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3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Almost 30 beaches in Vermont are under bacteria advisories this weekend. Here's where
Planning to soak up the sun at a Vermont beach this weekend? You'll want to avoid areas with unsafe swimming water. According to the Vermont Department of Health, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae that grows in freshwater, can release toxins into the water that create unsafe swimming conditions. Health effects from coming in contact with cyanobacteria include rashes, abdominal pain, vomiting, liver damage and dizziness. Heading into this weekend, 29 swimming spots in Vermont are under advisories for high cyanobacteria levels. Here's the full list. What swimming spots in VT are currently under bacteria advisories? The following beaches and other swimming spots in Vermont are under bacteria advisories as of Friday, July 18: Alburgh: West Alburgh 129 & Summit Road (High Alert) Burlington: Burlington Marina (Low Alert) Burlington Community Boathouse Marina (Low Alert) Dog Park Steps (Low Alert) Lakeside Beach (Low Alert) Perkins Pier (Low Alert) Red Rocks Beach (Low Alert) Rock Point - Eagle Bay (Low Alert) Rubenstein Lab - waterfront (High Alert) Burton Island: South Shore (Low Alert) Charlotte: Converse Bay (High Alert) Ferrisburgh: Button Bay Boat Launch (High Alert) Button Bay South (High Alert) Highgate Springs: Gander Bay (Low Alert) Isle la Motte: Saint Anne's Shrine (High Alert) West Shore (High Alert) West Shore Road (High Alert) North Hero: Stephenson Point Fish and Wildlife Access (High Alert) Panton: Arnold Bay Point (High Alert) Shelburne: Pine Haven Shores (High Alert) Shelburne Bay - West Shore (Low Alert) Shelburne Pond - Shoreline Trail (High Alert) South Burlington: Holmes Road - Northeast Shelburne Bay (High Alert) South Hero: Apricot Point (Low Alert) Harrington Lane on Lake Champlain (High Alert) Keeler Bay (High Alert) West Shore Road on Lake Champlain (High Alert) St. Albans: Black Bridge (High Alert) St. Albans Bay Park (Low Alert) VT beaches: These two 'secret beaches' are the best in VT, survey says. Here's where to find them When will beaches in Vermont reopen? Beaches can only become safe for swimming when their bacteria levels are back within the safe range, so there is no set amount of time for a closure. Bloom conditions can change rapidly, so it is best to check for discolored water before heading in. Updated conditions can be checked on the Vermont Department of Health's Cyanobacteria Tracker. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Which VT beaches are currently unsafe for swimming? Here's a list Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chittenden County home listings asked for more money in May - see the current median price here
The median home in Chittenden County listed for $614,900 in May, up 2.7% from the previous month's $598,500, an analysis of data from shows. Compared to May 2024, the median home list price decreased 4.6% from $655,475. The statistics in this article only pertain to houses listed for sale in Chittenden County, not houses that were sold. Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at Chittenden County's median home was 1,988 square feet, listed at $318 per square foot. The price per square foot of homes for sale is down 2.7% from May 2024. Listings in Chittenden County moved briskly, at a median 32 days listed compared to the May national median of 51 days on the market. In the previous month, homes had a median of 37 days on the market. Around 232 homes were newly listed on the market in May, a 22.1% increase from 190 new listings in May 2024. The median home prices issued by may exclude many, or even most, of a market's homes. The price and volume represent only single-family homes, condominiums or townhomes. They include existing homes, but exclude most new construction as well as pending and contingent sales. Across the Burlington-South Burlington metro area, median home prices rose to $566,850, slightly higher than a month earlier. The median home had 1,928 square feet, at a list price of $300 per square foot. In Vermont, median home prices were $519,000, a slight increase from April. The median Vermont home listed for sale had 1,984 square feet, with a price of $272 per square foot. Throughout the United States, the median home price was $440,000, a slight increase from the month prior. The median American home for sale was listed at 1,840 square feet, with a price of $234 per square foot. The median home list price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. Experts say the median offers a more accurate view of what's happening in a market than the average list price, which would mean taking the sum of all listing prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high price. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu. Our News Automation and AI team would like to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Chittenden County home listings asked for more money in May - see the current median price here
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New England region gas prices essentially unchanged from last week: See how much here
Regional gas prices are essentially unchanged last week and reached an average of $2.96 per gallon of regular fuel on Monday, approximately the same as last week's price, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The average fuel price in the New England region declined about 4 cents since last month. According to the EIA, gas prices across the region in the last year have been as low as $2.92 on April 14, 2025, and as high as $3.50 on July 15, 2024. A year ago, the average gas price in the New England region was 14% higher at $3.46 per gallon. >> INTERACTIVE: See how your area's gas prices have changed over the years at . The average gas price in the United States last week was $3.14, making prices in the New England region about 5.8% lower than the nation's average. The average national gas price is higher than last week's average of $3.11 per gallon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's tally of prices in the New England states includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu. Our News Automation and AI team would like to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: New England region gas prices essentially unchanged from last week: See how much here
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How did gay marriage become legal? Civil unions in this state paved the way 25 years ago.
