Ashley Moore and Conor Kennedy are not elected to anything. But they make sure the Vermont House and Senate stay on schedule and their bosses can carry out their agendas. They spend more time on their IPhones than anyone! They join me to talk about how the Vermont legislature works. Biggest surprise of the interview? The high level of idealism they bring to this work.

Vermont’s lone member of the House of Representatives is known for upbeat optimism. But in her first 100 days she has seen the dark side of Washington - the debt ceiling, Majorie Taylor Greene and the Republicans who know better. Hint: It is as bad as you thought.

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When Vermont schoolteacher and quilter Jen Ellis sent Sen. Bernie Sanders a pair of mittens, she has no idea what would happen when he wired them to the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021. Instant fame and scrutiny followed an Internet explosion of memes with Bernie wearing Jen’s mitten from the moon to Buckingham Palace. What followed was a dizzying journey of grappling with a good kind of celebrity and a memoir of her experience.

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How do we understand the indictment of a former president? How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what happens next? We break it down with Bianca Scheer, former assistant district attorney in Manhattan at the very office that brought the indictment. She is also a former Vermont journalist and press secretary. So she brings it all to the table.

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Some 1800 families live in motels throughout Vermont. Come June, most of them will be evicted. The governor and the legislature believe that the state should no longer pay the bill for the shelter program. Advocates like Brenda Siegel and motel resident Rebecca Duprey call that decision a death sentence.

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How did Becca Balint, a “scrappy little dyke’’ from Brattleboro, VT, come out of nowhere to win a seat in Congress. Her campaign manager Natalie Silver takes us inside the campaign and how they came from way behind to win big.

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George Woodard has been milking cows and making films and music in Vermont for 40 years. His latest feature film - The Farm Boy - explores life on the farm in Waterbury Vermont and transports us to the fighting in World War II Belgium. How does he turn his “Back 40’’ into the Ardennes Forest? And where does he find his actors? And where does he find the time? It is all here.

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Vermont politics has been taken over by women. The new attorney general, the speaker of the house, the newest member of Congress and the key players in the Vermont General Assembly are all women. The reason for much of that lies with a tiny non-profit started by former Governor Madeleine Kunin. Executive Director Elaine Haney explains how they did it, along with Emerge graduate and former select board member Brenda Churchill.

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The US Government will declare and end to the COVID pandemic “health emergency’’ this spring. The lead COVID expert for the NY Times explains what that means - for all of us.

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In our second episode, Vermont farmer and entrepreneur Allison Hooper describes her journey from French farm intern to the woman who created the American taste for goat cheese.

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