The Deeper Dig

The Covid-19 vaccine is here: 5,850 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Vermont this week, and frontline health care workers have already begun receiving the shots. And while there are still unanswered questions about how the next phase of the rollout will go, medical workers are already hailing the vaccine as the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

Proposed cuts to the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont have sparked a backlash from thousands of faculty members and students. But with the university facing a budget shortfall of almost $28 million over the next three years, administrators have signaled that they’re unlikely to change course before those cuts become final. What happens now? Guests: Katherine Brennan (UVM r...

While Burlington Progressives this week voted to put a member of their younger, more activist wing on the ballot, the party’s caucus revealed a split that could have ramifications for next year’s race.

"We will get vaccine," says Chris Finley, the immunization program director at the Vermont Department of Health. "When it will be here is the million dollar question." The state is making preparations in case doses are available as soon as early December. But how will that rollout actually work? And who will receive a vaccine first? Finley joined our weekly live Covid-19 interview series on Wednes...

As Covid-19 cases surge in Vermont, officials have been reminding well-intentioned Vermonters to take the state’s health guidelines seriously. But they’ve also begun addressing another group of people: skeptics, who believe the government response to Covid-19 is overblown. How pervasive have these opinions become? And how dangerous are they to public health? Guest: Dr. Turner Osler (UVM Larner Col...

A growing number of Vermonters are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms for months after contracting the disease, a phenomenon that’s being observed across the globe. Researchers are calling these patients “long haulers.” But with little known about the syndrome they’re experiencing, these long haulers are still looking for answers - and support. Guests: Kathy Warren, Nicole Racicot, Katie Jickling (VTD...

A militia training site in West Pawlet is terrifying its neighbors. Men from the site have harassed locals online and in person. They also appear to be stockpiling weapons and ammunition, and they’ve promoted symbols of far-right anti-government groups at a time when tensions over political violence are running high. But state authorities say that without evidence of criminal activity, there’s no...

As the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates Vermont’s affordable housing crisis, new research on flexible housing models suggests that the state could benefit from rethinking how to build homes. But advocates wonder whether creativity is enough to help the people who need housing now.

Nearly 200,000 Vermonters have already voted in the general election after the state mailed ballots to every registered active voter for the first time ever. The shift to mail-in voting has some people concerned about the integrity of the results — but both election experts and local officials on the frontlines say the proper safeguards are in place. Guests: Stacy Jewell (St. Johnsbury town clerk)...

Antigen tests, which give Covid-19 results in a matter of hours, are increasingly becoming available in Vermont. But the state has hesitated to make these rapid tests a major part of its health strategy. Why?

As nursing home visitation rules begin to relax, some residents’ family members worry that they still won't be involved in caring for their loved ones as long as Covid-19 remains a risk. And for elderly patients with dementia, some say the damage caused by physical separation has already been done. Guests: Rebecca Whittemore-Arsenault, Monica Hutt (Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Ind...

In their first in-person debate of the 2020 election season, Vermont’s candidates for governor laid out divergent views of how the state should raise and spend its money — and used some conflicting numbers in the process. VTDigger's Kit Norton breaks down two key claims from Tuesday’s debate between Governor Phil Scott and Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman.

Vermont has maintained the lowest Covid-19 infection rate of any U.S. state for most of this summer. And while some have speculated that’s because of the state’s small population, the country’s leading infectious disease expert says the reasons aren’t so simple. Appearing at a press briefing this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci said a number of factors — including Vermonters’ collective vigilance — has le...

Students across Vermont returned to school on Tuesday for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus in March. It took months of preparation for schools to be able to open their doors again. Now, educators and families are waiting to see what happens next. Guests: Barbara Pennington (West Rutland School), Steven Dellinger-Pate (U-32), Renée DeVore (Montpelier High School), Lola Duffort (VTD...

Many essential workers who stayed in high-risk jobs during the early months of the pandemic were cut out of an earlier plan by the state to provide hazard pay. Now, it’s unclear whether lawmakers will be able to include those workers in the next round of Covid relief. Guests: Kristi Theise, Karen Messing (University of Québec, Montréal), Anne Wallace Allen (VTDigger)

State economists warned earlier this month that because of the pandemic, Vermont's revenue projections were "off the charts bad." So how are leaders advancing a budget that largely maintains the status quo?

The University of Vermont is undertaking what it calls the most extensive college reopening plan in the country. But with schools across the state and the nation reopening within weeks, the Department of Health is actively planning for fall outbreaks that could strain the state's testing and tracing systems. Guests: Kelly Dougherty (Vermont Department of Health), Sawyer Loftus (VTDigger/Vermont Cy...

New research shows that remote workers have been flocking to Vermont during the Covid-19 pandemic, potentially easing the struggle to reverse the state's population decline. What’s less clear is whether those workers will stay when the crisis is over. Guests: Richard Watts (Center for Research on Vermont), Anne Wallace Allen (VTDigger)

The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is now a VTDigger podcast. Goodman's show, which has aired on WDEV Radio since 2013, 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. This week: For 25 years, Stuart Stevens was a lea...

Tens of thousands of Vermonters have already cast their ballots for the August 11 primary. Here’s what VTDigger’s politics team will be watching when the results come in. Guests: Grace Elletson, Xander Landen, Kit Norton

Advocates say the state’s stabilization effort should temporarily stave off mass evictions, but it won’t solve the affordable housing crisis Vermont faced before the pandemic. Guests: Jean Murray (Vermont Legal Aid), Sandrine Kibuey and Jess Hyman (Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity)

As schools in Vermont and across the country prepare to reopen, it’s clear that children who do get the coronavirus are far less likely than adults to get severely ill. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests younger children are unlikely to be the culprits in spreading Covid-19 to others — children or adults — even if the reasons why aren't totally clear. Guests: Dr. Benjamin Lee (UVM Larner Col...

Covid-19 cases are surging in regions across the United States, while Vermont continues to see relatively low rates of infection. But there are still plenty of unknowns about the long-term trajectory of the coronavirus. Could Vermont see a "second wave"? How are recent reopening measures affecting the spread? And what exactly are the state's health care systems, businesses and government officials...

More than half of Vermont’s high schools use armed school resource officers, or SROs, to ensure school safety. Skeptics are casting doubt on whether those officers are effective — and drawing attention to persistent disparities in how they treat students.

Twenty people who attended the March 10 UVM basketball game reported that they later tested positive for Covid-19, according to a  VTDigger survey . An additional 34 people who responded said they experienced flu-like symptoms, but couldn’t get a test. Three attendees later died from Covid-19. Here's what we've learned after weeks of tracking the spread. Guests: Rae Rappold, Katie Jickling (VTDigg...