Episodes

The issue of resettling refugees has been a flashpoint in Rutland. Five years ago, then-Alderman David Allaire fiercely opposed the settlement of 100 Syrian refugees in the city, declaring that the program should be “slowed down, if not stopped.” His opposition to resettling refugees was a central issue in his campaign against Mayor Chris Louras. Six weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated, Allaire soundly defeated Louras in March 2017 in a vote that was widely viewed as a referendum on refugee...

Bill McKibben has a new target for his climate activism: his fellow Baby Boomers. McKibben, the founder of the global climate action group 350.org and a bestselling author, announced last week that he will end his weekly “Climate Crisis” column in The New Yorker and instead launch his own Substack newsletter, The Crucial Years, and a new organization, ThirdAct.org. He tweeted: “We're going to try and organize 'experienced Americans' — i.e., people over 60 like me — around issues of climate just...

Bill McKibben has a new target for his climate activism: his fellow Baby Boomers. McKibben, the founder of the global climate action group 350.org and a bestselling author, announced last week that he will end his weekly “Climate Crisis” column in The New Yorker and instead launch his own Substack newsletter, The Crucial Years, and a new organization, ThirdAct.org. He tweeted: “We're going to try and organize 'experienced Americans' — i.e., people over 60 like me — around issues of climate just...

Bill McKibben has a new target for his climate activism: his fellow Baby Boomers. McKibben, the founder of the global climate action group 350.org and a bestselling author, announced last week that he will end his weekly “Climate Crisis” column in The New Yorker and instead launch his own Substack newsletter, The Crucial Years, and a new organization, ThirdAct.org. He tweeted: “We're going to try and organize 'experienced Americans' — i.e., people over 60 like me — around issues of climate just...

A Texas law that effectively bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy went into effect on September 1. The law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, known as SB8, bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant. It took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, flush with three Trump appointees, refused to grant an emergency request to block it. SB8 has a novel provision that essentially deputizes ordinary citizens to enforce the law and claim a $10,000 bounty on anyone that they think h...

A Texas law that effectively bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy went into effect on September 1. The law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, known as SB8, bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant. It took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, flush with three Trump appointees, refused to grant an emergency request to block it. SB8 has a novel provision that essentially deputizes ordinary citizens to enforce the law and claim a $10,000 bounty on anyone that they think h...

A Texas law that effectively bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy went into effect on September 1. The law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, known as SB8, bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant. It took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, flush with three Trump appointees, refused to grant an emergency request to block it. SB8 has a novel provision that essentially deputizes ordinary citizens to enforce the law and claim a $10,000 bounty on anyone that they think h...

Is Vermont squandering its hard won gains keeping Covid-19 in check? That’s the argument of Anne Sosin, a public health specialist and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. She recently wrote an essay for Time Magazine titled, “Vermont Offered the U.S. a Textbook for Reopening Schools Safely. Why Is It Throwing Out the Lesson Plan?” “We see a departure from the evidence-based approach that’s been so critical to Vermont’...

Is Vermont squandering its hard won gains keeping Covid-19 in check? That’s the argument of Anne Sosin, a public health specialist and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. She recently wrote an essay for Time Magazine titled, “Vermont Offered the U.S. a Textbook for Reopening Schools Safely. Why Is It Throwing Out the Lesson Plan?” “We see a departure from the evidence-based approach that’s been so critical to Vermont’...

Is Vermont squandering its hard won gains keeping Covid-19 in check? That’s the argument of Anne Sosin, a public health specialist and Policy Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. She recently wrote an essay for Time Magazine titled, “Vermont Offered the U.S. a Textbook for Reopening Schools Safely. Why Is It Throwing Out the Lesson Plan?” “We see a departure from the evidence-based approach that’s been so critical to Vermont’...

Less than a week into the school year, cases of Covid-19-positive students are popping up in schools all around the state. Gov. Phil Scott so far has declined to mandate face masks in schools, but he recommends that students and educators wear masks. It has been left to each school district to decide whether or not to mask. “We’re going to always do whatever it takes. We’re going to keep kids as safe as we humanly can,” said Brigid Nease, superintendent of the Harwood Unified Union School Distr...

Less than a week into the school year, cases of Covid-19-positive students are popping up in schools all around the state. Gov. Phil Scott so far has declined to mandate face masks in schools, but he recommends that students and educators wear masks. It has been left to each school district to decide whether or not to mask. “We’re going to always do whatever it takes. We’re going to keep kids as safe as we humanly can,” said Brigid Nease, superintendent of the Harwood Unified Union School Distr...

