Vermont high schoolers can use their creativity to promote safe driving through a video contest, according to a community announcement.

The announcement, from the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance, describes how this year’s contest challenges teens to create public service announcements that discourage distracted driving. The theme is “Focus Drives Your Future.”

The contest is open to students in grades 9-12, either individually or in teams of two. More than $2,500 in cash prizes will be awarded, and winning videos will be shared statewide through media and educational outreach, according to the announcement.

“Distracted driving continues to be one of the most dangerous behaviors on our roads, especially for young drivers,” said Diana Gugliotta, executive director of the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance. “This contest empowers teens to speak directly to their peers, using their own voices and creativity to influence real change and help prevent crashes, injuries and deaths.”

Students are encouraged to address distractions such as using phones to text, check social media or adjust music or GPS maps, along with distractions from passengers, eating or drinking, grooming, pets or heightened emotions.

The videos must be 30, 45 or 60 seconds long and comply with Vermont traffic laws. Videos may not depict distracted driving, include brand logos or use copyrighted material without permission. Participants must reside in Vermont or be enrolled in a Vermont public or private high school, homeschool program or eligible New Hampshire cross-border school.

Thanks to sponsorship from AAA Northern New England, Co-operative Insurance Companies, the Vermont Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, Yankee Driving School, Westside Driving and the Vermont Construction Association, prizes include:

The snowstorm isn’t over in Vermont quite yet: the National Weather Service of Burlington has a winter storm warning in effect for Vermont until 1 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

With about a foot of snow already on the ground across Vermont, the NWS expects another few inches to accumulate on Jan. 26

NWS Meteorologist Adrianna Kremer said that travel should not be taken lightly, as the snow showers could affect visibility.

“If you’re on the roads, definitely just use caution,” Kremer said.

The winter storm warning said that roads, particularly bridges and overpasses, will be slick and hazardous to drive on in Vermont, affecting morning and evening commutes.

Here is how much snow Vermont has accumulated so far and will accumulate today.

Snowfall totals: How much snow did Burlington, VT get?

About a foot of snow has accumulated across Vermont so far overall, Kremer said, with the amount varying in different areas of the state.

She said that the Burlington Airport has about 9.8 inches of snow as of 7 a.m. Monday, Jan. 26.

Kremer said that they are expecting possibly two to six inches of additional snow accumulation today, but that it should begin tapering off later this evening.

Total snowfall accumulation could be 10 inches to 16 inches depending on the area. Southern Vermont has the potential to see 18 inches, according to the winter storm warning.

And more could be coming this week.

“There could be a few light snow showers throughout the week,” Kremer said. “The snow should be mostly over by the end of today.”

If you’d like to see informal reports of snowfall on the National Weather Service website, you can visit their spotter reports in Vermont here.

Search VT snow totals by address

Just type your address into the box below to see your snowfall total and a map of nearby measurements.

USA TODAY’s snowfall map shows accumulation over the past 24, 48, and 72 hours, as well as seasonal totals dating back to Oct. 1. Updated multiple times a day, the map lets you toggle between timeframes to see how snow is adding up in your area.

Can’t see the embed? View the file on a separate browser page here.

Vermont weather watches and warnings

Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@usatodayco.com.

Vermont officials reacted to both the shooting by a Border Patrol agent of a protestor in Minneapolis on Saturday and to statements by federal officials afterward.

According to the Associated Press, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Alex Pretti, a nurse with the Veterans Administration, attacked officers, and Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” In posts on X, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called Pretti “a would-be assassin.”

The Associated Press reviewed multiple bystander videos of the incident, a scuffle that lasted about 30 seconds.

“The videos appear to contradict statements by the Trump administration, which said the shots were fired ‘defensively’ against Pretti as he ‘approached’ them with a gun,” according to the AP. “In the videos, Pretti is seen with only a phone in his hand. None of the footage appears to show him with a weapon. During the scuffle, agents discovered that he was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, and they opened fire with several shots. Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.”

In Vermont, both Governor Phil Scott and the state’s Congressional delegation reacted to the shooting.

“Enough…it’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government,” Scott said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Sunday morning.

“At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training, and leadership,” he added. “At worst, it’s a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that’s resulting in the murder of Americans. Again, enough is enough.”

Scott called for the federal government to back off and calm the situation.

“The President should pause these operations, de-escalate the situation, and reset the federal government’s focus on truly criminal illegal immigrants,” Scott said. “In the absence of Presidential action, Congress and the Courts must step up to restore constitutionality.”

Lieutenant Governor John Rodgers, also a Republican, issued a statement and thanked Scott for what he called courageous leadershhip.

“I stand with you, as all law-abiding Americans should, in calling on the President to suspend the operations of federal agents in our communities, ‘de-escalate the situation, and reset the federal government’s focus on truly criminal illegal immigrants,’” Rogers said in his statement. “I urge my colleagues in the Judiciary and Congress to assert your constitutional authority to restore order and calm if the Executive will not.

“Everyone’s constitutional rights must be protected. Not one more American should die at the hands of federal government agents,” Rogers said. “Not a single one.”

Vermont’s senior U.S. Senator, Bernie Sanders, an independent, noted on X that this was the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month.

“NO MORE,” he wrote. “All federal agents – ICE and Border Patrol – must be withdrawn immediately from Minneapolis and other cities. NOW.”

Sanders also put on Facebook a widely shared statement by Alex Pretti’s parents, Michael and Susan.

Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat, expressed similar sentiments in two Facebook posts on Sunday morning.

“Under Secretary Noem, ICE is no longer about immigration enforcement. It’s about terrorizing communities. Noem must go. Congress must stop giving even more money to this agency on a rampage,” Welch wrote.

“No more blank checks from Congress, and no more excessive force.

Secretary Noem must resign, and the Trump Administration needs to be held accountable,” Welch wrote.

Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat, spoke in an interview with MSNOW, which she posed on her Facebook page.

“I am filled with just white-hot rage,” she said. “And I know that I speak for my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle, as well as my constituents back in Vermont, and watching Christie Noem in that press conference, she’s essentially saying to us, your government will kill you in order to keep you safe, because she keeps saying they’re there to keep people safe and secure. And what I see is that they are not only willing to kill us, they are willing to lie about it shamelessly.”

State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, a Democrat, also condemned the shooting in a statement.

“I am deeply disturbed and outraged by the events that unfolded yesterday in Minneapolis. There are no words that do justice to what happened,” he said. “The Trump administration’s explanation for the shooting is not rooted in fact, truth, or any available information. They are lying to our faces, without a shred of evidence. We can see with our own eyes what happened. We can see with our own eyes how Trump and his enablers have so fundamentally lost their way.”

Pieciak also called for answers and accountability in the matter.