The Frequency

Assessing the damage from a weekend storm that brought more snowfall to parts of Vermont than has been seen in at least a couple of years. Plus, Winooski voters will decide an eviction notice ballot measure on Town Meeting Day, Vermont’s Supreme Court dismisses a lawsuit opposing the governor’s appointment of an interim education secretary, UVM receives top tier status for schools engaged in scientific research, and the incoming interim police chief in Burlington will serve for two years and stay on as an advisor once a permanent chief is hired.

In this week’s Capitol Recap, reporters Lola Duffort and Peter Hirschfeld talk over what’s behind the lack of action in Montpelier on legislation regarding big issues like education and housing.

We meet the Vermonters of the Green Mountain Chorus, who raise their voices to provide singing valentines on the 14th of February. Plus, a lawsuit filed in federal court accuses a Burlington police officer of using excessive force in an incident last summer, Sen. Sanders introduces legislation aimed at lowering Americans’ credit card debt, the EPA plans to inspect cleanup efforts at a Bennington Superfund site, why New Hampshire farmers can get paid to pause mowing on their hayfields in early summer, the Vermont-born band Phish has been nominated for entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and we consider the courtship that ended with the Boston Red Sox hooking up with a coveted free agent in our weekly sports report.

Students from Kenya and Jordan arrived in Brattleboro for a Biden-era college program, just before the Trump administration suspended new refugee applications. Plus, Democrats in Montpelier push back against Gov. Scott’s school choice lottery plan, lawmakers consider another delay to a bill that would process 19-year-olds charged with crimes as juveniles, public health officials try to get a jump on monitoring bird flu to keep it from spreading to cows and people, Burlington has a new interim police chief, and the state may change how it regulates panfish after hundreds of people sign a petition calling for a ban on commercial fishing.

Reporter Erica Heilman shares a success story from HomeShare Vermont, a program that matches folks who have extra housing with people who need it.

Plus, House lawmakers pass a bill making it easier for prosecutors to charge Vermonters with hate crimes, Vermont’s attorney general joins a multistate effort to block the National Institutes of Health from slashing billions of dollars in medical research, nursing staff at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans vote to unionize, the head of Vermont’s largest health insurer is retiring after a 16-year tenure, and the Vermont Green Football Club announces its new head coach.

We hear from Champlain College students studying video game development in a program that includes time in Montreal getting hands-on experience with gaming studios. Plus, Vermont joins a multistate lawsuit aimed at stopping the Treasury Department from transferring sensitive personal data to an agency controlled by Elon Musk, plans for a statewide electric vehicle charging program are on hold following a Trump administration freeze on federal money, McGill University in Montreal plans to cut $45 million and hundreds of jobs rom its annual budget, and public school advocates criticize a Scott administration plan to give every Vermont student an option to enter a school choice lottery.

In an excerpt from a recent episode of Brave Little State, we explore why Vermont relies on just one landfill for its trash disposal while neighboring New Hampshire has half a dozen. Plus, Vermont’s Department of Public Service says some $400 million in federal grant money is at risk due to a federal funding freeze, Congresswoman Becca Balint urges Vermont lawmakers to prepare for more potential federal budget cuts, Burlington’s Festival of Fools is canceled this year due to funding difficulties, the Vermont House upholds the result of a contested election in Bennington, and adaptive mountain biking gets a boost from a state tourism grant.

Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders revealed some new details this week about how school choice could change under the Scott administration’s proposal to overhaul the state’s education system. Vermont Public education reporter Lola Duffort has the details for this week’s edition of the Capitol Recap.

In the final installment of a collaborative series on homeless deaths in Vermont, we hear from a former girlfriend and from the daughter of a man named Sean Kelleher, who died in a violent accident. Plus, school boards eye personnel job cuts amid financial pressures, an initial estimate puts repairs for the damaged Bennington Battle Monument at $40 million, Burlington International Airport is set to debut a new seasonal non-stop route to South Carolina, the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is screening some classic neo-noir movies, and we examine the fallout from a shocking NBA trade and offer a pick for the winner of this Sunday’s Super Bowl in our weekly sports report.

In the second part of a collaborative series on homeless deaths in Vermont, reporter Liam Elder-Connors tells us about the struggles of a man he got to know before he died from a drug overdose. Plus, Vermont officials try to gauge the effects of potential tariffs on energy imported from Canada, Bennington residents get an update on new PFAS water well contamination, state health officials report an uptick in people with flu-like illnesses over the past month, and a Lamoille County nonprofit is getting a new food processing hub to help redistribute extra produce from local farms.