Nearly 40 Vermont musicians submitted their videos to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. Vermont Public chatted with a few about the original songs they chose and their video ideas. (And we asked them to sit at colleague Eric Ford's tiny — and meticulously decorated — desk and pose for photos.)Autor: Mary Williams Engisch, Adiah Gholston

Game developer and Burlington resident Steven Margolin worked as the lead designer on Ivy Road's Wanderstop, the independent studio's first video game.Autor: Nathaniel Wilson

Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts said farmers across the state are concerned about federal immigration enforcement after border agents arrested eight migrant farmworkers last month in northwestern Vermont.Autor: Bob Kinzel

The Rev. Brian Cummings, S.S.E., a Saint Michael’s College campus minister, was in Rome on his final day of sabbatical when he learned of Pope Francis' passing. He shares details on his time in Rome and his reflections on Francis' legacy.Autor: Jenn Jarecki, Nathaniel Wilson

A federal judge last week ordered Mohsen Mahdawi to be released from prison while his immigration case is pending. In his first interview with Vermont media since his release, Mahdawi spoke about his time in prison, what it’s been like since his release and his plans for the future.Autor: Sabine Poux

The state employees union and administration officials agree that there's a staffing crisis in Vermont's prisons. They're not on the same page when it comes to how to solve it.Autor: Peter Hirschfeld

As Vermont focuses on the importance of supporting the outdoor economy, there is a call to figure out how to ensure the public retains access to trails on private land.Autor: Howard Weiss-Tisman

Most of Lt. Gov. John Rodgers’ job is presiding over the Vermont Senate. But that's not all Rodgers has been up to. Last month he was the only Republican to speak at a protest on the Statehouse lawn against the Trump administration, and he's testified to lawmakers in favor of cannabis reform laws.Autor: Bob Kinzel

Simply taxing second homes at a higher rate is not so simple, in part because Vermont currently has no system for categorizing vacation homes. But lawmakers are trying to change that — with the House's sweeping education reform bill.Autor: Lola Duffort, Bob Kinzel

After decades of navigating various mental and physical health struggles, three Vermonters sought out an autism diagnosis for themselves in their late 40s and 50s.Autor: Mary Williams Engisch

Green Mountain Adaptive Sports and the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association fundraised to purchase the TetraSki, which is one of only 25 in the world.Autor: Henry Miller, Community News Service

A spring birding expedition with Bryan Pfeiffer in central Vermont, where we talk about birds and somehow also manage to talk about death.Autor: Erica Heilman

As New England warms, snowshoe hares are increasingly finding themselves the wrong color for camouflaging with their environment. New England scientists are looking at some promising ways to help.Autor: Abagael Giles

Isaac McDonald is from Newport, and this year he’s a freshman at Columbia University in New York City on a full scholarship. In the latest episode of "What Class Are You," Erica Heilman caught up with Isaac on his first trip home from college, and they talked about class dynamics at Columbia, and what it feels like to be on a full scholarship there…

Mahdawi’s friends in the Upper Valley say he’s an extrovert who connected with people at Dirt Cowboy Cafe in Hanover and Dan & Whit’s in Norwich, at bonfires at his cabin, at seders and church services, and on hikes.Autor: Sabine Poux

Ryan Palmer is the sheriff of Windsor County. In this episode of What class are you?, reporter Erica Heilman drives around the county with Sheriff Palmer and they talk about the challenges of being middle class in an increasingly expensive part of the state.Autor: Erica Heilman

Tom Burdick grew up on a ranch in a town of about 1,500 people in northeastern Utah. After high school, Tom worked to put himself through college and then medical school, and now he works as an interventional radiologist at Dartmouth Health. In this installment of our occasional series, What class are you?, Tom talks about the challenges of breakin…

Kathy Quimby Johnson grew up in East Peacham before attending college out of state. In the latest installment of "What class are you?," Kathy talks with Erica Heilman about growing up blue collar and straddling two Vermont cultures.Autor: Erica Heilman

Joe Wills is a filmmaker and software engineer from Richford, Vermont, currently living in Burlington. He put himself through the University of Vermont, working three part-time jobs, and still graduated with more debt than any of his friends. In the latest installment of our series "What class are you?," Joe talks with producer Erica Heilman about …

A downtown apartment building stitched Plainfield together. On July 10, floods washed it away. The Heartbreak Hotel was the kind of place where neighbors saw each other every day, where generations of people, from all walks of life, found belonging and someone to wave to in the morning. Twelve people were living there at the time, and they all surv…

"Uncomfortable conversations need to happen." Raneen Salha and Sarah White discuss their thoughts, feelings and personal connections to the war between Israel and Hamas.

