eager backpackers overran popular campsites up and down Vermont's Long Trail.

Governor Phil Scott has said that he will allow H.57 – a bill protecting abortion rights – to become law. And lawmakers are also moving forward in the multi-step process of amending the state constitution to enshrine the right to an abortion. We're talking about Vermont's legislation on reproductive rights and how it fits into the national debate and legal landscape.

I'll never forget a piece of graffiti that was prominent in downtown Brattleboro when I first moved here. It must have been considered art and not an eye sore, because no town or state official ever took it down. It said 'ROOT FOR THE UNDERDOG' - in letters six feet tall.

"I want to know what it's really like to be out of prison, but not free. To have to check in with a parole officer, regularly, for years. To start again and to try not to get sent back." That was the goal Vermont Public Radio investigative reporter Emily Corwin set out with in her recently released podcast for New Hampshire Public Radio : Supervision . What she ended up with is a five-month journey alongside one New Hampshire parolee, Josh Lavenets, told over the course of four episodes.