By Rob Roper Tucked away in the education bill just passed in Montpelier – the one that has everybody talking about consolidation – is $300,000 earmarked for a study. A Legislator familiar with the back-room horse-trading that goes into moving […]
Tag: op-ed
Opinion
To build an army of STEM workers, look to veterans
By Thomas A. Kennedy While the job market has been gaining strength in recent months, there’s one group of Americans who are still struggling to find work: veterans. According to the March report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), […]
Opinion
Vermont and New England must hold onto existing, diverse power sources
Growth of renewable energy is slow By Guy Page In an April 13 Associated Press story, a prominent renewable-energy advocate said Vermont’s wind power industry is “just taking a little hibernation here as federal policy gets the tax credits right.” […]
Opinion
Jobs, affordability and quality of life
By Governor Peter Shumlin We have our work cut out for us this legislative biennium. Too many hardworking Vermonters who are proud members of the middle class are left with a feeling that they are treading water or, worse, dipping […]
Opinion
An agenda for progress
By Governor Peter Shumlin It’s an incredible honor to continue serving as governor for another two years. Vermont is an amazing state which holds a certain promise that has led so many like me to live, work and raise a […]
Opinion
Responsibility instead of the “rubber stamp”
By H. Brooke Paige There has been much speculation in the media and on the internet regarding the subject of Vermont’s constitutional requirement that a “joint session” of the Vermont House and Senate elect our next governor. That the newly […]
Opinion
Marijuana usage among Vt. teens is high
By the Vermont coalition, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Out of all the states in the U.S., tiny Vermont has one of the highest rates of teen marijuana use. Proponents of legalization say that shows how poorly prohibition of marijuana […]
Opinion
Moving forward with publicly financed healthcare and a people’s economy
By James Haslam This week we witnessed Governor Shumlin giving up his role in Vermont’s move to universal healthcare, as he caved to pressure from big businesses. His misguided decision marks the end of a politician’s ambitious career, but not […]
Opinion
Now it’s time to focus on growing the economy
By Lee H. Hamilton Recent economic news has been broadly reassuring. Retail sales are strong, November saw the best job gains in three years, the federal deficit is shrinking, the stock market is robust, and the Fed is expressing enough […]
Opinion
A solution needs a defined problem
By Jack Hoffman There wasn’t a lot of substance in this election season. “Where’s the beef?” isn’t a question we hear much during campaigns anymore, as Jon Margolis lamented in his column in VTDigger.org last week. But while candidates may […]