By Kirk Carapezza Advocates for the poor in Vermont say they’re disappointed with the spending priorities that Gov. Peter Shumlin laid out in his budget speech this week. In his inaugural address two weeks ago, Shumlin first floated a plan to redirect $17 million from the state’s earned income tax credit to a low-income child [...]

By Kirk Carapezza Gov. Peter Shumlin unveiled his fiscal year 2014 budget proposal in a speech to the Legislature on Thursday, outlining his spending priorities for the state. Shumlin said his $1.4 billion general fund budget would invest in education, health care, welfare-to-work reform, clean energy jobs and transportation improvements. Shumlin told a joint session [...]

VPR Staff Gov. Peter Shumlin will deliver his budget address for the fiscal year that begins July 1 on Thursday at 2 p.m. In a speech to the Legislature, Shumlin will unveil his fiscal year 2014 budget proposal outlining his spending priorities for the state, and what taxes are necessary to support that plan. The [...]

By Kirk Carapezza An odd thing happened at the Statehouse this week. When Sen. Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, backed off his support for a bill that sought to prohibit the manufacture or sale of high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic assault weapons in Vermont, he set in motion a little-used rule in the Legislature. Listen to the audio [...]

By Kirk Carapezza A bill in the Vermont Senate would regulate the use of license plate readers by establishing limits on how long information collected by the recognition machines is held. License plate readers, or LPRs, are little cameras attached to police cruisers. They capture digital images of license plates, transmitting that data and allowing [...]

By Kirk Carapezza The Shumlin administration says it didn’t talk to Senate majority leader Philip Baruth before he officially withdrew his gun-control bill Wednesday, less than a week after the Chittenden Democrat introduced it. Baruth’s now-defunct bill would have prohibited the manufacture or sale of high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic assault weapons in Vermont. Gov. Peter [...]

By Kirk Carapezza Former Gov. Jim Douglas was at the Statehouse Wednesday, touring the building with students in his Middlebury College political science course. The longtime Republican said he has ruled out another run for statewide office – at least for now. “I’m running for reelection as town moderator in Middlebury,” Douglas said. Douglas was [...]

By Kirk Carapezza So many people share their lives online that some employers want to learn more by getting into social media accounts of their staffs. And that’s prompted a senator from Bennington County to propose a bill that would outlaw the practice. Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, has been referring to his bill around the [...]

By John Dillon A coalition of environmental groups and energy businesses is calling for a major investment in home weatherization efforts. The groups outlined their priorities on energy and climate change issues at a Statehouse news conference. At the top of their lobbying list is a seven-year, $275 million plan to insulate and retrofit 62,000 [...]