VPR News

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, far left, tapped a maple tree during a brief visit to Vermont, along with Gov. Phil Scott, Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts, and former Gov. Jim Douglas.
John Dillon / VPR

US Agriculture Secretary Perdue Visits Vermont, But Doesn't Deliver Hope For Dairy

In a brief visit to Vermont Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he did not favor a supply management system that many dairy farmers hope will help support their struggling industry.

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New from Brave Little State

And illustration of a neighborhood.
filo / iStockphoto.com

Why Does Vermont Have Such A Housing Crunch?

What are the causes of Vermont’s tight housing market — and why aren’t things getting better?

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Darcee Alderman, co-owner of the Monkton General Store, stands next to her chocolate tempering machine. She says selling store-made chocolate is one way she tries to carve a niche for her store.
Jane Lindholm / VPR

Update 1:10 p.m. — As of midday Saturday, the store had surpassed its $20,000 goal. See more at bottom of post.

Original post:

The Monkton General Store was buzzing on Thursday afternoon, with customers grabbing scones, store-made chocolate, beer and pizza.

Carrie French, who lives just down the road, had her arms full of an odd assortment of goods.

Vermonters receive an estimated 145,000 robocalls every day. We're looking at what's behind the rapidly increasing numbers of robocalls.
Kirillm / iStock

Live call-in discussion: Vermonters gets an estimated 4.5 million robocalls each month. Calls from scammers and marketers to an 802 number have doubled in just the last two years. We're looking at what's behind the rise in robocalls and ways you can protect yourself from the flood of unwanted calls.

John Dillon / VPR

A new report says Vermont’s greenhouse gas pollution is increasing and that aggressive action is needed to curb emissions from heating and transportation.

We're talking about what's been accomplished and what's still to come this legislative session.
Ric Cengeri / VPR

Lawmakers will return to the State House next week for the second half of the legislative session to consider a number of issues, including a tax-and-regulate marijuana plan, paid family leave, raising the state minimum wage and changes to Vermont's tax structure.

Sen. Bernie Sanders greets supporters standing outside in Brooklyn.
Craig Ruttle / Associated Press

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders compiled a list of roughly 2.5 million people who donated more than $230 million to his campaign. The average contribution was only $27.

As Sanders begins his second presidential bid, he’s counting on this distinctive fundraising strategy to help him secure the 2020 nomination.

Stacks of diapers in a row.
Vrabelpeter1 / iStock

Food shelves rarely stock diapers, and families can't use federal subsidies like WIC or SNAP to buy them. To address this need, a new diaper bank is opening to serve communities in Chittenden County.

Voters from the Windham Southeast Unified Union School District stand to be counted at a meeting in Brattleboro. Many towns did not vote on a school budget this Town Meeting Day.
Howard Weiss-Tisman / VPR

More than 30 Vermont school districts filed a lawsuit challenging the forced mergers the state has ordered them to make. Before voting on school budgets on Town Meeting Day, the districts involved in the lawsuit asked for a temporary injunction to allow merger proceedings to halt until the suit is resolved. But just one day before Town Meetings, a judge denied that request. 

Updated at 9:26 p.m. ET

A close ally of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before Parliament on Wednesday, hoping to quell a growing political scandal that has already forced three high-level resignations.

"At the end of the day, we really didn't feel that anybody was doing anything wrong," said Gerald Butts, a principal secretary and top aide to Trudeau. Butts abruptly stepped down last month.

A sample driver's privilege card from the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles. Losing the ability to drive can have far-reaching repercussions in Vermont.
Department of Motor Vehicles

Life in a rural state like Vermont can require a lot of driving, and a suspended driver’s license can be a significant hardship. But the demands of work, family and other obligations often mean that many still drive even when they're not supposed to. We're looking at what leads to a suspended license in Vermont and how getting a DLS charge can lead to more citations, larger fines and bigger trouble.

In a unanimous decision, the Public Utility Commission found that Vermont can regulate Voice over Internet Protocol service under federal law.
Ingram Publishing / Thinkstock

Consolidated Communications suffered a major internet outage around the region on Wednesday. A state official says the outage affected 83,000 residential and small business customers in Vermont and New Hampshire.

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My Heart Still Beats

Available now: A six-part series featuring voices from Vermont's recovery community.

More than 50 commentators provide perspective and opinion about current events, topics of interest, and often showcase the work of writers and storytellers.

VPR Blog

When listeners help VPR raise $425,000 in March, we'll be able to skip the drive in June!
Illustration by Lara Dickson / For VPR

All The Funding In March, Skip The Drive In June

In our effort to bring you more news and music with less on-air fundraising, VPR is about to do something bold: when you help us meet our $425,000 goal during the month of March, we'll skip the drive in June.

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Event: 'My Heart Still Beats': Voices From The Series

Join us Monday, March 11 at Burlington's Turning Point Center to continue the conversation. We’ll listen to segments from the series and speak with the writers and podcast producers.

Your feedback will help us better understand what you and the broader community needs from VPR. It should take about 10 minutes to complete. Thanks for your help!

But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids

Melody Bodette / VPR

How Is But Why Made? What Is Sound?

In this episode, we're answering your questions about...us! Why do you make But Why? How are podcasts made? And we're answering questions about the physics of sound and radio.

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VPR Classical

All images U.S. Public Domain - Collage by James Stewart / Vermont Public Radio

Alchemy of Genius: A J.S. Bach and Chopin Musical Pairing.

The idea for this project was brought to VPR by Paul Orgel, a well-known Vermont pianist, and a regular guest on our Live Performance Series starting back on Walter Parker’s show in the 1980s, when the studio was in Windsor. Performing the complete Chopin Nocturnes and Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book II are both projects of Paul’s, and we were delighted to have him play and record some of them on our wonderful, still new, Steinway D that he and pianist Simone Dinnerstein helped choose for the station at the Steinway factory in New York.

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