Current News

The Vermont State Police is continuing its investigation into last week’s fatal police shooting of a man in Springfield. On Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, detectives interviewed Springfield Police Officer Vincent T. Franchi and Windsor County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Jalava. Both officers are fully cooperating with the investigation. No additional details are available. VSP will continue to provide updates as the case proceeds.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that Caleb Cox, 34, of Bennington, Vermont, was sentenced Friday in Vermont Superior Court, Bennington Criminal Division, after pleading guilty to two felony counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials. The Court, Judge Jennifer Barrett presiding, sentenced Mr. Cox by agreement of the parties to two to 10 years to serve, all suspended except for six months, and a 10-year term of probation with conditions that require him to participate in sex offender treatment and that restrict his contact with minors and access to the internet. If Mr. Cox violates the terms of probation, he could face up to 10 years in jail. Mr. Cox is also required to register as a sex offender for 10 years after the completion of his probation.

by Mike Donoghue Burlington Police have arrested two suspects on adult murder charges in the vicious beating death of a man next to City Hall Park August 11. Isaiah Argro, 26, of Queens, N.Y. and Karson Taylor, 16, of South Burlington are facing second-degree murder charges in connection with a fatal assault on Aug. 11, city police said in a news release. They are charged in the fatal daytime beating of Scott Kastner, 42, of Burlington next to City Hall. Kastner died five days after the attack from complications due to blunt force trauma to the head, according to a ruling by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Wednesday, police said.

Vermont State Police Raymond Arnold was discovered deceased on a riverbank near 272 Vermont Route 14 in Sharon, Vermont. The body was subsequently transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death. This incident is not considered suspicious.

Vermont Department of Labor “Labor Day is a time to honor workers’ contributions across Vermont. In Vermont, our economy and our communities are powered by hardworking people —from the farmers who keep our tables stocked, to the builders shaping our towns, as well as the educators, health care workers, public servants, and small business employees who serve our neighbors daily. We also recognize the vital contributions of unpaid labor, especially the caregivers, parents, and family members who are balancing their jobs with childcare, eldercare, volunteerism, and an ever-growing list of demands outside the workplace. That is also real work, and foundational to Vermont’s social and economic well-being.” 

VermontBiz Curtis Larrabee’s entrepreneurial journey exemplifies how one opportunity can often lead to another. He grew up in West Danville, where his parents owned a general store; his mother was also a justice of the peace and his father a notary.

“My mother helped with local government matters and could marry people, and Dad was the go-to for anything that needed notarizing.“

VermontBiz Bennington College welcomed a robust and diverse class of nearly 200 new first-year and transfer students this fall, along with more students who will join later in the Spring 2026 term.

by Lucia McCallum and Kelsey Tolchin-Kupferer, Community News Service When a parent goes to jail, it can turn a child’s world upside down. Some 4,700 Vermont kids — one in every 25 — know what that’s like. For many kids, parental incarceration is a destabilizing, stressful and isolating experience. And the stigma surrounding it all can make it tough to talk about. For 20 years, Camp Agape has offered some respite. The weeklong sleepaway camp in Plymouth opens every summer for Vermont kids, ages 8-12, who have (or have had) an incarcerated parent. There, kids do all the usual summer camp stuff alongside other kids who can relate.

by Lindsey Papasian, Community News Service Hyla Howe trudged through the high grass. She scanned the ground and took note: red clover, sedge, canary reed. Each plant said something about whether the field would be a good spot for bobolinks. Suddenly came a wave of R2-D2 chirps as 40 or more birds were flushed from their positions in the grass, swirling through the air singing. The birds looked like dots dancing overhead. The fledglings were easy to spot in their clumsier flight patterns, and with binoculars, the adult males were clear in their distinctive black and white plumage, the adult females sporting brown feathers with yellow breasts. 

VermontBiz Green Mountain Power (GMP) is reminding customers they are invited to drop by GMP’s Open House on Wednesday, September 3, from 5:30-6:30 pm at GMP’s service center in Brattleboro. Refreshments will be served. As part of GMP’s Multi-Year Regulation Plan, GMP holds two customer Open House gatherings per year, each in a different part of the state. 

VermontBiz In its ninth year supporting Vermonters in need and the vital work of the Vermont Foodbank, the Vermont Legal Community Fighting Hunger Food Drive will start Friday, September 5th, and run until Friday, September 19th. For the third year in a row, the Attorney General’s Office is encouraging members of the legal community to collect diapers, in addition to food, to support Vermont families experiencing diaper need.

VermontBiz Step inside PhotoPlace Gallery, a rustic-modern space on Park Street in Middlebury, this month, and you’ll find yourself transported to distant corners of the globe. The current exhibition, “Travel: People, Places and Things,“ is a thoughtfully curated collection of photographs captured around the world, from Vietnam’s tea fields to the Russian Arctic to the tanneries of Morocco.