Milky skies were carrying smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires across northern and central Vermont on Tuesday — prompting state officials to issue a one-day air quality alert across the state. 

Smoke and haze rolled in early Tuesday morning and are expected to linger through the afternoon and night, according to Tyler Danzig, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Burlington. 

Officials warned that sensitive groups should take breaks and monitor their conditions when spending time outdoors. 

Individuals with heart or lung issues, older adults, children, people who work outside and those experiencing homelessness are especially at risk, according to state health officials. Sensitive groups can spend time outside but should take more breaks than usual, according to officials. 

People with asthma are recommended to keep medication handy. Those with heart disease should watch out for palpitations, fatigue and shortness of breath. 

Sensitive groups could continue to feel the effects of exposure up to 24 hours after the haze has passed, according to Danzig. 

The alert spans across Grand Isle, Franklin, Orleans, Essex, Chittenden, Lamoille, Caledonia, Washington, Addison and Orange counties. 

Officials recommend Vermonters sign up for air quality alerts, limit their exposure and keep an eye on forecasts. 

The smoke and haze are coming from wildfires in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Danzig said. Many of those fires have been ablaze for weeks and caused similar conditions in Vermont earlier this summer.

Skies may tinge orange this evening, but the air should clear overnight, Danzig said. The alert stands all day Tuesday and will not likely be extended for another day, according to Bennet Leon, who monitors air quality for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the length of the alert.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Officials issue air quality warning for northern and central Vermont .

For nearly half a century, a round barn in Grand Isle has served as subsidized low-income housing for seniors. Now, with plans to move that housing elsewhere, developers are trying to find a new purpose for the structure.

The 122-year-old barn building is showing its age, according to Jess Neubelt, a senior developer at Evernorth, a nonprofit developer that is working on the project with senior living provider Cathedral Square.

The Round Barn Apartments, as it’s called, has long needed repairs. But renovating such an old and unique structure would be too expensive, and maintaining housing there has become unsustainable, Neubelt said.

The developers are thinking of moving the roughly 12,500-square-foot barn to another property in Grand Isle.

Although it is listed in the state register, the barn building was found ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places after a review last year, according to Laura Trieschmann, Vermont’s historic preservation officer. Local residents fear that could lead to its demolition.

“Demolition is not our first choice here,” Neubelt said.

Evernorth and Cathedral Square plan to replace the barn’s 16 units of housing with a new two-story building on the same property. An annex that houses six additional units would undergo renovations. Wastewater capacity issues would prevent the developers from expanding the housing on site, but they plan to keep 22 units so that current residents can continue to stay there. 

The barn is currently owned by a limited partnership that includes Evernorth and a Champlain Housing Trust-related entity. Evernorth and Cathedral Square will co-own the property after the redevelopment, and the latter will provide support services for seniors there, hopefully by spring 2027, according to Neubelt. 

The barn was converted into housing before there were contemporary standards around insulation and weatherization. “So it’s not efficient in terms of space layout, it’s not efficient to heat and we don’t have air conditioning in that building,” Neubelt said. 

“And of course, it’s not an accessible building, so having an elderly or 55 and older population is not ideal because when folks have a slip and fall or are otherwise injured or lose mobility, that’s not a good fit for them.”

There are structural issues — for instance, the central silo is leaning — and fire hazards to worry about as well, she said.

Neubelt presented Evernorth’s vision for the new building and renovation to the town’s selectboard in December, and the developers say they expect to submit a site plan to the town’s development review board soon.

Members of the Grand Isle Historical Society are also awaiting more information on the proposed project.

“Of course our society prefers preservation over demolition of the Round Barn,” wrote Jean Baker Prouty and Lucille Campbell in an emailed statement this week.

The organization is hosting a program to discuss the barn’s history at the Grand Isle Elementary School, 3 p.m. on Sunday. “Though questions have been raised about the future of the barn, this program will not include the Evernorth redevelopment proposal,” reads the notice Campbell shared.

A rare ‘American artifact’ 

In the meantime, John Hanou, a national round barn expert, has begun advocating for the preservation of what he refers to as the “Major Davis/E.J. Parker true-circular barn.” 

Hanou, a resident of Maryland, maintains that the Grand Isle barn is unique for its pitched gambrel and slate roof (changed from original asbestos roof circa 1930) from that era — and is one of only two with an original gambrel roof remaining in North America.

Hanou and others in Grand Isle see this Vermont barn as a rare survivor and believe it should be preserved. The Davis Round Barn, Hanou wrote, is “an American artifact and a testament to historical agricultural vernacular architecture.”

According to Hanou, Vermont has lost 84% of its round and multi-sided barns over the years, with just 12 remaining, of which five are truly circular. “If Vermont loses this one, not only have they lost a real historic site, it’s lost the only one,” said Hanou, referring to the unique roof.

Unlike other round barns that are usually polygons, this one is “a rare true round barn,” he said.

Hanou’s book, ‘The Round and Multi-Sided Barns in Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec. A History,’ details the history and unique structure of the Grand Isle barn, with historical photographs.

Round barns were fashionable at the time of its construction in 1903, he explained in an interview this week. 

According to his research, the dairy barn was built by Major Alexander H. Davis who owned a large farm in Grand Isle, managed by Edward J. Parker. They were both prominent figures at the time. Davis made a fortune in the railway business; Parker was involved in many dairy farms and responsible for starting the Grand Isle grange, according to Hanou.

In 1902, the upcoming barn was quite the talk of the town, according to news clips cited by Hanou. During construction, the dairy barn was highlighted in a national agricultural newspaper as an 85-foot diameter round barn with a 20-foot central silo. 

The state is still reviewing the Evernorth housing project for its impact on archaeology as part of its permitting. However, Trieschmann, Vermont’s preservation officer, said in an email Friday that the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation could re-evaluate the listing. She further noted that “designation to the State or National Registers does not protect a building from alterations, relocation, or demolition” and that that responsibility lies with the municipality and community.

Since Hanou’s posts on social media, concern has grown in Grand Isle about preserving the barn as well as the existing low-income senior housing.

“I have seen posts in various forums and heard concerns that this is being redeveloped into a market rate property — that’s not the case here,” Neubelt said. “This will be a permanently affordable community that hopefully is much more comfortable, much healthier, much more sustainable, both financially for us to operate, and environmentally, in the long term.”

“The key things here are that folks will not lose their housing, folks will come back to new and improved housing, and that our first choice is to be able to relocate the barn,” she said.

The developers are also focusing on minimizing disruption to residents so they will have to only  move once, according to Neubelt.

The developers hope to finalize design and cost by the end of the year, begin construction in 2026 and complete the project in spring 2027.

Read the story on VTDigger here: In Grand Isle, concern circles the fate of a 122-year-old round barn.

Like dozens of other school districts in the state, the Champlain Islands Union School District had a rough go of it during its last budget cycle. 

After its first budget was voted down, district officials were forced to cut funding for a mental health professional, a teacher, and an after school program, while striking several building maintenance projects from the budget, according to the board’s chair, Michael Inners.

After those cuts, voters eventually approved a budget that resulted in a 17% education property tax hike, Inners said.

Once the dust had settled, the school district charged themselves with studying a possible reorganization of its schools to reduce operating costs and finetune the district’s student educational experience. The district hired Elaine Pinckney, a former superintendent of the Champlain Valley School District, to oversee a restructuring committee.

The committee’s efforts — and the ensuing debate — show how one school district is facing existential questions amid a larger, statewide debate over school funding. With ever-increasing cost drivers like health insurance, one of the options now being considered is whether the board should close or reorganize one of two remaining schools in the district. 

The Grand Isle School and the North Hero Elementary School together serve just under 200 students in Pre-K through sixth grade, but only 28 of those students attend the North Hero school. With a declining enrollment and a long list of deferred maintenance projects, officials have questioned whether it’s financially viable to keep the school open as it is currently structured — and whether the district should move all its students to the Grand Isle School.

There are few other options for cost savings. Without a high school, about half of the district’s budget is dedicated to tuition payments to send students to other high schools in Vermont or even New York state. The district paid tuition to send 228 high school and middle school students elsewhere in the last school year, Inners said.

“Like many small schools, the enrollment is beginning to dip to the point where there are questions whether (students) were getting an appropriate educational environment for some of the grade levels, with very small numbers of students in a classroom,” Inners said in an interview. “Does it make sense to have a grade with three people?”

But officials acknowledge it would be a tough sell for a community that recently saw the Isle La Motte school close down. Asking parents and kids to travel from North Hero and Isle La Motte to Grand Isle — a roughly 30 minute round trip drive — could be too much to ask, particularly during the winter.

“There are some people who really think that closing the school is a solution,” Pinckney said at the board’s November meeting. Still, she added, others feel that closing the North Hero School “would hurt the communities, and will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“You close the schools, so fewer people move to the community who are raising kids,” she said.

‘A wonderful school’

The district’s restructuring committee first met in late August — the first of five meetings where about two dozen community members deliberated over how to restructure its schools.

A survey was later released and responded to by 161 people to better understand what options would be favorable.

A final report was presented to the board at their November meeting, with several options for the district to consider.

Those options included closing the North Hero school altogether; reconfiguring North Hero as a primary school and Grand Isle as an intermediate school; tuitioning out sixth grade students — or alternatively, bringing back seventh and eighth grade students; and exploring a merger with the neighboring Alburgh or South Hero districts, or even the Franklin West Supervisory Union.

Officials earlier this year had hoped for a final recommendation. But ultimately, the report, released on Nov. 7,  left open the possibility of exploring any of these options.

The final report comes as the district is beginning to craft next school year’s budget, leading to concerns among community members and staff at the North Hero Elementary School about the building’s future. 

Mary Ellen Hutchins, a staff member at the school whose child also attends, said during the November board meeting that closing the school should be “the absolute last resort.”

“I think that has to be the last resort, and I hope, as a board, you will listen,” she said. “I don’t want my child to be put in a classroom of 20 or more students. My daughter has the education she has because of what she received at North Hero with those small classes.”

Other community members said the school and its small class sizes provide a quality educational experience that should be prioritized.

Diane Bahrenburg, a North Hero resident, called the North Hero School “a wonderful school, and it’s a wonderful resource for all of us.”

“I could envision it being a kindergarten through second grade school, and I’m not saying that that’s what we have to decide,” she said, “but before you just close that option, take a look at asking educators, asking people who are experts… and then see if that would fit for North Hero, instead of just removing it.”

Instead, many survey respondents and community members expressed a desire to bring back more middle-school aged students.

The district is currently serving sixth grade students, who then must transition to a new school outside of the district and join other students, which can be difficult for a student that age, community members and school district officials said.

“There is a strong belief that moving kids into the middle schools at grade seven puts them at a big disadvantage,” Pinckney said.

District officials have heard similar sentiments — that a school with smaller class sizes in a community perhaps should be prioritized.

“I think there’s some fear from families — they want to have their kids close, they want to have kids going to school in the community in which they live,” Lisa Ruud, the superintendent of the Grand Isle Supervisory Union, said in an interview. “But is that something that’s viable in the long run?”

‘Their backs are up against the wall’

The school board expects to begin deliberating on a draft budget at their next meeting on Dec. 10, Inners said, when the recommendations of the committee will be considered.

Cuts to the district’s operating budget seem inevitable, Ruud said.

“There’s no way that we can avoid them with the rising costs of healthcare and everything that’s happening with the state,” she said. “We’re just uniquely situated in a really horrific spot.”

With a new legislative session coming up, lawmakers have a tall task ahead of them in addressing the educational finance crisis. Legislators have said addressing education finance is the number one priority.

There is a possibility, Inners said, that the board decides to punt to next year, “and get one more year with the current configuration while we sort out more options.”

But pressure on the board to cut operating costs remains. Inners said the district will likely run up against the state’s “excess spending threshold,” which penalizes higher spending school districts. (Because of the common level of appraisal adjustments, Inners said there is little else the district can cut in its budget to draw down its tax rate increase for voters).

He added that he believes that shuttering the North Hero school building altogether would be a mistake. “I think we would regret it in a few years if we gave up that building,” he said.

Still, other board members say much of the anxiety they feel is because of the state’s education formula.

“There are a lot of different things we have to evaluate,” said Sylvia Jensen, a school board member. But she said a lot of the focus in reorganization has been driven because of the education tax.

“We just keep getting punished every year on this education tax formula,” she said.”With the election that’s come and gone, what is the feeling that we’re going to have a different formula next year?”

Some involved in the discussion, Pinckney said at the November meeting, noted that “it feels a little bit like we just went through a really bad budget time, and now all of a sudden, we’ve got to do something, and it feels a little bit rushed.”

Ruud said she feels the board should hold off on making major changes. She questioned whether any of the options on the table would generate significant cost savings.

“My argument is, let’s take a little bit more time,” she said. “I think the feeling from the board is, they feel their backs are up against the wall, that they need to move. I think it would be a no-brainer if we knew we could do X, Y or Z, and there would be a huge cost savings, but it’s actually not playing out that way.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: In Grand Isle County, a school district questions its future.

