The Vermont National Guard usually takes orders from the state. But at the end of 2025, President Trump deployed the Vermont guard to the Caribbean — and Gov. Scott said he had no control over the president’s orders.

It gave this question from a listener newfound relevance: 

“Who controls the deployment of the Vermont National Guard if orders from the federal government and the state are in conflict?”

You can find the web version of this story here. 

For more about the Vermont guard, check out this 2010 VPR series, which covered some of the 1,500 Vermonters who were deployed to Afghanistan.

This episode was reported and produced by Sabine Poux and Josh Crane. Editing and additional production from Burgess Brown. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Michael Bosworth, Jill Lepore, Mikaela Lefrak, Jon Ehrens, Alicia Freese, April McCullum, Peter Hirschfeld, Peter Teachout, Steve Zind and Zoe McDonald.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Today, the origin story of the Appalachian Trail, which stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. But it was a peak in southern Vermont that inspired the idea of the trail in the first place. 

Thanks to one of our favorite podcasts, Off the Path, for sharing this story with us. Here’s a link to the original web post.

For more stories from the trail, check out our episodes, “What’s it like to hike the Long Trail?” and “What’s the deal with Vermont’s fire towers?”

This episode was reported and produced by Davis Dunavin at WSHU Public Radio. The Brave Little State team is Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our Executive Producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

A few years ago, John Haffner was digging in his White River Junction backyard when his shovel hit a glass bottle buried underground. Then he found another, and another — all with words like “remedy,” “tonic” and “quick cure” embossed on them. John wants to know why there are so many of these old bottles around and, more importantly, what was in them? 

Local historian and independent reporter Kelby Greene is on the case, unraveling the snake oil sensation that swept the Green Mountain State. 

You can find the web version of this story here.

Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from Vermont Humanities, in partnership with the Vermont 250 Commission and JAM, Junction Arts and Media. For more, check out the podcast series Roadside Vermont.

This episode was reported by Kelby Greene and produced by Josh Crane. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Catherine Hurley, Shirley Duso and Creighton Hall.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Question-asker Manny recently got out of prison. He wants to learn about his options for transitional housing — a place where he could stay sober while readjusting to life outside a prison cell. 

It turns out, those options look very different today than they would have even a few years ago.

To see photos from our reporting, check out the web version of this story here. 

This episode was reported by Carly Berlin and produced by Burgess Brown. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Sabine Poux and Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Phil Edfors, Liam Elder-Connors, April McCullum, Susan Pullium, Glenn Russell, Paul Dragon, Tiffany Rich, Brenna Bedard, Jeff Moreau, Mary Verner, Jess Kirby, Jim Curran, and all the residents of the Burlington Dismas House.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Rutland — or, “RutVegas” — gets a pretty bad rap outside the city’s limits. But some of Rutland’s most passionate cheerleaders say there’s a side of the city people are missing.

Thanks to Linda Mullin of Rutland for the great question. If you want to be part of a future BLS live voting round, join us in Jeffersonville on Dec. 3 at Lot 6 Brewing. Reserve your ticket and find more information here.

Check out the web version of our story here. 

This episode was reported by Burgess Brown. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Sabine Poux and me, Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Dead Street Dreamers.

Special thanks to Nina Keck, Phil Edfors, Joey Palumbo, Hannah Davidson, Sam Lucci, Paul Gallo, Barbara Giffin, Tom Giffin, Tom Fagen and Jacob Houser.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

Leave your grocery store apples at home and join our search for this most unusual Vermont fruit.

For photos from our journey, check out the web version of our story here. And if you want to read up on apples, here are three books that were helpful in our research:

Thanks to Ben St. James of Barnet for the great question.

This episode was reported by Sabine Poux. Editing and additional production from Burgess Brown and Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Catherine Morrissey, John Bunker, Ryan Yoder, Erin Robinson, Dan Bussey and Paige Heaverly.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

For the 200th episode of the show, we set ourselves a challenge: take on 20 listener questions in a single episode.

We went back to the very beginning of our archive — combing through thousands of questions — and picked out some of our favorites that we’ve never answered before: about apple pie, nudity laws, haunted houses and Subarus. Laughter ensues.

Find the web version of this story here.

This episode was reported and edited by the BLS team: Josh Crane, Sabine Poux, Burgess Brown and Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Phil Edfors, Frank Alwine, Zoe McDonald, Catherine Hurley, Pete Hirschfeld, Thomas Mather, Judy Rosovsky, Steven Picazio, Pamela Cartier, Hazel Brewster, Brian Vaughan, Justine Curry and Arthur Ruben.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

“There was this huge divide in, like, social grouping and connection … No one really talked to each other.”

“Making friends at the high school wasn't really my priority because I felt like I had nothing in common with them at all.”

“I think the closer we got to graduation, the more it kind of came out.” 

“Financial class absolutely affects everything beyond financial class in the classroom. Absolutely it does.”

In this episode, a series of recent grads from Middlebury Union High School in Addison County wrestle with class differences among classmates — and how those differences shaped their experiences there.

One of those grads is winning question-asker Ari Graham-Gurland from Middlebury, who asked the question at the heart of this story: “How does socioeconomic diversity affect classroom dynamics in high school?”

Find the web version of this story here.

This episode was reported by Sabine Poux, with editing and production from the rest of the BLS team: Burgess Brown, Camila Van Order González and Josh Crane. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Stephanie Sherman and Ariell Slater.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

There are five Great Lakes: Superior, Ontario, Michigan, Huron and Erie. But for a few fleeting weeks in the late 1990s, Lake Champlain made six.

How did this happen? To answer that question from Erin Robbason of West Rutland, we pass the mic to our friends at Interlochen Public Radio and the podcast Point North for a story about Lake Champlain’s brief and controversial stint as the sixth Great Lake.

Find the web version of this story here.

This episode was reported and produced by Ruth Abramovitz and Dan Wanschura. It was edited by Morgan Springer. Additional editing from Dan Wanschura, Ellie Katz and Claire Keenan-Kurgan.

The Brave Little State team is Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our Executive Producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

We took a full-day detour to answer this question from Heather Channon of South Burlington: 

"Who is using all of the park-and-ride lots?"

We spent 12 straight hours (yes, you read that correctly) at one of the busiest park and rides in the state, on one of the busiest travel days of the year, to find out. 

This is the story of our day — and all the people we met along the way. 

Check out photos from our experience, and a full episode transcript, in our web post. 

A big shoutout to a little-known podcast called This American Life, which has done two all-day (and all-night) episodes that inspired this piece: “24 Hours at the Golden Apple” and “Rest Stop.”

This episode was reported and produced by Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our Executive Producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Elodie Reed, Amy Tatko, Tricia Roy, Jessica Fay, Betsy LeBlanc, Sara Walker, Robert Blandon, Terrance Sayers, Glenn Varricchione, Tricia Roy, Cliff Mix, Minda Stridsberg, Brendan Grahn, Jean Koegler, Brenda Rose, Pete Niarchos and everyone else we spoke to at the Richmond park and ride on Labor Day 2025. 

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.