Vermont
A note from our CEO: Your gift will do double the good – VTDigger
Dear Reader,
Although you may have seen a few snow flurries recently, spring in Vermont always brings a sense of renewal and possibility. This year, our Spring Membership Drive is fully embracing that spirit.
I’m thrilled that VTDigger is partnering with Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, a nonprofit that empowers people of all abilities through inclusive sports and recreation.
When you donate today, your gift will do double the good: it fuels independent journalism and sends $5 to Vermont Adaptive. Will you join us?
This collaboration is close to my heart — because I’ve seen firsthand what adaptive sports can mean to a person and their family.
My brother Shane is an athlete with disabilities. Growing up, I watched him navigate a world that often wasn’t built with him in mind. That’s why it meant so much when our family found places where he could truly participate and thrive. Whether he was in the saddle through a therapeutic horseback riding program or aiming for a strike in Special Olympics bowling, I loved seeing his confidence, spiritedness and joy shine through.
Vermont Adaptive promotes independence and furthers equality through opportunities including alpine skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, sailing, cycling, hiking, rock climbing, veterans’ programs and more.
And just as Vermont Adaptive helps people access the outdoors, VTDigger helps Vermonters access the truth.
During our Spring Drive, when you support VTDigger, you’re also supporting Vermont Adaptive. Together, we’re advancing connection — through sport, through journalism and through the power of an informed community.
If this resonates with you, I hope you’ll consider making a donation today. Your gift fuels investigative reporting, holds power to account, and helps ensure Vermonters of all abilities and backgrounds are reflected in our coverage — and in our future.
Sincerely,
Sky Barsch
CEO, VTDigger
P.S. Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports is always looking for passionate and caring volunteers with a love for the outdoors. If you’re interested, visit their website to learn more.
Updated at 5:34 p.m.
Grand Isle County’s top prosecutor Douglas DiSabito was cited Tuesday for drunken driving after he was allegedly intoxicated in a St. Albans courthouse, according to the St. Albans Police Department.
Police received a call around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday alerting officers to respond to Franklin County Superior Court in St. Albans “for a report of a person in the building who may be under the influence of alcohol,” according to a department press release.
Officers then made contact with Grand Isle County State’s Attorney DiSabito and after “subsequent investigation” arrested him for driving under the influence of alcohol, the release said.
DiSabito is set to appear in court on May 4, according to the release.
The 57-year-old from Alburgh was first elected to lead the prosecutor’s office in 2014 and has won re-election without facing challengers in every election since then, according to the Vermont Secretary of State’s website. DiSabito has said he is running again for re-election in November. Earlier this week he said he would seek both Democratic and Republican nominations, according to WCAX.
DiSabito recently said he wanted the state to pass stricter bail laws, and he thinks the judiciary isn’t doing enough to combat what he sees as a lack of respect for judicial proceedings, according to the Bennington Banner.
“It’s unfortunate for Grand Isle and for law enforcement,” said Gov. Phil Scott at his weekly press conference Wednesday.
DiSabito did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Tim Lueders-Dumont, executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, said his department is standing ready to support the county, though he was not yet sure if anyone would take over some of DiSabito’s cases.
“He’s still state’s attorney, he still has his law license,” Lueders-Dumont said.
Lueders-Dumont said he didn’t know which prosecutor would bring the drunken driving case against DiSabito. He declined to comment on the arrest, saying the department doesn’t comment on ongoing criminal matters.
DiSabito’s arrest comes two years after a state prosecutor in Addison County was similarly arrested for drunken driving.
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Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos was arrested for drunken driving in January 2024 when she appeared intoxicated at the scene of a suspicious death investigation. When state troopers arrested Vekos, she declined to do field sobriety tests and asked an officer to let a friend come pick her up, according to court documents. The fallout from her arrest has turned into a more than two-year saga.
Vekos was convicted of the crime in December. The Vermont Supreme Court temporarily suspended Vekos’ law license last week, pending disciplinary proceedings stemming from her drunken driving conviction.
Vekos has challenged the allegations against her and defended her conduct. She has refused to resign.
One of Vermont’s few mosques is racing against the clock to purchase two new buildings its leaders say will better serve the growing Muslim community around Burlington.
The Islamic Community Center of Vermont, which currently operates out a cramped Winooski building, says it needs to raise $100,000 by April 28 to guarantee ownership of two much larger Burlington properties on Riverside Avenue.
For the approximately 300 Somali families who use the mosque’s services, the change in location would be like “moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a mansion,” center board member Mukhtar Abdullahi told the Burlington Free Press.
The mosque’s current space limits services. It can only run a few small Qur’an reading and recitation classes each day and weekend, resulting in waitlists for some classes.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to turn people away simply because we don’t have the capacity to accommodate everyone,” Abdullahi said.
The mosque also lacks sufficient space for women and their children, who for instance must share the facility’s single bathroom with men, “which is far from ideal,” Abdullahi said.
The small size is also a safety concern.
“If something was to happen, there’s no quick exit,” he said.
The deadline is built into a purchasing agreement and financing terms from a bank, Abdullahi said. The center has paid an upfront deposit of $30,000, he said, and the remaining balance of the down payment and closings costs is due April 28.
A bigger space would allow the center to offer multiple classes for different demographics, including age and gender, giving families more flexibility. The organization would also be able to expand Qur’an instruction and provide followers with more activities.