A week after a jury failed, for a second time, to reach a verdict in the assault case against Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore, the prosecutor in the case announced he will not put the sheriff on trial again.

Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito said Monday that he’d dismissed the case “with prejudice,” which means it cannot be brought back to court. 

Grismore was charged with simple assault stemming from an August 2022 incident in which the then-sheriff’s deputy kicked a shackled detainee — video of which has since been widely published.

During two separate proceedings, first in late July and then again earlier this month, Judge Samuel Hoar declared a mistrial because the two slates of jurors could not reach a unanimous decision over whether Grismore was guilty. In the recent proceedings, jurors spent more than 17 hours deliberating over three days before Hoar determined he had seen enough. 

“After any mistrial, I review a case and evaluate all the circumstances and decide whether another trial is a good use of public resources and is in the interests of justice,” DiSabito said in a press release. “I did that here and have determined that a third trial is not in the public interest.”

Notably, DiSabito said he might have taken the case to trial again had Grismore not already been sanctioned by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, which oversees police conduct in the state.

Last December, the council found that in kicking the detainee in 2022, Grismore had violated the state’s policy on police use of force. As a result, the council voted to revoke his law enforcement officer certification. 

To be sure, the policy violation had no legal bearing on Grismore’s ability to serve as sheriff under Vermont law. (Nor would a criminal conviction, had jurors made that determination.)

But the council’s decision did limit what Grismore can do on the job. He is no longer allowed to participate in many facets of standard police work, the criminal justice council’s chair said at the time, such as investigating crimes or going out on patrols.

“Had the Vermont CJC not taken this definitive action, the right thing in this matter would likely have been to take this to trial again,” DiSabito said Monday. But he emphasized that “would not be happening.”

“This case is now closed,” he said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Prosecutor dismisses assault charge against Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore.

For the first time in nearly four decades, the residents of most Grand Isle County towns — and almost all of nearby Colchester — will elect a new state senator this fall. In a region that, bisected by Lake Champlain, does not fall neatly along party lines, both Democratic and Republican leaders are making the district a campaign priority.

The race is also steeped in the image of the man who held the seat all those years — former Senator Dick Mazza, a Colchester Democrat, who died in late May. Mazza’s decidedly centrist politics have led both parties to tie themselves to his legacy. 

“Nobody’s had to run a Senate campaign for this district since Dick Mazza took over,” said Deborah Lang, chair of the Grand Isle County Democratic committee. “So actually having a Senate race in Colchester and Grand Isle is a novel experience for most voters.”

The district includes four of the five Grand Isle County towns — South Hero, Grand Isle, North Hero and Isle La Motte — as well as nearly all of Colchester, except for an area around St. Michael’s College and the Fort Ethan Allen complex off Route 15. 

In the Nov. 5 election, Sen. Andy Julow, a North Hero Democrat, is facing off against longtime Republican Rep. Patrick Brennan, who hails from Colchester. Put another way, one is from Mazza’s party, while the other is from the former senator’s hometown.

Both candidates have outlined some similar policy priorities — top among them, curbing the high cost of public education for taxpayers. But they also diverge on certain social issues, something that Julow and his supporters are trying to highlight for voters.

Julow is, technically, the seat’s incumbent. He was appointed to the post in May by Gov. Phil Scott after Mazza resigned due to health issues. But the timing meant Julow served only a single day in the Senate before this year’s Legislative session came to an end.

It was, to be sure, a consequential day: when lawmakers voted to override six of the eight vetoes that Scott issued this year. Julow voted to override five of those vetoes, though unlike many other Democrats, sided with the Republican governor on two.

He voted against legislation creating an overdose prevention center, also known as a safe injection site, as well as against a sweeping data privacy bill (the latter did not become law). Julow was not in the chamber when lawmakers chose not to attempt to override Scott’s veto of a proposed flavored tobacco ban earlier in the session.

“I’ve shown the willingness to go across party lines,” Julow said in an interview, adding that is “something that senator Mazza was known for.”

Brennan, meanwhile, voted to uphold all of Scott’s vetoes that day. The longtime House member, who recently retired from running a food stand, “Bloomin’ Onion Concessions,” at fairgrounds throughout the state, also has the governor’s backing in this fall’s race. 

(It is customary for governors to appoint new legislators, as in Julow’s case, who are from the same party as the legislator being replaced.)

“We desperately need more common sense in the legislature,” Scott is quoted saying on Brennan’s Facebook page, adding voters should elect Brennan so he can “continue his good work” in Montpelier. A photo of the governor sits at the top of Brennan’s campaign website.

The Colchester Republican is one of the few lawmakers Scott is stumping for this year. Jason Maulucci, the governor’s campaign manager, has said that Scott’s camp sees Grand Isle as one of five districts where they believe the GOP has a chance to pick up a Senate seat. The party currently holds just seven seats in the 30-member Senate.

Scott was close friends with Mazza, as was Brennan himself, Brennan said. And last week, Brennan scored a key endorsement — that of Mazza’s son, Mike Mazza.

“Pat will fight passionately to restore affordability for all of us and will lead with the same dedication and integrity that my father did,” reads an endorsement, attributed to Mike Mazza, on Brennan’s site. 

At the same time, the Democratic Party has turned out for Julow. Jaimie Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, knocked on doors in Colchester for Julow’s campaign during a visit to Vermont last week, among other Democratic candidates.

Julow has been endorsed by former Democratic Gov. Howard Dean — who noted in a Facebook post supporting Julow that he was the one who recruited Dick Mazza, in the first place, to run for the Senate in the ‘80s — as well as by other current statewide Democratic candidates including U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt.

“We’re not going to replace Senator Mazza,” said Jim Dandeneau, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, in an interview. “Everybody in the district knew him and loved him, and there’s no one we could find with that same kind of profile.”

“But,” he added, “we’re happy to have Andy start to try and build something similar.”

A ‘purple’ district

Having a seat occupied by the same candidate, for so long, can make it challenging to predict what voters will decide this time around, some party leaders said. Mazza was first elected in the one-member district in 1984 — and by the time he resigned about four decades later, he’d become the chamber’s second-longest serving member.

The Grand Isle Senate District spans the area of three different House districts, one of which — Chittenden-19 — is Brennan’s. He’s been reelected every biennium since 2002. Brennan is one of four total House members who serve parts of Colchester, but is the town’s only Republican representative (the other three are all Democrats).

Meanwhile, the five Lake Champlain Islands towns have two different representatives in the House among them — and one is a Democrat, while the other is a Republican. 

For Brennan, that 4-2 local Democratic majority means the Senate district is “stacked against him, a little bit,” said Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont Republican Party. 

“It’s not like he’s running in Franklin County or Rutland County,” Dame said, referring to two counties that have sent many Republicans to the Legislature in recent elections. “So it’s going to be a tough race — but it’s going to be an important race.” 

Brennan could benefit, in some ways, from the district’s demographics — about 75% of its roughly 20,000 voters live in Colchester, state legislative data shows.

At the same time, Julow likely benefits from substantial name recognition on the Islands. He is director of a county-wide economic development organization and has run two times, albeit unsuccessfully, for the Islands’ two-member seat in the Vermont House. In 2016, Julow came within just 18 votes of winning a slot in the Democratic primary.

Lang, the county chair, said Mazza did “a great job” of connecting with constituents throughout his district — aided, no doubt, by Mazza’s long-standing Mallets Bay-area grocery store — but the Islands are long overdue for more delegates in the Legislature who hail from there, like Julow.

“It would be a refreshing change to have somebody from the Islands, who really knows the ins and outs of, and the difficulties of, living up here compared to Chittenden County,” she said. 

Even at the general election stage, several recent elections on the Islands have been tight. Lang called the five towns “definitely purple” overall.

Notably, then-House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, a Democrat from South Hero, lost her seat by just 20 votes in 2020 to Rep. Michael Morgan, a Milton Republican (the Grand Isle House district also includes part of Milton — though it doesn’t include Colchester.)

More recently, the 2022 House election saw only about 100 votes separate the first and last-place candidates among the four (two Democrats and two Republicans) who ran. 

“It just shows how, really, evenly divided this district is, that we’re all basically within 2% of each other,” Rep. Josie Leavitt, a Democrat who won one of the seats, said at the time. 

Both candidates have drawn a mix of donors from Chittenden and Grand Isle counties, according to campaign finance filings with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. But with about a month until election day, Brennan has hauled in significantly more cash overall: about $65,400 as of Oct. 1, while Julow raised about $39,400, filings show.

Brennan has thousand-dollar donations from a number of Chittenden County-area business owners and landlords, including Bissonette Properties, members of the Tarrant and Pizzagalli families as well as Raymond Pecor and Bruce Lisman, among others.

Julow has a number of substantially smaller donations, including from other current and Democratic candidates, filings show. At the same time, he’s put about $10,500 of his own money into the race, accounting for more than a quarter of all that he’s raised. That’s far more than Brennan, who has only put up $500 for his race, filings show. 

On the record

Both Brennan and Julow have identified similar topics as priorities if they’re elected this fall — namely, addressing concerns over large property tax increases in many communities, and making structural changes to the way public education is funded in the state. Both also said they want to focus on promoting economic development.

Julow said he is well positioned to tackle education funding issues because he spent years chairing his local school board. Specifically, he helped consolidate three school districts in three towns — Isle La Motte, North Hero and Grand Isle — into a single entity, now called the Champlain Islands Unified Union School District. 

“People coming out of the school board are probably the most equipped to tackle education costs, and that’s what we have to do,” Julow said. “All of it is taking place down there, and that’s where I’ve been working — building budgets that did well, and some budgets that failed. And, we had to respond to those concerns.”

Brennan, on the other hand, pointed to his experience on the powerful, state-budget building House Appropriations Committee, which he has sat on since 2023. He noted, with some pride, that he was in the committee’s Republican minority consistently voting against legislation such as the annual property tax legislation that funds the state’s public school districts, known as the “yield bill.”

While Brennan’s long tenure has given him seniority, it’s also left him with a long voting record that, in some cases, Julow’s campaign has been quick to criticize. They’ve focused on two votes where the candidates, had they been in the chamber at the same time, would likely have diverged: same-sex marriage and abortion. 

In 2009, Brennan voted against legislation that ultimately codified same-sex marriage into Vermont law (civil unions between same-sex couples became legal in 2000.)

In an interview, Brennan said he voted against the 2009 legislation after taking a poll of constituents in his district and finding that a majority didn’t support it. He said if he had to vote on the issue again, he would conduct another poll to gauge support — but insisted it was “a misconception” that he is opposed to same-sex marriage.

“I don’t care if you’re gay. I’m not anti-gay. I voted against gay marriage because that was in the infancy of my tenure,” he said. “I listened to constituents and voted no.”

More recently, Brennan voted against sending to voters a measure — which was ultimately approved, too — to enshrine “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy” in the state, known as Article 22. The measure made Vermont the first state in the country to codify access to reproductive healthcare in its founding document.

Brennan said in an interview, citing his upbringing in the Catholic Church, that he is opposed to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or the “health of the baby, or the health of the mother.”

Julow said he strongly supports both measures. 

“My daughter lives in the South, and she’s having a harder time than my mother did in the ‘70s getting birth control,” he said. “I feel that’s a step in the wrong direction.”

Julow’s campaign also pointed to how Brennan did not sign onto a Vermont legislative resolution in January 2021 that condemned the storming of the U.S. Capitol just days earlier “as an attack on democracy,” and that went on to call for Donald Trump “to resign or be removed from office.” The measure overwhelmingly passed both chambers.

Lawmakers’ votes on the resolution were unclear, in large part because they were participating remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In a Republican caucus meeting held before the vote, Brennan voiced opposition to the measure, but said at the time he did not support Trump’s actions leading up to the riot.

In an interview, Brennan said he missed his opportunity to add his name to the resolution because he did not receive a notification about it on his computer. Pressed, he said if the vote were held again today, he would add his name to it.

Brennan also said, though, that he has not decided whether he’ll support Trump, or Kamala Harris, or neither in this fall’s election. He noted for some GOP voters, his support or not of Trump appears to be a litmus test — he’s gotten multiple emails saying that someone’s vote for him depends on his support of the former president. 

“I’m worried about Vermont right now,” he said. “I’m running for Vermont.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: In Grand Isle Senate race, both parties see an opportunity to build off Dick Mazza’s legacy.

NORTH HERO — Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore’s second assault trial is now slated to drag into its second week after jurors on Friday again failed to come to a unanimous verdict, but also told the judge that they weren’t quite ready to stop trying.

The jury is set to return to Grand Isle County Superior criminal court at 8:30 a.m. Monday for what will be its third day of deliberations, and the sixth day of the trial. The trial itself is a redo of a three-day proceeding in late July that ended in a mistrial after a different jury could not agree on a verdict. 

Grismore is charged with simple assault for kicking a handcuffed and shackled detainee at the sheriff’s office in August 2022. He was a captain in the department at the time. 

