Sam Gale Rosen

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.

Last month, the Addison Independent published a poem by Narges Anzali, a 13-year-old eighth grader who attends Middlebury Union Middle School. The poem is titled simply: "To All The People Who Hate Muslims."

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is causing deadly overdoses to spike across the country. But while concerns have been raised about accidental exposure, it is incredibly unlikely that chance contact with the substance through skin or inhalation can be toxic. We're talking about the science behind fentanyl and how it acts on the body, plus which dangers are real and which are overblown.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released nearly a decade of his tax returns Monday, from 2009 through 2018. Sanders is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, and he'd been promising to release his returns for several weeks.

Maine recently became the first state in the country to adopt a voting tabulation system known as ranked-choice voting. The goal is to ensure the winning candidate always receives at least 50% of the vote. We're having a discussion about the pros and cons of the system and whether it could work in Vermont

A bill under consideration by the Vermont Legislature would decriminalize the possession of unprescribed buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use disorder. Proponents say the bill would save lives; critics say it would send a dangerous message.

The iconic Montreal restaurant Joe Beef is known for excess. Now, the two chef-owners of the restaurant have embraced sobriety, and have written a new cookbook that's about food and the apocalypse. We're talking to them about working in the restaurant biz without drinking, and cooking for the end of the world.

You might be hearing songs lately that herald the changing of the season, from red-winged blackbirds to sparrows and woodcocks. On Vermont Edition's annual spring bird show, we'll talk bird behavior, the oddities of bird courtship and how lighting up your house at night may impact the migration of some species.

Tax day — Monday, April 15 — is approaching fast. And this year, many people's returns may look significantly different than in years past, due to the law that overhauled the country's tax code starting in 2018. We're taking your questions and talking about what you need to know, including new tax rates and some big changes in standard and itemized deductions.

An alleged conspiracy revealed this month involved rich parents paying huge sums to get their kids into college via bribery and fraud. The story also focused attention on the legal ways that the wealthy can get a leg up. We're looking behind the scenes at college admissions.

Everyone has interesting things happen to them - at least once in a while - but not everyone knows how to tell a good story about their experiences. Susanne Schmidt is someone who does. She's a storyteller and regional producer of The Moth, which puts on storytelling events across the country.

A rough winter for roads throughout the state means potholes are plentiful and making for some bone-rattling car rides. Experts from the Agency of Transportation join Vermont Edition to talk about how potholes form, how they're fixed and how they can be prevented.

Author Katherine Paterson, who lives in Montpelier, is being recognized for “an exceptional lifetime body of work" by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Paterson is known for books for kids and young adults like Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Jacob Have I Loved, and many others. She took home this year’s E.B. White Award—a prize she says has personal significance.

It’s been a rough winter for owls—and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science says it’s mostly affecting young owls experiencing their first winter.

VPR's investigative reporter Emily Corwin has been looking into the care received by young psychiatric patients in crisis. As with adults, children and adolescents can spend days in hospital emergency departments. And some parents and doctors have complained about the quality and amount of care they receive from psychiatrists while in the ER.

In Vermont, almost 700 people have received care for HIV in the last few years. Vermont Edition spoke to Roy Belcher - an epidemiologist and HIV surveillance coordinator for the state - about what life looks like for Vermonters living with the virus, what has changed and what treatments are available.

Despite wide agreement that broadband internet access is crucial to the state's economic development, more than a quarter of Vermont residents are on the wrong side of that digital divide. We're talking about the scale of the challenge and what's being considered to deliver broadband to the state's rural areas, including a new bill that would help towns figure out how to make their own pushes for broadband projects. 

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.

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. 

The so-called "Green New Deal" is a set of proposals that would tackle climate change and economic inequality at a national level. The package of policies is unlikely to become law anytime soon, but is spurring debate across the country. We're talking about what exactly is being proposed, and how Vermont fits into the national debate around these ideas.