By all outward appearances, Burlington’s public parks are clean and green — the envy of any small city in America. The infield grass at Smalley Park’s baseball field is neatly mowed. There isn’t a trace of litter on Blanchard Beach at Oakledge Park. On a nice day, the city’s crown jewel, Waterfront Park, teems with people throwing Frisbees, licking creemees and taking in Lake Champlain’s awe-inspiring sunsets.... Read more

Sen. Peter Galbraith (D-Windham) has a nickname for the summer-study committees that keep state lawmakers busy after the legislature adjourns in May. He mockingly refers to their collective effect as the “Legislature Full Employment Act.”

“Summer studies rarely study something that isn’t already known. They tend to be a substitute for actually doing something,” says Galbraith. “It’s a way to avoid taking action.”... Read more

Ben & Jerry’s holds a federal trademark on the shape of the fish-shaped fudge pieces in Phish Food ice cream — thanks to Peter B. Kunin. Before it was sold to Unilever, Vermont’s Finest relied on Kunin to protect its quirky brand from imitators.... Read more

It’s hard to miss the Burlington Brew Tours bus when it comes to pick you up. At happy hour last Friday, I was standing outside Seven Days’ headquarters when a shuttle emblazoned with a frosty beer mug arrived.

At the wheel was Chad Brodsky, the 26-year-old owner of Burlington Brew Tours and our designated driver for the evening. His 5-year-old business capitalizes on Vermont’s growing craft-beer scene by offering guided tours, for about $70 per head, of old and new breweries in the Burlington area.... Read more

Vermont police report that a staggering amount of heroin is flowing into the state right now. But where are the drugs coming from?

The cops say they’re from urban areas such as New York, Philadelphia, Lowell and Holyoke, Mass., Albany, and even Chicago and Detroit. Rutland Police Chief James Baker says a bag of heroin that sells for $5 in a big city can fetch as much as $30 on the streets of his city.... Read more

Whoever replaces Brian Burgess as the next Vermont Supreme Court justice will likely spend a good deal of time “on the bench” — in both senses of the term.

Vermont’s top judges recuse themselves with unusual frequency, legal experts say, owing mostly to the state’s small size and the potential conflicts that arise from friendships and past professional associations.... Read more

Vermont health officials are spending $1 million to study how a silent killer will impact its citizenry in the coming decades. Cancer, heart disease or heroin addiction? Nope. Try climate change.... Read more

Allen Gilbert has been thinking a lot about drones lately. Not the ones that rain Hellfire missiles on militants in remote parts of the Middle East and Asia. But spy drones that could monitor the movements of Vermonters — and, indeed, of all Americans — here at home.

“I think we’ll have drones flying overhead in Vermont within a year,” predicts Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. ... Read more

Vermont has a lot of nonprofits — more than 6000, according to a list from Vermont Business Magazine — and competition for donor dollars can be fierce. It takes more than phone-a-thons to raise the dough needed to keep the state’s arts, human services, health, educational and religious institutions afloat. ... Read more

When deer in Pennsylvania tested positive for chronic wasting disease last October, Vermont officials sounded the alarm. The Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife issued a press release warning that the spread of CWD, a relative of mad cow disease, poses “the biggest threat to North America’s deer hunting culture and tradition.

“Therefore, the Fish & Wildlife Department is taking measures to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases to the state’s deer herd,” the press release continued.... Read more