Around 4:45 p.m. Friday — after about eight hours of deliberations that day, and more than five hours of deliberations on Thursday — Judge Samuel Hoar asked the latest jurors if there was any additional “amount of time that you believe, if you folks were given, you would break through the impasse that presently confronts you.” 

After a pause, the case’s designated lead juror, who was not identified, replied with a brief assessment: “I think there’s a slight possibility.” 

“Nobody would accuse you folks of a lack of determination,” Hoar said.

Hoar had asked the jurors about a half-hour prior to decide whether they wanted to continue deliberating into the evening on Friday, or to come back on Saturday. But the jury appeared unable to come to a consensus on that question, too — leading Hoar to push the proceedings into next week.

Read the story on VTDigger here: As week ends, no verdict yet in Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore’s assault trial.

NORTH HERO — After a four-day trial and more than five hours of deliberations, jurors had yet to reach a verdict — or to call it quits — Thursday night in the criminal case against Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore, who is facing a jury this week for the second time.

Jurors in the latest trial, which started on Monday, were slated to return Friday morning to see if they could reach a unanimous decision. 

Grismore is facing a simple assault charge for repeatedly kicking a handcuffed and shackled man who was detained at the sheriff’s department in August 2022. 

In July 2024, Grismore’s case went to trial for the first time, but the proceedings ended in a mistrial after an initial jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict over whether or not he was guilty. Jurors spent more than five hours stewing over the case then, too.

On Thursday, the latest panel of jurors first returned from their deliberations in Grand Isle County Superior Criminal court around at 8:30 p.m. after informing the judge, Samuel Hoar, that they could not reach a unanimous decision.

But Hoar urged the jurors to consider either debating the case further that night or coming back in the morning. Just minutes later, they informed the judge that they had chosen the latter option. 

“Come back fresh,” Hoar said in response. “And we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: After hours of deliberations, jury yet to reach a verdict in second assault trial of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore.

From afar, three barges in the middle of Lake Champlain may look like a floating amusement park, but in fact, they are part of a project to install a cable that is expected to provide New York City with 20% of its power. 

The project, called the Champlain Hudson Power Express, led by Transmission Developers, is designed to bring hydropower electricity from HydroQuebec to New York City. Crew members are working to bury the cable, mostly underwater, from the project’s starting point at the Canadian border and running 339 miles south through Lake Champlain and the Hudson River to Queens, N.Y., where it will plug directly into the city’s electrical grid.

After a decade of planning and permitting, the project is expected to provide 1,250 megawatts of power, or the equivalent of powering more than a million New York homes. 

The cable installation started in August, when workers began floating high-voltage direct current power cables on the surface of the lake, south of Rouses Point on the New York side of the lake, just south of the Canadian border, according to the project’s website. 

Once the cable is in the correct position on the lake’s surface, divers and remotely operated vehicles work to lower it into the water, then bury it four feet below the lake bed. With three barges — one installation vessel and two for transporting cable — sections of cable can be floated and buried simultaneously. 

In parts of the lake that are more than 150 feet deep, the cable will rest on the surface of the lake bed, surrounded by a protective duct. 

Currently, the barges are near Port Kent, New York — across from Malletts Bay in Vermont — where they just completed a splice, Lindsey Jordan, a spokesperson for the project, said in an email. Next, the barges are planning to lay about 12 miles of cable until they reach the next splice location, which is about two miles north of Essex, New York, Jordan said. The barges are likely to remain on the lake through the end of the year, she said. 

The project’s path navigates around sensitive areas at the lake’s bottom, including Lake Champlain’s many shipwrecks. Vessels use GPS and an underwater acoustic positioning system to make sure they’re laying the cable in the correct position. 

“Proximity to cultural resources and existing infrastructure in the lake were taken into account during the design of the approval cable route. This included extensive work with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum to identify culturally sensitive areas in the Lake,” Jordan said in an email. 

The state of Vermont did not have a direct stake in the project as the cable’s path is set to remain entirely on the New York side of the lake. Still, project leaders have “spoken to reporters in Vermont, held meetings with those in the maritime community in Vermont and the State of Vermont government is aware of the project,” Jordan said. 

The project required permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of New York. 

While the project does not cross into Vermont’s borders, environmental organizations based in Vermont may stand to benefit from it. Champlain Hudson Power Express has set aside a trust of $117 million, to be distributed over a 35 year period, to advance environmental protection efforts in both the Champlain and Hudson basins. 

Lake Champlain Basin Program, based in Grand Isle, is helping to coordinate the distribution of those funds, which are going to be designated to “high-priority research projects for habitat and fish survey work and invasive species work” in the Lake Champlain basin, according to Meg Modley, aquatic invasive species management coordinator with the organization.

“The top priority projects are related to invasive species spread prevention, so looking at ways that we can mitigate invasive species from moving in between the Champlain drainage and the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence to our north, as well as the Champlain Canal and the Hudson drainage to our south,” Modley said. 

Modley said the organization is beginning the process to select projects for the first $5 million round of funding, which is soon to become available. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Big barges help install cable for New York power project in Lake Champlain.

Mosquitoes in Alburgh and Swanton have tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis virus, according to a Friday press release from the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

The virus is rare in humans, but can cause serious illness or even death. The release clarified that the majority of people who contract the virus will have mild or nonexistent symptoms. The potential for infection is highest in late summer and early fall, according to the release.

The Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets collected the positive samples on July 22.

“Finding EEE virus in mosquitoes is a warning sign,” Health Commissioner Mark Levine said in the release. “Please take steps to protect yourself and your family from mosquito bites.”

The health department advises wearing long sleeves, using bug spray, limiting outdoor time around dusk and minimizing standing water near living areas. Covering strollers and playpens with mosquito netting, and repairing window screens, are also good precautions, according to the release.

The virus was previously detected in Vermont mosquitoes in August 2023, when at least one horse was infected in Swanton. Prior to that, “Triple E” had not been found in the state since 2015. 

Two Vermonters died from the virus in 2012, the only confirmed human cases in the state’s history. While there is a vaccine for horses, there is no specific treatment for humans, according to the release.

Environmental Surveillance Program Manager Patti Casey said that mosquito counts have ballooned this year, registering three to four times higher than cumulative averages since 2015. 

Standing water from the recent floods might be making a significant difference, according to Casey. “Floodwaters leave impounded water in places where mosquitoes love,” she said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Mosquitoes in Grand Isle and Franklin counties test positive for EEE virus.

Updated at 9:40 a.m.

The three candidates vying for the Grand Isle state Senate seat are walking a fine line between emulating the late Sen. Dick Mazza, the legendary “dean of the Senate,” while setting themselves apart from each other. 

Mazza resigned in April citing his decline in health, and died about two months later at the age of 84 from pancreatic cancer. The moderate Democrat — revered for his deep Colchester community ties and ability to bridge partisan divides — represented the Grand Isle district for nearly four decades, making him the second-longest-serving member in the Senate’s history.

Now, many residents of the five Champlain Islands towns and northern Colchester will face a first — not seeing Mazza’s name on the ballot. That means Sen. Andy Julow, D-Grand Isle, and Julie Hulburd have a lot of ground to cover before their Democratic primary on Aug. 13. Rep. Pat Brennan, R-Colchester, must do the same before the November general election. 

Modeling Mazza’s legacy is nothing new for Julow, who was appointed by Gov. Phil Scott to fill Mazza’s seat on May 21. 

“(Mazza) was very focused on taking care of his constituents and doing what his district needed, regardless of party,” Julow said in an interview in mid-July. “That’s something I really admired, and an approach I tried to bring into the Legislature in the short time that I had there.”

But Julow said “there’s a very little advantage, if there is any at all” to his incumbency. Because he only spent one day in session this spring, he said he’s still working to build the name recognition that other incumbents have by default. 

Some voters may recognize his campaign from his previous, unsuccessful runs for the Champlain Islands House seat in 2016 and 2020, but otherwise, he said, he’s relying on his North Hero community ties to advance his campaign. 

Regardless, he said, his time in the Legislature was the most effective “crash course” on becoming a lawmaker, and he feels ready to get back to work.

“It was the most intense first day of work I’ve ever had,” he said, laughing. “You sit in your chair, and then you’re suddenly, immediately deciding the future of agriculture and education and housing in your state. It was an intense experience, but it was a really valuable experience.”

Julow, executive director of the Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corp., said his most notable decision of the session was to vote to override Scott’s veto of Act 687, a bill that seeks to promote housing growth while still preserving the environment. He said the act is “vital to our economy,” as it will create housing to attract new families to Vermont and will improve access to food, health care, and other resources found in town hubs.

In the same veto session, Julow voted against overriding the veto of H.27 — a bill set to create an overdose prevention center in Burlington — citing the need for the state’s resources to be used to reduce demand for opiods instead. 

But Julow’s top policy goal, if he is elected, would be to reform the state’s school funding system, he said. After spending nine years on local school boards, he said he’s observed a mismatch in the funding formula — schools don’t have enough funding to make ends meet, yet families can’t afford to pay more in property taxes. The solution, he said, is to “completely rebuild the education finance system” with a broader source of funding and more resources to help schools budget effectively.

In fact, watching the state’s school budgets fail this spring — and watching schools cut “basic necessities” like maintenance workers and substitutes — was what encouraged him to run for the Senate seat in the first place, he said. 

“I think voters are ready for it. I think the Legislature is ready for it,” he said. “But there is a lack of skill set in Montpelier oriented towards this task, and I feel like I could be an asset to that conversation.”

Facing Julow in the August primary is Julie Hulburd, a Colchester native who has served in local government and on state committees, including the Vermont State Ethics Commission and the Cannabis Control Board.

To Hulburd, Mazza is an inspiration in more ways than one. He encouraged her to run for his seat in March when he began considering stepping down, she said. But he has also been a role model for her as she grew up in Colchester and raised her own children there. 

“He wasn’t just the senator, but also just someone in the community that people went to with their thoughts, their ideas. I’ve always admired that style of leadership,” Hulburd said.

But she said she needs “to prove that leadership to my community, separately,” without relying too heavily on emulating Mazza. Candidates like her have a responsibility to bring “fresh new voices” to the Legislature, she added, in order to bring balance to conversations with more experienced lawmakers. 

Hulburd said “unpacking the housing crisis” would be one of her main priorities if she is elected. The lack of affordable housing prevents many employers from attracting and retaining employees, which is not sustainable for the state’s economy, she said. 

Another way to make Vermont more affordable, Hulburd said, is to find ways to limit the rising cost of health insurance. 

“Every time an employer has to pay more for health insurance, it’s more for their overhead and so it’s more for the cost of goods and services across the state. And then we all feel it,” she said.

With 20 years of experience in human resources — serving Burlington, Winooski, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation and other entities — Hulburd said she knows her way around a negotiation table and knows how to ask tough questions. 

“I have never been a ‘yes’ person. I don’t intend to start being a ‘yes’ person now,” she said. “I actually look at the issue, look at the cost, look at the impact, rather than just saying ‘yes.’”

Meanwhile, Brennan, the Republican candidate in the race, said he doesn’t have a primary to campaign for, but is “hesitant to just sit by and watch” while Julow and Hulburd go head to head. “I’ve been campaigning as if I had a primary,” he said. 

After observing  Mazza’s work for decades, Brennan said he’s learned the importance of communicating with lawmakers on the other side of the aisle. He said he’s seen that kind of collaboration deteriorate over his 22 years as a state representative, but he thinks it could be brought back if more people follow Mazza’s example — which he plans to do. 

“I’m the closest thing to Dick Mazza that’s out there on the ballot,” he said. 

With his experience in the Legislature, he said he could have a “seamless transition” into the Senate and be able to “get to work right away” with senators he already has strong relationships with. The only reason he didn’t run for the seat before, he said, was “out of respect for Senator Mazza, who was doing a great job representing Colchester and the islands.”

But now that the seat is up for grabs, Brennan said it’s time to “give our governor some support” and turn the seat over to the Republican Party. He said he could help bring the balance necessary to sustain a veto in the Senate — a balance that was lacking when a record six vetoes were overridden this spring.

Brennan’s top priority, if he wins the election, would be to revamp education funding to lower property taxes, he said. He said he doesn’t have “the magic answer,” but could see certain school budget cuts as an option — including reverting from a universal school meals system back to a needs-based meals system. 

Property taxes are the top concern on his constituents’ minds, he said, and he wants to reflect that in Montpelier. 

“They’re just fed up (with high property taxes). They can’t afford it. I’ve had a couple folks call me in tears — crying on the phone — because they cannot afford to live here anymore,” he said.

Whoever walks away with the seat will be part of a new wave of legislators replacing senators with long legacies: Grand Isle is one of five Senate races missing familiar faces this year after senior lawmakers have passed away or stepped down.

That shift is not something to fear, Julow said, but rather a call for new legislators to learn from the best.