Gay marriage, once an unpopular concept nationwide, is widely accepted today. And more so in certain states like Vermont. 'People take for granted that same-sex couples can get married nowadays,' Bill Lippert, 75, one of Vermont's first openly gay lawmakers, told the Burlington Free Press, which is a part of the USA TODAY Network. 'You can reference your husband or wife casually now in conversation. But if you weren't around 25 years ago, there isn't always an appreciation for how hard we had to fight." April 26 marked the 25th anniversary of civil unions – marriage for same-sex couples in all but name – becoming state law. Although civil unions were deeply controversial even among Vermonters at the time, they served as the first pivotal step toward full marriage equality, Lippert said. In 2000, Vermont became the first place in the world to grant marriage-equivalent legal rights to same-sex couples. Domestic partnerships existed in some places, but those unions 'usually only granted a few legal rights,' Lippert said. 'The eyes of the whole country and world were focused on what Vermont was doing in 2000,' said Lippert, who helped craft the civil unions bill while serving on the house judiciary committee. Three years later Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage, followed by Connecticut and Iowa in 2008. Vermont followed suit in 2009. Several more states legalized same-sex marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court finally made it nationwide law in 2015 through the Obergefell v. Hodges case. 'One can see the direct connection between what Vermont did in 2000 with civil unions to what followed in Massachusetts and eventually with Obergefell in 2015,' Lippert said. Prior to the creation of civil unions, gay and lesbian couples lacked 'a thousand more rights' than married straight couples, Lippert said, no matter how long they had been together. For instance, if one partner in a same-sex relationship was in hospital, the other partner did not automatically have the power of attorney. 'That was one of the most painful ones,' Lippert said. Lippert recalled one particularly egregious case that happened to a lesbian couple with a child. When the partner who had given birth to the child died in a car crash, her parents fought for custody even though the two women had been raising the kid together. 'The list goes on and on,' Lippert said. Although Vermont eventually established 'second parent adoption' in 1993, there still wasn't a 'legal connection between partners,' Lippert noted. 'That side of the triangle was missing,' he said. In the late '90s, three lawyers and three same-sex couples decided it was time to test Vermont's marriage laws. In 1998, three Vermont same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in Chittenden County. When their marriages were denied, they filed a lawsuit that became known as Baker v. Vermont, or informally "the Baker Case," after the last name of one of the plaintiffs. A Vermont Superior Court judge ruled to dismiss the case, so the plaintiffs made an appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court. What the Vermont Supreme Court did next shocked everyone. Instead of either legalizing gay marriage or striking down the case, the justices ruled in 1999 that same-sex couples should be afforded all the same legal rights as heterosexual couples but left it up to the Vermont legislature whether to grant gay couples the ability to marry or form an equivalent union. 'Personally, I was shocked because I had been assured by the attorneys fighting for gay marriage that we would never have to vote on it in the legislature,' Lippert said. 'Many of my colleagues were, frankly, beyond anxious – terrified – because they never wanted to deal with the issue because it was so controversial.' At the time, some states were changing their constitutions to outlaw gay marriage. The Defense of Marriage Act also went into effect two years prior. In Vermont specifically, only 20% of residents supported gay marriage. Gay marriage 'was not a popular proposal,' Lippert recalled. 'It was hotly condemned and fought against by major religious groups as an affront to their religious sacraments.' One of their main fears was that churches would be forced to marry gay couples. The Vermont legislature was already in mid-session when the court dropped the issue of gay marriage in their laps. The House judicial committee, where Lippert served as vice chair, was tasked with writing the bill that would grant gay couples the right to marry or to form an equivalent union. After listening to weeks of testimony from supporters and opponents of gay marriage, the committee voted to create a 'parallel legal structure,' which they named civil unions, Lippert said. 'It was very disappointing for the attorneys and advocates, but it was clear that we did not have the votes to create full marriage for same-sex couples,' said Lippert, who was among the three committee members to vote for gay marriage. Some gay marriage advocates at the time found the idea of civil unions insulting and akin to the concept of 'Separate but equal.' Some activists said civil unions were like 'having to sit on the back of the bus' and refused to support the bill, Lippert said. 'Others said, 'At least we're on the bus.'' The lawsuit plaintiffs and their attorneys decided 'it was better to pass something achievable than pass something that would fail and then get nothing,' Lippert said. Elsewhere in the country: Naples Pride pleased with judge's ruling on drag show, 'a really big win' On the day House reps were scheduled to vote, Lippert and his committee members weren't sure if they had enough support to pass civil unions. Some representatives wouldn't share their plans, while others kept saying they 'needed more information' before they could decide which way to vote. For some representatives, a "yes" vote guaranteed they would lose their seats in either the primary or general elections later that year. 