Vermont
Vermont officials identify U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday in Coventry – VTDigger
Vermont officials on Tuesday identified the U.S. Border Patrol agent killed Monday afternoon in Coventry as David Maland.
The incident occurred on Interstate 91 at around 3:15 p.m., according to Vermont State Police. The FBI said Monday that a Border Patrol agent was fatally shot and that one “subject” was also killed. A third person was injured and in custody, according to the FBI.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said the agent was “killed in the line of duty” and that the fallen officer had been assigned to the Swanton Sector of the border, which extends from New York through Vermont and New Hampshire.
As of Tuesday afternoon, federal and state agencies had not officially identified the agent, but at the Vermont Statehouse, two state officials did.
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, Sen. Russ Ingalls, R-Essex, identified Maland following a moment of silence.
“I just want to put a name to the face of the officer that was killed yesterday,” Ingalls said. “His name is David Maland, and I thank you very much for the moment of silence.”
At a press conference later Tuesday in his ceremonial Statehouse office, Gov. Phil Scott also identified Maland as the fallen officer, extending his “heartfelt condolences to Agent Maland’s family, friends, and colleagues.”
Public records identify a David C. Maland, 44, of Newport, who previously lived in Texas near the Mexican border, though it was not immediately clear whether the David Maland identified by Ingalls and Scott was the same individual.
In an interview with VTDigger, Ingalls again expressed his condolences and noted the impact that Maland’s death had on community members.
“We have a very personal connection in the (Northeast) Kingdom with law enforcement,” he said. “We honor them, we believe in what they’re doing, and I’m sorry I never got a chance to meet this young man.”
This story will be updated.
Ethan Weinstein contributed reporting.
Vermont
Opinion — Michael Gaughan and Katy Hansen: Vermont needs to get on the road to risk reduction
This commentary is by Michael Gaughan, the executive director of the Vermont Bond Bank, and Katy Hansen, the director of the Rural and Small Cities Program at the Public Finance Initiative.
Vermont municipalities face a stark reality. The federal support that communities have relied on after disasters may be dramatically reduced in future years. The public will soon see the FEMA Review Council report, which is expected to recommend shifting more disaster response costs to states while also raising the dollar threshold for what qualifies as a federal disaster. Vermont is already confronting this reality with the recent denial of the July 2025 disaster declaration and the related on-again off-again funding for core infrastructure resilience programs.
For a state that has experienced over $240 million in FEMA related municipal damages from flooding in the past three years, the potential reduction in federal support threatens the fiscal and physical structures that undergird our communities. This is a staggering number, representing more than 30% of the Vermont Bond Bank’s current municipal loans, which obscures the threat to individual towns where disaster costs can be overwhelming. Take, for instance, towns such as Lyndon, where an estimated $18 million in damages occurred in 2024, roughly six times the town’s highway budget.
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But this moment of uncertainty is an opportunity for Vermont to take matters into its own hands. Recently, the Bond Bank was selected to participate in the Public Finance Initiative’s Rural and Small Cities program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to receive capacity building and educational support to develop clear guidance alongside our loan programs for communities to reduce the risks caused by extreme weather to their infrastructure. This builds on the Bond Bank’s decades of experience lending to local government and addressing challenges of infrastructure planning and finance. Our team of experts organized stakeholders from across the state to discuss how to spur action while coordinating resources.
As others have noted and the FEMA report is anticipated to make clear, we must take responsibility ourselves and change practices to save Vermont from the inevitable. Thankfully, regional and statewide partners are making progress in developing the tools and know-how to respond to our collective flood risk.
The convening helped the Bond Bank to highlight the largest potential contributor to post-disaster fiscal stress for our municipalities — our municipal roads. This network connects us to families, jobs, schools, grocery stores and hospitals, and is where more than 80% of municipal flood damage has occurred over the last 20 years.
The Bond Bank’s goal is to use its understanding of public finance best practices and the helpful tools from partners like the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) to drive the development of more capital plans and financial benchmarks that incorporate technical analyses from regional and state partners. Simple at its face, the effort is interdisciplinary and complex in practice. The convening was important to help the Bond Bank develop guidance and spur implementation. The Bond Bank aims to coordinate low-cost financing sources and expand the Municipal Climate Recovery Fund (MCRF) to help communities when disaster strikes. The intent is to turn the recovery cycle on its head: align existing resources to reduce risk before disasters strike and plan for more post-disaster relief.