“I think there are absolutely big shoes to fill,” he said. “But I think if you really look at what Senator Mazza stood for, he was an authentic man who did the best he could for the people that he represented. And the message there, I think, is to be true to yourself and trust your read of your district.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Candidates model late Sen. Dick Mazza while finding their own path in Grand Isle race.

Jury selection for the trial of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore took place Thursday in North Hero, but the typical court summonses did not produce enough people to seat a full jury. To fill the remaining seats, the court took an unusual approach: pulling drivers over in front of the courthouse.

Grismore faces a charge of simple assault in Grand Isle County Superior criminal court for kicking a person in custody in August 2022. His trial is scheduled to begin July 22.

In an interview Friday, Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito said that Judge Samuel Hoar has the authority to direct the sheriff to find prospective jurors from the public, as happened Thursday afternoon. He said that due to the highly publicized nature of the case, the court dismissed more prospective jurors than usual and ran out during the selection process.

Grand Isle Sheriff Ray Allen said that on Hoar’s instruction, he set up a roadblock on Route 2 outside the courthouse around 3 p.m., stopped every car that passed, and pulled in 16 people to join the selection pool. It took his department around 25 minutes in all, he said.

Andy Julow, the newly appointed state senator for the Grand Isle district, was among those stopped and directed to enter the courthouse, he said. He was returning to his office for a conference call — Gov. Phil Scott’s briefing on the flooding that devastated large swathes of the state in the 24 hours prior — when he said an officer pulled him over and asked him if he was a Grand Isle resident, over 18 and registered to vote.

When he said yes to all three, they directed him to park and enter the courthouse; he’d just been summoned for jury duty.

Ultimately, Julow was dismissed because the jury was filled before his turn to go before the judge, but he said it still took over an hour and he missed his call.

“I was pretty angry, but I tried not to be outward about it,” he said.

Al Crist of Grand Isle wasn’t so restrained. When his wife, Beth Deimling, called him to say she’d be delayed because she was being pulled into a jury draw, he drove immediately up to the courthouse.

“I found the sheriff, and I wasn’t very nice,” Crist said. “I didn’t swear, and I didn’t threaten. But I got about as close as you can.”

Deimling said she had been returning from volunteering in North Hero State Park when she was pulled over. Several other people told her they’d had their workdays disrupted, she said — one asked the judge what he should tell his boss.

“It was very surrealistic,” Deimling said. “Everybody was kind of in shock.”

Overall, though, people were pleasant and mostly understanding, Sheriff Allen said. After he had gotten enough new prospective jurors, he went into the waiting room and thanked them all for their time, he said.

Julow said that the timing was poor: With so many state highways disrupted by flooding, bringing Route 2 to a grinding halt seemed to inconvenience a number of rerouted trucks.

There is a legal provision in Vermont that allows judges to “order the sheriff or other court officer to summon, with or without process, a sufficient number of judicious persons from the county to fill” a jury if there are insufficient prospective jurors present.

The provision is in Vermont’s court rules, which the state Supreme Court is authorized by the Vermont Constitution to write and administer, separate from state law.

Allen said it was the first time he’s received such an order, though he knows of past instances in Grand Isle, Franklin and Chittenden counties.

Julow said that the way the sheriffs executed the order, legal or not, was not fair to residents of that part of the county.

“Drawing people off the street certainly punishes those who live in North Hero and happen to be driving south,” Julow said. “I hope it doesn’t get repeated.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Law enforcement uses roadblock to find jurors for Sheriff John Grismore’s trial.

Updated at 1:44 p.m.

Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday appointed North Hero resident and former Democratic candidate for the Vermont House Andy Julow to the state Senate seat previously held by former Sen. Dick Mazza. 

Julow is the executive director of the Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corp. He’ll serve the Grand Isle Senate district, which includes the five towns on the Champlain Islands as well as parts of Colchester on the mainland. 

Mazza resigned from the Senate in early April due to health challenges, and his seat has been vacant since. He represented the Grand Isle Senate district for close to four decades, making him the second-longest serving senator in Vermont history.

In an interview Tuesday, Julow called Scott’s appointment “an honor.”

“I was 7 years old when Dick Mazza became a senator. So he’s the only one I’ve ever really known,” Julow said. “It’s very humbling to step into the role, for sure.”

Julow previously chaired his local school board and North Hero’s development review board. In 2016, and again in 2020, he ran unsuccessfully for a House seat representing the Champlain Islands.

Scott selected Julow from a list of candidates submitted by Democratic Party leaders in Grand Isle County and the town of Colchester.

“Andy is a lifelong Vermonter with experience serving his community and promoting economic development in the islands,” the governor said in a press release Tuesday, adding that he is “appreciative of Andy’s willingness to serve.”

Tuesday’s appointment is temporary. Julow would have to run, and win, in this fall’s election if he wants a seat in the Senate during the next legislative biennium. He said he hasn’t made a decision on running yet, and is still “giving it some thought.”

The deadline for major party candidates to file for this year’s election is May 30.

Meanwhile, two people have already thrown their hats into the ring for the Grand Isle seat. One is veteran Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester. The other is Julie Hulburd, a member of the state Cannabis Control Board who has filed to run as a Democrat.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Gov. Phil Scott appoints Andy Julow to former Sen. Dick Mazza’s seat.

Late last September, a large, migratory shorebird alighted in North Hero, causing a stir among birders who recognized it as a marbled godwit — a species not known to live or migrate through the state. 

News of the sighting spread quickly, with people flocking to spot a glimpse of the lone creature. According to a social media post from The Islander, so many cars parked on the side of the busy U.S. Route 2 hoping to view the bird that it created a traffic hazard.

A little over a week after the marbled godwit was spotted, it vanished from the stretch of lakeshore habitat it had been frequenting. The off-track shorebird was later found deceased by a local landowner. Some worried that it had been harmed by the large number of people who came to see it.

New lab results announced by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department on Tuesday show that the bird died from natural causes.

“Oftentimes birds found outside of their normal range are very stressed, and if they can’t find the proper food or cover this can combine with other stressors like poor nutrition and sickness,” Jill Kilborn, a Fish & Wildlife bird biologist, said in the press release. “All evidence suggests this is what happened to the godwit.”

The majority of the large, cinnamon-colored sandpipers breed in the wet prairies of the northern Great Plains in the summer and migrate to coastal areas of Mexico and the southern United States for the winter, according to the National Audubon Society. The species have stilt-like legs and a long bill that they use to find food at the edges of water bodies.

According to the community science website eBird, only one other marbled godwit has ever been reported in Vermont.

“The godwit in North Hero was a rare and exciting find, the kind of ‘vagrant’ — or bird outside of its usual range — that gives local birders a chance to see a new species close to home,” said Kilborn. “That said, it isn’t entirely unusual to see vagrant birds like this godwit in Vermont. Migrating birds can be pushed off course by storms, like the dovekie found in the Northeast Kingdom this past December.”

Last year’s marbled godwit was first seen in the state on Sept. 19, 2023. According to the post from The Islander, which was written by longtime photographer and Champlain Island resident Rob Swanson, one visitor came from East Clarendon — almost two and a half hours away — to add the godwit to their list of 281 wild bird sightings in Vermont.

When the X-ray of the marbled godwit showed no clear cause of death, Kilborn sent the bird to a diagnostic lab for further testing with the hope that the results could address questions and concerns raised by birders. The results showed that despite having no injuries, the bird had a high parasite load, was extremely malnourished and had contracted bacterial and blood infections.

While the marbled godwit died from natural stressors likely caused by being outside its normal range, Kilburn said in the press release that she hopes to amplify the message that viewing pressure could have added to the challenges the bird faced.

“If a bird is changing their behavior because you are watching them, then you are too close,” Kilborn said. “This is especially important for nesting birds or rare birds like this godwit, that may draw a large number of excited viewers.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Rare bird that caused stir in Champlain Islands died of natural causes.

When South Hero decided to implement a local option tax, no one anticipated it would take two years.

“We had to go through a lot of hoops,” said David Carter, the selectboard chair. “It was very complicated.” 

Now town and state officials said they’re confident that the town is in the final stretch of securing the state’s approval —  a far more complex process than they had anticipated. Last week a House committee took up H.554, which would authorize the town’s charter and allow the local option tax to go into effect.

In March 2022, residents of the Grand Isle County town voted 389-209 to approve a 1% local option tax on meals and alcohol sales. When it headed to the Legislature for approval last year, local officials learned that state law required that the change be made in the town’s charter. 

However, like most towns in Vermont, South Hero didn’t have a charter. 

Only 62 Vermont cities and towns have charters, said Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, though 45 incorporated villages and a few other types of municipal entities also do. 

So the town set about creating one, and last August voters approved the charter proposal, 380-220. Earlier this month, state Reps. Michael Morgan, R-Milton, and Josie Leavitt, D-Grand Isle, introduced a bill to grant state approval to the charter and the tax.

The bill is now in the House Committee on Ways and Means where Carter and Morgan plan to give testimony on Wednesday, and may hit the House floor this week. If it wins approval from both chambers, South Hero will finally be able to implement the local tax at the beginning of the coming fiscal year.

South Hero has a population of about 1,650, no industry except tourism, and a town budget of under $2 million, officials said.

“It’s very difficult for a town like this to provide residents with some of the amenities that other towns have because we don’t have any industrial tax base,” particularly when property taxes are already high due to the state education tax, said Ross Brown, the vice chair of the South Hero selectboard.

The local option tax is one way municipalities in Vermont raise additional revenue. According to data on the state’s website, 23 communities collect a 1% local option sales tax, 25 have implemented a 1% local option meals, room and alcoholic beverage tax and three municipalities have only a 1% local option rooms tax.

A number of factors made it an “unusually complicated” process for South Hero, including the fact that the town did not have a charter in place, said Rep. Michael McCarthy who chairs the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs, which recently heard testimony on the matter.

“We had a lot of conversation with them last year about what they needed to do,” he said. “And now they have gone through the process of having a local vote and having their charter approved by the local voters and then having that charter package certified by the Secretary of State,” he said.

With 10 venues selling meals and alcohol — seven of them seasonal — the tax is expected to generate just about $40,000 for South Hero’s municipal government per year. The state collects the tax, keeps 30% for the state education fund and returns 70% to the town, officials said.

The tax has to be collected for a specific purpose so South Hero officials chose recreation and municipal building upkeep because it is considering building a new park. The town’s annual recreation budget is about $30,000, Brown said.

“We went forward with assuming it would be an easy way to get the tax and it turned out that it was much more complicated than we knew,” Brown said. “It’s just been a process but it looks like we’re on line here.”

Rep. Morgan, who worked with Carter on the bill, gave testimony in support of it at the House committee last week. Although he told the committee that it’s been a struggle to get to this point in the process, he told VTDigger in an email that “the charter should flow smoothly at this point.”

Legislators are also considering charter requests from Essex and Essex Junction this session.

Read the story on VTDigger here: After 2 years of trying, South Hero may soon get its local option tax .

ISLE LA MOTTE — The Grand Isle Sheriff’s Department is looking for a suspect who vandalized a local organic farm earlier this week, citing the farm’s displayed pride flag in a letter left behind.

At around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, a person trespassed on to Sandy Bottom Farm, stole the flag and slashed holes in the farmers’ greenhouses where their vegetables are overwintering, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, a farm co-owner said.

“They left me an American flag and suggested I hang that instead,” said Patrick Helman, who owns the farm with his wife, Mary Catherine Graziano, who also serves as the chair of the Isle La Motte selectboard. “And then they went through my entire property and cut the plastic on three of my greenhouses, to the point where that all has to be replaced.”

It isn’t the first time pride flags have been tampered with in Isle La Motte. In 2022, the same farm had its flag stolen, and elsewhere, someone burned pride flags displayed outside a home.

In a letter, which accompanied the vandalism and which Helman posted to Instagram, the perpetrator used expletives and homophobic language, objecting to the family’s use of the pride flag. 

The letter blamed Helman and his family for being “polarizing” and “making things binary.” Even as the perpetrator caused extensive damage to the farm — including carving obscenities into the plastic greenhouse coverings — they claimed in their letter, “we do not hate gays!” and “this has nothing to do with trying to make people afraid.”

Helman and Graziano produce more than 50 different types of organic vegetables and sell them through community supported agriculture shares, also known as CSAs. They also sell their produce at farmers markets and through wholesale. 

Friends have come by to help tape up the greenhouses, making what Helman said are temporary repairs. So far, the family’s insurance has declined to cover the damages, and a friend has organized a GoFundMe in an attempt to recoup some of the losses. The farmers plan to funnel any donations they don’t use for repairs to Outright Vermont, a Burlington-based organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ youth.

Helman has been working with the Grand Isle Sheriff’s Office on the case, he said. 

Sergeant Blake Allen, with the sheriff’s department, said officers have distributed images of the perpetrator, caught by the farm’s security cameras, to local media outlets. 

Officers are going door-to-door to neighbors and other residents, seeking more information about the suspect. They’re also looking through previous cases to see whether the suspect’s physical description matches any people who are known by the department. 

It’s clear to the department that the suspect knows the area and may know Helman and Graziano, Allen said. 

