Kevin Trevellyan

Chronicling how Vermonters feel about the state’s all too short gardening season as it comes to a close. Plus, Grand Isle County’s top prosecutor drops a pending simple assault charge against the Franklin County sheriff, a shooting in Waterbury leaves one man dead and another injured, the South Burlington City Council wants federal action to remove F-35 jets from Vermont, high tourist traffic complicates efforts to rescue some hikers in the White Mountains, and Rutland postpones a housing development summit.

Examining differing views on the meaning and presence of a cannon situated outside the Town Hall in West Windsor. Plus, more child care centers opened than closed in Vermont this year for the first time in six years, the owner of a former paramilitary camp in West Pawlet returns to court in Rutland, a Chittenden County man died last month after contracting EEE from a mosquito bite, a class-action lawsuit accuses the nonprofit College Board and some private universities of conspiring to overcharge for tuition, and in our weekly sports report a special in-house guest star who happens to be a lifelong San Diego Padres fan talks about tonight’s deciding game 5 with the L.A. Dodgers.

Why Vermont is one of just nine states that taxes some social security benefits. Plus, after two mistrials the prosecutor who charged a Franklin County sheriff with assault is considering whether to call for a third trial, the state is suing social media company TikTok alleging it purposefully uses addictive algorithms, Vermont’s candidates for lieutenant governor spar over who would better represent the working class, a new report details how human-caused climate change is disrupting life in Vermont, and a second case of West Nile virus has been confirmed in upstate New York.

Our Citizen’s Agenda election reporting initiative takes us to Rutland to hear what residents are doing about the state’s housing crisis. Plus, more than 2,000 Vermonters file for individual flood-related FEMA assistance, the deadline to file for individual help has been extended, a Vermont-based company announces layoffs of more than 100 workers, Vermonters planning to vote by mail are advised to send their ballots by the middle of the month, another mistrial is declared in the case of a Franklin County sheriff accused of assault, and a geneticist who grew up on a dairy farm in Hartland and formerly taught at Dartmouth wins a Nobel Prize.

Vermont Department of Corrections officials are working on improving visitation policies for the children of incarcerated fathers, saying strong family bonds can improve outcomes for families. Plus, UVM Medical Center is halting plans for a new outpatient surgery center, immigrant dairy farmworkers are picketing outside Hannaford stores to secure better working conditions, a renowned Abenaki artist has a new retrospective exhibition on display in Montreal, and Springfield residents will weigh whether to ban guns in a town park.

For years, multiplayer video games have been moving more and more online. But some hardcore gamers still gather in person to compete against each other at the highest levels, including in the Green Mountain State.

Why a central Vermont school board decided not to ask voters whether to close two of the district’s elementary schools in November. Plus, the young NFL season has brought a huge upswing in Vermont online sports betting, Northeast Kingdom residents whose jobs were affected by the late-July floods may now be eligible for federal unemployment aid, West Windsor adopts short-term rental fees, why Burlington’s former racial equity director is demanding a multimillion dollar payment from the city, for the first time ever Vermont went nearly a year without a vehicle getting stuck at Smuggler’s Notch, and in our sports report we discuss the harsh realities for first place teams knocked out of the playoffs in the league’s new wild card format.

With the November election just weeks away, we hear the chief issues of concern from voters who attended our Citizens Agenda ice cream social in Rutland. Plus, legislation introduced by Sen. Peter Welch would require an audit of FEMA’s administrative costs, Vermont lawmakers sign a letter calling on Gov. Scott to stand up emergency shelters for families exiting the motel voucher program, concerns about oversaturation in some of the state’s retail cannabis markets, Vermont swiftwater teams help with rescue efforts in Florida and North Carolina, and Frontier Airlines will resume some nonstop flights from Burlington to Florida.

The state is scaling back the emergency motel voucher program, despite hundreds of families with children having few other options for shelter. Plus, Vermont’s Catholic Diocese files for bankruptcy protection, pressure ramps up on the U.S. Postal Service to set a date for reopening Montpelier’s post office, public flood insurance claims are paying out much more on average than FEMA aid, the state wants public feedback on plans for improving water quality in the Connecticut River, and Vermont libraries will be awarded millions of dollars in grants from the American Rescue Plan Act.

A documentary tells the painful story of efforts to wipe out the heritage of Indigenous children at boarding schools in the US and Canada. Plus, a plan to sell the now-closed Goddard College campus to a group of former alumni and faculty has fallen through, the director of a Lakota spiritual learning center recounts trauma suffered by Indigenous children sent to government-funded residential schools in the US and Canada, a horse in Addison County has died after being infected with EEE, advocates for legislation to expand home services access for people with disabilities visit the Statehouse, and Seven Days is named Newspaper of the Year by the New England Newspaper & Press Association.