MONTPELIER — As medical dispensaries dwindle but retailers receive medical use endorsements, a data point sticks out. 

“The number of medical patients continues to grow,” Olga Fitch, executive director of the Cannabis Control Board, said at the Dec. 17 board meeting. 

About 3,043 patients were registered for the program at the time of the meeting, according to a slide show presentation. More than 40 patients were added to the count since the November board meeting, Fitch said.

Looking at data starting in 2011, Fitch said the medical program peaked around 2018 with 5,300 patients. She noted November 2023 is the last time, before now, that the state recorded more than 3,000 patients. 

Vermont now has 20 retailers with medical use endorsements. They’re in Bennington, Brattleboro, Manchester Center, Middlebury, Montpelier, Rutland, St. Johnsbury, South Hero, Bethel, Brandon, Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction, Johnson, White River Junction, Winooski and Woodstock. Five of them received the endorsement in December. 

A law passed this year by the Vermont Legislature established the program, which allows approved retailers the opportunity to sell higher potency products and offer curbside, delivery and drive-thru services to patients. Registered medical cannabis patients in Vermont are also exempt from paying the state’s cannabis excise tax and the standard sales tax. 

The first Enhanced Budtender Education course was held during the first week of December, a CCB newsletter stated, “paving the way for medical cannabis sales at medical-use-endorsed retailers.”

The CCB thanked “the budtenders and licensees who took the time to register, attend, and successfully complete the multi-hour course.”

“We are excited to roll out better access for patients and caregivers in the Medical Cannabis Program,” the CCB said.

At least one employee at an endorsed retailer is required to go through enhanced budtender training, which is offered through a contract with Cannify. To qualify, retailers must be in good standing for six months, with a clean compliance record and up-to-date tax payments.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano is sitting out the 2026 elections, criticizing the state’s political climate in a sharply worded open letter.

Mastriano, who represents Chambersburg, Gettysburg and McSherrystown in the legislature, rose to prominence by spearheading opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns engineered by then-Gov. Tom Wolf; where violations were often litigated by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Wolf’s cabinet, like then-Health Secretary Rachel Levine and Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding.

The retired Army colonel and veteran of Desert Storm’s Battle of 73 Easting – the last contemporary tank battle – confirmed to Fox News Digital late Wednesday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for governor despite vocal public support on the conservative right. This opens up the field to state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

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“God has not called us to run for governor in this season,” he said. “Maybe 2028. Maybe 2030. But not now. That does not mean we are stepping away.”

In an accompanying “Open Letter to the People of Pennsylvania” shared with Fox News Digital, Mastriano took jabs at both Shapiro and intraparty critics and promised that his “Walk As Free People” movement started during the lockdowns is not going anywhere.

“[Doug] and his wife Rebbie remain committed to leading and strengthening the grassroots conservative movement across the Commonwealth,” Mastriano added in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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“This movement was never about one person or one campaign,” Mastriano said in a statement issued from Gettysburg. “It has always been about faith, freedom, and the people of Pennsylvania.”

Since the lockdowns, Mastriano and other lawmakers have held rallies and protests around the state, from tiny Jerome, outside Johnstown, to the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg.

Supporters, who often donned “Walk as Free People” or “Mastriano’s Army” shirts, also held occasional picnics in a lockdown-averse township outside Lancaster.

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Mastriano said that although he lost to Shapiro in 2022, the race saw the highest Republican turnout since 1962, and collected 29,000 ballot signatures.

Supporters claimed during the 2022 race that Mastriano would also have become the first GOP gubernatorial candidate to win without party endorsement intervention in the primary since Gov. Dick Thornburgh – who later became President Ronald Reagan’s attorney general.

“He further challenged Republican Party leadership, rejecting what he described as ‘backroom deals’ and ‘premature endorsements,’ and said future candidates must earn support directly from voters,” the senator’s open letter went on, referencing his reservations about how the race was viewed by the establishment.

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Mastriano also took aim at Shapiro, calling his governorship a “machine… corrupt and riddled with scandal, propped up by Hollywood elites and out-of-state billionaires who neither understand Pennsylvania nor respect its values.”

“Josh Shapiro is not strong, not serious, and not fit to lead,” Mastriano said, going on to suggest that former Vice President Kamala Harris “distanced herself” from him after vetting her potential running mates and instead choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Mastriano also condemned members of the media who “spent years trying to destroy [the Walk as Free People] movement while admitting they gave Shapiro a free pass.”

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He added that while he will not seek higher office at this time, his work in the Senate will continue and proof of his movement’s veracity lies in its successful work helping elect Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., and re-electing President Donald Trump.

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When reached for comment, a representative for the Shapiro campaign directed Fox News Digital to a statement from the Pennsylvania Democrats that said the commonwealth is now “stuck with” Garrity.

“Today, it became clear that Pennsylvania Republicans will be stuck with yet again another Republican extremist, Stacy Garrity, as their candidate for governor. Garrity is an election denier who has never stated Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and peddled the dangerous lies that led to the January 6th insurrection,” the statement read in part, appearing to obliquely reference Mastriano’s decision.

He set out to own Manhattan.

Now he’s coming for Massachusetts. 

Celebrity real estate broker/diehard Patriots fan Ryan Serhant is bringing it all back home.

SERHANT., (styled with a period), his real estate brokerage featured on Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan” is expanding to Massachusetts, with a Boston office and “more than 15 agents,” per his Jan. 14. announcement. 