Abdullahi especially dreams of one day cultivating a place just for local youth, which the mosque and the greater Burlington area as a whole lacks, he said.
“Regardless of religion, our youth are the future,” Abdullahi said. “We want to make sure we take care of them.”
How Islamic Community Center of Vermont came to be
The center is one of only two state-registered mosques in Vermont, according to Abdullahi. The other is the similarly named Islamic Society of Vermont, based in South Burlington.
The Islamic Society of Vermont formed in 1995. The Islamic Community Center of Vermont followed in 2011. Together, the two mosques serve the Green Mountain State’s 6,200-6,500 Muslim residents.
The main difference between the organizations is who each serves, Abdullahi said.
His center formed 15 years ago in response to a growing number Somali immigrants, many of whom do not speak English or have a car, to the greater Burlington area. The Islamic Society of Vermont’s services are offered primarily in English and its mosque is a long walk from where the majority of Somali families live, Abdullahi said.
Although the Islamic Society of Vermont has done its best to welcome and accommodate Somali attendees, “there was a need for a mosque where they could communicate easily, ask questions and feel fully understood by people who share their background,” Abdullahi said.
“This wasn’t about replacing that but about creating additional support and accessibility for our community,” he said.
The prospective location, which used to be a laundry mat and a car wash, is a 20-30 minute walk from the mosque’s current spot in Winooski.
Despite its small size, the mosque is “the heart of the community,” Abdullahi told the Free Press, adding that many Somali residents “would struggle to live our daily lives without it.”
The center performs marriages and funeral rites. It’s where people go to settle disagreements.
“We teach children how to be good citizens, how to stay away from trouble, how to read the Qur’an,” Abdullahi said. “It’s where we tell stories about back home.”
“It’s a small building that stands for and does more than what the eye sees,” Abdullahi said.
How fundraising is going
Should the religious nonprofit fail to raise enough money, it will forfeit thousands of dollars in already paid fees and must look for a different location, according to Abdullahi.
Despite the tight deadline, Abdullahi told the Free Press he feels confident the group will secure enough donations.
“We already have several committed donations and meetings lined up, and we’re continuing to connect with supporters,” he said. “Our community has always shown up in meaningful ways, and we’re hopeful that, as more people hear about this effort, they’ll contribute financially or support us in other ways as well.”
Donations will pay for the down payment and closing costs, which originally amounted to $300,000, according to Abdullahi. The center has raised $200,000, a significant amount of which came from Vermont’s non-Muslim population. It has a GoFundMe that as of April 14 had raised about $8,300.
“Regardless of where you come from, always, at the end of the day, community depends on each other,” Abdullahi said.
Real estate records show that the owners of the Riverside properties have been trying to sell them, or parts of them, for several years now.
When would the new mosque open to the public?
Should the center succeed in purchasing the two properties, the new mosque will open sometime between fall and the end of the year, Abdullahi said.
“The place needs a lot of renovations to make it a place of worship,” Abdullahi said, but “it’ll be doable.”
Just as before, people of all faiths, or people with no religious affiliation at all, are invited to visit the mosque.
“We don’t care what religion you are,” Abdullahi said. “It’s a place for the community. Anyone’s welcome.”
Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com.
Vermont
Vermont argues that Trump administration provided no factual basis for voter data request – VTDigger
RUTLAND CITY — Vermont argued in federal court Tuesday that the Trump administration’s lawsuit demanding the state’s voter roll data should be dismissed because the administration has not provided a sufficient reason for its request.
The Trump administration sued Vermont’s secretary of state, among many other states, last year after she refused the department’s demand to turn over voter data, including voters’ addresses, drivers license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
Following the hearing, Federal Judge Mary Kay Lanthier will issue a ruling to dismiss or move forward with the case.
Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said she had grounds to deny the request because Vermont Law barred the state and local government officials from sharing personally identifying voter data with federal agencies.
Copeland Hanzas said in an interview before the hearing that the Trump administration’s requests for states’ unredacted voter rolls undermines public trust in elections and points to broader concerns with privacy rights.
“We don’t want the federal government to have that level of information about individual Vermonters,” Copeland Hanzas said.
The state of Vermont’s lawyer Samuel Stratton, representing Copeland Hanzas, argued the case should be dismissed because the Department of Justice did not provide a factual basis and purpose for the request and therefore does not comply with the Civil Rights Act.
“We are proud to defend Secretary Copeland Hanzas in this case, and we will continue working to protect our elections from federal interference,” the Attorney General Charity Clark wrote in a Tuesday statement.
The Department of Justice attorney Brittany Bennett argued that the federal government has broad authority under the Civil Rights Act to seek voter data in order to determine whether the state of Vermont’s elections are in compliance with federal law.
The hearing comes after judges recently dismissed similar cases in California, Michigan, Oregon and Massachusetts. A federal judge in Massachusetts dismissed the case last week, asserting that the department failed to comply with Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 by not sharing in detail how the department will use voter information.
The Department of Justice has brought similar lawsuits against 30 states for withholding voter rolls, while 12 states have complied or said they would comply with the Justice Department’s request, according to a tracker run by the Brennan Center for Justice.
“We certainly hope and expect that the outcome of ours will be similar to what’s happened with the states that have gone before us,” Copeland Hanzas said. “But if the motion to dismiss isn’t approved, then we will continue to fight, and we will have our day in court.”
Disclosure: VTDigger reporter Greta Solsaa worked in summer 2022 as a paid canvasser for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, which filed several motions in the case.
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