“We’re just looking for anybody that has any information to contact us,” Allen said. “And that if anything seems suspicious, to not think that it’s too small, and to contact their local law enforcement.”

People with information can call the department directly, or use an anonymous tip line on its website, Allen said. 

Helman said he knew, when he started displaying the pride flag in front of his business, that “probably some people weren’t going to stop here because of that, and buy my vegetables.” He said he accepted that. 

“But I think that the problems we’ve had since we started just really show that, whatever people might think, there’s a real problem with hatred in the state — more broadly than just my community, than just the Isle La Motte community.”

Helman said he usually spends January and February completing farm maintenance that he can’t get around to in the busy summer months, and he typically has a schedule full of tasks. 

“They certainly do not include emergency repairs on three greenhouses that were in perfectly fine condition previously,” he said. 

Asked whether he feels safe in his home following the incident, Helman thought for a moment. 

“I’m sure that a lot of people who have heard about this feel less safe now,” he said. 

Amanda Rohdenburg, associate director of Outright Vermont, said in a statement that the “hard truth” is that “we’re not surprised by what happened to Sandy Bottom Farm.”

“It’s a clear indication that even in a progressive state like Vermont, we are not immune to the wave of anti-queer and trans hate and the violence it brings along with it,” Rohdenburg said.

She addressed those who may feel less safe following the incident in Isle La Motte and across the state, saying “we are here for them and we’re a source of support where they can find their people.”

“We see this as a call for both state and local leaders to denounce acts like this,” she said, “and for allies and other community members to be visible and vocal supporters of the LGBTQ+ community.”

In a statement on behalf of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Lindsey Brand, a spokesperson called the “recent prejudice-fueled vandalism” at the farm “truly disheartening.”

“We stand in solidarity with them,” the statement read. “Sandy Bottom Farm is an important part of the community, growing food for their neighbors and fostering a healthy local ecosystem.”

The organization also noted that it has an emergency fund available to “member farms experiencing a crisis, including vandalism like this.” 

The farmers already have plans to display another pride flag, Helman said.  

“I think as somebody who’s relatively privileged, the least I can do is hang a flag to support the people that I love,” he said. “That’s why we do it.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Sergeant Blake Allen.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Suspect vandalizes Champlain Islands farm, steals pride flag and leaves homophobic letter.

This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.

As the federal government takes note of Vermont’s rising rental prices, housing voucher recipients in Vermont could get more aid as they compete for apartments on the private market.

“Fair market” rent for a two-bedroom apartment — as calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this fall — increased by more than 10% for every Vermont county over the last federal fiscal year, which ended in September.

The Burlington metro area, which includes Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties, saw the largest single-year increase for a two-bedroom unit in the state: 16.84%.

The increases are an indication that rents are on the rise across Vermont. The government’s recognition of these higher costs also means that housing voucher recipients could see greater subsidies, giving them more buying power as they seek places to rent. 

“It allows for the voucher program to be more competitive in a very strong rental market,” said Kathleen Berk, executive director of the Vermont State Housing Authority.

HUD releases new fair market rent figures each fall. Incorporating both public data and private sector data from sites such as Zillow and Apartment List, the figures are an estimate of 40th percentile gross rents in a given area, or the point at which 40% of apartments are less expensive and 60% are more expensive. Gross rent includes both rent and utility costs.

Nationwide, HUD set an average increase of a little over 12% for fair market rents in fiscal year 2024. 

Rental costs rose across the country, and in Vermont, over the course of the pandemic.

The federal housing choice voucher program provides households with subsidies to pay for rental housing on the private market. 

Local housing authorities get funding from HUD and administer the vouchers to renters. They also have the power to set their own voucher payment standards, which can range from 90% to 110% of the fair market rent figure. Over the last few years, HUD has given local housing authorities the ability to set that payment standard even higher: at 120% of the fair market rent. 

When HUD increases fair market rents, public housing authorities can increase the amount of subsidy they’re able provide a household, Berk said.

Berk hopes the increased fair market rent could help more Vermont renters secure housing — because for many, finding a place to rent with a voucher in hand has proven challenging.

Only about a quarter of VSHA’s voucher recipients are able to find an apartment at the appropriate rental cost and quality, Berk said. When households aren’t able to find a place to use their voucher, they eventually have to turn it back to the housing authority, she said.

Stephanie Bixby, director of rental assistance for the Burlington Housing Authority, said the issue isn’t simply the cost of housing: the housing authority can find units that meet its payment standards for vouchers. The problem is that there aren’t enough of them.

“Lack of inventory is a huge issue,” she said.

Bixby said larger families — those seeking 4-6 bedroom homes — have had a particularly hard time finding suitable rentals to use their vouchers. The Burlington Housing Authority, which covers Burlington and other parts of Chittenden County, has a 900 to 1,000 household-long waitlist, she said. It typically takes years to get off the list, she added.

Bixby said she thinks the fair market rent increase could open up more options for renters.

“Our hope is that it will have a positive impact on our participants being able to procure housing,” she said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Housing vouchers will go further as federal government takes note of Vermont’s costly rental market.

Three people resigned from Isle La Motte’s town government after the chair of the selectboard raised pointed concerns about the conduct of the town’s now-former clerk and treasurer.

Leading up to the Isle La Motte Selectboard meeting on Sept. 6, longtime board member Rustam Spaulding and Town Clerk and Treasurer Stephen Mank both submitted letters of resignation. Mank wrote that his assistant, Mary Labrecque, also planned to resign.

The two remaining selectboard members — Cary Sandvig and Chair Mary-Catherine Graziano — approved all three resignations that night, and all took effect by the following day.

The sudden departures have rocked local politics on this roughly 500-person island and left the town office closed to the public while board members scramble to recruit new staff. In the meantime, the board plans to hire a bookkeeper to pay the town’s bills.

Both resignation letters also aired criticisms of the town. Mank, in his, wrote that “it has been an honor to serve 99% of the residents of Isle La Motte” over his year as town clerk.

“lt more than compensates,” he continued in the brief letter, “for the constant harassment, condescension, and amazing lack of understanding and respect for these offices we have consistently received from the remaining one percent.”

Graziano said Mank’s resignation was likely precipitated by an email she sent him on Sept. 4 outlining more than dozen concerns she and other board members had with the way he was managing the office, and charging that he wasn’t communicating well with others.

She contended that Mank hired staff without notifying — or getting approval from — the selectboard, made unauthorized purchases using town funds and repeatedly failed to provide board members with town budget documents upon request.

Mank also repeatedly failed to post meeting agendas and minutes in compliance with Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, according to Graziano, or to update the town website.

More recently, the board chair said Mank did not give the selectboard a chance to sign off on a roadway grant it had been awarded, potentially costing the town valuable funding. Mank also delayed sending payment to multiple contractors without notifying the selectboard, Graziano and Sandvig said in a joint written statement. 

In her Sept. 4 email, Graziano told Mank she had adjusted the job description of a not-yet-hired assistant for the town offices to include “the work that the Town Clerk has not been doing.” The assistant would now support the entire town government, she said, not just the clerk and treasurer’s office, as had originally been intended.

“These latest items necessitated a change in approach, as important town business was not being done,” Graziano and Sandvig wrote. (The board chair declined a request for an interview Tuesday.) “After a year of trying to work with (Mank) on the ongoing issues, and trying to find solutions, these last incidents were a significant cause for alarm.”

In an email Tuesday to VTDigger, Mank called Graziano’s comments about his job performance “unfounded” and said it was “simply incredible” she had broadened the responsibilities of a second assistant that his office badly needed.

“Clearly, Mary-Catherine and I have different perspectives on how VT municipalities are supposed to operate and the roles of key elected town officials,” Mank wrote.

It was Spaulding’s resignation, though, that appeared to have caught town officials by surprise the most. Spaulding, himself a former board chair, was not planning to seek another term when he came up for reelection in 2024, Graziano said. But she said she had no idea Spaulding wanted to step down until he submitted a resignation letter. 

“I am disappointed to hear that (Spaulding) is leaving,” Graziano said at the meeting, adding that she had “a lot of questions about the timing of all of this.”

In his resignation letter — which he sent Sept. 5, a day before Mank — Spaulding wrote that he did not think a majority of Isle La Motte residents were in favor of “the direction the town government has taken,” namely “more regulation and higher spending.” 

He also said he no longer had time for “the many new demands” of holding his seat.

Reached by phone Monday, Spaulding declined to elaborate on his reasons for resigning, and pushed back at the idea that his and Mank’s decisions were linked.

“No, no,” he said. “I resigned first, and it was not a coordinated effort.”

This month’s resignations follow that of town road commissioner Selby Turner, who left his post in July. According to The Islander, Turner cited a “lack of qualified administrative support” from local officials as well as “paranoid, unqualified, neophyte ‘micromanagement’ which has plagued our town government for some two decades.” 

At the selectboard meeting earlier this month, several residents in attendance said they were concerned about the town’s politics — and about its leaders — going forward.

“You do realize that now that we’ve had two, three resignations, the selectboard is going to be under extreme scrutiny?” Robin Gutierrez said to the two remaining board members.

Graziano took a pause before replying. 

“That is to be expected,” she said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Town officers, selectboard member resign from Isle La Motte government.

Alburgh’s school board is taking steps to distance itself from the Grand Isle Supervisory Union after members previously voted no confidence in the supervisory union’s superintendent, furthering tensions between the two bodies as the new school year gets underway. 

Meanwhile, Superintendent Michael Clark said last week that he plans to resign at the end of the 2023-24 school year, chalking up his decision — at least in part — to a simmering dispute with the Alburgh board over special education services. 

Alburgh School Board members have said that, during the previous school year, about a dozen Alburgh students were not receiving special education services and had not even been assigned to special educators. Board members have said they fear the lack of services has prevented the school from meeting special education regulations. 

But Clark has disputed parts of that account, saying the issue came down to a special educator taking a leave of absence partway through the year, and a widespread staffing shortage that has made it extremely difficult to hire special educators. 

He and several supervisory union board members have also said that Alburgh’s board has made an insufficient effort to address the special education shortages.

The Grand Isle Supervisory Union oversees the Alburgh school district and provides key services, including data and financial management, school meals and special education. Along with the Alburgh district, the supervisory union includes the South Hero School District and the Champlain Islands Unified Union School District. 

The Alburgh board oversees the Alburgh Community Education Center, a roughly 200-student pre-K-8 school.

At a special meeting Monday night, Alburgh board members voted to adopt a policy that all communications sent to Alburgh students, staff and parents “be printed or electronically sent on our school district letterhead” and “not contain any mention” of the supervisory union. 

Michael Savage, the Alburgh School Board chair, acknowledged in an interview on Wednesday that the move “may seem trivial” but said the board thinks it’s important to highlight the local district’s own identity as it’s considering leaving the supervisory union entirely. 

The board also voted to apply more scrutiny to contracts for Alburgh school employees, which Savage said would help ensure the district was hiring the most qualified staff. 

“We answer to the taxpayers of Alburgh — and, you know, our concern and our job is to take care of the staff and students of Alburgh,” Savage said in an interview.

Alburgh board members also pointed to letters the board received from three Alburgh Community Education Center teachers, who wrote that they did not think students requiring special education services were fully supported by the supervisory union last school year. 

“While some of our frustrations stemmed from a staffing shortage, many of our issues were a result of a lack of communication, clarity and follow up,” wrote Meghan Mello, a math teacher, in a letter dated Aug. 4. 

Monday’s meeting was at times contentious, as Sylvia Jensen, a Grand Isle Supervisory Union board member from Isle La Motte, said during public comment that Alburgh board members had failed to communicate their school’s needs to the supervisory union and questioned their decision to vote no-confidence in Clark and another top official.

Clark submitted his resignation letter to the supervisory union’s board ahead of its Aug. 22 meeting. The letter did not mention the disagreement with the Alburgh board, but in comments to board members, he said that after Alburgh’s no-confidence vote he did not feel comfortable leading the entire supervisory union community. He said he wanted to give the board significant advance notice so that it had time to find his replacement. 

“It’s been a challenging summer,” Clark said at last week’s meeting, speaking about the vote. “If we continue on the path that we’re on, it’s not good for our students, it’s not good for our faculty, it’s not good for our staff and it’s not good for our communities.”

The board unanimously approved Clark’s resignation on Aug. 22, with at least one member saying he was doing so reluctantly.

At that meeting, Clark and supervisory union board members also expressed concerns that the Alburgh board had, over two meetings this summer, delayed paying its local share of the supervisory union’s budget for the second half of 2023.

Worried that nonpayment could endanger services rendered to other schools in the county, the supervisory union board approved a motion stating that, if Alburgh’s board did not pay its roughly $582,000 assessment for supervisory union services by the end of August, the supervisory union would begin prioritizing “services to those districts that paid for those services, even where it may leave member districts without services.”

The Alburgh board voted Monday night to pay the assessment, and members disputed the characterization that they were not planning to do so. Savage said the board was instead waiting to act until it received more information from the supervisory union about how its local payments were being used at the countywide level. 

