State Rep. David Zuckerman (P-Burlington) has a confession to make that might sound to some like political suicide.

He bills taxpayers for his “mileage” to and from the Statehouse — as much as $152 a week — even on days when he gets a ride with fellow lawmakers or lobbyists.

Zuckerman also takes full advantage of the $61 daily meal allowance afforded to legislators when they are in session, but admits he rarely spends that much on food.... Read more

Remember how Barack Obama promised to relax travel restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba? The progress of his policy — or lack thereof — is on full display at the Highgate Springs border crossing.... Read more

The owners of Vermont Yankee picked a hell of a time to launch an advertising blitz about the nuclear plant’s safety.

Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee is under assault for a double whammy: allowing elevated levels of radioactive tritium to leach into the groundwater at the Vernon nuclear plant, and misleading state regulators about the existence of the underground pipes that sprang the leak.... Read more

Consider the following scenario: Your 14-year-old daughter is snowboarding at Bolton Valley when she takes a nasty spill and breaks her leg in three places. Ski patrol gets her down the mountain, where an emergency medical services (EMS) crew from Richmond Rescue loads her into an ambulance for the 25- to 35-minute drive to the emergency room at Fletcher Allen in Burlington.... Read more

Eight months after it hired an ambitious new director, Burlington’s Peace & Justice Center has hit the skids.

Last month, the liberal advocacy organization had to lay off two employees and decided not to replace its departing development director.... Read more

David Millson lifts a gold-colored metal pipe to his lips and inhales deeply. He exhales a cloud of pungent marijuana smoke into his living room, takes another drag and then relaxes into a lounge chair.

The 69-year-old retiree from New Haven repeats this regimen several times a day to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, the degenerative disease he has battled for more than 20 years. Marijuana doesn’t do much for the pain, but it helps Millson cope with the depression he says comes with “slowly losing your ability to do stuff.”... Read more

In recent months, heated exchanges about Burlington Telecom have led to lengthy city council meetings, exhausting the participants and audience members in attendance. Yet one city councilor seems to thrive on the chaos: Ed Adrian. The ongoing debate has allowed the Ward 1 Democrat to demonstrate his prosecutorial power.... Read more

“Quagmire:” That’s the word Peter Galbraith is using to describe the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, just as 1500 Vermont National Guard troops are heading there in the state’s largest overseas deployment of service personnel since World War II.... Read more

When the history books are written on the first decade of the 21st century, what will they say?

Will George W. Bush go down as the worst president in U.S. history, as some predict? Will the Great Recession be recalled as a speed bump on America’s capitalist highway, or the event that plunged us into the next major depression?

How important will the iPod, Facebook and blogging seem in 20 or 30 years? Was this the most important decade for gay rights in U.S. history? ... Read more

No candidates. No money. No staff. No clear agenda.

On the face of it, the newly launched Vermont Working Families Party seems like a sorry excuse for a political party. But its leaders hope to score big victories on “kitchen-table” issues at the Statehouse next year — all without putting a single WFP candidate in office.

The Vermont Working Families Party is the Green Mountain State’s newest political party.... Read more