| | | The whole thing is nebulous at this point, partly because it is a
work in progress, and partly because too few details have been
forthcoming. But the Bennington School District Board's proposal to
study a possible "merger" with the Mount Anthony Union District is,
it seems, a step in the right direction.
Full Story Wednesday, July 1
At first glance, the projected $22 million budget deficit SouthwesternVermont Health Care is facing must represent gross mismanagement of the local health care system.
Mismanagement there certainly was — especially in recent years — as well as an inexcusably slow realization of changing financial times and practices.
Full Story Monday, June 29
Michael Jackson was never like the Beatles, not a working class Liverpudlian who could troop on and on in the public eye, taking slings and arrows from the media, creating new music or playing old. In that way, he wasn't a lone-ranging Chuck Berry, either, or a Bruce Springsteen or a Bono.
Full Story Tuesday, June 23
It is amazing how the electronic media allows ranting armchair warring conservatives to take over the debate when there is a crisis like the one engulfing Iran following its suspect presidential election.
Bravehearts like Rush Limbaugh, Paul Wolfowitz, Charles Krauthammer and others, few of whom have ever fired a gun in anger, or even held one in basic training, begin
Full Story Saturday, June 20
With the graduation of 229 seniors from Mount Anthony Union High School on Friday, most Bennington County secondary school grads are poised to learn — as soon as the parties wind down — that the age of life-path decisions is upon them.
Actually, we know that many in their late teens, on up to late 20s and beyond, won't really face tough life decisions for a few
Full Story Friday, June 19
The phrase, "the last full measure" came to mind this week as the area contemplated the death of Bennington Rescue Squad paramedic and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center employee Dale R. Long.
Mr. Long, 48, died in the crash of his ambulance on West Road on Monday afternoon. The accident, in which he died performing his duty by transporting a patient, cast a pall over the
Full Story Thursday, June 18
With the Obama administration showing signs of caving on some of its health care promises — such as affordable coverage for all Americans — it is important to note that one option already is within the president's power, with or without conservative or industry support.
Full Story Wednesday, June 17
It happens every time. An election campaign in Iran shows a great deal of support for democratic reform in a nation dominated by Islamic fundamentalists. Then, an incredible letdown follows; a show of force by the government breaks the resolve of reformers, and the inchoate democrats are again outside the power structure looking in.
Full Story Saturday, June 13
A detailed analysis of federal budgeting reported this week by David Leonhardt in The New York Times gets directly to the heart of the nation's predicament after decades of deficit spending.
The Times, after analyzing Congressional Budget Office reports going back 10 years, concluded that, while the Obama administration's stimulus spending seems significant, it was not a
Full Story Thursday, June 11
In a priceless moment of only partially intended clarity, The New York Times reported this week that Democratic leaders in Congress had reached a consensus on providing health care for all Americans — except on the issue of how to pay for it.
Well, of course!
Options being floated have include taxing the health care benefits of workers like income and/or laying
Full Story Wednesday, June 10
Vermonters who complained of late about the political in-fighting and posturing in Montpelier likely have forgotten their trains of thought as they gape soundlessly at recent maneuvering in the New York Senate.
The Republicans this week staged a legislative coup in that chamber, where the Democrats had acquired a slim majority in the November elections — for the
Full Story Tuesday, June 9
If General Motors and Chrysler survive bankruptcy proceedings, they will be mere shadows of their former corporate selves, but many Americans still will be pulling for them to make a comeback.
There are many pieces of the gigantic financial puzzle that will have to fall back into place for the U.
Full Story Saturday, June 6
In addition to the record scale of the two-state drug bust reported on Friday in the Banner, the rapid-fire coordination of police departments in Vermont and nearby New York set a stellar example worthy of emulation by other departments and law en-forcement agencies.
After Bennington Police conducted an investigation of a drug overdose at a motel in town early Wednesday
Full Story Friday, June 5
We can only hope that President Obama's speech to the Muslim world can begin to reduce hostility and conflict around the globe. A reconciliation with the Western democracies won't occur overnight, but the president's efforts might offset some of the "reasoning" on both sides behind violence in places like the Middle East, Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Full Story Thursday, June 4
Why is it always the male — angry, blindly self-righteous, obsessive, and finally a crazed and bloodthirsty murderer? Usually, they turn the gun on themselves in the end — like a rabid dog putting itself down.
Sometimes, though, as with Scott Roeder, the "man" who gunned down Kansas abortion clinic operator Dr.
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