Vermont Edition

The 2024 general election is just one month away. To get voters prepared and informed before casting a ballot, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas explains her office's first-of-its-kind voter guide. It includes candidate profiles, voting instructions and information about each election position Vermonters will be asked to vote on. This election season, several Vermont legislative seats are open for the first time in decades. The outcome of these races could have significant implications for Vermont’s legislature. We discuss with Calvin Cutler, political reporter with WCAX. Plus: Vermont Public's senior political reporter Bob Kinzel shares the significance of Montpelier's recently reopened post office.

Plus: the Montpelier post office is back in business.

The war in Gaza has reached a grim milestone. It's been one year since the shocking and deadly Hamas-led attack in Israel, and one year of bombardments in Gaza that targeted everything from military strongholds to hospitals full of civilians.On this episode of Vermont Edition we open our phone lines to hear audience reflections on the past year. We speak with Tarek El-Ariss, the James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College. His memoir of growing up during the Lebanese Civil War, “Water on Fire: A Memoir of War," came out earlier this year. University of Vermont associate professor, Peter Henne, discusses his research and teaching, which focuses on the Middle East and global religious politics.Broadcast live on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Every month, a Seven Days food writer joins Vermont Edition to talk about local food, restaurant openings and closings, and other big news from our region’s food and beverage scene. In this edition of the series, Jordan Barry shares her favorite you-pick apple orchards, information about Vermont Chicory Week, and upcoming restaurant openings.

From the quarries of Barre to the crystals of Belvidere Mountain in Lowell and Eden, rocks and minerals play a significant role in Vermont's history and culture. The Vermont Rocks! exhibit at the Bennington Museum, up now through Nov. 10, dives into the state's geologic past. Jamie Franklin, curator of the Bennington Musuem, and Ken Carlsen, a geologist and educator from Bennington, discuss the exhibit and the state's subterranean wonders. Carlsen will give a special presentation on the Belvidere Mountain quarries on Oct. 5th at the museum.Bennington Museum is a Vermont Public underwriter.

Guests include the director of a new play in White River Junction, a podcaster in Jeffersonville, and Sasquatch callers in Whitehall.

Vermont Public hosted a debate on Tuesday with candidates for Vermont’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was the first in a series of debates and candidate interviews ahead of the general election on Nov. 5th.Incumbent Congresswoman Becca Balint, a Democrat from Brattleboro, is running for a second term. She previously represented Windham County in the Vermont Senate. Her challenger is Mark Coester, a Republican from Westminster. He is a small business owner with a background in fishing, logging, and sugaring.During the debate, the candidates disagreed on nearly every topic, including climate change, foreign policy and the role of the federal government in addressing rising health care costs and solutions to the affordable housing shortage.

September 30th is the National Day for Truth an Reconciliation, a Canadian holiday marking the harmful impact of residential schools.

Sugaring connects us to the trees around us, and produces a delicious, sweet product for our pancakes, salad dressings and marinades. But it can also cause its fair share of headaches — like when you have to battle rugged terrain, bad weather and plundering woodland creatures to get that sap you want so much.Peter Gregg knows a thing or two about the highs and lows of sugaring. In his recently published memoir, "The Sugar Rush," Gregg tells the story of how he and his longtime best friend fell in love with sugaring. Gregg runs a 1,000-tap sugaring operation in Rupert and is also the longtime publisher of "The Maple News," the largest trade magazine for the maple syrup industry in the US and Canada.Then: Over the past four decades Vermont Creamery has grown from a small artisan dairy company based in Websterville to a must-have brand for retailers like Wegmans and Whole Foods. This year, it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The company's co-founder, Allison Hooper, joins Vermont Edition to mark the milestone.

To cap off our School Stories series, we thought we’d end on a wholly positive note, and turn to the wide world of school sports. Joining us to give the play-by-play on Vermont high school athletics is Jack Fitzsimmons, sports director for WCAX.