Vermont
Final Reading: US Sen. Peter Welch tells state budget-writers to brace for uncertainty – VTDigger
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was back in his old digs.
Vermont’s junior senator, who spent more than a dozen years in the state Senate — including stints as president pro tempore — paid a visit to the Statehouse Thursday to give his take to the Senate Appropriations Committee on, well, everything going on down in Washington, D.C.
“It’s so good to see you guys,” Welch said, taking a seat in the committee’s witness chair. He started to tell the senators he had “such fond memories of serving” with them, though quickly cut himself off. “Well, I never made it to this committee. I was across the hall,” Welch corrected, drawing laughs as he pointed toward the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee’s room.
Welch told Senate Approps that, along with many other proposals, he’s deeply worried about the downstream impacts that cuts to Medicaid — which Republican leaders in D.C. have been weighing to fund President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda, including major tax cuts — could have on state budgets in Vermont and elsewhere.
Recent Trump-led cuts to other federal programs and grant funding could also leave states scrambling to make up the difference, he said, adding that he wished he could give legislators a clearer picture of what to expect. Trump adviser Elon Musk, and Musk’s “government efficiency” department, have seemed to make sweeping cuts almost entirely at random, Welch said.
“There’s going to be a level of uncertainty that you’re just going to have to deal with,” he said in response to a question from Sen. Richard Westman, R-Lamoille, whom he called “Richie.” “We can give you the information we have as soon as we have it — but it’s not as soon as you need it.”
Vermont’s House and Senate budget writers are in the process of drafting the state’s spending plan for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts in July, with the House Appropriations Committee expected to take a preliminary vote on their version on Friday. (Meanwhile, lawmakers are still working out a sharp dispute with Gov. Phil Scott’s administration over how to adjust spending for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends in June.)
Welch also took a spin around the building Thursday, shaking hands and slapping backs with some of his former colleagues. Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden-Southeast, suggested the cordiality was a far cry from the nation’s capital — though Welch joked about at least one distinction he has noticed.
On the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which Welch sits on, “the chair is not as tough on me as Ann Cummings was,” he said, referring to the Washington County senator and longtime chair of Vermont’s finance panel.
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
What exactly that means for the country — and Vermont — is an open question.
Through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the state receives more than $68 million annually from the feds, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides another $37.5 million for Vermont’s schools, Anne Bordonaro, who leads the Vermont Agency of Education’s work on federal education programs, told lawmakers last week. Overall, the agency received about $490 million in federal dollars in fiscal year 2024, more than 90% of which it passed on as grants.
Read more about what we know and don’t know yet here.
— Ethan Weinstein
On the move
The Senate on Thursday passed S.59, a bill that would make a handful of tweaks to the state’s laws on open meetings. Among other changes, the bill would require officials to include “sufficient details” about matters they discussed during a meeting in their minutes and add a new reason to the list of why officials could enter into an executive session — to discuss “interest rates for publicly financed loans.”
The bill now heads to the House for its consideration.
— Shaun Robinson
Visit our 2025 bill tracker for the latest updates on major legislation we are following.
A combined 18 goals were scored over two games during the 39th Rotary All Star Classic at Essex Skating Facility on Saturday.
Harris swept both matchups, with the girls winning 7-3 followed by a 5-3 result in the boys contest featuring the state’s top high school hockey players from this year’s senior class.
Laine Thayer of Spaulding was the team MVP for the Harris girls squad; Rice’s Finley Strong earned top honors for the Austin girls.
The MVPs on the boys side were Tyler Russo of Rice (Harris) and South Burlington’s Lucas Van Mullen (Austin).
Game details from Saturday’s doubleheader:
Girls game: Harris 7, Austin 3
Harris: Taylor Senecal 3G, 1A. Laine Thayer 2G. Ellie Parker 1G, 2A. Addie Parent 1G, 1A. Erin Jackson 10 saves, Riley Quesnel 8 saves.
Austin: Meghan Rivard 1G. Annabelle Lekstutis 1G. Rebecca Penney 1G. Holley MacLellan 1A. Lindsay Boyden 1A. Finley Strong 1A. Cassidy Skoda 1A. Leah Boyd 13 saves, Ruby Hubbell 14 saves.
Note: Austin built a 3-1 with 3:38 left in the first period before Harris fired in six unanswered goals starting with Thayer’s tally with five seconds left in the opening frame. Senecal leveled the score in the first minute of the second period and Parker tallied the go-ahead goal at 8:49.
Boys game: Harris 5, Austin 3
Harris: Tyler Russo 2G. AJ Dennett 1G, 1A. Owen McGunnigle 1G. Shyam Meyette 1G. Sayre Fisher 1A. Brendan Patterson 1A. Nolan Morlock 1A. Sam Collins 13 saves, Torren Burt 15 saves.
Austin: Carson Lewis 1G. Lucas Van Mullen 1G. Carel Paquin 1G. Maddox Heise 2A. Alex Dick 1A. Carel Paquin 1A. Phoenix Wells 9 saves, Owen Cheney 5 saves, Noah Bruttomesso 7 saves.
Note: Russo scored the first of two unassisted goals for a 3-1 lead at 10:13 of the second period. Harris extended its margin to 5-1 on Russo’s second tally midway through the third.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; (802) 324-9538.
