The Deeper Dig

Connecting Vermont’s most rural homes to high-speed internet has been a challenge for decades. Christine Hallquist, the incoming executive director of the state’s new community broadband board, hopes to finish the job within seven years.

A series of court rulings over the past year has chipped away at Vermont’s long-standing ban on sending public tuition dollars to religious schools. Now, the state has to resolve major questions about how to regulate private schools that get taxpayer money — with a new school year only two months away.

It’s still too soon to know what the long-term effects of Covid-related migration might be. But many families who found their way to Vermont last year say they’re not going anywhere.

The Covid-19 state of emergency gave the Scott administration the authority to maintain a vast social safety net during the pandemic. Landlords were barred from evicting renters, homeless Vermonters were housed free of charge in motels around the state, and a series of meal distribution programs ensured families access to food. Now that the emergency declaration has ended, advocates are nervous th...

In Vermont’s idyllic small towns, injustice can lurk below the surface. At a live storytelling event last week, VTDigger’s Katie Jickling and Kevin O’Connor spoke about Vermonters whose experiences remained invisible to their communities for years at a time — and about the process of bringing those stories to light. For Jickling, a Facebook message from a former schoolmate this January led to five...

Benjy Renton, who just completed his undergraduate studies, has spent a year and a half earning accolades for his work tracking the pandemic. “It’s been quite nuts,” he said.

It’s been one year since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, sparking rallies for racial justice across the country. In Vermont, these events were mostly led by young, Black organizers, who brought the movement to towns throughout the second whitest state in the country. A year later, we asked some of these activists: What’s changed? And what hasn’t? Guests: Noel Riby-Williams, Maron...

While the pandemic demanded the attention of the public last year, preliminary data shows that at least 157 Vermonters died in 2020 due to opioid-related overdoses — an average of about three people per week. That’s even more than the state lost to Covid. Advocates say that number is alarming. They also point out that the crisis has been worsening for years. Guests: Kyle Burditt (Turning Point Cen...

The front line for difficult conversations about vaccines is often the exam table at your local health clinic. We asked doctors around the state how they’re talking to patients about the Covid vaccine — and what lessons others can use when talking to the people in their lives. Guests: Alison Landrey (Northern Counties Health Care), Heather Stein (Community Health Centers of Burlington), Jill Blumb...

Local business leaders have said expanded unemployment benefits are making recipients less interested in rejoining the workforce. But talk to Vermonters who have been out of work for a year, and you'll hear a different story.

Conversations around the impacts of Covid in schools tend to revolve around the risk of an education gap, framing the pandemic as “lost year” for students. But some experts are pushing back on that narrative, arguing that the adaptations schools have made this year could provide a road map to a more inclusive education system. Recorded live with Amanda Garces of the Vermont Human Rights Commission...

The state has unveiled a plan to lift most Covid-19 restrictions by July 4th. And while public health experts say there’s value in giving people an incentive to get vaccinated, there’s still a need for flexibility and caution over the next several weeks.

Essex County has the lowest Covid vaccination rate in Vermont, revealing the challenge of reaching the state’s most isolated residents. And while skepticism about the vaccine might play a role, local advocates say that access to doses for people who want them is still lagging compared to the rest of the state.

The state’s effort to vaccinate the remaining adult population is underway, with new age groups becoming eligible every week. Gov. Phil Scott has echoed President Joe Biden in saying life will be back to normal around the Fourth of July. But there’s a sizable population that’s not going to be vaccinated anytime soon: Vermonters under 16. And it’s not totally clear how that will affect the state’s...

The state is currently housing about 2,700 people who would otherwise be homeless in 75 motels around Vermont. VTDigger reporter Katie Jickling booked a stay in one.

The Covid-19 vaccine gives hope that some kind of normal life will start again soon. But it won’t bring back everything we’ve lost over the past year. In Part 2 of a two-part series, four people from VTDigger's  Virus in Vermont project talk about trauma.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Vermont saw a massive outpouring of community support. Those who helped respond to the crisis now say they never expected we would still be facing the same challenges a year later. Part 1 of a two-part series. Read more from VTDigger's Virus in Vermont project.

While most of Vermont's schools have maintained in-person or hybrid models since the fall, a recent push to fully reopen classrooms this spring has renewed the debate over how much in-person education is safe — and how much more the state should ask of educators. Guests: Bibba Kahn (Main Street Middle School), Lola Duffort (VTDigger)

In a new report, Vermont's director of racial equity discusses how people of color in Vermont, like in the rest of the country, face disproportionate health impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic. But the global crisis has also deepened what she describes as “out-of-state ‘xenophobia,’” a problematic notion of who is a “real Vermonter” that remains a key barrier to achieving equity.

After years of delays, how will one of Burlington’s most ambitious development projects move forward? And why did things go so wrong? It depends on who you ask.

Federal Covid relief funding has helped the state avoid a major budget crunch. In fact, it’s allowed Gov. Phil Scott to propose a spending plan that puts about $210 million dollars towards one-time investments. Now, key lawmakers are wondering whether the governor’s plan is too thrifty, considering there’s likely even more federal money on the way. For more Statehouse news, sign up for our Final R...

Back in May 2020, we traveled to Fletcher , a Franklin County town that dodged the 1918 flu pandemic, to see if it held clues for keeping out Covid-19. This month, Vermont Public Radio's 'Brave Little State' podcast took a listener question about how the town is faring now, about ten months into the pandemic. They invited us on to talk about what we learned from our reporting — and found that the...

Martin Luther King Day marks one of the biggest ski weekends in Vermont in a typical year. But this is not a typical year. Travelers to Vermont are subject to universal quarantine requirements — and while there’s anxiety about how that will impact the tourism economy, resort communities are also worried about what happens when travelers break the rules. Guests: Heather Hebert (Jacksonville General...

Vermont officials were unanimous in holding President Trump responsible for the violence in Washington this week. What should the storming of the U.S. Capitol mean for Vermonters — and how does our Republican governor fit in? Guests: Kemi Fuentes-George (Middlebury College), Linda Fowler (Dartmouth College)

The Deeper Dig will be back next week. This week: a guest post from  The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman , a twice-weekly VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues with politicians, activists, artists, changemakers and citizens who are making a difference. Subscribe on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts or  Spotify to hear more. When Steve Goodman firs...