Clark said on Aug. 22 that he provided Stacey Gould, the Alburgh board’s vice chair, with a full accounting of the supervisory union’s finances. In a message to Gould dated Aug. 14, Clark wrote that “the idea that somehow there are students in Alburgh who have not received services is inaccurate.”

“Students have received the services identified in their (individualized education programs),” Clark wrote. “In the case of the services that were to be delivered to students by a special educator who left their position at the end of April, all families have been offered compensatory services.”

Savage said on Wednesday — which was the first day of school — that the Alburgh Community Education Center now has a replacement special educator on hand, and there should not be any immediate gaps in special education services. 

But he said the Alburgh board members believe they would have access to more special education resources for students if they were part of a different — and perhaps larger — supervisory union, so members are forming a committee to study what it would take to leave the Grand Isle County district. 

He said the board has not engaged with any other supervisory unions yet but did not see a path forward under the current structure. 

“Right now, I think you’ve got a better chance of finding a unicorn than improving this relationship,” Savage said. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Alburgh School Board moves to distance itself from Grand Isle Supervisory Union.

Well over a century after it was founded, the County Courier — billed as “Franklin County’s community weekly newspaper” — has stopped publishing a print edition. Meanwhile, another northwestern Vermont newspaper is planning to resurrect a print edition and a third is up for sale. 

A note to readers in the County Courier’s July 27 issue said that, due to rising printing costs, it plans to publish stories only online “for the foreseeable future.” The 142-year-old newspaper, based in Enosburg Falls, is owned, published and edited by reporter Greg Lamoureux. It also “will be reorganizing” under a new business model, the note says.

“Bob Dylan once wrote, ‘The times they are a-changin,’” the note reads. “That rings true this week for the readers of the County Courier.”

The paper’s final print edition ran a single, short story on its front page about rainfall in Franklin County following the intense flooding earlier in July. Inside, the 8-page issue carried several opinion pieces and local crime briefs, as well as obituaries, details of property transfers and a roundup of social gatherings in the town of Montgomery. 

Since late last month, the County Courier has been posting some news stories to its website, which in the past largely carried just local obituaries.

The newspaper did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week about its decision to cease printing. No one answered the door at its office on Main Street in Enosburg Falls on Wednesday afternoon. The office appeared dark from the outside. 

The County Courier is the latest in a series of Vermont newspapers to scale back following decades of decline in print advertising revenue, a trend exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Hardwick Gazette ended its print edition in 2020 and sold its building the next year. The owner of the Waterbury Record closed that paper in 2020. And the daily newspapers that once dominated Vermont journalism, such as the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald, have hemorrhaged staff and circulation for years. 

The County Courier’s decision means the twice-weekly Saint Albans Messenger is now the only print paper regularly covering Franklin County. The Messenger has eight reporters and editors contributing to its coverage, according to managing editor Bridget Higdon.

Higdon said her newsroom was saddened to hear that the County Courier had stopped printing. “We want to support fellow newspapers and want to see local media survive,” she said, adding that the Messenger is “going to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Unlike the County Courier, the Messenger is owned by a national newspaper company: O’Rourke Media Group. The firm, led by executive Jim O’Rourke, also publishes three other papers in northwestern Vermont: the Essex Reporter, Colchester Sun and Milton Independent. 

After buying the papers in 2018, O’Rourke cut staff in half and slashed the Messenger’s print schedule from six days to two, Seven Days reported in 2021. None of the three Chittenden County papers, meanwhile, have published print editions since 2020.

But that’s set to change, according to Higdon, who’s also managing editor of the Reporter, the Sun and the Independent. The company is planning for the Essex newspaper to publish a monthly print issue starting in September. And Higdon said she hopes the Colchester and Milton newspapers will begin printing monthly, too, at some point in 2024.

The new Essex print issue will feature coverage of government and schools, as well as “longer investigative pieces, eye-catching photography, obituaries, letters to the editor, community-contributed content and more,” according to an online announcement.

Change is also underway at another northwestern Vermont newspaper — The Islander, which largely covers Milton and the five towns that make up Grand Isle County. Tonya Poutry, who has edited and published that paper since 2016, and has worked there since the early 2000s, wrote in an article last week that she now intends to sell it. 

Poutry chalked up her decision to the competing pressures of running another local business — The Green Frog, a gift shop in South Hero — as well as wanting to try something new. She wants to sell the paper to another local resident, she wrote in a publisher’s note, but will likely offer it to national newspaper chains if no one bites.

Poutry declined to elaborate on her written note when reached on the phone.

“I welcome anyone that would like to have a discussion to contact me by the end of August,” she wrote. “I love the Champlain Islands and am proud to have served you all for as long as I have.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: County Courier stops printing, one of several changes to northwestern Vermont media.

For the first time in 2023, mosquitoes in Vermont have tested positive for West Nile virus. The disease was detected through an interagency surveillance effort by the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the Department of Health.

The virus was found in mosquito pools from Alburgh and Vergennes, according to a health department press release issued Tuesday. The West Nile virus is typically detected in all 14 Vermont counties from June through October, but “the risk is highest in late summer and early autumn,” according to the release.   

Since 2002, 17 human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Vermont, with the last confirmed case in 2021. No cases of West Nile virus in humans or animals have been reported this year. There have been no human cases of the more deadly Eastern equine encephalitis, also transmitted through bites from infected mosquitoes, since 2012.

“Fortunately, most people infected will never have symptoms, and cases of West Nile virus have been rare in Vermont,” said Natalie Kwit, the state’s public health veterinarian. “But West Nile virus and other diseases spread by mosquitoes can be serious for some people, and there’s no vaccine or specific medicines available for West Nile virus infection.” 

The virus may have symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea or rash. Particularly for people over age 60 and those with certain medical conditions, the virus can pose a risk for more serious illness, such as encephalitis — inflammation of the brain.  

“The best protection is to take simple measures to protect yourself and family from mosquito bites,” which is how the virus is transmitted, said Kwit. She advised people to contact their health provider if they feel unwell. 

The health department recommends that Vermont residents wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants outdoors; limit time outside at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most likely to bite; and use an effective insect repellent. They can consult a repellent finder tool provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The department also suggests clearing any standing water from gutters, tires or play pools; covering strollers and outdoor playpens with mosquito netting; and fixing holes in screens and ensuring they are fixed to doors and windows properly.

Horse owners should ensure their animals are up to date on vaccinations for the West Nile virus and other diseases transmitted by infected insects or ticks, the department said. While horses cannot spread the virus to humans or other horses, it can be fatal to unvaccinated animals.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Mosquitoes from Alburgh and Vergennes test positive for West Nile virus.

A Burlington man with a history of defrauding businesses admitted last week to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from a well-known South Hero restaurant.

Paul Hendler, 51, pleaded guilty on June 30 in U.S. District Court in Burlington to one felony count of forgery in a case involving the Blue Paddle Bistro and its spinoff eatery, Blue Paddle on the Bay, which has since closed. 

Hendler is being held in the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1, according to court documents. 

A plea agreement between Hendler and federal prosecutors calls for Hendler to serve three years in prison, though he could face up to 10. He will have to pay back the money he stole, according to the agreement. 

Blue Paddle co-owner Mandy Hotchkiss, who attended last week’s hearing, said it’s “a huge relief” to have justice after a four-year ordeal.

“I felt like a thousand pounds was lifted off my shoulders,” said Hotchkiss, who owns the bistro with Phoebe Bright, an award-winning chef.

According to Hotchkiss and court documents, Hendler embezzled between $95,000 and $150,000 from her businesses.

“Just seeing a judge say ‘I don’t trust you and you’re going away,’ I felt like crying because I was happy,” she said. “I was happy that we might see some of our money coming back because, as a small business, that would be helpful.”

One of Hendler’s lawyers, Brooks G. McArthur, declined via email to comment “until the case is complete, including sentencing.”

A federal grand jury in Burlington charged Hendler in January 2022 with forgery and making false statements, in violation of terms of his release on previous fraud charges from 2015.

Between 2019 and 2021, according to an indictment, Hendler worked on projects for After Noonies LLC, the business entity that operated the two South Hero restaurants. 

Sometime in 2020, Hendler took the company’s checkbook, according to the indictment, which states that he “embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the business by stealing cash receipts generated by the restaurants, forging the business owner’s signature on checks Hendler made out to himself, and by fraudulently inducing the owner to give him blank checks, signed by her, which Hendler then made payable to himself,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont. 

The indictment also alleged that Hendler, who had been ordered to pay at least 10% of his monthly income toward roughly $555,000 in restitution obligations for previous charges, was underreporting his earnings.  

As part of the plea agreement, the second charge was dropped. 

Blue Paddle on the Bay closed in 2021. 

Hendler formerly lived in South Hero and Taftsville. In 2015, he was sentenced to 27 months after pleading guilty to 14 charges of felony fraud related to defrauding several individuals and businesses.

As she awaits Hendler’s sentencing, Hotchkiss said she is grateful to customers for their continued support. The bistro has faced several challenges in recent years — from Covid-19-related closures and staffing woes to a winter freeze and flooding in February that closed the restaurant for more than three months. 

The latest development is a sign of brighter times ahead, Hotchkiss said, whose goal is to be “the very best restaurant we can be and make as many people happy and continue putting out the best food.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: After guilty plea, Burlington man awaits sentencing for embezzling from Blue Paddle Bistro.

South Hero officials are calling the town office building a “total loss” after an inspection earlier this month found a host of structural issues in addition to wood rot and mold.

“This building is not going to be salvageable,” said Ross Brown, vice chair of the South Hero Selectboard, at a board meeting in the town office Monday. “It’s a tear-down.”

According to the inspector’s report, the crawl space of the 1920s-era building is full of standing water, which has caused beams that hold up the ground floor to rot — “a major structural concern.” The inspector could not get a full look around the basement, according to the report, because there was so much water and mud in the way.

Standing water has also caused excessive mold growth underneath the ground floor that needs professional remediation, the report found. The inspector documented cracks and other weaknesses across the building’s exterior stonework and windows, as well as handrails inside and outside that do not comply with state accessibility rules.

The report also pointed out a likely presence of asbestos fibers in the ceilings of the building and urged the town to redirect a pipe that was likely venting out toxic fumes from the building’s sewer system just feet away from a second-floor window.

David Carter, the chair of the selectboard, characterized the report as “sobering” at a June 12 board meeting where its findings were first shared with the public.

Officials ordered tests of the building’s air quality after Martha Taylor-Varney, the town zoning administrator, expressed concerns at that meeting over the amount of mold described in the report. 

Test samples collected June 16 showed that the concentration of mold spores was by far the highest — nearly double the amount outside the building — in the crawl space area. Concentrations were about 20 times lower in the main entryway and common room, and lower still in the office spaces that Taylor-Varney and other staff use.

Brown said at Monday’s meeting he was not concerned about the building’s air quality after seeing the test results, and no other board members raised concerns, either.

Town officials commissioned the inspection in the first place as part of an effort to study the feasibility of relocating the town offices to the nearby site of the town’s historic Old White Meeting House. Voters approved a feasibility study on Town Meeting Day.

Brown, who is now leading a feasibility study committee, said the results of the building inspection could expedite the panel’s work. There are numerous smaller repairs detailed in the inspection report that the town could be able to tackle in the meantime, he said. 

Town officials and residents have known about issues in the ailing Route 2 building — many of which are visible from the outside — for years, though suggested at recent meetings that the extent of the structural woes was worse than they were expecting. Officials also maintain that the town’s needs have outgrown their existing building. 

At its meeting June 19, members of the study committee said it may not be feasible to move the town offices into the old meeting house, which also needs significant repairs and is the subject of an ongoing preservation campaign. Instead, they’re now looking into what it would take to stand up a new, separate town office building entirely. 

The feasibility study committee plans to meet again at 6 p.m. Monday, July 3, and officials urged residents to come and share ideas for the best next steps.

Read the story on VTDigger here: South Hero’s town office is a ‘total loss,’ officials say.

The Alburgh School Board on Monday approved a no-confidence motion in Grand Isle Supervisory Union’s superintendent and another top official, highlighting tensions between the board and its supervisory union. 

The no-confidence vote, aimed at superintendent Michael Clark and Nick DeVita, the supervisory union’s director of student support services, was due primarily to complaints over a lack of special education services for Alburgh students, said Michael Savage, the chair of the Alburgh School Board. 

In recent months, the five-member Alburgh board has also been mulling the possibility of withdrawing from the umbrella of the Grand Isle Supervisory Union. In an interview, Savage alluded to other, unspecified concerns that, he said, have frayed the relationship between Alburgh and its supervisory union. 

“We’re really at wits’ end with this,” Savage said at a Monday board meeting. “And I just don’t — I don’t see how we move forward at this point. There’s no trust.”

One board member was absent for Monday’s vote, which was otherwise unanimous.

