Vermont
Vermont judge orders Harvard scientist freed from ICE custody, calling her detention unlawful – VTDigger
A federal judge in Vermont has ordered the release of a Russian-born Harvard Medical School scientist from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, agreeing with the researcher’s attorney that she was unlawfully detained.
However, the ruling by Judge Christina Reiss, which came at the end of a roughly 90-minute hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Burlington, won’t immediately mean freedom for 31-year-old Kseniia Petrova.
ICE had detained Petrova after she arrived at Boston Logan International Airport from France in February and did not properly declare frog embryo research samples. She has since been charged criminally in federal court in Massachusetts for allegedly trying to smuggle the frog embryos into the United States.
Petrova remains detained on that criminal charge.
Her attorney, Gregory Romanovsky, said in court Wednesday that he expected his client to have a hearing in that case as early as next week in Massachusetts when her release on the criminal charge could be considered.
Petrova’s ICE detention case landed in federal court in Vermont because, after she was taken into custody at the Boston airport in February, she was held at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, Vermont’s women’s prison, in South Burlington for a week before ICE transferred her to a facility in Louisiana.
Petrova brought a legal action – a habeas petition – in Vermont’s federal court during the week she was in custody in the state, alleging she was being unlawfully held by federal authorities.
Reiss’s decision on Wednesday makes her the third federal judge in Vermont to grant a person’s release from ICE custody in a high-profile immigration case since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Earlier this month, Federal Judge William K. Sessions III granted the release of a Tufts University student who had been held in ICE custody for a short time in the state. And, in April, federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered the release of a Columbia University student living in Vermont when he was taken into ICE custody.
Reiss, Crawford and Sessions all preside in federal courts in Burlington.
In all three Vermont federal cases, the rulings came over the objections from attorneys from the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Justice.
Reiss, in ordering Petrova’s release from ICE custody Wednesday, sided with the scientist’s lawyer, who argued that his client had been unlawfully detained by federal immigration authorities. Often, according to Petrova’s attorney, the penalty for failing to declare non-dangerous items was simply a fine or forfeiture.
The judge during Wednesday’s hearing spoke of the researcher’s groundbreaking work as well as her lack of a criminal history.
“Her activities in the United States did nothing to threaten public safety,” Reiss said of Petrova.
“To the contrary,” the judge added. “She has furthered this country’s interest in finding a cure and treatment for cancer in the area of biological and regenerative research. Her work is described as excellent, exceptional and of national importance by people qualified to render those opinions.”
The research samples Petrova was accused of bringing into the United States, Reiss said, were “wholly non-hazardous, non-toxic, nonliving” and “posed a threat to no one.”
In a federal court filing in the Vermont case, Petrova’s attorney described the incident leading to her custody as an “inadvertent failure” to declare on a customs form frog embryos that she was bringing to the United States from a research facility in France when she had traveled on vacation.
The request for the frog embryos, Petrova’s lawyer wrote in the filing, came from the leader of a research group at Harvard Medical School “under whose leadership she works.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection cancelled Petrova’s visa after finding the frog embryos, and federal authorities have said they were seeking to send her to Russia.
Petrova, according to court filings and in published media accounts, has said she fears returning to Russia, where she has faced past persecution for her political activities, including protesting against the war in Ukraine.
Reiss, in ordering Petrova’s release from ICE custody Wednesday, addressed her concern about the possibility of returning to Russia.
“Ms. Petrova’s life and wellbeing are in peril if she is deported to Russia,” the judge said, adding: “The government has made it clear and unequivocal that it intends to deport her to Russia unless she is granted asylum, and that it will not allow her to depart to another country where she will be safe and where she has legitimate immigration status.”
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said Petrova was “lawfully” detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.”
Romanovsky, Petrova’s lawyer, had called on Reiss during the hearing to issue an order preventing ICE from arresting his client again if she were released from custody on the federal criminal charge in Massachusetts.
Reiss did not grant that request, saying she didn’t want to prohibit an executive branch agency from taking “future actions which are uncertain.”
Insead, the judge pointed to comments during the hearing made by Jeffrey Hartman, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, who said he was not aware of any plans by ICE to re-arrest Petrova if she were to be released on the Massachusetts case.
Petrova took part in the hearing by video from the ICE detention center in Louisiana, where she has been held since shortly after she was taken into custody and transferred from Vermont.
Four friends, colleagues and researchers testified during Wednesday’s hearing on Petrova’s behalf, attesting to her scientific skills and nonviolent demeanor, with one associate calling her “beyond kind.”
QUECHEE, Vt. (WCAX) – Crews worked across the White River Valley on Friday to restore power and clean up debris after two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Vermont, including one that swept through Quechee.
