Phil Scott

Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas speaks during Tuesday’s press conference in Montpelier.

Secretary of state, governor say ballots secure, voters can track submissions at online site

MONTPELIER- At a joint press conference with Gov. Phil Scott Tuesday, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas urged voters who haven’t already mailed their ballots to submit them in person to their town clerks, at their offices, at their town’s official ballot drop boxes, or at the polls...

Gov. Phil Scott speaks at Wednesday's press conference

Governor vetoes budget

Local reps will vote to override
MONTPELIER- Gov. Phil Scott issued his second, third, and fourth vetoes of the legislative session Friday, including a veto of H.494, better known as the budget bill. On Wednesday, Gov. Scott issued his fifth veto of the session, of S.39...

Gov. Scott talks about housing shortage, rebukes Senate bill changes

MONTPELIER- Gov. Phil Scott focused on Vermont’s housing shortage in his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon, and criticized proposed changes to a Senate housing bill.
Gov. Scott said Vermont needs to make the construction of housing easier, faster, and more affordable in order to...

Gov. Phil Scott

Governor calls for civility

MONTPELIER- Gov. Phil Scott used his weekly press conference Tuesday to call for civility following recent outbreaks of hate and violence in Vermont.
The incidents include several instances of racial slurs directed at student athletes. The Vermont Principals’ Association, which governs...

Dr. Mark Levine and Gov. Phil Scott File photo

Vermont prepares for approval of pediatric COVID-19 vaccine

MONTPELIER- The state is preparing for the pending federal approval of a pediatric vaccine for children under 5, and Gov. Phil Scott said his administration is turning their focus to mitigating pandemic impact at a press conference Tuesday.
Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said...

Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine

Pandemic reaches one million deaths in US

MONTPELIER- The state appears to be changing more of its COVID response from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase. During the administration’s weekly COVID briefing Tuesday, Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said vaccinations and testing would shift away from state-run sites to health...

Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine

New variant gaining steam; vaccines may be updated by fall

MONTPELIER - At the governor’s weekly press conference, health commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said a new COVID-19 variant is gaining steam in New England, and while spread of the virus is high, Vermont’s hospitalizations and ICU admissions are stable and below crisis levels. In addition, Levine...

Data from the Department of Financial Regulation shows hospitalizations are rising slightly but remain below earlier peaks during the Omicron variant’s spread in January and February. Courtesy Vermont Department of Health

As BA.2 spreads, state urges acting on personal risk levels

Ending mask mandate for public transportation considered “premature” MONTPELIER - At the governor’s weekly press conference on Tuesday, commissioner of health Dr. Mark Levine said the BA.2 variant continues to spread in Vermont and throughout New England, but hospitalizations...

BA2 not causing severe symptoms, pandemic correlates with opioid overdoses

MONTPELIER- Vemont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said COVID-19 variant BA2 is “driving an uptick” in COVID-19 cases in Vermont at the administration’s press briefing Tuesday.
“We’ve had a 29% increase in our seven-day average of numbers of cases, you can see a very slight uptick,”...

Governor announces Ukraine aid

Vermont will have its own sanctions MONTPELIER- At Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press briefing on Thursday last week - postponed due to Town Meeting on Tuesday - the administration announced they would end school masking recommendations.
Gov. Scott also announced actions in...