Shaun Robinson

6 days ago | vtdigger.org | Shaun Robinson

MONTPELIER — A proposed change to Burlington’s local laws that would ban guns from bars and other venues that serve alcohol is making headway in Montpelier, where the change needs a signoff from state lawmakers. But a key Senate committee has reduced the scope of the proposal over concerns that, in its original form, it could run afoul of the U.S. Constitution. It’s the second time in a decade that Burlington voters have asked legislators to approve the local gun control measure.

1 week ago | vtdigger.org | Shaun Robinson

A bill moving through the Senate could make it easier for children whose parents are detained for alleged immigration offenses to be placed in the care of a trusted guardian — a proposal that legal advocates have backed as President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in Vermont and across the country since he took office again.

1 week ago | vtdigger.org | Shaun Robinson

Updated at 4:25 p.m.MONTPELIER — Top Vermont Democratic senators on Tuesday called on the state’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott to terminate an agreement with the federal government that allows federal immigration agents to use the state’s prisons to lodge detainees. The push by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central; Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast; and Sen.

1 week ago | vtdigger.org | Shaun Robinson |Olivia Gieger

BURLINGTON — A federal judge in Burlington heard arguments Monday in the case of a Tufts University student who was arrested by immigration agents in Massachusetts late last month and then transferred to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana via Vermont. Judge William Sessions didn’t immediately rule during the hearing on the challenge by the student, Rümeysa Öztürk, to ICE’s decision to detain her.

1 week ago | openlegalblogarchive.org | Shaun Robinson

“A dangerous step.”Speaking to reporters this week with her colleagues from two other states, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas used those three words to describe a federal bill that would require people to show documents proving their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. She said the SAVE Act, which passed the U.S. House Thursday with support from Republicans and four of the chamber’s Democrats, could lead to millions of Americans being disenfranchised.