http://www.rutlandherald.com Pulitzer Prize Winning Vermont Newspaper Established 1794 en-us randal.smathers@rutlandherald.com webmaster@rutlandherald.com http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100209/OPINION01/2090320/1038/OPINION01 In a year when the town meeting ballot is bursting at the seams, the Rutland City school budget has suddenly become a back-burner issue. ... Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100208/OPINION01/2080320/1038/OPINION01 The departure of Tom Macaulay as head of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority came as something of a surprise, not because the RRA has been doing an exceptional job attracting investment, but because the bar seemed set so low. ... Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100207/FEATURES15/2070323/1038/OPINION01 The Douglas administration has been forced to take a tough line on false statements coming from the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and on the problems arising from the underground pipes now leaking radioactive tritium into the groundwater in Vernon. ... Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:41:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100206/OPINION01/2060311/1038/OPINION01 U.S. automakers fell into their woeful state because they focused on short-term profits instead of the long-term stability that comes with a focus on high-quality workmanship and energy-efficiency. If you wanted a car that would last well beyond 200,000 miles and got good mileage, too, you might have bought a Toyota. ... Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100205/OPINION01/2050307/1038/OPINION01 Rep. Peter Welch leaped on news in a Wall Street Journal story Thursday that the House Republican leader was seeking contributions from Wall Street bankers in exchange for protecting executive bonuses. ... Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100204/OPINION01/2040314/1038/OPINION01 here are gay and lesbian service personnel in the U.S. military at this moment. There are probably some in the 1,500 members of the Vermont National Guard putting their lives on the line in Afghanistan. Should they be bounced from the service in the event someone finds out about their sexual orientation? ... Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100203/OPINION01/2030312/1038/OPINION01 The agreement last week between the Vermont teachers' union and state officials about curbing the growth of state-funded retirement benefits is a model of problem-solving that the federal government could learn from. ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100202/OPINION01/2020303/1038/OPINION01 During the election campaign last year, Barack Obama and his team did a good job of highlighting the failings of the agenda of their opponent, John McCain. When McCain said the fundamentals of the economy were sound, Obama was not shy about telling the American people how out of touch McCain was. Nor was Obama reluctant to condemn the failed policies of the Bush administration, which had presided over the worst economic collapse in 75 years. ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100201/OPINION01/2010309/1038/OPINION01 The New York Times stated the following in a recent editorial: ... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100130/OPINION01/1300304/1038/OPINION01 There's this famous writer who moved to Cornish, N.H., to get away from people, and now he's dead and people are wondering about him and all. If he's looking down from somewhere, he's probably going crazy with everybody talking about him, showing pictures of him, going into all the details of his life. But that's because the stories he wrote, they got to people. ... Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100129/OPINION01/1290301/1038/OPINION01 For all his talk about cooperation and bipartisanship, President Obama showed in his State of the Union address that this is not a bipartisan moment. ... Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100128/OPINION01/1280317/1038/OPINION01 The new group formed to fight siting of wind turbines on ridgelines came into being because of the proposal to place a wind farm on the mountains of Ira and nearby towns. The Vermont Community Wind Farm has scaled back its proposal, eliminating wind towers in Clarendon, Tinmouth and Middletown Springs in response to public opposition; it's still unclear whether the public will be able to kill the project altogether. ... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100127/OPINION01/1270316/1038/OPINION01 The debate about how we apportion public resources remains at the center of American politics. The question is whether it is best to protect the interests of business and the wealthy so their investments trickle down to the rest of us or whether to invest public resources in the people directly to help them lift themselves up into prosperity. ... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100126/OPINION01/1260302/1038/OPINION01 John McCardell has taken his campaign to lower the legal drinking age to the Vermont Legislature, which will consider the idea, probably in the abstract, while declining to take McCardell's advice. ... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100125/OPINION01/1250303/1038/OPINION01 It's time for the state to have a new conversation about Vermont Yankee. ... Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST