Brave Little State

The United States is turning 250 this summer. Here’s what that means to Americans all over the country, from California to Louisiana to Vermont.

Vermont doesn’t have enough beds for all the men incarcerated here. So, the state sends them more than a thousand miles away to a private facility in Mississippi — all while a prison sits vacant in Windsor, Vermont. One listener wants to know: Why?

There’s a saying that twins are “in the water” in the town of Sheldon. Our journey to get to the bottom of this curious bit of local lore takes us from a dairy farm in Franklin County to a university in Amsterdam and back.

The salty, greasy truth? Vermont has the fewest fast food restaurants per capita of any state. We dug in to find out why — and just how far some Vermonters will go to get their fill.

Exploring the stuff — and stories — we usually keep stored away.

A story about the mess a toxic industry left behind and the fight over how to clean it up.

Sixteen volunteer firefighters have joined the Norwich department since 2020. At the firehouse, Vermont’s issues with declining volunteerism and its aging population seem far away.

Ice is unavoidable during winter on the Champlain Islands. Surrounded on all sides by an icy expanse, islanders embrace this seasonal terrain — as a place to walk the dog, to skate and to fish.

Vermont has among the weakest forms of county government in the United States, placing a big burden on towns. Is there a better way forward?

For centuries, there's been conflict over who has the authority to deploy the National Guard — including here in Vermont.

A few years ago, one man was digging around in his backyard when his shovel hit a glass bottle. Then he found another, and another — all with words like “remedy,” “tonic” and “quick cure” embossed on them.

Question-asker Manny recently got out of prison. He’s curious about finding a place where he could stay sober while readjusting to life outside a prison cell. It turns out, his options look different today than they would have even a few years ago.

Rutland — or, “RutVegas” — gets a pretty bad rap. But some residents say there’s a side of the city most people are missing.

Leave your grocery store apples at home and join our search for this most unusual Vermont fruit.

It’s a Brave Little State milestone! Vermont Public’s listener-powered journalism podcast published its 200th episode. To celebrate, the team set themselves a challenge: answer 20 listener questions in a single episode.

“There was this huge divide in, like, social grouping and connection … No one really talked to each other.”

The Midwest is home to five Great Lakes. But for a short time in the late 1990s, there were six — after one Vermont lake crashed the party.

Three reporters spent 12 straight hours at one of the busiest park and rides in the state — on one of the busiest travel days of the year — to get to know Vermont from a new perspective.

From the cosmic to the paranormal, this year’s investigation into three peculiar road names — Horn of the Moon, Scotch Hollow and Goodenough — took us to some unexpected places.