Vermont

Vermont residents remain concerned over potential environmental provisions

Published

1 month ago

April 7, 2026

Vermont residents remain concerned over potential environmental provisions

This week, a bill that would make changes to Vermont’s Act 181 is receiving testimony in the House Committee on Environment. Certain provisions in Act 181 could trigger a permitting process through Vermont’s land use protection law, Act 250. A rule related to road building and some lands identified as “critical natural resource areas” by the state’s land use review board are expected to take effect this year. Last month, legislation passed the Senate and is currently in the House to push those deadlines back by a few years. For Corinth resident Neil Ryan, that not enough. “The group of people that was largely left out of the process: Rural Vermonters are having this imposed upon them with no say,” he said. Ryan and his family have built their own farms for generations. He believes if the provisions take effect, it would be very difficult for future generations to accomplish what he has. “The difficulty of the Act 250 process, the costs associated with the Act 250 process, we wouldn’t have started those farms likely,” he said. However, Ryan said he does support the portion of Act 181 that allows towns to opt into being exempt from the permitting process altogether. This is meant to assist housing development. On Tuesday, regional planning commissions told lawmakers that many towns have opted in. Still, Vermont is not on track for its goal of 40,000 + homes by 2030. “We’re not saying rural housing growth should stop or slow,” Executive Director of the Northwest RPC Catherine Dimitruk said. “Were saying those additional units that we need, we should be doing all we can to encourage and incentivize.”The bill will remain in House environment for the foreseeable future.

MONTPELIER, Vt. —

This week, a bill that would make changes to Vermont’s Act 181 is receiving testimony in the House Committee on Environment.

Certain provisions in Act 181 could trigger a permitting process through Vermont’s land use protection law, Act 250.

A rule related to road building and some lands identified as “critical natural resource areas” by the state’s land use review board are expected to take effect this year.

Last month, legislation passed the Senate and is currently in the House to push those deadlines back by a few years. For Corinth resident Neil Ryan, that not enough.

“The group of people that was largely left out of the process: Rural Vermonters are having this imposed upon them with no say,” he said.

Ryan and his family have built their own farms for generations. He believes if the provisions take effect, it would be very difficult for future generations to accomplish what he has.

“The difficulty of the Act 250 process, the costs associated with the Act 250 process, we wouldn’t have started those farms likely,” he said.

However, Ryan said he does support the portion of Act 181 that allows towns to opt into being exempt from the permitting process altogether. This is meant to assist housing development.

On Tuesday, regional planning commissions told lawmakers that many towns have opted in. Still, Vermont is not on track for its goal of 40,000 + homes by 2030.

“We’re not saying rural housing growth should stop or slow,” Executive Director of the Northwest RPC Catherine Dimitruk said. “Were saying those additional units that we need, we should be doing all we can to encourage and incentivize.”

The bill will remain in House environment for the foreseeable future.

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Vermont

Smilin’ Steves closes three Vermont pharmacies, including at Woodstock clinic – Valley News

Published

56 minutes ago

May 18, 2026

Press Room

Smilin’ Steves closes three Vermont pharmacies, including at Woodstock clinic – Valley News

WOODSTOCK — The pharmacy inside Ottauquechee Health Center on Pleasant Street is closed as of Friday, along with two other Vermont pharmacies owned by Smilin’ Steves Pharmacies.

The Vermont pharmacy chain announced in a Facebook post just after 2 p.m. Friday that the three locations would be permanently closed at the end of the day. Signs were also posted on the front doors of the stores in Woodstock, Springfield and Ludlow.

Smilin’ Steves’ Rutland pharmacy and High Mountain Home Care LTC Pharmacy, also in Rutland, will stay open.

The company urged customers to call the Rutland pharmacy at 802-775-2545 to transfer prescriptions to another pharmacy, access records or with any other questions.

“We apologize for the suddenness of this,” one of the companies’ owners, Jeff Hochberg, said in a Monday interview. “This was out of our control and we are trying to do everything we can to help correct the situation here and now and forever as long as we can.”

A sign on the door of the Springfield Pharmacy on Monday, May 18, 2026 in Springfield, Vt. JENNIFER HAUCK / Valley News

While the Facebook post from Smilin’ Steves Pharmacies references “unforeseen circumstances with our wholesaler,” Hochberg declined to provide specific details about the situation that he said arose last week. He described it as a “David-Goliath situation” and “where healthcare meets capitalism.”

“I really can’t speak too much to the circumstances other than that they were totally unforeseen. This was not planned and we did everything we could to try to rectify the situation as quickly as possible,” Hochberg said, adding that the situation is still unfolding and there may be “more to come.”

He also declined to explain why the Rutland pharmacy and home care pharmacy were able to continue operating.

The Ottauquechee Pharmacy opened inside the Dartmouth Health-run Ottauquechee Health Center in 2021 after the 167-year-old Woodstock Pharmacy closed its doors in 2020.

DH, which had no ownership or oversight of the pharmacy, learned about the closure on Friday, Keith Thomasset, the health network’s chief pharmacy officer, said in a Monday statement.

DH is “committed to ensuring our patients have access to the care they need, including medications,” and has started researching short-term and long-term solutions to address the pharmacy shortage in and around Woodstock, Thomasset said.

But “opening a new pharmacy is not a quick process,” he added.

