This post is a bit later than usual* because it’s taken me a while to get my feet back under me after an exhausting but rewarding trip last week. I attended a conference organized by the Institute for Nonprofit News, one of several organizations dedicated to fostering a new wave of nonprofit journalism.

*I’m only including items published on or before Sunday, June 8 in hopes of returning to my usual schedule with the next installment.

It was intense, and I’m still processing what I learned. But my single biggest takeaway is that there’s an amazing amount of talent, energy and dedication in this relatively brand-new field. People all over the country are creating nonprofit news outlets at local, state, regional, and national levels, and coming up with novel strategies for achieving sustainability. (There are also a lot of organizations and foundations eager to promote and invest in this new, nonprofit model of journalism.) It’s not easy and success is not assured, but I was blown away by the quality of the people involved in this effort. Made me more optimistic about the project.

INN’s membership includes about 500 organizations. More than 400 people gathered in Minneapolis for three days of panel discussions, workshops, and one-on-one meetings with experts. I was there as a board member of the Hardwick Gazette, and I was determined to bring back as much information and as many ideas as possible. That meant taking full advantage of everything I could fit in. Let’s put it this way: I’d never been to Minneapolis before, and I still feel like I haven’t. Almost all my time was spent within a couple blocks of the conference hotel.

Coincidentally enough, this week’s edition of NYSV is heavy on content from Vermont’s own local outlets, many of which are now nonprofit. Some of the stories are about the local repercussions of state policy debates, while others are about the vagaries of small-town politics. These are services that only a grassroots outlet can perform, and Vermont is lucky to have as many small “papers” as we do.

But I’m going to begin with an entry from one of the major players. Vermont Public posted a chat between reporters Peter Hirschfeld and Lola Duffort about the Statehouse debate over education reform. This is often an easy way to kill a few minutes of public radio airtime with minimal effort. In this case, the format allowed Hirschfeld and Duffort to describe the elephant in the room — that the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate are deeply divided, and the whole effort might end in failure — without having to find people willing to speak uncomfortable truths into a microphone. That little back-and-forth was more illuminating than any of the standard reportage on the subject.

Now, on to local outlets covering local events.

If you think the education reform debate is complicated and fraught, the Manchester Journal offers a bleak preview of what might happen all over the state if a reform plan results in widespread school closures. The Taconic & Green Regional School District has gone through “years of discussion and research [and] months of public meetings throughout the district.” But the release of a proposal to consolidate middle school students in a single building prompted an uproar. Expect many more such scenes in future years if the state adopts an education reform plan dedicated to cutting costs.

Similar pressures exist in our health care system, where cutting costs would likely mean closures or consolidations in our rural hospitals. There’s been plenty of 30,000-foot coverage of the possible closure of Copley Hospital’s birthing center. But the local paper, the Morrisville News & Citizen, can offer a ground-zero perspective the big boys can’t manage. Last week, reporter Aaron Calvin chronicled tensions between hospital staff and management. Nurses and midwives at the birthing center believe their perspectives have been given short shrift by a Copley-hired consultant.

And now let us return to Chester, where a vacancy on the Green Mountain Unified School District Board is causing all kinds of trouble. Reading between the lines, I get the sense that this has more to do with egos and non-school-related political disputes than, say, doing what’s best for the community. This is an ongoing saga that you’ll only read about in the Chester Telegraph. Even if you’re not especially interested in the issue, there’s plenty of entertainment value in reporter Shawn Cunningham’s latest installment (fixed errant link). My fave: A failed candidate for the vacancy accusing his opponents of “terrorism” for the dastardly crime of placing a pamphlet on his pickup truck. I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.

Let’s spin back up to Montpelier, where the City Council seems intent on lapping the field in putting ego before the common good. There’s been an almost complete turnover in recent cycles, and the current Council appears to be deeply divided and far too intent on reopening policy questions that were settled years ago. If you’re a fan if micromanagement, this august body is your jam. The Montpelier Bridge offers a pair of stories: One depicts Council as getting deep in the weeds on proposed development on Country Club Road and on a new City Plan, and the second features the Council seeking further changes in a State Street construction project that (a) has been years in the making and (b) is due to launch this summer.

Meanwhile in Shelburne, many residents are having conniptions over a proposed update of town zoning bylaws. Public comments at a recent meeting seem to show that everybody is upset, but many are on opposite sides of the issue. As the Shelburne News reports, the planning commission “has been working on the rewrite for two years” and is due to submit its final version in the near future, but in terms of building consensus, the commission seems closer to Square One than to the conclusion.

Okay, time for a palate cleanser or two. First, reporter Wren Dumais of UVM’s Community News Service produced an audio feature (in partnership with Vermont Public) about Mo O’Neill, an athlete who competes in wheelchair motocross. O’Neill responded to a “sense of dependency” triggered by their paralysis by, um, “immediately searching for a thrill.” which led to the wild world of WCMX. Sure, just another average person taking lemons and making Molotov cocktails.

And finally, I must mention a nice story by VTDigger’s Erin Petenko about Morgan W. Brown, a longtime advocate for the homeless in Montpelier who’s experienced more than his share of life without the security of a predictable roof over his head. Brown has taken to his blog in recent months to describe his battle with cancer. This is a story that could have been sensationalized, with Brown cast as a desperate and pitiable figure, but Petenko gives him depth and agency. She treats him like a human being. Which is exactly what Brown deserves.

Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll be back again in less than a week with more of the best of Vermont journalism. At least that’s the plan.