Alison Despathy: 14 reasons why the S.5 Affordable Heat Act must not pass
If you think Vermonters should be punished and charged more for using heating fuel to reliably heat their homes in the winter, then this bill is for you.
Paul Dame: Parents beware
Parents stands to lose a great deal this year. The worst offense which will impact the greatest number of people is the proposal to eliminate the Child Tax Credit. Democrats are looking at eliminating this benefit.
Roper: So, the ‘check back’ in S.5 isn’t really a check back
Now that the Clean Heat Standard bill is in the House, we are getting some clarity as to just how hollow even that level of “check back” really is. For one thing, it isn’t really a “check back” or a “circuit breaker” at all, it is a — new term — “throttle down.”
John Klar: Riots in Randolph
RUHS has been the center of a prolonged series of conflicts, almost all of which have been instigated by faculty-driven social justice initiatives, previously by Elijah Hawkes, and then by Layne Millington.
Letter: Gender dysphoria bills trample rights
Age protection for minors has been recklessly ignored in the committee regarding H.89 and S.37, along with parents’ rights to direct the medical care of their children.
Rep. Charles Wilson: Holding on to Vermont and Vermont traditions
Authentic Vermont embodies agriculture, self-sufficiency and independence, a strong work ethic, healthy communities and families, faith and honorable values, and fiscal responsibility. The supermajority in the Statehouse are placing these fundamental Vermont values at risk.
Email circulated by Sen. Ram Hinsdale says up to 40,000 housing units needed to address climate refugees
Ram Hinsdale’s idea that we need to do something to accommodate an approaching flood of desperate climate fugitives from uninhabitable cities down country, looks like just more climate panicmongering to me.
Opinion: How the Sunk Cost Fallacy permeates Vermont politics
The Vermont Legislature continues to throw good money after bad. Which is more wasteful: the $245 million in sunk costs, or another $250 to $450 million of further spending to complete the project over the cost of a more economical and resilient alternative? I’d contend it is the latter.
McClaughry: Deregulating Vermont in to ‘compact settlements’
The Climate Action Plan declares we must “support compact settlement patterns that contribute to the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, enhance community and built environment resilience, and help conserve natural and working lands.” That requires channeling development into population centers where people can get around by cycling and walking, and no development anywhere else.
John Klar: Vermont needs trigger locks on progressive zealots, not guns
Despite the veil of social concern, H.230 is flagrantly aimed at gun rights, not suicide prevention. If Vermont’s progressive supermajority rams it into law, it will almost certainly be struck down as unconstitutional.
Gregory Thayer: Senate ed committee does not go far enough
The Senate Education Committee is moving forward with a bill, S.138, which is an Education School Safety bill on safety measures. This bill only addresses a sixteenth of the larger problem.
New Hampshire vs. Vermont – A tale of two political cultures, one red and one blue
The cauldron of poison bubbling in Vermont has been spilling across the Connecticut River for years. If we don’t dilute that influence, we may all be looking for another state in which we have some hope to live free before we die.