The MCRF, established in partnership with the State and Treasurer’s Office, has already demonstrated its value. Since launching after the July 2023 floods, it has provided $33 million in loans at just 1.3% interest to 27 Vermont towns, offering seven-year terms with two years interest-only to give communities breathing room as they await potential federal reimbursement. This isn’t flashy, but the point is its practical value. For example, Lyndon received $4 million in MCRF loans that gave them space to deal with critical, immediate needs and time to sort through what the federal government would support.
With engagement from the partners at the convening, an expanded MCRF program, when combined with the capacity of our Vermont banks, would help address our vulnerable road infrastructure by aligning incentives for communities to plan, design and invest in improvements, and if disaster strikes, ensuring that communities can access resources through loans and adaptation grants to build back in the right way.
This approach demands a shift in thinking. It means partners like the Bond Bank need to do everything we can to reduce costs for borrowers while also giving direction on how to take the first step in the financial trade-offs of implementing resilience projects. While this is hard work, it’s also empowering. Instead of waiting for federal aid that might never come, Vermont communities can reduce risk before disasters strike and build resilience on their own.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Police are searching for a Burlington woman who faces multiple charges after investigators say she let her baby drown in a bathtub while under the influence.
The incident happened in October 2024. Police say Briana Arnold, 34, left her 3-month-old daughter in the filling bathtub. The infant then drowned.
Police said they found narcotics in Arnold’s kitchen and bloodstream.
After a yearlong investigation, police issued a warrant for Arnold’s arrest on manslaughter, child cruelty and drug charges. So far, they have not found her. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations at 802-652-6895 or the local police department where she is known to be located.
Copyright 2025 WCAX. All rights reserved.
Vermont
Needled by the big holiday fuss? The Vermont Country Store has a little something to pine for. – VTDigger
WESTON — In the New England state that grows the most Christmas trees, the Vermont Country Store offers a seeming galaxy of ornaments and add-ons, from floor-hugging skirts to ceiling-grazing stars.
“Evergreen trees are a universal symbol of the season,” the third generation of Orton family storekeepers writes on its website.
So why has the $100 million-a-year business seen a 2-foot-tall boxed alternative become a surprise bestseller?
“When things in the world seem a little chaotic, it brings back great memories and puts a smile on your face,” merchandising manager Julie Noyes said of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, which debuted six decades ago and has drawn new interest from people starting up or downsizing in a chilly economy.
When Charles Schulz introduced “Peanuts” 75 years ago, the late cartoonist didn’t envision the comic strip would lead to global syndication and a series of television specials, beginning with 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
In that show, the title character searches for the perfect Christmas tree, only to come home with a straggly sapling.
“Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?” his friend Linus asks. “Maybe it just needs a little love.”
And with the addition of a blanket around its base, the conifer is soon warming hearts.
Sixty years later, $21.95 official replicas can be found at Vermont Country Stores in Weston and Rockingham, in their mail-order catalog and on their website — and in customer homes from Connecticut to California.
“It’s precious, just precious,” Jill Charbonneau said in a call from the Rockport, Maine, home she and her husband, Paul, have shared for a half-century. “It’s so simple and says everything it’s supposed to say.”
She’s not alone in her appreciation. The tree has an average customer rating of 4.9 out of 5, according to its webpage, with nearly 100 rave reviews about its simple cost, scale and upkeep from people coast to coast.
Take the Illinois couple settling into their first home. The traveling nurse on the road. The Colorado widow living alone. The Florida shopper rebuilding after a hurricane. All agree with the comment from the North Carolina woman facing mobility issues: “This little tree is my solution.”
“It’s neat to have an old memory right in front of ya,” a Texas man adds in his review. “Takes me back to a time when life seemed so easy.”
The Vermont Country Store, with 450 year-round workers, almost doubles its staff each December to maintain its retail shops, Manchester offices and Clarendon distribution center during the busy holiday season, Noyes says. But the merchandising manager won’t specify how many Charlie Brown Christmas Trees are sold.
“Lots,” she says. “Lots and lots.”
All embodying something small and simple.
“Less is more,” one California reviewer summed up the tree. “It is a little ray of hope.”
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