Erin Petenko News Today

We cover Vermont's hospitals, OneCare, the psychiatric care system, Green Mountain Care Board, insurers, health care policy and reform.

We publish stories about Vermont environmental issues, including water quality, toxic waste, climate change and biodiversity.

DCF may “prefer” to call it something else to evade town zoning, but its Newbury proposal is a secure detention facility by its own definitions.

DCF ignoring its own words for Newbury youth facilityWhy is DCF’s youth “detention facility” still up for debate?In the VTDigger article published in the May 25 Valley News (“Court hears juvenile facility lawsuit”), Erin Petenko writes the arguments...

Throughout the past four months, your humble servants at VTDigger worked hard to follow state lawmakers’ every move, ranging from their hard-fought political battles and policy debates to deeply unserious shenanigans under the Golden Dome.

Photographer Glenn Russell and data reporter Erin Petenko won top honors at the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s annual conference. The nonprofit news organization also took home prizes for reporting, newsletters and podcasts.

Never one to pass up the chance to hop on a train, reporter Shaun Robinson tagged along — though it took a couple tries to get a seat.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth said he was open to revisiting what information senators are asked to disclose on their ethics forms. “I think it’s fair to say, in part because of your reporting, we’ll be discussing this and trying to figure out if the way we’re doing it makes sense,” he said.

The rally, organized by Outright Vermont and the national group Queer Youth Assemble, showed support for transgender youth who have been caught in the crosswinds of anti-trans legislative battles across the country.

“Our laws should protect people, not push them further toward the margins of our society,” Sen. Becca White said at a press conference calling on Vermont to decriminalize sex work.