California may have its scenic coastlines, New York its metropolitan hubs and Utah its stunning rock formations… but if you put it to any Vermonter, they’ll likely tell you all other states pale in comparison. You need only look around you at the autumn leaves aflame, the white-tipped mountains whizzing with skiers, and the small, close-knit neighborhoods that scaffold our lives to understand just how precious our humble realm is. This week’s featured poet, Sela Morgenstein Fuerst of South Burlington, celebrates the composition of our beloved lands and communities in response to the Tomorrow Project, a new civic engagement initiative at YWP aiming to empower the social and political voices of our future.
My true home, Vermont
Sela Morgenstein Fuerst, 11, South Burlington
Being a Vermonter is spending six months of the year wearing a jacket.
Being a Vermonter is running outside in nothing but leggings and a sweater, thinking it’s springtime when it hits 47 degrees.
Being a Vermonter is lying flat on your back in 15 inches of snow, watching the thick flakes tumble down from the sky.
Being a Vermonter is being shocked at the size of all other cities.
Being a Vermonter is knowing three out of seven people you pass on the street.
Being a Vermonter is playing on the University of Vermont Green as a preschooler, already toddling around in a snowsuit.
Being a Vermonter is biking miles and miles with your best friends every weekend, splashing through puddles as the lilacs in your neighborhood bloom.
Being a Vermonter is hiking Camel’s Hump and Mount Philo, and being so used to the Adirondacks in the distance that you forget to take pictures.
Being a Vermonter is going to a stadium and realizing it seats more people than live in Burlington.
Being a Vermonter is baking brownies and crunching through the snow to give them to your neighbors.
Being a Vermonter is reading the newspaper and joining webinars with Becca Balint at school; it’s marching in the Pride Parade while the wind rips through Church Street.
Being a Vermonter is figuring out how to protect Vermont while Vermont figures out how to protect you.
Being a Vermonter is staying at sleepaway Camp Hochelaga, the stars there tinged with sunscreen and waves.
Being a Vermonter is swimming in Lake Champlain every summer, darting through the emerald swathes of pine trees on your best friend’s motorboat.
Being a Vermonter is having to drive to Plattsburgh to go to a decent department store.
Being a Vermonter is not knowing a life without an autumn filled with fire.
Being a Vermonter is shouting the words to “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan out the bus windows as the brown and gray world disappears along the highway.
Being a Vermonter is flying anywhere warmer than here over February break.
Being a Vermonter is still believing in Champ.
Being a Vermonter is so much more than muddy springs and bonfire falls and freezing lakes that feel better than the ocean.
Being a Vermonter is community and love and beauty all 365 days of the year.
Being a Vermonter is poetry and nonfiction all in one.
Being a Vermonter… well, you’re a Vermonter, aren’t you?
Why don’t you tell me.
After leading their teams to state championships earlier this month, West Rutland’s Peyton Guay and Burlington’s Abdi Sharif collected more hardware on Saturday: the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association players of the year honors.
Guay was named the top girls player for the second time in three seasons, while Sharif was recognized as the state’s best on the boys side during the day-long celebration of hoops highlighted by four senior all-star games at Windsor High School.
Guay, who set the state’s all-time girls scoring record (2,279 points) this winter, helped West Rutland to a fourth straight Division IV title. Sharif was the leading scorer on a Burlington team that captured the program’s first D-I crown since 2016.
Coaches who are members of VBCA are allowed to vote on the POYs.
During Saturday’s competition, the North and South split the four games. The North now leads the all-time series 59-33.
The results:
Division III-IV girls: North 56, South 47
BFA-Fairfax’s Abba Villeneuve (10 points), Windsor’s Sophia Rockwood (nine) and Twinfield/Cabot’s Kendall Fowler (eight) powered the North, which pulled away from a three-point halftime lead.
For the South, West Rutland’s Bella Coobs scored nine points and Oxbow’s Maggi Elsworth tossed in seven.
Windsor’s Rockwood won the 3-point contest with a record-tying 18 3-pointers in a minute.
Division III-IV boys: South 82, North 81
Windsor’s Tanner Crane and White River Valley’s Zander Clark each scored 13 points and White River Valley’s Brayden Russ struck for a dozen points as the South built a big lead before holding off a North comeback bid.
Hazen’s Brendan Moodie (23 points) led the rally attempt from a 14-point deficit. Danville’s Andrew Joncas scored 11 points, Williamstown Evan Bailey added nine and Thetford’s Dylan Vance and Richford’s Jerrick Jacobs each had eight.
White River Valley’s Wyatt Cadwell won the 3-point contest on a tiebreaker.
Division I-II girls: South 65, North 62
In a tight finish, Fair Haven’s Izzy Cole sealed the win with a pair of game-sealing foul shots. Spaulding’s Taylor Keel led the winners with 14 points, followed by Mount Abraham’s Louisa Painter with eight points and Springfield’s Macie Stagner with seven.
For the North, Burlington’s Nylah Mitchell scored nine of her team-high 12 points in the second half. Mount Mansfield’s Bella Schultz-Mitchell scored seven.
Mount Anthony’s Madi Moore was the 3-point contest winner, matching Rockwood’s record 18 3s.
Division I-II boys: North 106, South 86
Burlington’s Abdi Sharif scored 17 points and Mount Mansfield’s Tommy Brockmeyer scored 14 as the North outlasted the South in a shootout.
St. Johnsbury’s Rex Hauser scored 13 points and Rice’s Dallas St. Peter put up 11 points.
On the South side, Rutland’s Dez Krakowka totaled 17 points and Montpelier teammates Atif Milak (14) and Carter Bruzzese (13) also reached double figures.
St. Peter captured the 3-point contest with 21 treys from distance.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
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