A dispute over zoning districts in South Hero is easily traced to Vermont’s development initiatives promulgated by the NRPC. Do South Hero property owners have a right to an opinion on their town’s zoning plans, or are they to be bypassed and shamed by a handful of quasi-public leaders?
If the purpose of an election system is to ensure public confidence and election integrity, trust in the electoral system must remain paramount. The Vermont Secretary of State acknowledges in its Report on Mailing Ballots that Vermont lacks ballot verification procedures.
A recent Vermont secretary of state report on mail-in voting determined that using this system for primaries and municipalities would be unworkable and costly.
Hunger Free Vermont has led the charge for universal school lunches, supported by Solving Hunger, a national organization created by multi-millionaire Bradley Tusk. Tusk’s interest in Vermont is curious.
Vermont was once a treasured, special place, celebrated for its agrarian common sense, sustainable frugality and self-sufficiency. That is no longer celebrated at Shelburne Farms.
Vermont is rushing rashly into a permanent universal student meals program that will cost taxpayers an estimated $27 million yearly. This sudden push is being driven by a handful of political activists, while ignoring the sources and impacts of funding the program.
Vermont already pays some of the highest per pupil education costs in the country relative to income — making universal school meal expenditures permanent will increase that distinction.
Vermont taxpayers are footing the tab for a handful of social justice ideologues to impose their political ideology on town residents who have reasonable questions about the potential impact of their Town Plan on their property values.
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” is a familiar adage. The phrase holds specific economic meaning — that even if the state provides welfare or something else for the people in need, it is in fact bought or provided by other people of the same community through taxes.
What if parents do not share Sen. Baruth’s conclusion? Is the right and duty of parents to make decisions for their minor children to be supplanted by government bureaucrats, medical “experts,” hospitals and pharmaceutical companies?
The public health emergency was renewed for COVID, but due to budget cuts the 15% increase in 3SquaresVT benefits was not. Reversion to pre-COVID benefit levels will commence in March.
I recently investigated what “work” was proposed to be done by Vermont’s new IDEAL program, funded with $220,000 to increase the work of diversity, equity and inclusion committees around the state. The chief work appears solely to be to inculcate woke ideology in the minds of more people.