Less than a week into the school year, cases of Covid-19-positive students are popping up in schools all around the state. Gov. Phil Scott so far has declined to mandate face masks in schools, but he recommends that students and educators wear masks. It has been left to each school district to decide whether or not to mask. “We’re going to always do whatever it takes. We’re going to keep kids as safe as we humanly can,” said Brigid Nease, superintendent of the Harwood Unified Union School Distr...

A curious hallmark of the Covid-19 pandemic is the backlash that it has spawned. Right-wing politicians and their media allies are emboldened as they rage against masks and vaccines, spout conspiracy theories and attack doctors and scientists. Republican governors in Florida and Texas, where infections are raging among children, are blocking schools from mandating that children wear masks, a simple public health measure. Those same states are reporting that their ICUs are full, many of them with...

A curious hallmark of the Covid-19 pandemic is the backlash that it has spawned. Right-wing politicians and their media allies are emboldened as they rage against masks and vaccines, spout conspiracy theories and attack doctors and scientists. Republican governors in Florida and Texas, where infections are raging among children, are blocking schools from mandating that children wear masks, a simple public health measure. Those same states are reporting that their ICUs are full, many of them with...

A curious hallmark of the Covid-19 pandemic is the backlash that it has spawned. Right-wing politicians and their media allies are emboldened as they rage against masks and vaccines, spout conspiracy theories and attack doctors and scientists. Republican governors in Florida and Texas, where infections are raging among children, are blocking schools from mandating that children wear masks, a simple public health measure. Those same states are reporting that their ICUs are full, many of them with...

An extremist movement led by angry and entitled white men is spreading throughout the country, and Vermont is providing fertile ground for their violent hatred. That’s the contention of Michael Shank, a resident of Brandon, who says that he is moving in order to escape armed white extremists who have been harassing him and been tolerated by local authorities. Shank made his case in an op-ed article for USA Today on Aug. 4, titled: "White extremism is winning in my Vermont town. I'm selling my a...

An extremist movement led by angry and entitled white men is spreading throughout the country, and Vermont is providing fertile ground for their violent hatred. That’s the contention of Michael Shank, a resident of Brandon, who says that he is moving in order to escape armed white extremists who have been harassing him and been tolerated by local authorities. Shank made his case in an op-ed article for USA Today on Aug. 4, titled: "White extremism is winning in my Vermont town. I'm selling my a...

An extremist movement led by angry and entitled white men is spreading throughout the country, and Vermont is providing fertile ground for their violent hatred. That’s the contention of Michael Shank, a resident of Brandon, who says that he is moving in order to escape armed white extremists who have been harassing him and been tolerated by local authorities. Shank made his case in an op-ed article for USA Today on Aug. 4, titled: "White extremism is winning in my Vermont town. I'm selling my a...

What would you do if you knew that your father fought for the Nazis? For years, Alexander Wolff harbored this dark family secret. Wolff, a staff writer for Sports Illustrated for more than three decades, longed to know more about his family’s role in Nazi Germany. Was his father, Niko Wolff, involved in the worst Nazi crimes, including the extermination of Jews? How did Niko hide the fact that he was part Jewish? How else was his family involved in the war? In 2017, Wolff left Sports Illustrat...

What would you do if you knew that your father fought for the Nazis? For years, Alexander Wolff harbored this dark family secret. Wolff, a staff writer for Sports Illustrated for more than three decades, longed to know more about his family’s role in Nazi Germany. Was his father, Niko Wolff, involved in the worst Nazi crimes, including the extermination of Jews? How did Niko hide the fact that he was part Jewish? How else was his family involved in the war? In 2017, Wolff left Sports Illustrat...

What would you do if you knew that your father fought for the Nazis? For years, Alexander Wolff harbored this dark family secret. Wolff, a staff writer for Sports Illustrated for more than three decades, longed to know more about his family’s role in Nazi Germany. Was his father, Niko Wolff, involved in the worst Nazi crimes, including the extermination of Jews? How did Niko hide the fact that he was part Jewish? How else was his family involved in the war? In 2017, Wolff left Sports Illustrat...

In 2019, producer Bess O’Brien set out across Vermont to capture the stories and lives of teenagers. She wanted to hear about their joys and struggles in their own words. O'Brien did this in 2005, and the result was an award-winning musical, The Voices Project. This time, following a year-long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the students who comprise the cast of the Listen Up musical are finally taking their songs and stories to the public from August 4 through August 15, 2021. The students...

In 2019, producer Bess O’Brien set out across Vermont to capture the stories and lives of teenagers. She wanted to hear about their joys and struggles in their own words. O'Brien did this in 2005, and the result was an award-winning musical, The Voices Project. This time, following a year-long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the students who comprise the cast of the Listen Up musical are finally taking their songs and stories to the public from August 4 through August 15, 2021. The students...