For opinion pieces on any topic.
Dean Corren for Lt. Governor is seeking campaign interns. Turn your free time into a valuable and exciting experience or connect with your school to receive credit for your work. We are looking for individuals to help with:
Applications Due September 23, 2014
MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Windham County Economic Development Program is up and running and looking for applications with creative ideas that will help Windham County grow jobs and bolster the region’s economy.
On July 28, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and the application for the first round ($2 million) of the funding made available by an agreement between the State of Vermont and Entergy.
At 5:30 on the morning of October 28, 2011 our Brattleboro Fire Department responded to a fire alarm in the Elliot Apartments complex on Elliot Street. A 76 year old cigarette smoker had ignited a fire that killed her, injured and hospitalized two others, temporarily displaced 55 tenants for the day, caused extensive burn damage in one apartment, created serious water damage in apartments below and caused costly and time-consuming repair damage.
All of that just because of one careless cigarette smoker…
An estimated 7,600 smoking-related fires in residential buildings occur each year in the United States. Each and every year cigarette smoking-related fires are a leading cause of residential fire deaths.
PHILADELPHIA, July 25 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today addressed the annual convention of the National Association of Letter Carriers and drew standing ovations for opposing cuts in sevices and jobs at the U.S. Postal Service at a time of rising revenue.
Sanders is the chief sponsor of legislation to modernize the U.S. Postal Service, save Saturday mail and prevent other unnecessary cuts in services provided by one of the most popular and important institutions in America.
WASHINGTON, July 24 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today detailed compromise legislation that he offered to House negotiators that would reform the VA and give it the tools to provide quality, timely health care to veterans.
The proposal () would address the need for short-term, emergency access to care while strengthening VA’s capacity to address veterans’ needs in the long term. It also includes a provision to allow for the removal of incompetent officials at the VA.
After our long cold winter and equally long cool spring, I found myself really looking forward to sweltering heat. As I shivered on my well-shaded back porch, blanket over knees in June, I dreamed of hot weather shimmering over my house, bringing warmth and comfort to my cave-like apartment. I looked forward to finally being able to wear shorts, sleeveless tops, and even sundresses. I rooted for the inside thermometer to finally reach 70. And finally it came — summer— and I was happy and put on my sundress, while all around me (it seemed) everyone else put on their air conditioners!
The Windham County Democratic Committee is organizing meetings for the public to meet and hear the four Democratic candidates for State Senate.
The first forum will be held tomorrow, July 24, 2014, at 6:30 PM, at the Townshend Town Hall.
Yeah, we’re exceptional, all right!
Since the end of World War II, the United States has:
WASHINGTON, July 17 – In joint remarks before the U.S. Senate today, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) honored former Vermont Gov. Phil Hoff, who just turned 90 years old.
Hoff served three terms as governor. First elected in 1962, he was the first Democrat to hold the state’s highest office in more than a century.
“We rise today to celebrate Philip Hoff, the 73rd governor of the state of Vermont, for his extraordinary contributions to the state of Vermont, and to our nation,” Leahy and Sanders said in a joint statement submitted for the Congressional Record.
I hadn’t heard of this before today:
In 2008, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy was traveling in a car 125 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border in the state of New York.
They came to a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, which stopped the U.S. senior senator, and an agent ordered him to get out of the car.
Tom Franks’ recent Open Letter explained why we resigned from the Brattleboro Food Co-op Board, so I won’t repeat what he said. But I do want to thank those shareholders who voted for me, apologize to you for not serving out my full term, and further explain my actions.
Property taxes are way too high in Chester, Vermont. How high are your property taxes in Brattleboro?
The teachers need to go back to chalk and black boards. Student test scores have only gone down since they’ve been using calculators and the internet.
I was so shocked at my property tax bill I called the State 802-828-6848 and left a message for the Taxpayer Advocate, but I have not received a return call yet. My property tax bill for my home in Chester, VT 05143 was 10% higher than last year, and I have to pay 6.2% of my annual income. I think their arithmetic might be in error. There are no codes and statutes printed out with the property tax bill to prove they have a valid claim for such high amounts. Anything that comes from the State with a demand for our money should include a code and/or statute that they are basing their demand on.
WASHINGTON, July 16 – The Department of Veterans Affairs needs $17.6 billion to hire 10,000 doctors, nurses and other health care providers and make other reforms in order to meet the needs of a growing number of veterans and reduce long waiting times for health care, Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson told the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs today.
Gibson was responding to a question by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee chairman, about what the VA needs to address a large influx of veterans needing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other health care needs.
Without the resources to deal with veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gibson said, “the wait times just get longer.”
An open letter to the shareholders of the Brattleboro Food Cooperative and the general community:
Last week I and another individual resigned from the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Food Cooperative. It was made clear to us that seven of the nine other board members believed that we had violated the board code of conduct and their trust. While we disagreed with the majority of the board, we did not believe we would be able to change their minds.
In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were today (Friday) found guilty of war crimes.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia.
The primary election is upon us. According to the Vermont Secretary of State website “Your town clerk will receive ballots for the Primary election by Friday July 11, 2014 and early voting may begin. You can vote at the town clerk’s office during normal business hours or request that an absentee ballot be sent to you. If voting absentee, ballots must be returned to the clerk before the close of the polls on election day August 26th.”
With Early Voting in the town clerk’s office or on Primary Election Day you must select a voting ballot envelope from one of three political parties: Progressive, Democrat, or Republican. In the 2012 election we had 76, 263 voters who Voted Early, not on Election Day itself.
WASHINGTON, July 9 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after meeting on Tuesday with Robert McDonald, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs:
“I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Mr. McDonald and was impressed by what he brings to the table. I believe that his years of military service will make him a very strong advocate for veterans, and that his corporate leadership gives him the experience to bring about the management changes – in terms of accountability and transparency – that the VA needs.
Chris Martenson is a guy from nearby Montague Mass. He appears from time to time in Brattleboro. He’s a very bright guy with a PhD in neurotoxicology, but his real strength is economics.
Currently he is a writer and trend forecaster interested in macro trends regarding the economy, energy, finance and the environment. He is the founder of PeakProsperity.com and creator of the “Crash Course” which is available free on his website: www.peakprosperity.com (you can buy it on DVD as well).
ALERT! NEW VERMONT ELECTION LAW!
In the State of Vermont, Democrat Governor Peter Shumlin has created a new way to fill the private for profit prisons. His new law which he just signed 2014 will send people to prison for up to 15 years for allegedly falsely stating a fact or matter to a town clerk.
BURLINGTON, Vt., June 30 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Supreme Court ruled that some home health care workers cannot be required to pay fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining:
“Today’s Supreme Court decision by Justice Alito and four other extreme right-wing Republicans is another attack on the rights of workers to collectively bargain for higher wages and decent benefits. Make no mistake: this decision will lead to an increase in income inequality, a further decline in the wages of middle-class workers and an increase in poverty.
