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What to know about phase two of Governor Scott’s paid leave program for Vermont

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What to know about phase two of Governor Scott’s paid leave program for Vermont


Paid family and medical leave is almost here for millions more Vermonters.

On Feb. 15, Gov. Phil Scott and insurance giant The Hartford will launch part two of the voluntary Vermont Family and Medical Leave Insurance (VT-FMLI) program, which will allow Vermont employers with two employees or more to create customized paid leave plans for their companies.

Vermonters whose employers opt-in to the program will receive partial income replacement for leaves of absence, such as caring for a sick relative, meeting the needs of a family member in the military, bonding with a newborn baby and recovering from a personal serious health condition. Benefits start this July.

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The program’s first phase, which took effect last July, targeted solely Vermont state workers. By 2025, all remaining Vermont workers − people whose employers opted out of the program, businesses with less than two employees and individuals who are self-employed − will be able to purchase paid family and medical leave.

What will family and medical leave look like?

According to the Governor’s Office, employers who opt-in to the program have some flexibility. Businesses can combine family and medical leave or provide family leave insurance on its own. Employers can also choose to cover all program contributions, divide the cost between themselves and their employees or make the benefits voluntary and require employees to pay in full. Additionally, companies can select how long family and medical leave will last − between six to 26 weeks within a 12-month period − and how much employees will receive in wage replacement − 60% to 70%, “with additional options available with underwriting review.”

Why is paid family and medical leave a big deal?

Paid leave has been a priority in Vermont for years, with the first bill introduced in the Legislature over a decade ago, according to Vermont state Sen. Kesha Ram during an AARP meeting last November. Vermonters almost secured paid leave in 2019, but the bill was vetoed by Scott the following January.

“Everyone needs time off,” said Ram, who took a leave of absence after the birth of her first child.

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“It shouldn’t be a privilege to do that,” she said. “It means a lot to babies to get to know and bond with their parents.”

New parents wouldn’t be the only workers to benefit from paid family and medical leave, however.

The program will provide a “peace of mind for employees who need to take time away from work to care for themselves or their loved ones,” said Megan Holstein, The Hartford’s head of absence management for group benefits, in a Jan. 18 press release.

Additionally, Holstein said that family and medical leave helps businesses recruit and retain quality workers. Vermont, in particular, has struggled for years with “brain drain” and population decline.

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How is Scott’s plan different from the Senate bill?

As Scott and The Hartford prepare to roll out stage two of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, a similar bill awaits approval in the Senate.

Passed in the House last March, H.66 would provide all workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave and up to 90% of Vermont’s average weekly earnings. The program would be funded through a wage payroll tax, with benefits available by July 1, 2026.

Just like in 2019, Scott may veto the bill due to its “mandatory tax” on wages, calling his own collaborative paid leave program with The Hartford “a win-win.”

“I believe we can accomplish our shared goal of providing the peace of mind of paid family and medical leave more efficiently, affordably and quickly than imposing another mandatory broad-based tax on already overburdened workers,” Scott said in a December 2022 press release about his paid leave program.

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

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Vermont hot sauce featured on YouTube’s ‘Hot Ones’

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Vermont hot sauce featured on YouTube’s ‘Hot Ones’


BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – A Vermont hot sauce is getting top billing on the YouTube show “Hot Ones.” This winter, actors, singers, and other celebrity guests are eating their wings and warming up with some heat from the Green Mountain State.

Butterfly Bakery of Vermont owner Claire Georges is showing off her newest creation, Hot House hot sauce, that’s making celebrities sweat on the current season of “Hot Ones.”

The Barre business first landed on the show in 2015 with their Smoked Onion Hot Sauce. “Ever since the “Hot Ones” run, it’s our most popular sauce,” Georges said. Then, in 2023, their 638,000 Scoville heat scale Taco Vibes sauce made the lineup. “Taco Vibes is an insanely hot number nine sauce made with reapers and ghost peppers and that one’s crazy.”

