Opinion
Editorial: Dartmouth’s puzzling prosecution of protesters
It’s a great mystery why Dartmouth College, the new home of “brave spaces” for public debate, continues to pursue the criminal prosecution of a pair of peaceful pro-Palestinian student protesters accused of trespassing on their own campus.The mystery...
Column: Vermont should stop sending public money to private schools
By G. GREGORY HUGHES
The Common Benefits Clause of the Vermont Constitution provides “that government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation, or community, and not for the particular emolument or advantage of...
Forum for March 16, 2024: Vermont conservation
Vermont delegation’s conservation recordI am writing to express my gratitude for the Vermont Congressional delegation’s impressive scores on the recently-released League of Conservation Voters’ 2023 National Environmental Scorecard. As the chair of...
Column: Public school equity is going to require more funding
By WAYNE GERSEN
Two recent Valley News’ editorials focused on what it called Vermont’s “education funding mess.” Vermont’s education funding is a mess, but a mess that is hardly unique to Vermont. It is not unlike New Hampshire’s “education funding mess” or the...
Column: The burning world and cares close to home
By MARY K. OTTO
Chugging up the sunny hillside toward home after our usual morning walk in the woods, my husband and I entered our warm cottage. It felt good on a 13-degree Vermont day, in contrast to the previous day’s 55 degrees We hung up our heavy coats and moved...
Column: Grieving for Palestinians and the dream of Israel
By DOV TAYLOR and JUDITH TAYLOR
In June 1967, after quickly defeating Egypt, Jordan and Syria in what has come to be known as the Six-Day War, Israel began a military and economic occupation of the Palestinian territories — the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip. What...
Column: Basketball union vote gives Dartmouth room to dream
By NICHOLAS BOKE
Finally, a well-known American college can act like a college.Now that Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team has voted to unionize, and the college has countered that “the students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth,”...
Forum for March 14, 2024: NH school funding
NH must solve its school funding crisisAs a concerned New Hampshire resident, I’m deeply troubled by the inequitable distribution of education funding. The current system, which relies overwhelmingly on local property taxes, perpetuates disparities...
Column: New Hampshire should support Palestinian freedom
By AHLAM ABUAWAD
Two years ago, New Hampshire declared May 21 Ona Marie Judge Day. Doing so, our state honored the woman who fled enslavement by our first president, George Washington, and bravely boarded a ship for New Hampshire.The story of Ona Judge exposes the...
A Yankee Notebook: Our fixation on age is getting kind of old
By WILLEM LANGE
It’s likely the unavoidable fate of both teenagers and golden-agers that most news reporters and writers are aspiring 20-somethings eager to make splashes. Thus, if a young person with a newly minted driver’s license loses control of their vehicle on...
Column: There must be room for debate on Palestine
By O. SAMI SAYDJARI
The First Amendment is first for a reason. Free speech is essential to a free democratic society, allowing us to express a diversity of opinions to each other and to our government leadership so that we have the best-informed policies.Yet, the Israel...
Forum for March 11, 2024: Worthless bill in NH
NH House takes up worthless billRep. Karen Reid’s bill to impose restrictions on sex education and discussions of human sexuality in New Hampshire public schools is a useless piece of legislation, founded in fear. Among its most ridiculous measures is...
Editorial: How Vermont can simplify its school funding system
Last week in this space, we revisited the origins of Vermont’s school funding system in the context of panic-inducing predictions of sky-high school budgets and tax rates for next year. How that will play out is not yet clear, but the uncertainty has...
Column: What’s next for Carter Country Club?
By DICK NELSON
There are many scores of Upper Valley golfers, especially senior golfers like myself, wallowing in a sea of confusion over the recent turn of events surrounding our beloved Carter Country Club. In an email to Carter Community Building Association...
A Solitary Walker: Restoring the health of our once-wild rivers
By MICKI COLBECK
The people in the Ompompanoosuc valley used to love their river — good fresh water for gardens and drinking, and a beautiful thing to look upon, but then she changed. She became faster and stronger and destroyed the things people built, who then...
Forum for March 9, 2024: Games at The Aud mean more
High school hoops mean more at The AudLast Saturday night, I was folding laundry at my home in Burlington, N.C., with WDEV’s feed in my headphones. I proudly listened in as my alma mater, Thetford Academy, won its sixth state boys basketball title in...
Column: Shaheen should restore cuts to antitrust enforcement
By KRISTA BROWN
Our New Hampshire Senator, Jeanne Shaheen, chairs the appropriations subcommittee responsible for Justice Department funding. This week, that committee released a new bill that would slash $45 million from the Antitrust Division budget. The bill,...
Column: How we can prepare to make good decisions
By NARAIN BATRA
In our daily lives we see some of the most talented people, experts in their fields, in academics, sports, entertainment and business, choke under pressure when the moment for performance comes for which they have prepared for days and days. Why do...
Forum for March 8, 2024: Orford spending
Common sense spending for OrfordIf the taxpayers of Orford were concerned with your property tax bill last year you may want to consider changing the direction and make up of the Selectboard on Town Meeting Day which is this coming March 12.There are...
Column: Emergency rooms move fast despite obstacles
By JENNIFER V. POPE
When it comes to health care, nobody likes to wait. By definition, emergencies are serious, often dangerous situations requiring immediate action. For those of us caring for patients on the front lines of emergency departments, the escalating patient...