OK, having delivered some extra-credit rants about the successes and missteps of Vermont news media, it’s time to get back to basics. Here’s my weekly roundup of content worth your attention.

Well, someone cares about ethics. I don’t know how this is a scoop, but congrats to WCAX-TV’s Calvin Cutler for reporting the latest in Vermont’s lack of commitment to ethics in government. (And brickbats to the rest of our media for ignoring a pretty important development.) The dismaying news is that the state Ethics Commission has paused on giving advice to local governments because, shocker, it doesn’t have the resources to handle the task. See, the Legislature expanded the Commission’s remit to include advising municipalities. Not enforcing, good God no, why would we need that? But at the same time, the Legislature (as always) failed to provide adequate funding for the expanded responsibilities. So when the Commission experienced “a big spike” in local-government ethics complaints and requests for guidance, it simply couldn’t handle the workload. Great!

Trump’s impact on Vermonters, part eleventy-billion. From The St. Albans Messenger, a story about how cuts in federal food aid are likely to resonate in Franklin County. The news is bad, of course. But what made me sit up and take notice are the striking statistics on food insecurity in the county. As the Messenger’s Aidan Schonbrun reports, 11.6% of Franklin County households were on food assistance as of 2023 — and that figure is above 30% in Richford, the county’s most food-insecure town. Does that not strike you as disconcertingly high? It really drives home the potential impact of federal cuts. Well, that and the failure of our economy to provide decent incomes for working folk.

The challenges of development, affordable housing division. An edition of NYSV would hardly be complete without a contribution from ace reporter Aaron Calvin of The News & Citizen and The Stowe Reporter. This time, Calvin reports that Downstreet Housing and Community Development of Washington County has taken another big step toward a merger with the Lamoille Housing Partnership. The goal is to stretch available dollars as far as possible, at a time when the state has cut funding for affordable housing and, yep, federal cuts are on the horizon as well. Depressing Statistic Alert: “a third of Lamoille County occupied households as cost-burdened,” meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on housing. Best country in the world, baby!

The challenges of development, historic eatery division. Efforts to renovate and reopen the wonderful Miss Bellows Falls Diner continue to sputter, as The Commons’ Robert F. Smith reports. The diner had been closed since 2020. Three years later, Rockingham for Progress bought the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the intent of bringing Miss Bellows Falls back to life. Now, they’ve had to cut back the scale of the project. “Financing the renovation remains a heavy lift,” said RFP board member Jeff Dunbar. Fingers crossed.

Truth vs. Truthiness. From the Opinion section of NYSV, a thought-provoking essay from Andrew Liptak, voluminous reader of science fiction, author of a book on cosplay, and Public Relations and Guest Services Coordinator for the Vermont Historical Society. Liptak writes about the impossible-to-kill appeal of historic lore, as opposed to actual history. He writes about it in terms of the digital age’s explosion of dis- and misinformation, but he notes that it’s really nothing new. (Parson Weems!) Indulging in comfortable myth has an undeniable pull, but it can also “flatten and simplify our understanding of history,” which has major consequences for public discourse. Hmm, am I talking about Trump again?

Finally, a stop in the funny pages. Hat tip to central Vermont graphic designer, artist, and activist Jenni Belotserkovsky, who goes by Jenni Bee for professional purposes. Among her many enterprises is a comic strip called “Vermont Transplant,” published regularly in The Montpelier Bridge. It’s a thought-provoking mix of humorous observations and deep thought. Her various artistic endeavors (like this striking sculpture and this dour Mona Lisa with the caption “Done Smiling”) are worth checking out on her website.