Vermont Edition

The Winooski School District’s superintendent, Wilmer Chavarria, has emerged this year as an outspoken advocate for immigrant families in his city, which is the most diverse municipality in Vermont. Chavarria first made national headlines this summer after he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Texas after visiting family in Nicaragua. Last week he testified on Capitol Hill about his detention, and also filed a lawsuit against federal authorities.

He joins Vermont Edition to discuss his detention and the numerous other ways his school district is being affected by the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown.

Then: Vermont passed the Climate Superfund Act in 2024, allowing the state to sue fossil fuel companies for damage caused by climate change over the past 30 years. Legal challenges from the Trump administration and the oil industry soon followed. Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark gives an update on where those legal challenges stand today. Plus, Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak explains the process for tallying exactly how much money the state will aim to collect from fossil fuel companies. He also shares which of the state’s climate adaptation projects the money could help fund, and his hopes for these projects to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Today on Vermont Edition, UVM’s Community News Service provides journalism training with an opportunity for a professional byline. The program's audio journalism instructor and two current students will share what they’ve learned about reporting over the past semester.

Then: Did your Spotify Wrapped make you realize that you’ve been listening to the same artists over and over again this year? Seven Days music critic Chris Farnsworth is here to tell us about local musicians with great new music. He’ll also tell us about the perils of being a music critic and comparing one band to another.

Today on Vermont Edition, it’s our annual winter books show. We’ve assembled a team of super readers from all across the state to recommend books for you to read and gift this season. You’ll hear from a South Burlington children’s librarian, bookshop owners in Waterbury, Wilmington and Middlebury, and a writer and editor from Middlesex. 

They’ve brought with them lists of new books by Vermont authors, the year’s bestselling genre fiction, children’s books and graphic novels and older books that are making a comeback. Open your notes app or get out your pen and paper. You’re going to want to write a lot of these titles down!

Federal agents have arrested more than 100 people in Vermont over the last 10 months. Those arrests have heightened fears in tight-knit communities across the state. Vermont Public’s Peter Hirschfeld discusses his new 4-part series on arrests and deportations in our region. He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his investigation.

Many of the immigrants targeted for arrest work on local farms. A new book called Will Work for Food argues that their labor needs to be part of any discussion about our food supply chain. We're joined by the book's co-authors Teresa M. Mares, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont and the director of its food systems graduate program, and Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, an associate professor of geography and the environment at Syracuse University and the director of its graduate program in food studies.

Broadcast live on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

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An early estimate from the state predicts that next year’s property taxes could rise an average of nearly 12 percent. The state’s tax commissioner Bill Shouldice joins us to explain how that property tax estimate was made, and all the factors that could affect the final number on your tax bill.

Then: noted Montpelier author Makenna Goodman has a new novel. It takes place in the middle of the countryside, where a professor is touring a seemingly idyllic house for sale. I’ll leave it at that for now.

Plus: there’s something special going on in Brattleboro for holiday window shoppers. Organizers of its first ever “festival of miniatures” tell us about the dollhouses, toy trains and tiny objects on view in local storefronts.

Our region is teeming with holiday markets where shoppers can find the perfect holiday gift, share in community and support local artists and makers. This year's Vermont Edition gift guide show goes behind the scenes of some of the state's holiday fairs: Julia Tadlock, founder of Brattleboro Flea, tells us about the crafts, books, food and more that shoppers can expect to find at downtown Brattleboro's pop-up Market on Main. Morgan Haynes, who manages the Vermont Farmers Market's Holiday Craft Shows in Rutland, shares some of her favorite gifts at the show and talks about how markets can bring communities together.

We also hear about artisans and makers all across the region, from bookbinders to metalsmiths, whose work might be the perfect gift for someone on your list. Plus, we talk with one of the founders of a new online donation platform based in Vermont that can help you support organizations doing good in our communities.

For even more great gift ideas, check out Vermont Public's 2025 local gift guide.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

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Local auto mechanics share what they know about EV battery life and winter maintenance for electric cars and trucks.

Grace Cottage Hospital in Townsend is the smallest hospital in Vermont. It’s operating in the red, like many hospitals in our region. But its administrators have big plans for its future, like constructing a brand new clinic.

We're joined by Grace Cottage CEO Olivia Sweetnam. The hospital she runs is unique for many reasons. Some of its doctors have worked there for decades. It’s one of the smallest hospitals not just in Vermont, but in the whole country. And it’s building a new family clinic by relying heavily on philanthropic support.

Grace Cottage also faces challenges that any rural hospital administrator would recognize. To put Grace Cottage’s situation in perspective, we talk with a medical professor at the University of Vermont, Erika Ziller. She’s researching how to improve rural health care in the state.

Rosemary Gladstar is said to be the Godmother of modern herbalism. In this rebroadcast of our occasional series Vermont Edition At Home, the team visits Gladstar at her home and gardens in Milton. 

Gladstar discussed her roots in herbalism, from foraging for food and medicine with her grandmother to becoming the founder of a world-renowned herbal retreat center in Vermont and several companies. She also gave a tour of her herb and flower garden and explained some of her favorite plants' medicinal and culinary uses. 

Originally broadcast on Tuesday, Jun. 12, 2025. Rebroadcast on Monday, Nov. 25 at 12 and 7 p.m.

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