Options might include “developing a proposed plan to assist with acute care needs while (continuing) to utilize other Dartmouth Health system pharmacy services, such as our own specialty pharmacy and home delivery pharmacy services,” or starting a new DH-owned pharmacy in the area, Thomasset said.

With the closure, Woodstock joins the growing list of Upper Valley towns without a pharmacy. Amid a bankruptcy case, Rite Aid closed all its locations last summer, leaving Windsor and Bethel without pharmacies.

Pharmacies around Vermont have closed over the last several years, often citing poor margins as a result of low reimbursement rates, according to reporting from VtDigger.

Woodstock residents will have to order prescriptions by mail or travel 25 minutes to pharmacies in Lebanon, including CVS, Hannaford, Price Chopper, Walmart and Walgreens or 35 minutes to Kinney Drugs in Randolph.

For its part, Springfield still has a Kinney Drugs location and the recently-opened North Star Health Pharmacy.

Hochberg encouraged Smilin’ Steves customers to contact the Rutland pharmacy with any questions, adding “the system is designed for situations like this” and customer data is still accessible.

As for the employees, Hochberg said the company reached out to other pharmacies to see if anyone was hiring immediately. He did not know exactly how many employees were impacted by the closures, but said it is more than 10.

When asked if there is any possibility of reopening the closed locations as the company works to resolve the situation, Hochberg said the “future is very uncertain.”

“There is definitely a possibility of something in the future, pharmacy is not going anywhere, it’s just got to change,” Hochberg said.

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Vermont

VT Pride events mix protest, joy as LGBTQ groups see threat in new laws

Published

13 hours ago

May 18, 2026

Press Room

VT Pride events mix protest, joy as LGBTQ groups see threat in new laws

Over the last few years, many states have made it harder for transgender people to access gender-affirming care, or in some cases have outright banned it for minors.

Transgender people in many states have been restricted from playing sports or using bathrooms that match their identities, and some states have censored school curricula that discuss LGBTQ+ people more broadly and limited free expression. At the federal level, the Trump administration has sought to limit people’s ability to update IDs like passports to reflect their gender.

That’s why many local LGBTQ+ organizations say celebrating Pride Month, which traditionally occurs in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, is more important than ever.

“Looking at so much of how this country is portraying queer and trans people, we need to celebrate who we are as a people,” said Essex Pride President Kris Smith Thyme. “We need to show that we’re not monsters in a closet, that we’re friends and partners, neighbors, artists and creators.”

“There’s nothing more beautiful than celebrating queerness and transness in the face of all this hatred,” Thyme said.

St. Albans Pride Corps President Scott Bushey echoed Thyme’s sentiments.

“Pride celebrations started out as the very first protests,” said Bushey, and today holding a Pride event is practicing peaceful protest.

“(We’re) standing up for the fact that we deserve the same rights that everyone else gets,” Bushey said. “That we shouldn’t have to fight to get them or to keep them. That we shouldn’t have to worry about what we’re legally able to do.

Essex Pride and St. Albans Pride Corps are two of a number of Vermont LGBTQ+ organizations preparing to host events — festivals, movie nights, arts performances and social hours — to honor people who’ve faced discrimination for their sexualities or genders around this time of year.

Essex Pride’s three-day celebration is slated to take place a few days before Pride Month, from May 29-31, St. Albans Pride Corps’ six-day celebration is set for June 7-14.

Both Thyme and Bushey said their groups’ plans include “something for everyone,” regardless of age or interests.

Essex Pride events

Essex Pride’s fourth annual Pride celebration includes a garlic bread-eating social gathering; a comedy show and dance party; a drag story hour; a festival; a families and friends happy hour; a festival afterparty, which will include a drag and burlesque show with local performers; and free movie screenings of “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” and “Paris is Burning.”

The festival will include local performances, vendors, food trucks and creative activities for all ages and abilities. There will also be a quiet indoor space for people to view the Vermont Queer Archives and a memorial to trans people who have died from violence.

“Joy is the greatest act of resistance, but we can’t ignore what’s happening to the community now,” said Thyme.

St. Albans Pride Corps events

St. Albans Pride Corps’ third annual Pride celebration includes a Pride-based church service; a film screening of and panel discussion about “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar”; Pride game and karaoke nights; its Pride in the Park festival; a drag show; a parade; and a family day and ice cream social, with free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

St. Albans Museum will also have a monthlong exhibit about Pride in Vermont through the years. Attendees can add to a storytelling quilt at the museum.

Bushey said his organization included a Pride-based church service in its lineup because religious spaces are where many LGBTQ+ people have historically faced significant discrimination. He added that St. Albans has a “very large LGBTQ church-going community.”

“It’s really important to us that we really highlight the support of these local churches,” said Bushey. “There are lots of people who go to church who don’t come out because they’re afraid of being kicked out or pushed away.”

The five churches that will share the service believe “everybody is loved by God, that everyone is welcomed in church,” Bushey said.

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

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Vermont

Best Vermont high schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2026

Press Room

Best Vermont high schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

Vermont is the home to several notable sports legends over the decades, from Susan Dunklee to David Ball to Albert Gutterson and beyond.

And that trend continues today, with high school athletes creating storylines across the state.

Which high schools in Vermont are considered the best for athletes in 2026?

According to a study conducted by Niche, which accounts for “reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school”—and data from the U.S. Department of Education—these are the top 25.