Vermont

Help VTDigger investigate Vermont’s affordability crisis – VTDigger

Published

5 months ago

June 10, 2025

Help VTDigger investigate Vermont’s affordability crisis – VTDigger

Dear Reader,

Vermonters are facing a growing affordability crisis. From housing and health care to child care and groceries, many people are struggling to keep up.

These pressures affect communities in every corner of the state.

That’s why VTDigger is launching a new reporting beat focused on wealth, poverty and economic opportunity in Vermont. This beat will dig into the root causes of economic hardship, examine the systems meant to offer support and elevate the stories of Vermonters navigating these challenges every day.

Thanks to our partnership with Report for America, we have secured partial funding for the role. Now, we’re asking our readers to help us close the gap and bring this position to life.

In order to launch this beat, we need to raise $50,000. A generous Vermont donor will match all gifts made before Saturday, June 14. Will you be one of the readers who makes this new beat possible?

Why this work matters now

Vermont has long depended on imported wealth to sustain its economy, but is this model still working?

This new reporter will explore the challenges and opportunities facing different communities. From rural poverty and housing insecurity to the impacts of demographic shifts sparked by the pandemic, this beat will cover a broad range of topics including:

Root causes of Vermont’s affordability crisis
The experiences of Vermonters most affected by economic challenges
Regional disparities and areas for change
Gaps in state services and nonprofit safety nets
How economic policy affects Vermonters differently depending on geography, age and background

This beat will help ensure that policy conversations are grounded in reality, informed by evidence and inclusive of the full range of Vermonters’ experiences.

Backed by Report for America and readers like you

VTDigger is honored to be selected as a host newsroom by Report for America, a nonprofit journalism service program that places talented reporters in local newsrooms to cover underreported topics. The program covers a portion of the reporter’s salary, but requires that the remainder come from community support.

Unlike some chain-owned commercial media, VTDigger is a nonprofit news organization that does not charge subscriptions to read our work — so readers from all economic backgrounds have access to the information they need. But, we can only hire and sustain our team with our readers’ support. We don’t receive federal funding, and every dollar we raise, we put into fulfilling our mission.

You can help us close the gap and launch this vital work. If you value fact-based reporting that explains complex issues, amplifies unheard voices and holds power to account, please consider making a donation.

Your support — whether $15 or $500 — will be doubled and help us launch this beat with care, accuracy and a community mandate.

Thank you for your readership and support.

Sincerely,

Lesli Blount
Chief Revenue Officer, VTDigger

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Vermont

How Jason Sperry, No. 1 Middlebury football powered way to another D-I title game

Published

2 hours ago

November 8, 2025

Press Room

How Jason Sperry, No. 1 Middlebury football powered way to another D-I title game

MIDDLEBURY ― After the Middlebury football team picked up a fresh set of downs on its opening drive, Jason Sperry had his number called.

The junior running back went for 15 yards on his first carry. He then churned out a pair of 20-plus yard scampers to set up the Tigers’ first touchdown.

And on the third play from scrimmage to start the second half, Sperry motored 74 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Tigers to a three-score advantage.

“Jason Sperry has had a coming out party this year so far,” Middlebury coach Jed Malcolm said. “To me, he’s the top back in the state. I wouldn’t pick anybody else

“And he showed it tonight.”

Sperry refused to go down, Middlebury refused to give in, and the top-seeded team in Division I delivered on a muddy terrain — ideal for Tiger football — in a 27-7 victory over No. 5 Burr and Burton in the Vermont state semifinals at Doc Collins Field on Friday, Nov. 7.

Middlebury (9-1) will play No. 2 St. Johnsbury (9-1) for a state championship at South Burlington High School on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Tigers are chasing the program’s 11th crown in their 23rd finals appearance.

“The field conditions benefited us. But that’s why we do what we do, because guess what, the weather is in November in Vermont, it’s muddy and cold and wet,” Malcolm said.

Sperry went for 192 yards on 17 carries, Logan McNulty chugged for 58 yards and a pair of scores and Tucker Wright produced a sack and a big interception on defense to thwart a potential BBA scoring drive that kept the contest just out of reach for the visitors.

For BBA (6-4), quarterback Sam Dowd threw for 109 yards on 12-for-23 passing while rushing for 126 yards on 17 carries with a score in the final seconds to avoid the shutout. Owen Cassan had 90 yards from scrimmage and Sam Gilliam caught six balls for 53 yards.

“I think the conditions hurt us a little bit to be honest with you. I’m sure it slowed them down a little bit. It’s just tough conditions to throw the ball around and I think we had to have some success to throwing the ball … to get the (win),” BBA coach Tom McCoy said. “But that’s just how it goes, that’s the deal in November.