Joe Haynes stared over his yard in Woodstock, with chunks of his roof scattered across it, wondering about the next steps.
Reporter Connor Ullathorne: How long will this all take to clean up?
Joe Haynes: Oh, I have no idea.
He said he’s lucky he and his nearby neighbors are safe and are not blocked in.
“Some of the trees were down. They’ll be down for awhile but they can make their way out,” Haynes said.
Crews in Woodstock continued clearing trees and downed power lines along Route 4. That’s where Tiffany Miller was working inside the Mountain Creamery when the tornado passed right over the store. Nobody was injured, but their new walk-in storage ended up in the trees.
“It’s definitely a big setback for us. We were getting ready to have it wired up tomorrow. So I mean we definitely have a lot of elbow grease and hours to put in to get back up to where we were,” Miller said.
She said she was happy to see how many customers have checked in on them.
“It’s nice to see that no matter what, in some bad case– storms or indifferent– that we can still come together and be there for each other,” Miller said.
Farther east in Quechee, workers hacked away at trees and swept away debris along the golf course and roads.
“It’s crazy they want to see. Everybody cares about their community and all their assets and amenities, so it’s nice to see everybody come together,” Quechee Club General Manager Brian Kelley said.
Kelley said they were out early Friday, and many residents were shocked at the damage. He’s still hopeful the area can come together and support each other.
“We normally do about 200 rounds a day going into one of our peak weekends. We’ve got the balloon festival this weekend, so we have that population in town, so a little bit of disappointment but people have been great and supportive, and we’ll be back at it tomorrow,” Kelley said.
Kelley said it should be a few days until they are back to full force in Quechee.
Many others across the region told us they’re now focused on getting back to normal.
Click here for the latest forecast from the WCAX First Alert Weather Team.
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.
Vermont
New owners of Vermont Packinghouse plan for local growth – The Vermont Journal & The Shopper
NORTH SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – For years, limited meat processing capacity in Vermont has forced many farmers to sell their livestock out of state. A recent ownership transition at a meat processing plant in North Springfield aims to change that by helping ensure locally raised meats can continue to be processed, packaged, and sold in Vermont.
The Vermont Packinghouse (VPH), located at 25 Fairbanks Road in North Springfield, was recently sold in two subsequent transactions to a new ownership group led by longtime food service and distribution leader Louis Helbling.
The 50,000-square-foot United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility processes and packages beef and pork from small- and medium-sized farms across New England. The sale of both the business and the building marks a new phase of growth and stability for a key regional meat processing operation that has been managed by multiple entities in recent years.
Longtime Springfield businessman Mark Curran, of Curran-Birge, purchased the former Ben & Jerry’s manufacturing plant in 2013 with the goal of easing a major bottleneck for Vermont meat producers by expanding much-needed processing capacity. Curran and his former business partner Steve Birge worked with Temple Grandin, a renowned designer of humane livestock facilities, to develop a slaughter facility that minimizes stress on the animals.
The facility was operated by Minnesota-based Lorentz Meats from 2014 to 2020, and later by Walden Local Meat Co. from 2023 to 2026. Throughout that time, Curran maintained ownership of the building, carefully stewarding an asset he believed held long-term potential for the region.
On May 29, Curran sold the property to a new ownership group led by Helbling, a veteran of food service sales, operations, and senior management. Under the newly formed Vermont Packing & Trading, Helbling is focused on expanding market opportunities for locally grown meats while creating jobs and supporting local farms. With a passion for the food industry, Helbling was drawn to Vermont’s specialty food culture and deep agricultural heritage.
“With Louis’ decades of work in the New England food industry, there is real opportunity to open more markets for local beef and pork producers outside of Vermont,” Curran said. “Another initiative will be to retain more of Vermont’s dairy culls from leaving the state and keep more value-added processing here.”
Helbling and his team will continue to work closely with Curran, Black River Produce – a distributor with deep ties to the operation – and the owners of Walden Local Meat Co. to ensure a smooth transition of both building ownership and day-to-day operations.
“We have all worked very hard over the past six months to keep VPH open and in a position to rehire a very talented and dedicated workforce as quickly as possible,” Helbling said.
With a new management team in place, the facility is entering its next phase of operations focused on future growth.
Upgrades to the USDA facility are already underway, alongside efforts to expand cold storage capacity to meet growing regional demand. “Adding to the existing footprint with additional freezer and cold storage will give us the capacity we need to grow as a business and add to the local workforce over the next five years,” Helbling said.
He added that he and his team will continue working with Curran to revitalize the landmark facility and restore it as a source of pride for families, employees, and local farms.
“All of us involved in this journey are excited to be working and relocating to the great State of Vermont,” Helbling said. “We are operating and moving quickly to bring business from all over the Northeast to Springfield.”
