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

Vermont entrepreneurs looking for money to start a business have a new source of cash thanks to a state investment fund, but competition is going to be fierce.

The Vermont Entrepreneur’s Seed Capital Fund — a revolving investment fund created by the legislature to help new, high-tech companies get off the ground — is the state’s latest economic development gambit.... Read more

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has sported virtually the same logo since the union’s inception back in 1891: a clenched fist grasping radiating bolts of electricity. But that symbol could use a 21st-century update, showing an outstretched hand capturing rays of sunlight.... Read more

When 70-year-old Dave Warful moved to the Lindale Mobile Home Park on the eastern outskirts of Middlebury three years ago, what drew him to the community was that it was quiet, wooded and serene. He expected it to stay that way.... Read more

For Marie Audet of Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, it’s not good enough to say that “shit happens.” On her family’s farm, shit happens to earn them money.... Read more