Thursday, August 21 An open dialogue on education is vital to any community. In our area, with local taxpayers squeezed by gas prices from without and property taxes from within, a solid return on our school dollars is not just whimsy, but imperative. In this light, Bennington Banner editor Jim Therrien hit on a creative note last Saturday in a column on the Naperville, Ill.   Full Story

Thursday, August 21 Whenever states find tax revenues dropping during an economic downtown, governors and lawmakers seem typically to reach for their pens to cross something out of the budget. Often, that is like cutting off a nose in spite. Since almost everything in the budget of a state the size of Vermont involves essential public services, cuts in education or health care funding,   Full Story

Tuesday, August 19 Don't blame JFK I would like to respond to the letter written by James McSherry, in which he implies that all of the wars in which America has been involved were because Democrats were in the White House when conflicts began. He states that Vietnam was President John F. Kennedy's war.   Full Story