This feature, which was once published with plausible reliability once a week, continues to break its own schedule with distressing regularity. No excuses, not even a promise to get back to weekly status, I’ll just press forward and do the best I can.

Not to say there’s been a shortage of quality content worth your attention. Our local outlets (and a pair of podcasts) are still hard at work — despite the bad news about the Brandon Reporter and a setback for the Hinesburg Record, which merits a post of its own. Meanwhile, let’s get to the top-shelf offerings, shall we?

If you’re homeless, do you really deserve to own stuff? The usually big-hearted town of Brattleboro has been removing encampments of the unhoused on the ever-popular principle of “If you can’t see poverty, it doesn’t exist.” And in the process, as The Commons’ C.B. Hall reports, there are signs of a cavalier attitude toward the belongings of The Removed. Larry Barrows, survivor of three strokes, lost everything he had via official town action, including prescription medications and “My kid’s Bible, my kid’s photos. It’s devastating.”

Town Health Officer Charles Keir III, depicted in this story as a real piece of work, insisted that during the removals, “I don’t remember seeing any personal belongings that we deemed as salvageable.” He must have an interesting definition of “personal belongings” because he acknowledged that tents are not considered personal property. “We destroy them,” he told Hall. “They go to the landfill.” Well, isn’t that special.

Some real talk on youth issues. Last week, Joanna Grossman and Andy Julow of the “There’s No ‘A’ in Creemee” podcast hosted a truly revelatory interview with Mark Redmond, the head of Spectrum Youth and Family Services. He spilled the tea on some big and obvious problems with Vermont’s system — if that’s the appropriate term — of services for troubled youth. He pointed out a “benefits cliff” in which young people can find themselves cast adrift after they turn 18, a too-short-to-be-effective regimen of substance use rehab, and the state’s very restrictive laws on involuntary commitment for those with mental illness.

The latter is a touchy subject in Vermont, due in part to the disgraceful history of the Waterbury state hospital, but Redmond says the law can hurt the interests of those it’s meant to protect. “It’s an ugly term, involuntary commitment,” Redmond said, “but it’s temporarily suspending someone’s rights so they can get the mental health care that they need.” The interview is well worth your time.

Only in your local paper. The indefatigable Shawn Cunningham of The Chester Telegraph weighs in with an account of a marathon select board meeting. It gets pretty deep in the weeds for the general reader, but it’s a fine example of the coverage you can only get from a dedicated local media outlet. How else would you find out what your elected officials are up to?

And what are you doing to support your local outlet?

Only in your local paper, part 2. The Hardwick Gazette’s Paul Fixx has a story about very low water levels in Greensboro’s Caspian Lake, caused by our very dry summer. Again, the kind of thing you can only expect if you’re served by a lively media outlet. The story is brought to life by several photos that capture the lake’s shockingly low water levels and how area residents are doing their best to cope. Standard disclosure: I serve on the Gazette board, but for this feature I treat it just like any other media entity in Vermont.

Local columnist wins national award. You might not give much thought to the opinion pieces in your local outlet, but maybe you should. Writer, playwright and storyteller Carole Vasta Folley writes a regular column for The Other Paper in South Burlington, and she just took home a first-place award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in the Lifestyle category. In case you’re not yet impressed, consider that the second and third place entries came from the Chicago Sun Times and Washington Post respectively. Quite the accomplishment for her and her local weekly.

Planning my trip to Morrisville to see this exhibit. Caleb Magoon, correspondent for The News & Citizen, provides a write-up of an art exhibit at Copley Hospital that features the fiber art of Copley nurse Molly Hatfield. The hospital’s presentation sounds underwhelming — Magoon writes that the exhibit “hangs unobtrusively in Copley’s small Community Art Gallery in the back corner of the first level.” Several works are depicted in photos by Magoon, and they make me want to see more. Who’s up for a road trip?

Shameless self-promotion in a worthy cause. Yours Truly has made a couple of recent appearances on electronic media to discuss the dire state of Vermont journalism. A couple weeks ago, I appeared on the Montpelier Happy Hour podcast, hosted by southeastern Vermont journalist Olga Peters. And the following week, I drove down to Arlington to appear on “Press Pass,” the GNAT-TV show hosted by Andrew McKeever. If you’re interested in the health of our local media, either show is worth your time. Peters and McKeever are skilled hosts, and I’m not just saying that because they invite me to appear on their shows.