Corey McDonald

5 days ago | vtdigger.org | Corey McDonald

Shawn Burke has been Burlington’s interim chief of police for just over a month. Two weeks into the job, he had to use Narcan, the life-saving treatment that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, for the first time in 10 years. Driving around Orchard Terrace early in the morning, he witnessed a man he thought was sleeping and went to check on him. As he tried to wake him up, Burke realized the man was overdosing and ran back to his vehicle to retrieve a dose of Narcan.

6 days ago | vtdigger.org | Corey McDonald

The city of Burlington has cut 25 full-time positions as it faces a multi-million-dollar budget gap for the second year, and difficult financial questions ahead. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, in an email sent Thursday night, announced to city staff and the city council that 12 union employees, as well as 13 non-union positions across a number of departments, were being eliminated. The cut positions represent roughly 5% of the city’s workforce. Seven of those positions were vacant, the mayor said.

2 weeks ago | vtdigger.org | Corey McDonald

A national conservative group on Monday appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court a lower court decision dismissing their challenge to noncitizen voting in Burlington. The appeal was filed by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections on behalf of Burlington residents Karen Rowell and Michele Morin. It prolongs the group’s lawsuit, first filed in June 2024, that challenges a Burlington charter change allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.

3 weeks ago | vtdigger.org | Corey McDonald

At a public forum held earlier this month in Westford, parents and community members gathered to voice concerns that are being felt throughout Vermont: whether their local schools will still exist in the years to come. The forum was held to discuss a plan by the Essex-Westford School District that will move grades six through eight out of the Westford School and into neighboring Essex Middle School beginning in the fall, leaving grades pre-K through fifth grade in the Westford School.

4 weeks ago | vtdigger.org | Corey McDonald

A lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday alleges the city of Burlington and Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport officials “improperly retaliated” against a local helicopter company and its owner and violated his first amendment rights after he spoke out against the airport in local media reports.