Opinion

Editorial: Is Vermont primed to overhaul its schools?

01-17-2025 10:01 PM

All elections have consequences, but some are more consequential than others. Such might be the case with the tax revolt last fall that upended the political order in Montpelier and brought an influx of Republican legislators to the Statehouse. It potentially created the conditions for a major overhaul of K-12 public education in Vermont.


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Column: Why data privacy is the key to unlocking affordability

02-10-2025 11:53 AM

By MONIQUE PRIESTLEY and CAITRIONA FITZGERALD

Jan. 28 marked International Data Privacy Day, a moment to reflect on the digital world we inhabit and the price we pay for its conveniences. Technology permeates every facet of our lives, offering innovations that simplify our daily routines, from smart homes to online shopping.


Column: Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ of MAGA tribalism

02-10-2025 11:53 AM

By NARAIN BATRA

President Trump’s proclamation of a “golden age” for America seems to be emerging from his vision of ultranationalism and global dominance. He conjures a future where America will “flourish and be respected again all over the world” and become “the envy of every nation.” Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi Jinping have similar visions of grandeur by recovering and redeeming a glorious past through economic and military dominance.


Forum for Feb. 10, 2025: Vermont farms

02-10-2025 11:52 AM

As a State Senator representing Windsor County and as vice chairman of the Agriculture Committee, I am deeply concerned about the recent decision by President Trump to freeze federal funding. This action threatens to cause significant harm to Vermonters, particularly our hardworking farmers who are the backbone of our local economy and community.


Forum for Feb. 8, 2025: Housing bill

02-10-2025 11:51 AM

As prime sponsor of the Partners in Housing Bill (HB572), I urge all Upper Valley residents concerned about our housing crisis to make your voices heard in Concord. Last week I presented this bill to the Housing Committee in the New Hampshire Legislature. It would establish a program of low interest loans for developers who work with towns and cities to build affordable, “missing middle” homes on municipally owned land.


Editorial: A bad way to implement health care

02-07-2025 10:01 PM

Is this how American health care ends? Not with a bang, but a whimper of assent?


Column: The model patients and doctors of Model Land

02-07-2025 11:05 AM

By DIANE ROSTON

Have you heard the one where a veterinarian, an architect, and a physicist walk into a barn?


Forum for Feb. 6, 2025: Watching the clock

02-07-2025 11:04 AM

You know clocking right? You know stopping distance?


A Yankee Notebook: Drowning in a tide of events

02-07-2025 11:03 AM

By WILLEM LANGE

What’s an old fellow to do? My sources of information are letting me down. The news of the day comes into my house mainly via the internet, a New York Times subscription, a couple of local newspapers and brief sessions with commercial-haunted CNN (insurance of all kinds, mesothelioma lawyers, and Medicare Advantage) while I’m cooking and eating meals in my kitchen. Not very elegant, but generally reliable, as nearly as I can tell by cross-checking.


Forum for Feb. 5, 2025: Styrofoam recycling

02-07-2025 11:01 AM

I hope you didn’t throw your Christmas styrofoam packaging in the landfill but saved it for recycling on April 12, when Sustainable Lebanon is once again partnering with the Lebanon Rotary Club to offer a polystyrene (styrofoam) collection day, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Hanover Street School parking lot (193 Hanover St. in Lebanon). The event will take place rain or shine and is open to all. There is no fee, but donations are welcome to support the cost of trucking.


An Appreciation: For Marianne Faithfull, tears still go by

02-04-2025 1:49 PM

By DONALD MAHLER

She was my first crush. She never knew it, of course. I mean, how could she. After all, she spent all her free time with Mick and Keith … you know, the Glimmer Twins. So how could she have time for me?


Forum for Feb. 4, 2025: What next in Gaza?

02-04-2025 1:46 PM

On Jan. 26, The New York Times reported that “President Trump suggested to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and asked Egypt and Jordan to take in more Palestinians.”


Column: Gov. Scott’s ‘education transformation’ contains big flaws

01-31-2025 4:52 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Last week’s Valley News editorial asked whether Vermont is ready to overhaul its education system. Now that Gov. Phil Scott has presented his Education Transformation Proposal we have an answer — No.


By the Way: A voice from the Religious Left

01-31-2025 4:52 PM

By RANDALL BALMER

Back in the heyday of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, I frequently lectured on the origins of the Religious Right, pointing out that, despite all the leaders’ dodging and weaving, their movement began in defense of racial segregation in the 1970s, not in the more high-minded opposition to abortion.


Forum for Feb. 1, 2025: Need for housing

01-31-2025 4:48 PM

I read with interest the opposing views and ideas of those who are not in favor of new housing in the Upper Valley (“Mixed views on proposed complex”; Jan. 23). Unfortunately, it has become a dire issue to have any kind of housing. After World War II, there was an immense housing boom, which fortunately helped my family of origin since with six children we were able to afford a house on my dad‘s salary as a municipal worker. My mom worked at home, taking care of us.


Column: Could the Upper Valley respond again as it did in Haiti?

01-30-2025 6:54 PM

By JIM GEILING

Fifteen years ago this month, the Upper Valley did something remarkable. In the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and the surrounding community mobilized in a way that still resonates today.


Forum for Jan. 31, 2025: How Trump won

01-30-2025 6:51 PM

Trump was sentenced this month for falsifying business records to help win the 2016 presidential election. Judge Merchan imposed no punishment because of his respect for the office of the presidency and his fear that the Supreme Court would otherwise have blocked the sentencing. Trump is now the first US president convicted of a felony.


Forum for Jan. 30, 2025: Hartford sales tax

01-30-2025 1:12 PM

I was impressed by Patrick Danaher’s recent Forum letter regarding a second attempt at a 1% local option general sales tax (“Hartford tax plan remains unclear”; Jan 4). I wrote a letter not too long ago in regard to the Selectboard’s trying an “end run” around voters’ refusal to approve use of local option funds for parking meters. It appears this is a similar move, using repeated attempts to wear down voters’ resistance. These are lessons the Selectboard must learn:


A Yankee Notebook: Watching and waiting for ‘fresh disasters’

01-30-2025 1:12 PM

By WILLEM LANGE

The New York Times, according to a friend of mine, advises us not to read or watch the news first thing in the morning. The resultant depression or confusion, apparently, can affect the rest of our day and our general affect. I concur. In old age, I’ve come to an increased awareness of the dark at the top of the stairs. Now, suddenly, it’s equally as dark at the foot of the stairs. Every day’s news brings us what the Brits, during the Second World War, used to call “news of fresh disasters.”


Forum for Jan. 29, 2025: Claremont waste proposal

01-30-2025 1:09 PM

Just before Valentine’s Day, Claremonters can show some love to our community and care for our children and grandchildren’s future. On Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. there will be a public hearing at the Claremont Opera House on a proposal to turn Claremont Junction into an industrial waste depot for toxic construction and demolition (C&D) debris. Residents are invited to voice their concerns to the state Department of Environmental Services.


Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."

Flipart

A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.

Really Bad Chess

Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.

SpellTower

Word search but as a strategy game. Clearing the board feels really good.

Typeshift

Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.


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