“It’s exciting for me to get back to my roots,” the “Million Dollar Listing” star — whose firm deals in million-dollar listings — said. 

“Boston is the biggest little city in the world. It’s built on culture, built on the ethos of the original founders of the United States — this get-up-and-go attitude. That’s what I love so much about Boston. It’s in everybody’s blood to get up and go and make things happen.”

A noted workaholic with a get-up-and-go-attitude himself, Serhant spoke of his Boston launch from the back of his car in New York City — presumably with  Yuriy the driver, who has his own fandom. 

For the initiated, if there’s such a thing as a real estate celebrity, it’s Serhant.

He’s a house-blend of Wall Street and Broadway. A savvy businessman, with the big personality of TV show host — magnetic Andy Cohen it-factor with Bostonian dry humor and an “I can sell ice to a snowman” sales attitude that revs up employees. 

Watching “Owning Manhattan,”  they look like they’d follow their silver-haired leader into battle if he raised his heavily-braceleted wrist. The knight’s steed? Social media. He’s harnessed the power of Instagram — with some 3 million followers— and social platforms. He also studied theater.

Two years after earning his broker license, he landed on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing,” then got his own Bravo spinoff shows.

In 2020, the author of three books founded SERHANT. He sells New York City apartments that look straight out of “Succession.” He repped Andy Cohen in the sale of his New York apartment, and Dave Portnoy’s Florida home.

Now that he’s “planted his flag” in Rhode Island andConnecticut, he’s expanding his empire back into what he considers his home state. “All my childhood memories” are here, he said. “My first date was at the Topsfield Fair.”

“When you walk to my office in New York City, the first thing you see is a Tom Brady autographed helmet. I have a football from the Falcons/Patriots Super Bowl signed, I have a lot of Patriots gear and jerseys,” he continued. 

He took some time to chat about what the Boston office has in store:

You’re opening an office in Boston, but you’ll sell properties all over Massachusetts?

This is our 15th state. We’re starting in Boston with an office in Back Bay. We’re bringing our platform, our AI technology, ourapp, our brands, our production studio, our creative agency …  It’s a big moment for us.

We’ll be selling all over Massachusetts. We have a lot of incredible listings that will come to market over the next couple days. They probably won’t be on the website site by Wednesday— the way licensure works, it takes a second. But I love Beacon Hill, the Seaport, South End, and all the neighboring suburbs, North Shore, South Shore. My little brother’s in Walpole. So I’m looking forward to painting Massachusetts SERHANT. blue.

You’re already in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Are you going to expand into other New England states?

They’re on the roadmap, yes.

We have some beautiful properties. We’re growing very fast in Rhode Island. A lot of those agents also have clients in Massachusetts, so Massachusetts makes a lot of sense for us.

Season 2 of “Owning Manhattan” just released on Netflix last month. Any chance we might be in Season three?

“Owning Boston”? Maybe. Depends on the properties. Every season so far, we’ve shown off a little bit outside of New York City. The show is predominantly based in Manhattan, obviously. But, last season we launched some beautiful properties in Miami, and the show came with us to South Florida. So we’ll have to see.

You said your parents moved, but you still have family here. Tell me a bit about your local roots. 

I was born in Houston, we moved around a bit, then settled in Topsfield. I went to Proctor Elementary School in Topsfield, then Masconomet Regional for junior high and Pingree [in South Hamilton] for high school. I went to Hamilton College, a liberal arts school in upstate New York. 

My dad worked at State Street. My [brothers work in finance]. I was the odd one out who got into real estate by way of theater. 

So you learned to drive on Rt. 128?

Hilarious. My first real frustration [with driving] was the Big Dig. Remember the Big Dig?

Oh my gosh. That thing was endless, forever and ever.  I mean, learning to drive on those roads is a thing. You go out to the Midwest where a lot of roads are straight, and you’re like, “These people have it way too easy. These roads were not carved by horses in any way, shape or form.”

And how did you get into real estate?

Real estate was never part of the plan. I went to school for theater and for English literature. When I graduated in 2006, my grandfather died and left $20,000 to each [grandkid.] That was the most money I’d ever seen. I was like, “I’m going to go to New York City, do Broadway — that money will last me 10 years.” It did not last me 10 years. It lasted me a lot less.

So I needed a job or I had to move home, which I didn’t want to do. And a friend of mine said “Sales is very similar to the skills you learn in theater. It’s listening to reply, listening to response, memorizing information, being a real human in front of people. Just get your real estate license.” So I did that in 2008.

What do you love about it?

I love that it’s a limitless career. The harder you work, the luckier you get. I love that every day is different. I love that you can be an inventor, a builder, a branded marketer, a negotiator, a therapist all at the same time. It personifies  the American Dream.

How did you find your entertainment/celebrity/ real estate broker niche?

I got my real estate license in 2008, and after a year and a half, I went to an open-casting call for a reality show on Bravo, “Million Dollar Listing New York.” I was cast in 2010. We did that for a decade, and that was around the same time Instagram was invented. Instagram and Twitter and Facebook were a way to connect with those show fans, and clients. I was just able to build that profile.

I’m a businessman first, and I use social media and various forms of media to put out our message and our profile. 

Will you be coming to Boston soon?

I was just there, actually. My little brother lives in Walpole. He and his wife just actually opened a gym in Walpole called Lifted Fitness, so I went to their opening, and went to one of their classes. 

Interview has been lightly edited and condensed. 

Lauren Daley is a freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected] and @laurendaley1.

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.