My cousin in Manchester describes Monday's concert tragedy as “desperately sad.” She lives about six miles from the Manchester Arena, where a homemade bomb, packed with metal nuts and bolts, exploded as thousands of attendees - mostly girls and their parents - were leaving after a well-attended performance by popstar Ariana Grande.

For about an hour, I was one of 30 audience members sitting in a ring on the Main Stage of Burlington’s Flynn Center while four strong, agile and graceful women danced in and around us. It was a remarkable performance - one of four shows by Adele Myers and Dancers.

Winston Churchill once quipped that, You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else .

A few years ago I sat in the Federal Court House in Burlington and watched the full might of the US Auto Industry on display. Vermont had joined a number of other northeast states and California in requiring higher gas mileage in cars. Auto companies had then chosen to sue three states; California, New York and Vermont. The discovery requests alone had kept several staff in the state’s environmental agency busy for months.

I wanted to take this moment to tell you about a friend.

I just happened to be in France during the recent presidential election there, and discovered the French candidates had some interesting things in common with our current president.

I’m staring one of those big fat numbers in the face. Forty-five. Forty-five years ago, I graduated from Bennington College with a degree in literature. But I remember graduation day as if it were yesterday. I covered lots of commencements over the years as a reporter, but I’ve never been to one quite like mine.

Governor Scott’s proposal to save $26 million in the state education fund by reforming the health care coverage for teachers put him at loggerheads with the opposing legislative majority and the VTNEA, which has deep financial resources to influence public opinion.

Despite calls for the president’s removal either by impeachment or invoking the 25th amendment, neither’s likely.

There's a phrase from sports that has always been intriguing to me: People say something is or isn't “in the interest of baseball.” The word “baseball,” spoken in this way, carries with it a whole value system or code of conduct.