Reporter Cat Viglienzoni: Who’s been your favorite reaction to eating your hot sauce?

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Claire Georges: That would be Pedro Pascal… He had Taco Vibes back on season 2024 and he was looking at it and he was like… And then he ate it.

Celebrities this season like Grammy winner Bad Bunny also sweated it out to Hot House. The five-pepper blend has more herbs and spices than their usual mixes, leading to a flavor Georges describes as “bold” and “complex.” “It’s shockingly versatile. I keep finding new things I can have it on,” she said.

Georges has been trying for years to get one of their products back on the show. “It was really exciting when we got the word that this was going to be part of the lineup,” she said. She says their large product line is the result of their ethos of experimentation and a lot of trials.

“We’re always making new things and it’s a lot of fun.”

Hot sauce lovers can find their Hot House online at the Heatonist. Then, after the current “Hot Ones” season in May, it will be available online at Butterfly Bakery.

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February is a short but sweet month on the Vermont arts-and-entertainment scene

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February is a short but sweet month on the Vermont arts-and-entertainment scene


February is totally out of whack. Every other month has at least 30 days, but February apparently showed up late for the day-allocation meeting and only got a measly 28 days. Every now and then the day allocators feel bad for February and give it an extra day, but it still comes up at least a day late and a dollar short.

That just means you have to pack a lot more fun into each of those 28 days than you would in one of those longer, more drawn-out months. Fortunately, the arts scene in Vermont gives you plenty of opportunities to do just that. Here are 28 events to consider this month to really make time fly when you’re having fun.

Current exhibition at The Current

Through April 12, the solo exhibition “The Painters’ Hands” featuring the work of graffiti artist Timothy Curtis, which opened Jan. 16, continues at The Current, Stowe. Free. www.thecurrentnow.org

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David Lynch films in Burlington

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, the Vermont International Film Festival pays tribute to inventive filmmaker David Lynch, who died in January at age 78, with a trio of films starting with 1997’s “Lost Highway” starring Patricia Arquette and Bill Pullman, followed at 7 p.m. by the influential 1986 movie “Blue Velvet” and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2 with what might be his masterpiece, 2001’s “Mulholland Drive,” The Screening Room, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $6-$12 per film. www.vtiff.org

Farmers Night author talk

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, author and Bradford school principal Kenneth M. Cadow, whose young adult novel “Gather” was a National Book Award finalist, delivers a talk as part of the Farmers Night series, Vermont Statehouse, Montpelier. Free. https://legislature.vermont.gov/the-state-house/events/farmers-night-concert-series

The return of Mdou Moctar

8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, West African guitar act Mdou Moctar is back with opener Janel Leppin at the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

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Abstract landscape art in Middlebury

5-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, the opening reception for “Landscape Complexions,” a collection of abstract paintings by Addison County artist and architect H. Keith Wagner, celebrates the exhibition that will be on display through March 15, Jackson Gallery, Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. Free. www.townhalltheater.org

‘Wake Up’ call in Waitsfield

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, The Valley Players open their world premiere fully-staged reading of Roxbury playwright Jeanne Beckwith’s Depression-era play “Wake Up, Gloucester,” which runs through Feb. 16, Valley Players Theater, Waitsfield. $14. www.valleyplayers.com

Acoustic roots music in Lincoln

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, acoustic roots musician Eli West, joined by Stephanie Coleman and Matt Flinner, performs at this month’s installment of the Burnham Presents series, Burnham Hall, Lincoln. $20-$25. www.burnhampresents.org

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Made-in-Vermont hip hop

9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, now based in Brooklyn, hip-hop musician Jarv is a Windsor native who’ll perform with King Green and Damn Skippy at Nectar’s, Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.liveatnectars.com

