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Kids and the \

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Kids and the \


Republican Gov. Phil Scott has signed an executive order allowing families with children under age 19 and “medically vulnerable” Vermonters who face eviction from hotel and motel rooms on April 1 to remain in the state’s General Assistance program through June 30.

Pregnant women in their third trimester or who will enter their third trimester between April 1 and June 30 are among those who qualify as “medically vulnerable.”

Scott’s executive order comes after weeks of squabbling between his administration and Democratic lawmakers about whether to extend emergency shelter services for all 1,439 households in the “Hotel-Motel” program until the end of June. Without additional funding, the program re-instates its summer weather 1,100 room, 80-day cap and begins exiting hundreds of Vermont households from hotels and motels on Monday.

“While I’ve been opposed to the Hotel-Motel program because it doesn’t serve those in the program well, I have also been clear that we have an obligation to protect children and Vermonters who are most vulnerable,” Scott said in a press release about on Friday afternoon. “This executive order does just that without unwinding the important progress we’ve made.”

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Democrats, however, have argued that Vermont’s other “vulnerable” populations — including all pregnant women, veterans and victims of domestic violence — at risk of eviction this spring should be allowed to stay in the program for the next three months as well.

But Scott says Vermont needs to begin transitioning away from the “failed” hotel-motel program, which he has repeatedly criticized as both expensive for taxpayers and detrimental for clients. Scott has pointed to the 135 deaths that occurred between 2020 and 2024 in hotels and motels, lack of wrap around services for people struggling with substance use or mental illness and the housing of both “vulnerable and predatory populations” under the same roof as evidence for the program’s failure.

Additionally, Scott says he’s wants to conserve money in case the Trump administration pulls significant federal dollars from the state.

Republican senators backed Scott when they unanimously blocked Democrats’ attempt earlier on Friday to expedite a vote on the most recent version of this year’s budget adjustment act, which allocates “existing” money from the Department of Children and Families to extend emergency housing eligibility for every client through the summer. Scott is expected to veto the bill should the senate pass the budget adjustment act as it currently stands.

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Where will exited hotel-motel clients go?

According to Beck, Scott’s administration is helping ensure available shelter at the following congregate shelters:

  • Williston family shelter, which will continue to operate the rest of the year with help from a local provider assistance
  • Waterbury family shelter, which will continue to provide shelter through mid-June to ensure stability for school children

Beck also the administration plans to expand “family shelter capacity with plans for permanent family shelters in Burlington, Rutland, Bennington, and Central Vermont,” extend and expand “Medical Respite capacity in the central Vermont and Chittenden County regions” and add an “an intensive recovery housing site for those who need an integrated model of housing and substance use treatment.”

Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com.



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Hour-by-hour: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York

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Hour-by-hour: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York


The most widespread storm coverage will occur between 2-8 PM Tuesday, April 14

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Timeline: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York

The most widespread storm coverage will occur between 2-8 PM Tuesday, April 14

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NBC5 meteorologists expect strong to locally severe thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon into the evening for Vermont and northern New York.Watch the video to see when showers, downpours, and storms are most likely near your town.

NBC5 meteorologists expect strong to locally severe thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon into the evening for Vermont and northern New York.

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Watch the video to see when showers, downpours, and storms are most likely near your town.

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var tempEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–current-temp-value’);
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updateWeatherBackground(weatherData.current.icon_name);
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Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits

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A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.

A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.

Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.

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“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.

The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.

“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.

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In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.

“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.

The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.

The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.

“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”

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Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.

“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.



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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her

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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her


BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.

Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.

“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.

Birthday gift unlike any other

For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.

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The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.

“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”

After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.

“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.

“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”

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‘Library for plants’

White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.

“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.

Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.

“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”

The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.

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“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.

White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.

No plans to stop

White says she has no plans to stop.

“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.

And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.

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“He just got good wishes!”

Read the full story.



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