VPR News

Lawmakers were hoping to begin testing the water at Vermont schools and daycare centers for lead this academic year. But as lawmakers are having a tough time deciding what level of lead triggers remediation and how much state money to put toward the work, it looks unlikely testing can start before school lets out in June.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is off and running for the presidency, making stops in the country's heartland, the Rust Belt and the West Coast. A group of political scientists look at how campaign 2020 will differ from 2016.

Vermont’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power, announced last week that it has set the goal of getting all of its power from renewable energy sources by 2030. The plan also called for the company to shift to 100% carbon-free energy by 2025.

New research show that a deer tick's diet - what kind of animal it drinks blood from - can significantly alter the tick's microbiome. That, in turn can impact whether the tick is likely to pass on pathogens like the ones that cause Lyme disease.

Saturday is the semiannual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day , when people are encouraged to bring their unwanted medications to "take back" locations set up by local law enforcement agencies.

Vermont, like the rest of the country, is dealing with an opioid abuse crisis. And all ideas are on the table for ways to help people who are struggling with addiction and prevent people from becoming addicted in the first place. An approach known as the Icelandic method targets the environment that young people are growing up in.

Dozens of aquatic invasive species are already established in Vermont’s waters — from zebra mussels to milfoil to alewife. For swimmers and anglers, they’re a nuisance, but for our native aquatic life, their presence can cause dire consequences. We’ll discuss the threat of invasive species and why it's so challenging to prevent their spread.

A friend of mine came across some old film recently showing street scenes of Rutland in 1941, and it’s a revealing trip back in time. The Rutland Lions Club made the film , which eventually came into the hands of the Rutland Historical Society.

Increasing numbers of Vermont seniors are finding long-term care in other families’ homes. The Medicaid-funded program known as Adult Family Care has become critical for Medicaid patients with dementia and other complex needs, who get turned away from traditional nursing facilities and don’t have families to care for them.

As baby boomers age and the workforce shrinks, experts fear there will not be enough people or money to care for all our elders. In many ways, that reality has already arrived in Vermont. In recent years, dozens of Vermont seniors have ended up waiting in hospitals after being turned away from nursing homes. According to officials at hospitals across the state, many Vermonters wait months for placement in a nursing home. Some wait a year or more.

I’d been living in California, where a phrase like “it’s freezing” merely meant a mad rush to get the warmest sweater possible. So when I told my friends I was moving to Vermont, they warned me it would be cold, really cold. I could handle “cold,” I told them.

Twenty years ago, two high school seniors at Columbine High School in Colorado shot and killed 12 students and a teacher. They wounded more than 20 others. It was a moment that shook that community and the entire nation. We look at how things have changed for schools, teachers, students and communities in the years since.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott and lawmakers in the Vermont House want to pour more than $10 million into Vermont's childcare system, to address issues of affordability and availability. However, leaders in the Senate say they aren’t ready to commit to the funding plan.

Vermont's Department of Financial Regulation is home to a captive insurance division that stealthily regulates over 600 companies registered in the state and brings in around $25 million a year. Now the division is offering another insurance product it hopes could bring additional business to the state: it's called ARC, short for an affiliate reinsurance company.

Local and state officials were at Rutland Regional Medical Center Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new $23.9 million medical office building. The new construction is coming at a time when many hospitals in the state are struggling financially. Rutland hospital officials acknowledge they're taking a calculated risk.