Folk/bluegrass act in Richmond

4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, the “P.M. Sundays” series presented by Valley Stage this month features folk/bluegrass duo Bookmatch, Richmond Congregational Church. $17.50-$27.50. www.valleystage.net

Michael Marcagi is back in Vermont

8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Ohio-based singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi, who performed in Burlington last summer at Grace Potter’s Grand Point North concert series, returns to the region for a show with Ashley Kutcher in the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

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Middlebury presents August Wilson play

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, The Acting Company presents a one-night-only performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” Wright Memorial Theatre, Middlebury College. $5-$25. www.middlebury.edu/arts

Stealing from Work is back at work

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13-Saturday, Feb. 15, 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15-Sunday, Feb. 16, the Burlington-based sketch-comedy revue Stealing from Work returns to the stage with its new show, “Love… Well, Actually” Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, Burlington. $17 or “pay what you can.” www.offcentervt.com

The Bad Plus adds Vermont show

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, jazzy, eclectic foursome The Bad Plus plays the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $30 in advance, $35 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

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Sweet jazz for Valentine’s Day

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, with Valentine’s Day falling on a Friday it provides all sorts of opportunities for romantic nights out, including this concert by jazz supergroup Artemis as part of the University of Vermont Lane Series, UVM Recital Hall, Burlington. $7.50-$38.50. www.uvm.edu/laneseries

Romance (sort of) with Yes Darling

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, they flirt, they bicker and they sing – it’s Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane of Yes Darling, who on Valentine’s Day bring their staged concert to The Double E, Essex Experience. $25-$110. www.essexresort.com

Dwight & Nicole offer ‘Big Love’

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, the soulful Burlington-based group Dwight & Nicole presents a Valentine’s Day concert titled “Big Love,” Town Hall Theater, Burlington. $15-$35. www.townhalltheater.org

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Lutalo plays Radio Bean

8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, rising Vermont-based indie-rock musician Lutalo performs following Burlington rockers Dari Bay, Radio Bean, Burlington. $18 in advance, $22 day of show. www.radiobean.com

VSO does modern classical

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s program “Modernism and the World of Yesterday” begins with works by Wojciech Kilar and Felix Mendelssohn and after intermission presents Anna Clyne’s “Sound and Fury” with narration by Vermont author M.K. Anderson followed by pianist Stephen Hough performing his piano concerto “The World of Yesterday,” the Flynn, Burlington. $8.35-$62. www.vso.org

Zenbarn welcomes Session Americana

7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Boston folk amalgam Session Americana joins the South Dakota-born group Humbletown at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.zenbarnvt.com

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Warren Haynes hits the Flynn

8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, rock guitarist Warren Haynes, known for his work with Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers Band, arrives with his solo band for a show presented by Higher Ground at the Flynn, Burlington. $49.75-$359. www.highergroundmusic.com

Rock with Rough Francis

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, Burlington rock heroes Rough Francis headline a show that includes DJ Collin Hagood, Blossom and Violet Crimes, Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Higher Ground hosts ‘Love, Kelly Winterfest’

9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, the “Love, Kelly Winterfest” brings a night of hip hop with Famous Dex, YBN Nahmir, North Ave Jax, Souly Had and Kal Banx, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

‘Black Experience’ with Ta-Nehisi Coates

 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, author Ta-Nehisi Coates (“Between the World and Me”) headlines “The Black Experience ’25,” which includes music from SistaStrings and appearances by local guests DJ Melo Grant, poet Rajnii Eddins and racial-justice advocate Traci Griffith, the Flynn, Burlington. $23-$49.25. www.theflynn.org

A smoke-and-mirrors magic show?