Vermont Packing & Trading was formed after the April 2026 sale of the Vermont Packinghouse business and is seeking new partners and producers across the Northeast.
SHELBURNE — Norman Rockwell lived for a time in suburban New York City and died and was buried in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. But for 14 years in between, the artist spent perhaps the most prolific period of his career in Vermont creating his best-known works.
That’s how Shelburne Museum curator Carolyn Bauer sees it — and how the museum’s latest exhibition treats the artist.
“Norman Rockwell: At Home in Vermont,” which opens June 20 and runs through Oct. 25, displays 40 of the 175 covers Rockwell famously created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine during his time in Vermont between 1939 and 1953.
Also on display are prints of “The Four Freedoms,” maybe his most famed works of all, which represent American ideals spelled out by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. Paintings in the exhibition include “The Young Lady with the Shiner” and “The Tattoo Artist,” both whimsical, recognizable pieces used as covers for The Saturday Evening Post.
“It’s very accessible work and approachable,” Bauer said.
The display features the three paintings that inspired the exhibition, given to the Shelburne Museum by Rock of Ages, the Barre granite quarry and monument maker. Those Rockwell paintings filled a significant gap in the museum’s art collection, which includes works by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Grandma Moses and Andrew Wyeth but, until recently, none by Rockwell, perhaps the best-known artist to have lived here.
“It feels like a homecoming in many regards,” Bauer said.
Moving to southern VT, finding ‘the every American’
The exhibition frames Rockwell’s time in Vermont around the tenor of the times in America. As the Great Depression was ending, World War II was looming and the nation was growing more urban and industrialized, much of the public was yearning for greater simplicity, Bauer said.
Rockwell was among them, leaving New Rochelle north of New York City for the quietude of Arlington in southern Vermont.
He was not alone. Contemporary artists including Mead Schaeffer, John Atherton and Gene Pelham would settle in Arlington too, creating what Bauer termed “the golden illustrator days” in Vermont.
Rockwell’s art, as the 152-page hardcover catalogue accompanying the exhibition notes, shows “how Vermont itself came to embody American ideals in the national imagination.”
Rockwell and his fellow Arlington artists used each other as models in their creations. “They really would work collaboratively,” Bauer said.
Pelham’s daughter, Melinda, is shown in the exhibition in two works: “The Babysitter,” a painting of a girl holding a crying baby that’s on loan from The Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont and an admission submission Rockwell sent to Kellogg’s of a girl clutching a cereal-laden spoon to her mouth.
Doctors, mail deliverers and shopkeepers from Arlington populated his work. Bauer said Rockwell usually gave models $5 and a can of Coca-Cola.
“He was recycling and using just about everybody in town,” Bauer said. That included himself: Rockwell added his own visage to the multiple faces in “The Gossip,” which shows him lashing out at a woman who’s started the rumor-mongering.
Bauer said Rockwell wanted to cultivate a sense of place by using Vermonters known for their austere self-reliance at the forefront of his work. He also found “the every American” ideal in town, Bauer said, though his art reflected a pronounced lack of diversity.
In later work, Rockwell would confront race and segregation as the Civil Rights Movement swept the U.S.
“He was progressive,” Bauer said.
Inspired by paintings donated by Rock of Ages
“Norman Rockwell: At Home in Vermont” was inspired by the 2025 museum acquisition of a trio of Rockwell works that once hung in the Barre offices of Rock of Ages. The granite company contacted the museum asking if it could donate the paintings, Bauer said, prompting staffers to wonder momentarily, “Is this real?”
Rockwell created advertisements for Rock of Ages and gave the paintings upon which the ads were based to the company. “Kneeling Girl” from 1955, making its debut at the Shelburne Museum, takes place in front of a gravestone engraved with the name Newton.
Rock of Ages donated two versions of 1963 work “The Craftsman,” a muted draft and a more luminous final version that were first displayed at the museum last year. They depict Rock of Ages stonecutter George Seivwright working in the shadow of a memorial bearing the name “Norwell,” a portmanteau of Rockwell’s first and last names.
Bauer called the paintings “incredible works of art that were circulated widely” in ads, brochures and pamphlets touting Rock of Ages and its world-famous Vermont granite. Though Rockwell had left Vermont for Massachusetts by the time he created those paintings, they do what Rockwell had done when he lived in Arlington — show the nation and the world what Vermont and Vermonters are capable of.
“We are just eager for our visitors to see these paintings,” Bauer said.
If you go
WHAT: “Norman Rockwell: At Home in Vermont”
WHEN: June 20 through Oct. 25
WHERE: Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education, Shelburne Museum
INFORMATION: $8-$25 museum admission; free under age 5 and for active military and Shelburne Museum members. shelburnemuseum.org
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@burlingtonfreepress.com.
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