The Grand Isle Supervisory Union oversees school districts in Grand Isle County, which includes a peninsula and chain of islands in Vermont’s northernmost reaches of Lake Champlain. Along with Alburgh’s district, the supervisory union also includes the South Hero School District and the Champlain Islands Unified Union School District. 

Each member district has its own school board. The Alburgh board oversees the Alburgh Community Education Center, a roughly 200-student pre-K-8 school in the Grand Isle County town. 

Member districts receive key services, such as data and financial management, special education and school meals from their supervisory union. 

But Savage said in an interview that, over the past few months, some Alburgh students were not receiving special education services and had not even been assigned to special educators. He estimated that “more than 10 families” had been affected. 

Board members fear the lack of services may be preventing the school from meeting special education regulations. 

“The special educators that we do have on site — you know, our educators, our teachers — basically have been begging for help since February, and just nothing was being done,” Savage said.  

But Clark, the supervisory union superintendent, disputed parts of that account. 

The Alburgh School District started the year fully staffed, Clark said, but a special educator had to take a leave of absence partway through the year. He noted that a widespread staffing shortage has made it extremely difficult to hire special educators. 

“Teachers, interventionists, other special educators, support staff, administrators did the best they could to support students affected by the sudden loss of the special education teacher,” Clark said.

And from his perspective, Clark said, Alburgh’s board has made insufficient effort to address special education shortages: The board has had no recent agenda items dealing with special education, he said, nor have its members brought up the subject at supervisory union board meetings. 

“I’m happy to report to the Alburgh board (and) have the conversation,” Clark said. 

Alburgh’s board, however, is already discussing leaving the Grand Isle Supervisory Union. Earlier this month, the board hosted a presentation by an attorney to discuss the legal process for withdrawing from a supervisory union. 

The district is considering asking voters on Town Meeting Day in March 2024 to weigh in on withdrawal, Savage said.

“We’re looking into that at this time, and that’s going to be studied,” he said. “Basically, we have issues. And we need to find solutions to those issues.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Alburgh School Board votes no confidence in superintendent, considers leaving supervisory union.

Plans to build a long-discussed child care center in Alburgh are back on the table, more than a year after a legal dispute with the local school district left the project in limbo.

The Alburgh Family Clubhouse has a new proposed location just north of the village center on Missile Base Road. Gina Lewis, president of the clubhouse board of directors, said she is optimistic construction will get underway this summer. 

Still, project leaders — who proposed the center in 2016 — need to raise more than $1.5 million to fund a revised facility that is both larger and more complex than in earlier plans. The early childhood education center is slated to serve 62 children, from birth through fifth grade.

“Things are moving — and I’m very excited,” Lewis said in an interview.

The clubhouse directors had planned to build the center on the campus of Alburgh’s K-8 school. But they ended their relationship with the school district early last year, saying that the district was not addressing complications with a construction bid quickly enough. The bid did not meet state Agency of Education requirements for projects located on school grounds, school district officials said at the time.  

Both sides were cautious about signing a memorandum of understanding with each other, according to Lewis, and the clubhouse board decided it could build the project faster on its own. She noted that around the same time, the board was approached by a local landowner who offered to donate a piece of land on which the facility could be built. 

That deal is currently being finalized, Lewis said. 

The clubhouse would be about a quarter-mile from the site of an underground nuclear missile silo built by the U.S. military in the early 1960s. The site, which was shuttered by the end of the decade, is now owned by the Alburgh town government.

Past environmental assessments at the missile site have found chemicals in the soil and groundwater including total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and metals, according to a town government memo from 2018. The memo said these past reports found that “contact with these materials may present a low level of risk,” but overall conditions at the site “do not represent a significant risk to human health or the environment.”

A Williston engineering firm conducted an assessment of the clubhouse site in June 2022 and found no threat from hazardous substances, according to the firm’s report. 

The missile site “is not considered to present an environmental risk to the (clubhouse) property,” the recent assessment stated, in part because it is located downhill from where the child care center would be built. 

Lewis said the project’s board is confident that the site is safe.

With its new proposed location, the project now includes some amenities that the clubhouse board previously was planning to share with the school: a full kitchen, for instance, and a dedicated room for where children could have after-school care. Plans also include a septic system, since the project will no longer be built near a sewer line.

In all, the project is estimated to cost about $2.7 million. 

The board lost access to $250,000 in funding tied to the school district when it decided to move locations. But Lewis said it still has about $1 million of federal, state and private funding on hand that members have already raised. The board has applied for more grants, she said, and plans to launch a capital campaign later this year.

Plans are for the child care center to be open and operating by July 2024.

Years after the project was proposed, Lewis added, Alburgh residents continue to face what board members have called a “desperate” need for access to child care.

Lewis often sees posts on the town’s Facebook page, asking if locals have heard about an open slot. Several families who regularly visit the town library, where Lewis works, take their children to child care facilities in neighboring Franklin County, she said. 

A 2020 analysis conducted for the board found that Alburgh was “far underserved” by child care options, and many families in the roughly 1,800-person town “are forced to patch together a number of childcare arrangements, work limited hours according to when care is available, or not work at all due to lack of care.”

One challenge the board is working through now, Lewis said, is how to recruit the 19 staff members it expects to need for the new facility. If all goes to plan, she said, the center would be the town’s second-largest employer after the local K-8 school. 

“It’s hard to get people out here,” Lewis said of the rural island town. 

The school’s pre-K teacher — who taught the only program in town, with 17 students — left that job in February, and the district could not find a replacement to finish out the school year, according to Michael Savage, chair of the Alburgh School Board.

Some families moved their children to a pre-K program at the school in neighboring North Hero, Savage said, but it’s clear that the town needs more local options. He said the district expects to have a teacher hired by the start of the 2023-24 school year.

“There are some privately run programs in Grand Isle, in South Hero,” he said, “but in terms of Alburgh families, that wouldn’t be that accessible for a lot of folks here.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Plan for Alburgh child care center is back in motion.

Five people have been charged with misdemeanors for their alleged involvement in a brawl at a middle school basketball game in Alburgh earlier this year, Vermont State Police announced in a press release Friday night. 

Police said they “uncovered no evidence to support criminal charges” related to the death of 60-year-old Russell Giroux of Alburgh, who died after experiencing an “acute cardiac event” while driving home from the game on Jan. 31.  

Jacqueline Giroux, 30, of Alburgh, Jacques Giroux, 32, of Alburgh, Jason O’Leary, 30, of Alburgh, Steven Carbone, 43, of St. Albans, and Damien Kieu, 24, of St. Albans are facing charges of simple assault, mutual affray, and disorderly conduct, according to the release. 

Their arraignments are scheduled for May 11 in the Grand Isle Superior criminal court in North Hero.

“After reviewing multiple videos of the incident, investigators determined that an ongoing verbal dispute during the game between groups of fans for the Alburgh and St. Albans boys’ basketball teams escalated into a fight on the court at the Alburgh Community Education Center,” police said. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: 5 charged with simple assault in Alburgh brawl case.

Phoebe Bright, an award-winning chef, returned to Vermont last month after spending a week in Saudi Arabia with her friend and mentor, Michelin star chef Anita Lo. Two days later, on Feb. 5, she stepped back into the kitchen of the South Hero restaurant she co-owns, Blue Paddle Bistro, and discovered a waterfall cascading from the ceiling and onto the kitchen floor. 

“I went running down into the basement, and before I knew it I was in three feet of water,” Bright said. 

The bistro’s heater had broken the day before, which had caused pipes to freeze and then burst, flooding the kitchen, Bright said. 

The restaurant has been closed ever since. Repairs are underway, and the owners hope to reopen May 4 in order to be ready for the busy summer season.

“We’re in the drywall phase,” said Rory Cardinal, owner of Construction Management Direct, which is coordinating the repairs. “We’re starting to put the walls back together.”

Next, Cardinal said, the crew expects to paint the walls and replace the flooring, then add the finishing touches. 

Although Bright and her co-owner Mandy Hotchkiss said they are disappointed by what happened, both said they are optimistic about the restaurant’s future. 

“We have to start as if we have a brand-new restaurant, right?” Bright said. “Which is exciting.”

Divided by the senses

Hotchkiss and Bright — who have been friends for 37 years — run the business together in distinct ways, divided by the senses. And though over the years they’ve had their share of “cat fights,” as Bright describes them, the two friends have worked out separate management practices that keep Blue Paddle afloat. 

Hotchkiss said she handles the website, social media and customer outreach for the restaurant, while Bright handles the food. 

“Everything that you see is Mandy; everything that you taste is me,” Bright said. 

Bright said Hotchkiss’ work on social media during the winter closing has been essential. Since the day of the kitchen flood in February, Hotchkiss has been updating the Blue Paddle’s Facebook page — which has accumulated over 16,000 followers — every step of the way. 

“Because of Mandy and her marketing skills and using social media, she keeps them engaged,” Bright said. 

Hotchkiss posts progress updates, positive shout-outs to workers involved in the restoration, contests in which followers can win gift cards and, of course, photos of the “paddle pups” — her dogs, whom customers have gotten to know well over the years. 

March 14 was the Blue Paddle’s 18-year anniversary, which couldn’t be celebrated in-person at the restaurant because of the closure. Even so, Hotchkiss highlighted multiple customer shout-outs on the Facebook page as the Blue Paddle community wished the owners a happy anniversary. 

“She’s sort of built this community over the last 17 or so years,” longtime customer David McKay said. He likened eating at the Blue Paddle to going to a friend’s house for dinner. 

“You’re just sort of made to feel immediately welcome and you just relax,” he said. 

While Hotchkiss’ genial personality has helped build strong customer relationships, it is only half of the equation. Bright, voted best chef in Vermont in Seven Days’ 2022 Daysies Awards, designs a simple yet refined menu that gives customers’ taste buds a reason to return. 

Bright describes her cooking as “delicious yet unpretentious,” according to the Blue Paddle website. She said she wants people to taste her food and feel as if they’re at home. 

“I also really feel that a customer shouldn’t be your guinea pig,” she said. While Bright occasionally changes the menu, she does so in slight, purposeful ways to ensure that customers have the tastes and familiarity they need.

“It changes enough so that you don’t get bored,” McKay said, but not so much that the menu feels too different the next time around.

The menu offers a variety of options — pub fare like the all-American burger and the panko- and almond-crusted chicken sandwich, and entrees such as gorgonzola-stuffed meatloaf and lobster risotto. 

Bright said she’ll look at a recipe, but she never follows it all the way through. She describes the crafting of her recipes as a balancing act between flavors.

“There’s nothing more complimentary to me than somebody sitting at a table going, ‘What is that flavor?’” she said. “That’s kind of a cool feeling, right?”

Friends, not customers

The Blue Paddle restaurant on Route 2 in South Hero looks like a house. Customers say it feels like one, too. 

“The customers are very loyal and faithful,” said longtime customer Lisa Lewis of Plattsburgh, New York. “It’s akin to very close friends, or family, and that’s been fostered by Mandy and Phoebe.”

Because of their bond with customers, Bright and Hotchkiss said the restoration project is far from the biggest challenge the Blue Paddle has faced in 18 years in business. Even from the beginning, they said, the customers have always been there for them to lean on. 

“I don’t even call them customers,” Hotchkiss said. “They’re all friends.”

One challenge occurred in the restaurant’s early years, in 2008, when Bright found out she had tongue cancer — stemming from radiation treatment she received when she had lymphoma at age 29. 

Bright was told she had squamous cell carcinoma and needed surgery to remove it. Doctors would cut away at her tongue to remove the cancerous cells. 

“I said to my doctor, ‘Am I going to be able to talk after this?’” Bright said. “He’s like, ‘We’ll see.’”

Though she was ill, Bright said, the cancer was also Hotchkiss’ challenge because Hotchkiss had to pick up the slack while Bright was sick. 

At the time, Hotchkiss said, Bright lived around the corner from the Blue Paddle and Hotchkiss described running over to her house during dinner service to change Bright’s feeding tube and make sure her bed was made. 

“My best friend was so sick and we had just opened up the business for two and a half years,” Hotchkiss said. “I had to keep it going.”

Customers stepped up. “People came in more, because they’re like, ‘We understand. We want to support you,’” Hotchkiss said.

A year ago, two of Hotchkiss’ dogs died, including Wynott — pronounced, “why not,” which was Hotchkiss’ reply when Bright asked why she wanted a new dog. Wynott had made friends with many customers, she said.

“She affected a lot of people,” Hotchkiss said. And when Wynott got sick, she said, “I had over 2,000 people email me pictures.” Hotchkiss said the outpouring of support was a testament to how the dogs had affected people over the years, but Bright politely cut her off.

“I think it’s a testimony to you and the customers that come here, and why people keep on coming back,” she said. 

The symbiotic customer-restaurant relationship remains 15 years later during this latest challenge. Customers comment regularly on Hotchkiss’ Facebook posts, promising to return to the Blue Paddle for dinner once it reopens. 

‘This is an opportunity’

Bright says challenges like the flooding are nothing out of the ordinary for her and Hotchkiss. “There are obstacles every day,” she said. “Being a restaurant owner is an obstacle.”