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, billed as the “world’s dopest magic show,” “Smokus Pocus” is a weed-themed magic show coming to the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $33-$53. www.smokuspocus.com

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Winter Is a Drag Ball under new management

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, the annual Winter Is a Drag Ball enters its 30th year presented by Mike Oxready (taking over for long-running hosts The House of LeMay) with the theme “ResisDANCE and RevoluSHINE” benefiting Vermont CARES, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $32 in advance, $37 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

‘Tonight Show’ comic in Burlington

7 and 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28-Saturday, March 1, comic Mary Beth Barone, who made her late-night TV debut on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” stars in four shows at the Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington. $25. www.vermontcomedyclub.com

Getting gory with ‘Sweeney Todd’

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, Vermont Repertory Theatre opens its run (through March 7 and with warnings from the producers of a “blood zone” close to the stage) of the Stephen Sondheim musical about “Sweeney Todd,” aka “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $25-$40. www.vermontrep.com

Solas celebrates in central Vermont

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, the Irish-American group Solas brings Celtic sounds to the Barre Opera House. $24-$42.50. www.barreoperahouse.org

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Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.



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White House’s mixed messages on federal funding spark more uncertainty for Vermont officials – VTDigger

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White House’s mixed messages on federal funding spark more uncertainty for Vermont officials – VTDigger


Mike Pieciak and Charity Clark. Photos by Natalie Williams/VTDigger

President Donald Trump’s administration sent conflicting signals Wednesday over whether, or to what extent, the president’s plans to freeze vast swaths of federal funding were still in effect. 

Meanwhile, in Vermont, uncertainty over the impacts of those plans was on full display at a meeting of a task force co-chaired by state Treasurer Mike Pieciak, which Pieciak set up earlier this month to assess the downstream impacts of Trump’s sweeping policy changes. 

And Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, who joined her counterparts in 22 other states in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s plans, said in a statement Wednesday that a second federal judge was leaning toward issuing a decision in that case to block the proposal in the coming days. 

News broke that the Trump administration had rescinded an order freezing federal funding — which set off a wave of chaos in state governments and other organizations on Tuesday — just hours before Wednesday’s task force meeting in Vermont focused on the same topic.

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But Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, posted on X later on Wednesday that even with the order rescinded, a “federal funding freeze” would still “be rigorously implemented.” 

The initial order, from the federal Office of Management and Budget, directed agencies to “temporarily pause” all financial assistance “and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by (Trump’s) executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” 

It was set to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but a decision — in a case separate to Vermont and the other states’ — by Judge Loren AliKhan of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is set to delay implementation until at least Feb. 3.

In Clark’s case, which was filed in federal court in Rhode Island, a judge said Wednesday that he was “inclined” to grant the states’ request to block Trump’s order, at least temporarily, and seemed “receptive” to their arguments, Clark said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. 

Clark said the judge has asked the states to prepare a proposed order, “which is common practice,” after which the federal government will have 24 hours to review that order. 

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“We should know more in the coming days,” Clark said in an email. “I want to reassure Vermonters we will not stop fighting until federal funding is restored.” 

Several members of the Vermont task force said they’d heard widespread anxiety this week from leaders of nonprofits and other organizations in the state about the potential impacts of losing some, if not all, of their federal funding. Exactly what areas and which grant programs the spending pause would apply to has been unclear.

On Tuesday afternoon, Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the pause would not extend to “Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals.” It also would not apply to student loans or Pell grants, according to The New York Times. 

“I’ve received calls, texts, emails of panic from direct service providers, from legislators — from all kinds,” said Sue Minter, who co-chairs the task force with Pieciak, at Wednesday’s meeting. The last two days, the treasurer noted, have been “very chaotic.” 

Pieciak said that the possibility of a federal funding freeze — combined with Trump’s recent suggestion that he could do away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency — has also prompted his office to consider creating a new state reserve fund to support natural disaster recovery. 

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The state already has seven reserve funds that support government operations in its general fund, transportation fund and education fund. The new reserve fund could be created without the Legislature’s input, Pieciak said, though he’s also considering including the proposal in an omnibus treasury bill to be introduced this year. 

The task force on Trump’s administration is set to workshop the proposal further, members said Wednesday.





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