Gazing down Church Street, Brian Sisco takes a drag off a Marlboro and ponders a city proposal that would snuff out his regular smoke breaks.

“How far can the government go?” asks Sisco, a 25-year-old Burlington resident who works at his father’s store, Designers’ Circle Jewelers. “I realize children and families come here, but I’m not blowing smoke in babies’ faces.”... Read more

Mona and Leo Boutin used to raise beef cattle on their picturesque Williston farm. The cows would graze in the grassy field that sweeps up to the forest line, and drink from the babbling brook that cuts through the couple’s land.

That was before the Boutins worried about lead contaminating their groundwater. Water experts have since collected samples from the creek, and the couple has stopped drinking the well water.... Read more

Disc golf. Waterfront Manager Adam Cate. For the Burlington Parks & Recreation Commission, the controversies keep on coming. The latest: an entrepreneur’s proposal to bring guided tours, via Segways, to the Burlington Bike Path and some city sidewalks. Interested parties expect a lively public hearing on the issue next Tuesday.... Read more

Is it a coincidence that Winooski public schools have been dragged into two political controversies within months of each other? Some say both episodes were instigated by school board member Doug Isham, a news junkie who describes himself as “leaning conservative.”... Read more

Citizens of Morristown are still reeling from allegations that a local schoolteacher sexually abused two of his male students over a period of five years. The charges against Shaun Bryer have also focused a spotlight on the state agency charged with investigating such matters. School officials brought their concerns about Bryer to the attention of the Vermont Department for Children and Families, but their concerns didn’t trigger a formal investigation.... Read more

The Vermont judge who ruled in favor of the Sierra Club. in a landmark auto emissions case is going to head up the United States Sentencing Commission. President Barack Obama nominated William K. Sessions III, 62, for the plum judiciary job in April. After a delay — thought to be payback for Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor — the full U.S. Senate finally confirmed Sessions at the end of October.... Read more

Congolese refugees and college activists protested outside Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Burlington office last Friday to call attention to a variation on the Blood Diamond dynamic. Mining of the mineral coltan — used in computers, cellphones and game consoles — is fueling a conflict in Congo that has killed more than 5 million people in the last decade. Demonstrators marched down Main and Church streets, pushing carts loaded with computer parts smeared in fake blood.... Read more

Every Sunday, the Burlington Free Press peels back the curtain on the stories it’s working on for future issues of “Green Mountain,” the paper’s weekly environmental news section.... Read more

Mary Houle says she’s sick and tired of being painted as the “town SOB.” But that won’t stop the two-term select board member from doing what she thinks is best for Richmond, a burg known for its neighborliness and “green” ethic.... Read more

Huge corporations like S.C. Johnson and Clorox have been hopping on the “green” wagon for several years now. That has presented a growing challenge to smaller, authentically earth-friendly companies such as Burlington-based Seventh Generation. Without improving product recognition, and consumer loyalty, companies that have been manufacturing green products for years run the risk of being swallowed up by these multinational giants.... Read more