But simultaneously serving as head chef can be relentless, Bright said.

Blue Paddle has a small kitchen, which rules out some of the items she’d like to put on the menu. All the dishes are washed by hand because there’s not enough space for a dishwasher. She doesn’t have a heat lamp and isn’t happy if an entree isn’t delivered to the table within 15 seconds. It can be hard to deal with employees, Bright said, especially since the pandemic. She can’t stand looking at her kitchen floor and said no matter how much mopping she does, the crumbs remain. 

She said she’s had to take breaks from the kitchen in the past, working off and on for a period between 2017 and 2020. But, as Bright looks ahead, she’s reflecting on how she’s changed. 

“I’ve grown up a lot,” she said. “I mean, I don’t think one should ever grow up, but in terms of my stress level and being snappy and being more patient, I’ve come a long way for sure.”

Bright said she sees an opportunity in the forced renovations. She and Hotchkiss agree that she hasn’t been this excited to step back into her kitchen in a while. She used her battle with cancer as a metaphor for what the Blue Paddle is going through. 

“It’s kind of like almost having cancer in a weird way,” she said. “Going through chemotherapy and coming out the other side and having a brand new body to work with, that’s kind of what this is all about.” 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Blue Paddle Bistro owners see silver lining in winter kitchen flood .

The man who died just hours after a fight at a middle school basketball game in Alburgh earlier this year suffered an “acute cardiac event” after he was involved in the fight, Vermont State Police said Friday.

It was not previously clear from official reports whether the man, 60-year-old Russell Giroux of Alburgh, had taken part in the brawl before he died the night of Jan. 31.

According to police, an autopsy determined that Giroux died from an “acute cardiac event following altercation in an individual with coronary artery atherosclerosis.” Atherosclerosis refers to a buildup of plaque on the arteries’ inner walls.

Police said Giroux’s manner of death “will be listed as ‘undetermined.’”

The basketball game was among seventh and eighth grade boys from the Alburgh Community Education Center and St. Albans City Elementary School.

Police said Friday that they were still investigating the fight and working with the Grand Isle County State’s Attorney’s Office to determine if anyone involved should face criminal charges.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Alburgh man died from ‘acute cardiac event’ after fight at basketball game.

Franklin and Grand Isle counties need 3,350 new or improved housing units to meet the needs of current residents — not to mention those expected to move to the region in the future, according to a wide-ranging report released this month. 

The report, published by the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, found that while nearly all of the housing units built in those counties over the past two decades have been standalone single-family homes, a majority of the region’s population growth in that time has come from single-person households. These households, the report states, often can’t afford to live in lower-density units, and about a third of them are renters.

That mismatch also comes as the cost of housing has reached historic highs, according to the report. A median-priced, single-family home cost $275,000 in Franklin County in 2021 — compared to about $225,000 in 2010 and $175,000 in 2000, the report found. 

In Grand Isle County, the median cost in 2021 was $330,050 — versus about $260,000 in 2010 and $200,000 in 2000.

The two counties collectively gained about 2,500 residents from 2010 to 2020 and grew faster than Vermont as a whole, according to U.S. Census data. But the report projects that growth will slow over the next two decades — particularly in Grand Isle County, which is expected to see a net population loss.

Therefore, it’s important for officials to create housing options that “catch up” with the needs of current residents, the report states, rather than only plan for future growth.

In all, the report estimates that 7,600 households in Franklin and Grand Isle counties have unmet housing needs. They may have nowhere to live or are living in poor conditions, for example. About 6,600 residents in the region are “cost burdened,” the report found, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

“That’s pretty alarming,” said Barry Lampke, the regional planning commission’s working communities challenge project manager. Lampke noted that the percentage of cost-burdened residents is highest among those who identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of color.

Vermonters are feeling the impacts of a housing crisis well beyond the northwestern region. The state has the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country. If current trends hold, it would need to build 40,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet demand and return to a healthy housing market, according to one nonprofit’s estimate.

Lampke noted the report is based largely on data only as recent as 2020, the year of the most recent U.S. Census. But he said many people’s housing challenges have gotten worse in the two years since, pointing to a supply shortage, inflation and high interest rates.

The report says northwestern Vermont’s housing stock needs to be made more diverse by building out what’s known as the “missing middle” — more modest housing that falls somewhere between single-family homes and multistory apartment buildings. 

Detached single-family homes made up more than 75% of the housing stock in Franklin and Grand Isle counties in 2020, the report found. From 2010 to 2019, single-family units were the only type of new housing that received permits in seven of the region’s 20 communities. Over the past two decades, according to the report, the region’s housing stock became more uniform, not less.

The study also found that few communities are seeing much new housing growth. St. Albans Town and Fairfax accounted for 42% of the region’s total growth in the previous two decades, and just three other communities averaged more than 10 new units a year. St. Albans Town also has most of the region’s newest multi-family structures. 

“The targeted location of new units, when combined with the limited range of unit types being built, leads to housing that may only meet the needs and budgets of a small slice of the region’s households,” the report, which was released March 2, states. 

Andy Julow, executive director of the Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corp., said he’s seen this firsthand in the five Grand Isle County towns. Much of the recent construction there has been of single-family homes on expensive lakeshore lots, he said. Julow also noted that the number of local affordable housing options catering to seasonal workers — vital to the islands’ tourism economy — seems to have dwindled. 

“Twenty years ago, I think there were more accessory dwelling units,” he said in an interview, but “a lot of those have been turned into short-term rentals.” 

The report notes that in six of the northwestern region’s communities, seasonal housing makes up more than a quarter of the local housing stock. It also states that the counties do not have enough safe housing for seniors, a potent issue in a region and a state with an aging population.

To meet their current housing needs, Franklin and Grand Isle counties will need to build at least 1,600 units designed for seniors who have a disability, researchers found, and at least 570 new units that would allow young adults who are currently living with their families or other people to move out on their own. For people who are experiencing homelessness, they found, the region needs at least 80 additional units of transitional housing.  

The region also needs at least 460 mobile homes to replace aging units that are in poor condition, upgrades to at least 380 existing permanent homes and 260 additional units for residents who are currently living in overcrowded housing, according to the report.

The report also recommends setting annual targets for “housing interventions” spread across the region’s municipalities. These could include targets for new construction, renovation work and the number of people enrolled in housing affordability programs.

Lampke, of the regional planning commission, acknowledged that meeting the needs identified in the study will be “a big lift.” He said he thinks that an omnibus housing bill moving forward in Montpelier this year — which would pave the way for more construction by overhauling state and local building regulations — could help out. 

“Is it a challenge? Absolutely,” he said. “Is it possible? Absolutely.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Housing challenges in northwestern Vermont run deep, study finds.

Kayla Duvel is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.

Not all of Dave Martin’s sheep have names. He likes some more than others.

He should probably name them all, though, because they deserve some credit: Martin’s flock at his Underhill farm is the starting point for every sweater from Muriel’s of Vermont.

Muriel’s is a mother-and-son garment business based out of a makeshift workshop in Grand Isle, down the road from the island’s state park. The duo sources fleece for its sweaters and sweater-vests from local shepherds, driven by the same small-scale sensibility for which many Vermont craftspeople strive.  

“Muriel’s was mom’s brainchild,” said Cyrus Brooks, 24, who co-owns the company with his mother, Laura Jacoby.

The two started the business in 2018 after Jacoby, 57, took interest in hand-crank knitting using local wool she picked up from farmers markets. As a child she had watched her late mother, Muriel, craft clothes just like that, and Jacoby wanted to do the same.

From this interest, Jacoby spun a framework that could turn her hobby into a business — and provide an avenue to work on sustainable, locally sourced fashion on a large scale. Naturally, she named the company after her inspiration. 

Brooks is responsible for the designs of their garments and for keeping their Shima Seiki whole-garment knitting machine in working order.

“Whole-garment knitting technology is like a 3D printer for sweaters,” said Brooks, who cleans the high-tech machine’s 1,600 needles annually to remove any debris. “It takes a ton of tedious work, but I’m pretty proud of this.”

The machine Brooks mans is far from his mother’s hand-crank knitting. It spits out an entire garment, no further assembly required. The machines are typically fed cotton and other fabrics to knit products, Brooks said, and as far as he knows, he is one of the only people in the U.S. using wool instead. 

Many fast-fashion companies make sweaters by section, he said, which requires workers to individually stitch arms to the body of a sweater. A small shop like Muriel’s needed something more efficient.

Brooks can run the machine all by himself and produce one sweater an hour. He just needs to keep an eye on it.

“The idea is that if I can make these sweaters faster and more consistently, then we can make something a bit cheaper than something that was handknit and more ethical than something from Forever 21,” said Brooks.

When a sweater comes out of the machine, Jacoby soaks it in a solution of botanical conditioner and vinegar to soften the fabric. Then she dries them and, with a needle and thread, stitches a Muriel’s of Vermont tag above a hemline or on another out-of-the-way spot.

But the mother and son’s process starts long before all of that. Brooks and Jacoby work with Vermont small business owners like Martin to see each sweater to completion.

The 76-year-old from Underhill has been raising sheep for 30 years and working with Muriel’s for the past five. He’s one of a few shepherds whose sheep lend their wool to the business’ wares.

Martin and his wife, Donna, own about 80 sheep along with a couple goats and a guard donkey named Holly, whose long ears, near-360-degree vision and squeaking bray make her a sharp sentinel for the others. 

“It’s not just a job — it’s a lifestyle and an identity,” Martin said of his family’s farmwork on a recent afternoon outdoors. 

Growing up on a dairy farm in the 1950s and ’60s, Martin developed a sense of care he continues to bring to agriculture.

While other farmers might butcher disabled sheep for meat, Martin insists on raising a blind sheep named 74, who got her name from the tag on her ear. 

During the day, while most of the sheep graze, 74 stays inside the barn with a rotating crew of ruminant friends to keep her company in a safe environment.

“If I were a real farmer, she’d be gone, but look at her — she’s 74,” Martin said, summing up a bond the only way he can.

Once a year in late winter, before lambing season, Martin hires professional shearer Gwen Hinman to groom his flock.

When that’s done, they pack four or five massive crates with about 200 pounds of fleece each.

Then they send the crates off to a wool-processing facility, where the fleece is spun into yarn that people like Brooks and Jacoby can knit. 

One of those facilities is called Green Mountain Spinnery. The yarn-making factory is in Putney, about two hours south of the Muriel’s workshop in Grand Isle.

Co-founder David Ritchie has been helping run the company for more than 40 years. 

The 78-year-old values Jacoby and Brooks’ commitment to being conscious of their agricultural and ecological footprint in the fashion industry.

“They understand this whole concept of small-scale agriculture and improving the land,” Ritchie said. “They want to do something that is good for all of us. They love the fact that they can support these farms and these shepherds and shepherdesses and their sheep.”

He added later, “I feel like their souls are in the right place. I don’t know how else to say it.”

One of Muriel’s goals as a business is to connect Vermont consumers to local farmers and the land.

“I want local wool to be accessible and viable so people have the opportunity to buy ethical clothing,” Brooks said.

From where Martin’s sitting, it’s simple: “When you support local agriculture, you’re supporting the community.”

In the future, the business wants to look toward educational efforts, too. Plenty of people in Vermont raise sheep either exclusively for wool or for meat, Brooks said, and he wonders if they could waste fewer resources by raising breeds that can offer both.

The company has grown since its founding in 2018, but the essence remains the same.

“There’s no better feeling,” said Brooks, “to know that a sweater didn’t travel outside the state of Vermont.”

Clarification: This story was updated to more accurately describe David Ritchie’s role at Green Mountain Spinnery.

Read the story on VTDigger here: From sheep to shop: A Vermont sweater company fights fast fashion.

Updated Sunday, February 12, at 3:16 p.m.

Two men died Saturday morning after a side-by-side utility task vehicle plunged through the ice of Lake Champlain near Grand Isle, according to Vermont State Police. The victims were later identified as Wayne Fleury, 88, of East Montpelier, and his brother, John Fleury, 71, of Williamstown. 

According to police, emergency crews learned shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday that a side-by-side had broken through the ice on Keeler Bay. First responders encountered “difficult conditions” on Keeler Bay due the condition of the ice but were able to pull John Fleury out of the water, according to the press release. South Hero Fire Department personnel brought him to shore and he was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where he later died.  

Police said a Colchester Technical Rescue diver located Wayne Fleury inside of the submerged side-by-side. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

According to police, the deaths were not considered suspicious. 

Saturday’s ice-fishing accident was the second this week in Vermont to claim a life. On Thursday night, according to state police, 62-year-old Grand Isle resident Wayne Alexander died after falling through the ice. 

In a press release announcing Saturday’s accident, Vermont State Police said that the Department of Fish & Wildlife was advising members of the public to stay off Lake Champlain this weekend due to unsafe conditions.

Read the story on VTDigger here: 2 dead in second fatal ice-fishing accident this week.