“We didn’t finish off drives.”

Indeed. The Bulldogs, who won in overtime in the quarterfinals at Essex last weekend, failed to produce any points on their first three trips into the red zone. After Brady Lloyd and McNulty scored TDs on Middlebury’s first two possessions — the latter set up by Marshall Eddy’s 32-yard reception on a broken play — Dowd engineered a long drive that started on the BBA 8-yard line with gutsy runs and playmaking to get the Bulldogs to the Middlebury 10-yard line with about 3 minutes to play in the first half.

But on second down, Middlebury sent Ben DeBisschop on a corner blitz from the edge, and Dowd fired over the middle, where linebacker Tucker Wright snagged the interception.

“We were planning on blitzing a little bit more than we did. The blitzing, obviously, was very effective. Where they were beating us was where we were voiding the area,” Malcolm said. “We started recognizing that and disguised some blitzes and sent some guys from different spots.

“We made them work for everything they did tonight.”

Playing without two-way star, and likely their best blocker, Cooke Riney for the third straight game, the Tigers’ offensive line, led by Kameron Raymond, executed and created holes for Sperry and Co.

Sperry fought through tackles for most of the night when he did bounce it outside, but the path for those big runs began up front.

“They knew where they needed to be and they went out there and blocked,” Sperry said. “Coaches teach us, you gotta get low and stay on your feet. Again, it’s the offensive line, it’s the lead blocks, it’s everything. It’s not just me out there.”

Sperry’s 74-yard TD dash — he reversed field on third-and-5 and found a seam down the home sideline to paydirt — gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 10:25 to play in third quarter. The Bulldogs turned it over on downs in the red zone on their next two possessions, the latter with 10:04 to go in regulation.

Middlebury then uncorked a 10-play, 98-yard scoring drive capped by McNulty’s 2-yard plunge for a 27-0 advantage with 3 minutes to play.

“That’s the name of the game,” Malcolm said of the Tigers’ tried-and-true formula. “We are not going to win a shootout with anybody. We just don’t have that kind of system. We love 5-yard pickups.”

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.

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Vermont

Man robbed and stabbed on Metro bus in Vermont Knolls

Published

20 hours ago

November 7, 2025

Press Room

Man robbed and stabbed on Metro bus in Vermont Knolls

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department are looking for the attacker who robbed and stabbed a man on a Metro bus in what investigators are calling a hate crime.

The incident occurred in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Los Angeles shortly after 11 p.m. on Thursday near South Figueroa and West 80th streets.

Police said the attacker said something to the victim about being Hispanic then stole his necklace and stabbed him before getting off the bus and taking off.

The victim was transported to the hospital and remains in stable condition.

No further details were immediately available.

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Vermont

Central Vermont rejects $149M bond for standalone career center – VTDigger

Published

2 days ago

November 6, 2025

Press Room

Central Vermont rejects 9M bond for standalone career center – VTDigger

A rendering of the proposed Central Vermont Career Center standalone building, based on designs from TruexCullins Architecture + Interior Design and Lavallee Brensinger. Courtesy of Central Vermont Career Center

Central Vermont residents voted overwhelmingly against a $149 million measure to build a new technical education center on Tuesday.

Across the 18 towns in Washington County that form the Central Vermont Career Center District, about 60% voted against the ballot item, while 40% voted in favor of it, according to results collected by the Barre Town Clerk’s office.

The district proposed the bond as a response to the lack of space and inadequate facilities at the career center’s current home at Spaulding High School in Barre. For the current school year, the district received 414 applications for 228 spots, according to district data.

District Superintendent Jody Emerson said last month that the career center also hoped a standalone building would allow it to offer additional programs and expand opportunities to younger grades. Two consulting firms drew up plans for a 167,000-square-foot facility at a currently vacant lot in Graniteville.

But central Vermont residents raised concerns about the cost of the bond at an informational meeting in October. According to district projections, the bond was expected to raise property taxes between $99 and $420 per year on a $300,000 home.

The district had set a target date of September 2029 to open the facility if the bond was approved, according to its website. Emerson has said if the bond failed, the district may be able to come back to voters at a later date with a different plan. But what that plan looks like depends on the future of the education redistricting proposals and school construction aid proposals being discussed in the Legislature this year.

After the results were announced, Emerson said she was grateful for the high turnout because it provided information for the district to determine what its next steps should be.

She blamed the failure of the vote on the state’s cost-of-living issues and the uncertainty around the future of redistricting, rather than opposition to technical education. “I know the voters support our kids,” she said.

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