More than four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the state judiciary is still struggling with an enormous backlog of criminal cases and competing public pressures around how justice should be pursued. To better understand how the system is working, Seven Days and Vermont Public embedded two reporters at the Burlington criminal courthouse for…

Two Abenaki First Nations are continuing to call for Vermont institutions not to work with state-recognized tribes, and to reconsider the process that led to the state recognizing those groups as Abenaki tribes. Those nations — Odanak and Wôlinak — are receiving a mixed response. 2024-04-02: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect th…

John Harrison traveled Vermont as a preacher in the 1880s. A racist name in town records preserved his memory. Note: This story contains sensitive material, including racial slurs. Please listen with care.

Ashley Messier is the co-chair of the Corrections Monitoring Committee in the Vermont Legislature, and she’s the reentry services program manager for Vermont Works for Women. She grew up in Essex with an abusive father and with little money, and she found herself repeating the cycle in early adulthood. This is a story about multigenerational povert…

Many people don’t want to talk about class, because class differences are the source of cultural division and tension. In this story, Erica talks with old friend Susan Randall, a private investigator based in Vergennes, about the luxuries of growing up upper middle class. "What class are you?" is an occasional series from Vermont Public reporter Er…

In 2023, around 70% of the total wealth in this country was owned by the top 10% of earners. The lowest 50% of earners only owned 2.5% of the total wealth. In this story, Vermont writer and poet Garrett Keizer, who has written extensively on the history of labor unions, talks about what happens when we address gender and race equity, but we ignore …

Stephanie Robtoy works as an account manager at Working Fields, a staffing agency that helps people with barriers gain and maintain a job. She grew up in St. Albans in a huge family of Robtoys, some of whom are pretty notorious in town for criminal activity. In this story, Stephanie talks about what it was like to grow up poor, with a last name tha…

Irfan Sehic and his family fled the war in Bosnia and arrived in Barre when Irfan was 17. He worked a number of jobs, went to college and started his own insurance agency, which he still runs out of his house. And for the last few years, he's been a club soccer coach. Irfan lives with his wife and son in Milton, and in this story, he describes the …

Who gets to decide who is Abenaki? Vermont’s four state-recognized tribes — and the state recognition law — have different definitions and criteria for what it means to be Indigenous than many Indigenous Nations. In this episode, we look at this disconnect, and lay out what’s at stake, including power, money and authority. This is Chapter Three of …

After the original group of self-proclaimed Vermont Abenaki failed to gain federal recognition, Vermont lawmakers created a state recognition process of their own. One theory in particular informed the state’s consideration: that Abenaki peoples hid in Vermont to avoid persecution, including statewide eugenics policies. In this episode, we look at …

Two Abenaki First Nations in Canada contest the legitimacy of the four groups recognized by the state of Vermont as Abenaki tribes. This is a dispute that goes back at least two decades, and has gained more prominence in recent years. In this episode, we trace Abenaki history up to 2003, when Odanak First Nation first denounced Vermont groups claim…

University of Virginia researchers say the complaint line run by the grassroots workers’ rights program Milk With Dignity improves conditions for both farmworkers and farm owners. But the program currently only covers one-fifth of Vermont’s dairy industry. Read more from Vermont Public's Elodie Reed.…

Giuliano Cecchinelli is part of a long legacy of Italian stone carvers in Barre, craftsmen whose skill transformed an industry and made the small central Vermont town the “Granite Capital of the World.” In the early 20th century, Barre was a booming industry town. Thousands of workers spent their days making monuments. The railroad chugged into tow…

How the events of last year changed Vermont schools and law enforcement. Also - where's Jack?

How do you know if a young person is plotting a school massacre? And what do you do then?

How a Republican governor who had been rated "A" by the NRA decided that Vermont, one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation, needed gun control laws.

When does planning a school shooting become attempted murder? The question went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Jack Sawyer’s journal contained a startling confession. It landed him in jail, and sent shockwaves through the state of Vermont.

Who is Jack Sawyer, and why did he want to kill his former classmates?

Coming September 6 from Vermont Public Radio.