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Reporter Erica Heilman shares a success story from HomeShare Vermont, a program that matches folks who have extra housing with people who need it. Plus, House lawmakers pass a bill making it easier for prosecutors to charge Vermonters with hate crimes, Vermont’s attorney general joins a multistate effort to block the National Institutes of Health from slashing billions of dollars in medical research, nursing staff at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans vote to unionize, the head of Vermont’s largest health insurer is retiring after a 16-year tenure, and the Vermont Green Football Club announces its new head coach.

We hear from Champlain College students studying video game development in a program that includes time in Montreal getting hands-on experience with gaming studios. Plus, Vermont joins a multistate lawsuit aimed at stopping the Treasury Department from transferring sensitive personal data to an agency controlled by Elon Musk, plans for a statewide electric vehicle charging program are on hold following a Trump administration freeze on federal money, McGill University in Montreal plans to cut $45 million and hundreds of jobs from its annual budget, and public school advocates criticize a Scott administration plan to give every Vermont student an option to enter a school choice lottery.

In an excerpt from a recent episode of Brave Little State, we explore why Vermont relies on just one landfill for its trash disposal while neighboring New Hampshire has half a dozen. Plus, Vermont’s Department of Public Service says some $400 million in federal grant money is at risk due to a federal funding freeze, Congresswoman Becca Balint urges Vermont lawmakers to prepare for more potential federal budget cuts, Burlington’s Festival of Fools is canceled this year due to funding difficulties, the Vermont House upholds the result of a contested election in Bennington, and adaptive mountain biking gets a boost from a state tourism grant.

Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders revealed some new details this week about how school choice could change under the Scott administration’s proposal to overhaul the state’s education system. ¿ªÔÆÌåÓý education reporter Lola Duffort has the details for this week’s edition of the Capitol Recap.

In the final installment of a collaborative series on homeless deaths in Vermont, we hear from a former girlfriend and from the daughter of a man named Sean Kelleher, who died in a violent accident. Plus, school boards eye personnel job cuts amid financial pressures, an initial estimate puts repairs for the damaged Bennington Battle Monument at $40 million, Burlington International Airport is set to debut a new seasonal non-stop route to South Carolina, the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is screening some classic neo-noir movies, and we examine the fallout from a shocking NBA trade and offer a pick for the winner of this Sunday’s Super Bowl in our weekly sports report.

In the second part of a collaborative series on homeless deaths in Vermont, reporter Liam Elder-Connors tells us about the struggles of a man he got to know before he died from a drug overdose. Plus, Vermont officials try to gauge the effects of potential tariffs on energy imported from Canada, Bennington residents get an update on new PFAS water well contamination, state health officials report an uptick in people with flu-like illnesses over the past month, and a Lamoille County nonprofit is getting a new food processing hub to help redistribute extra produce from local farms.

We hear the story of a Morristown man who passed away last April after struggling with substance abuse, in the first of a three-part collaboration with Seven Days analyzing the number of unhoused Vermonters who have died over the last several years. Plus, lawmakers want to examine COVID-era appropriations that may not be yielding adequate returns for taxpayers, a Brattleboro nonprofit secured grant funding to support refugees before a federal funding freeze, tariffs on Canadian goods could raise Vermonters� energy bills, officials ponder options for the future of Vermont’s waste disposal, and Vermont’s senators register their opposition to Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr.'s nomination for health secretary.

Why a general store in New Hampshire that’s been serving the community for two centuries may not be around much longer. Plus, a Waterbury House Democrat wants to advance legislation to reform the state’s emergency shelter program before a new wave of evictions, a new development will bring more than 250 homes to Middlebury, several state medical associations voice opposition to President Trump’s executive order restricting youth access to gender-affirming care, Burlington voters won’t be asked to weigh in on a tax increase on Town Meeting Day despite the city’s budget deficit, and a Vermont solar manufacturer gets nearly $400 million in financing from a Canadian investment company to build out four solar projects.

Treasurer Mike Pieciak has convened a task force to help guide Vermont through a flurry of action in the early days of the second Trump administration. Plus, Vermont’s teachers� union says Gov. Scott’s education reform plan would require mass educator layoffs, the governor seeks to roll back almost every major climate law enacted by Democrats in recent years, land in the Northeast Kingdom has been conserved for wild fish habitat and flood resilience, and Democratic lawmakers fear future federal funding for Vermont is in serious jeopardy under the Trump administration.

Environmental advocates have enjoyed a lot of influence in Montpelier. But with Gov. Phil Scott looking to roll back most of the major climate policies of the last several years, they have to take a new approach this session.