
Peter Hirschfeld
ReporterHelp shape my reporting:
The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation. The more I hear from you, the better I’ll be at my job. So, what issues do you want lawmakers to focus on? What info do you most urgently need?
I'm eager to hear from you. Get in touch here.
About Peter:
Peter Hirschfeld covers state government and the Vermont Legislature. He is based in ¿ªÔÆÌåÓý’s Capital Bureau located across the street from Vermont’s Statehouse.
Hirschfeld is a Vermont journalist who has covered the Statehouse since 2009, most recently as bureau chief for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus. He began his career in 2003, working as a local sports reporter and copy editor at the Times Argus.
-
A national group called the Green Advocacy Project has contributed $180,000 to a Vermont-based super PAC that’s using the money to boost candidates who it believes will support a clean heat standard.
-
Residents in seven counties are eligible for FEMA assistance for floods that hit Vermont on July 10 and 11. And residents in three of those counties � Essex, Orleans and Caledonia � can also draw down aid for floods that struck the Northeast Kingdom from July 29-31.
-
Corrections officials say maintaining strong family bonds can improve outcomes for children and their incarcerated parents.
-
New U.S. Census data shows that median household income in Vermont rose by 9.8% between 2022 and 2023 � more than double the national average, and the largest year-over-year increase here in at least a decade.
-
Vermont's junior U.S. senator said "administrative bloat and bureaucratic inefficiency" at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are consuming resources that would otherwise go to disaster survivors.
-
While the $15.9 million in grants will provide a major lift to the libraries receiving funds, it won’t come to addressing the backlog of infrastructure needs at the 187 public libraries in Vermont.
-
The same federal bureaucracy that hampered flood recovery for individuals after last summer's floods is plunging small, rural towns into crippling debt.
-
Republican Gov. Phil Scott says an analysis commissioned by the state validates his concerns about an emissions-reduction bill that Democratic lawmakers plan to pursue next year.
-
The olive green dinosaur measures about 5 feet long, and its large, toothy grin has been a fixture on Minister Brook Road in Worcester for two decades. Vermont State Police are investigating the case.
-
Dozens of volunteer dog trackers will take to the woods over the next few months to help hunters recover wounded game from Vermont’s forests.