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Vermont Seniors Find Long-Term Care In Other Families' Homes

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.

Dementia Patients Wait Months For Long-Term Care In Vermont Hospitals

Key lawmakers say they have no faith in a roadside saliva test to determine driver impairment for marijuana — Labuda / iStock

Tax-And-Regulate Pot Debate: Scott Insists On Saliva Test, Key Lawmakers Say It Doesn't Exist

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Vt. Lawmakers Disagree On Lead Test Standards, Statewide School Water Testing On Hold

By Howard Weiss-Tisman • 10 hours ago

People sit around the table during a Vermont House Appropriations Committee discussion. — Howard Weiss-Tisman / VPR

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.

Take Two: Contrasting Sanders' 2016 And 2020 Presidential Runs

By Bob Kinzel & Ric Cengeri • 11 hours ago

Sen. Bernie Sanders is back on the stump as he makes a second run at the Democratic nomination for president. — Paul Sancya / Associated Press/File

Live call-in discussion: 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.

CEO Mary Powell On Green Mountain Power's Planned Shift To 100% Renewable Energy

By Bayla Metzger & Mitch Wertlieb • 14 hours ago

Solar panels installed in Rutland, Vermont, facing the sky — Wilson Ring / Associated Press File

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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.

Blood, Microbiomes And Lyme Disease: For Ticks, Diet Makes A Difference

By Jane Lindholm & Sam Gale Rosen • 14 hours ago

The kind of blood a deer tick feasts on can significantly alter the makeup of its microbiome. — Courtesy Vermont Department of Health

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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.

April 27, 2019 Is Drug Take Back Day: How And Where To Safely Dispose Of Medications

By Amy Kolb Noyes • 14 hours ago

Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux stands before stacks of cardboard boxes — Amy Kolb Noyes / VPR

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.

Majority Of Americans Say Drug Companies Should Be Held Responsible For Opioid Crisis

By editor • 17 hours ago

A new poll by NPR and Ipsos finds a third of Americans have been touched directly by the deadly opioid epidemic that still kills more than 100 people every day. "One in three have been personally affected in some way, either by knowing someone who has overdosed or by knowing someone with an opioid addiction," said Mallory Newall, lead Ipsos researcher on the survey.

What Vt. Might Learn From Iceland About Preventing Substance Abuse

By Jane Lindholm & Ric Cengeri • 18 hours ago

A method of substance abuse prevention adopted in Iceland has resulted in a substantial drop in drug and alcohol use in that country's youth. — Evelyn Paris / Unsplash

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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.

Wash Your Boat! Controlling The Spread Of Aquatic Invasive Species

By Jane Lindholm & Anna Ste. Marie • 18 hours ago

A school of alewives circle in Nobleboro, Maine. This spring Lake Champlain saw a mass die-off of alewives because they are not suited for significant water temperature changes. — Robert F. Bukaty / AP

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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.

This Vermont Town Took A Big Hit When Its Nuclear Plant Closed

By Bruce Gellerman • Apr 24, 2019

At the end of May, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth will permanently shut down. Forty-six years ago it began generating electricity, high-paying jobs and intense controversy over safety and environmental impact.

Pilgrim went into service just one day after its sister plant: Vermont Yankee. Both reactors were the same make and model: a GE Mark I reactor. And since 2002, they have been operated by the same company: Entergy.

County Jails Struggle With A New Role As America's Prime Centers For Opioid Detox

By Eric Westervelt • Apr 24, 2019

Faced with a flood of addicted inmates and challenged by lawsuits, America's county jails are struggling to adjust to an opioid health crisis that has turned many of the jails into their area's largest drug treatment centers.

In an effort to get a handle on the problem, more jails are adding some form of medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, to help inmates safely detox from opioids and stay clean behind bars and after release.