'Until the roll call, none of us knew we were going to win,' said Lippert. 'It would have taken a few votes to switch and we would have lost.' After 12 hours of debate and testimony that day, the Vermont house voted 76-69 to pass the civil unions bill. Lippert primarily attributed the win to 'courageous' gay Vermonters, loved ones and other advocates who shared personal stories throughout the bill process. Some gay people even came out publicly for the first time to throw their support behind the bill. Lippert also thinks the 'hateful phone calls and letters' legislators received made them realize why civil unions were necessary. 'They saw why we needed this,' Lippert said. 'That if this is the level of prejudice and hatefulness that comes at me, what must it be like for gay people? The hate backfired.' Once civil unions passed the house, it was much smoother sailing for gay advocates. The senate, which had a higher percentage of Democrats than the house, passed civil unions 19-11. Gov. Howard Dean, who already voiced his approval of civil unions, signed the bill into law soon after – albeit behind closed doors and without fanfare. 'He said publicly that marriage for same-sex couples made him uncomfortable' but that he could back civil unions, Lippert remembered. Even still, Dean's support was 'crucial.' 'If he hadn't been willing to say he would sign the bill, I don't think we would have passed it,' Lippert said. 'People wouldn't have risked voting for it.' 'Art is a form of protest': How Phoenix LGBTQ+ artists use poetry as an act of resistance Later that year, 17 legislators who voted for civil unions in April 2000 lost their seats to opponents who promised to help repeal the institution. Dean, who had to wear a bulletproof vest during his gubernatorial campaign, also faced an ardent anti-civil unions challenger. 'It's hard to explain the level of controversy and some of the hatefulness directed at the governor and lawmakers,' Lippert said. The following session, the now more conservative House managed to repeal civil unions by one vote, but the effort died in the Senate. Between 2000 and 2009, thousands of gay couples from other states and nations traveled to Vermont to enter civil unions. They wanted legal recognition of their relationship somewhere even if their home state or country wouldn't respect it, Lippert said. 'At the time, I would have been happy to have settled the case in court,' Lippert said. 'But looking back, I think it would have garnered greater backlash if the court had granted gay marriage or an equivalent institution directly.' That's what happened in Hawaii. In 1996, the Hawaiian Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny marriage to same-sex couples. An enormous public backlash ensued, and by 1998, Hawaiians had changed their state constitution to outlaw gay marriage. Amending Vermont's constitution wouldn't have been as easy – it takes multiple years versus only one in Hawaii – but there definitely were some lawmakers who wanted to, Lippert said. Such an amendment never got off the ground, however. 'My view is civil unions was a historic step for civil marriage for same-sex couples,' Lippert said. 'Saying that full marriage equality was important does not take away from civil unions moving us to marriage equality in a profound way.' Lippert and his spouse eventually entered a civil union themselves. They then got married once Vermont legalized what Lippert now calls 'full marriage equality.' This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont civil unions paved way for US gay marriage equality
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
Most beautiful spot in VT? Yankee Magazine picked these two scenic views
Vermont is a great place to visit. With its beautiful scenic views, the lush forests perfect for hikes and nature walks and rich history, Vermont has everything that makes New England wonderful. And that's why Yankee Magazine included two Vermont locales in their list of the 12 most beautiful places to visit in New England. "More than anything, look through these photos and then find their equal wherever you may travel in New England: villages, cities, woods, waterways, orchards, farms," Yankee Magazine said. "Be alert for even the smallest moments of beauty." Here are Yankee Magazine's picks for best Vermont places to visit in New England. If you're looking to walk through a paradise of color and warmth, this Yankee Magazine pick might be perfect for you. What Yankee Magazine said about Shelburne Farms: "In a region of rocky soil and notoriously changeable weather, few things say resilience like gardens whose roots go back decades. Among New England's horticultural gems are the gardens at Shelburne Farms, sited between Lake Champlain and the property's 19th-century mansion turned inn. Created by the former lady of the manor, Lila O. Webb, they've been extensively restored—much to the delight of visitors to these verdant grounds more than a century onward." You can visit Shelburne Farms at 1611 Harbor Rd. Do you want to take your family out to a blast from the past? Then Yankee Magazine's other Vermont pick for a best place to visit in New England might be for you. What Yankee Magazine said about Burt Henry Covered Bridge: "Covered bridges weren't built to star on calendars,' writes New Hampshire author Howard Mansfield in his 2016 book, Sheds. 'They weren't built to be pretty.' Yet the same structures that once were practical solutions to 19th-century problems—including this classic Town lattice truss bridge in North Bennington—are now scenic lures for 21st-century visitors." You can visit the Burt Henry Covered Bridge at 475 River Rd. Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@ This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Gardens, covered bridge named most beautiful views in Vermont
