Vermont Edition

What’s the story of the phrase Jeezum crow? How’s Vermont doing on composting? And why do people like the band Phish so much? These are just some of the questions taken on by the Vermont Public podcast Brave Little State over its 200 episodes.

Today on Vermont Edition: we celebrate our homegrown podcast’s 200th episode. To mark the milestone, the Brave Little State team answered 20 questions in one show.  

We’ll chat with the podcast’s lead producer and one of its founders. And we’ll even get the story behind the podcast’s perfectly Vermont name.

We're one month into a government shutdown and the ramifications are being felt throughout the state. We're joined by joined by Congresswoman Becca Balint to talk about the shutdown and why she says Democrats should hold the line to extend ACA subsidies.

Then, we continue our discussion and take listener questions on changes to health insurance with Mike Fisher and Marjorie Stinchcomb from Vermont Legal Aid.

Broadcast live on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Tomorrow evening, neighborhoods across our region will be infiltrated by ghosts, witches, princesses, superheroes and Louvre jewel thieves. It’s almost Halloween!

Halloween brings out our crafty, creative sides. This time of year can also create a slight panic if you’ve waited too long to put together a costume for yourself or your kid. Thankfully, we've got a bunch of experts in the creative arts of dress up, crafting, and costuming.

Jennifer LaCasse, clothing supervisor for the ReSOURCE in Williston, gives us the scoop on costumes that have come through the store. We also heard from Sarah Bush, the costume shop supervisor for the University of Vermont’s Theater Department, and Luke Hungerford of Rail City Fan Fest in St. Albans, for a professional point of view and tips on experimenting with new materials. 

On Saturday, Oct. 18th, the world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma sat down on a folding chair in the grass near the banks of the Connecticut River. It was dawn in Hanover, New Hampshire, and mist was rising off the water. He took a deep breath, then began to play.

This was "We Are Water," a special series of performances inspired by the waterways of the north. It was part of the reopening celebrations for Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center for the Arts, which just completed a three-year renovation.

Yo-Yo Ma is a fellow at Dartmouth and the founder of the Silk Road Ensemble, a Grammy-winning group that plays music from all over the world. For "We Are Water," he teamed up with Chris Newell, a Passamaquoddy musician, educator and Dartmouth graduate whose work is closely tied to the lands and waters of New England. 

Newell and Ma were joined for the sunrise ceremony and evening concert by a diverse group of Indigenous and local musicians: Jeremy Dutcher, Andri Snaer Magnason, Mali Obomsawin, Nance Parker, Roger Paul, Lokotah Sanborn, Lauren Stevens, and Ida Mae Specker, a fiddler from Andover. Their performances combined music, poetry and storytelling.

Then; a discussion of "Along the River's Way," a new multimedia exhibition and oral history project about elder artists in the Mad River Valley. We hear from Christopher Wiersema, the executive director of Mad River Valley TV, and Tracy Brannstrom, a local journalist and the primary interviewer for the project. 

The exhibition will be open to the public at Mad River Valley Arts from Nov. 6 through Dec. 13 in Waitsfield.

Broadcast on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Vermont and Maine are the only two states that allow incarcerated people to vote. A new report tells us what is and isn’t working about ballot access in Maine and Vermont prisons.

Kristen Budd, a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project, authored the report. Tim Burgess, executive director of VT CURE, voted in the 2006 and 2008 elections while he was incarcerated in Vermont. And Vermont's Secretary of State, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, is assembling a new task force to increase voter participation in four underserved populations, including the incarcerated. 

Then: October is Substance Use Prevention Month. The Turning Point Center of Rutland runs a peer recovery coaching program for people in Vermont’s prisons who struggle with addiction. We’ll hear how the program’s going from Tracie Hauck, executive director of the Turning Point Center of Rutland.

Broadcast live on Monday, October 27, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

The signs are all there – stick season is almost upon us. The skies are gray, the wind’s a blowin', and the leaves are dropping. 

Despite the changing seasons, the gardeners among us are still busy, trouble shooting garden falls from the summer, prepping beds for the winter and bringing potted plants indoors. 

For anyone with turnip trouble or potato problems, it's Vermont Edition’s annual fall gardening show with Charlie Nardozzi, gardening consultant and host of All Things Gardening on Vermont Public.

October 30th marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most pivotal and divisive moments in Quebec history. On that day, Quebeckers held a referendum on whether or not to secede from Canada.

The votes against independence won out by a tiny margin — 50.6% voted "no," while 49.4% voted yes.

A new Léger poll shows that Quebecers' attitudes on sovereignty have shifted significantly in the last 30 years. Sixty five percent of respondents said they'd vote 'no' on separating from Canada if asked to vote today. Fifty five percent said they do not believe Quebec has the economic means to become a sovereign nation.

On Vermont Edition, two Canadian political science professors shared their memories of the 1995 referendum. Luc Turgeon was a college student at the time at McGill University in Montreal. He is now a professor at the University of Ottawa in Ontario. Antonia Maioni was Turgeon's professor; she still teaches at McGill. Callers from the U.S. and Canada also joined the conversation.

Both the University of Vermont and Middlebury College have new presidents: Marlene Tromp at UVM and Ian Baucom at Middlebury. These new leaders entered their role at a time of heightened federal scrutiny on higher education.

Today on Vermont Edition, we’ll talk with these two new presidents of leading higher education institutions. We’ll hear about town-gown relations in both Burlington and Middlebury, and discuss the schools’ role in building housing, employing locals and more. 

The White House has threatened to take away federal funding from colleges and universities if they don’t fall in line around DEI and other issues. Marlene Tromp and Ian Baucom will weigh in on that delicate balance between protecting free speech and following White House dictum.

Vermont state senator Sam Douglass has resigned, effective today. He participated in a Young Republicans group chat that included racist, misogynist and antisemitic messages.

Today on Vermont Edition: the fallout of the group chat in our region. Vermont GOP chair Paul Dame will comment on Douglass’s reputation as a lawmaker, his decision to resign, and political rhetoric in the state at large.

Then, the federal government has changed eligibility for food stamps programs like 3SquaresVT. Some previously eligible immigrants, refugees and asylees no longer qualify. The federal government shutdown could also affect food stamps and heating assistance. Reporter Pete Hirschfeld will share what he knows.