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Vermont has the highest rate of illicit drug use in the country with 15% of people saying they've used within the past month (compared to 4.2% in Utah, where illicit drug use is the lowest), according to 2010-2011 surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Northeastern state ranked high for almost every type of drug, from marijuana to cocaine. This trend is a consequence of factors including weather, politics, and proximity to big cities, according to Barbara Cimaglio, the Vermont Department of Health's deputy commissioner for alcohol and drug abuse programs. "You have everything from the...

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (Independent) slammed the Koch brothers on MSNBC this morning, alleging that the billionaire businessmen behind the Tea Party were partly responsible for bringing about the government shutdown. Sanders is the Senate’s sole Independent senator, and he typically caucuses with Democrats. But the Vermont lawmaker lashed out at what he says is the unchecked and damaging influence of Citizens United on American governance, the House of Representatives in particular, during an MSNBC appearance this morning. Sen. Sanders addressed the current government shutdown, saying he believes the Kochs are behind the gridlock that ground the House to...

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he will push legislation to end the NSA's controversial program to collect records on all U.S. phone calls. He argued that the program invades Americans' privacy rights while doing little to thwart terrorist attacks. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, argued that the phone data program is critical for protecting national security. "I will do everything I can to prevent this program from being canceled," Feinstein said during the hearing....

The protesters who uprooted a 9/11 memorial display at a liberal arts college in Vermont claimed they were defending Abenaki tribal lands and taking a stand against U.S. imperialism.The Abenaki tribe’s response? “Disgusting.”Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, said his tribe did not approve of the actions taken by five people–including one student–at Middlebury College last week. (RELATED: Student destroys 9/11 memorial, citing U.S. imperialism)“We didn’t know anything about this and if we had we certainly wouldn’t have sanctioned it,” he said in a statement to The Addison Independent.The 9/11 memorial display consisted of 2,977 flags placed in...

Two of five unidentified protestors uproot flags dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in a midday protest. (middbeat/Rachel Kogan) A 2,977 flag memorial was ripped out of the ground in front of Mead Memorial Chapel shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 by a group of five protestors claiming that the flags were on top of a sacred Abenaki burial site. The flags — meant to commemorate each of the 2,977 lives taken in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks — have been posted in the grass between Mead Chapel and the Davis Family Library annually in...

More than 200 colleges and high schools across the nation participated in Young America's Foundation's 9/11: Never Forget Project. Students came together to establish an American flag memorial on campus consisting of 2,977 flags representing each person murdered in the terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, five student protesters at Middlebury College ripped the flags out of the ground before 3:00 pm. The 9/11: Never Forget Project has been an annual nonpartisan event at Middlebury College for the past ten years. By participating in the 9/11: Never Forget Project, students honor the victims of the attacks, as well as honor the American principles...

UPDATE (9/12/13): Here is part of a statement written by Amanda Lickers, the woman Shireman-Grabowski claimed to assist in removing the flags. Lickers says she is a member of the Onondowa’ga Nation, which is a part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The statement was posted in an article on the website Climate Connections: yesterday i went to occupied abenaki territory. i was invited to middlebury college to facilitate a workshop on settler responsibility and decolonization. i walked across this campus whose stone wall structures weigh heavy on the landscape. the history of eugenics, genocide and colonial violence permeate that space so...

A 2,977 flag memorial was ripped out of the ground in front of Mead Memorial Chapel shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 by a group of five protestors claiming that the flags were on top of a sacred Abenaki burial site. The flags — meant to commemorate each of the 2,977 lives taken in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks — have been posted in the grass between Mead Chapel and the Davis Family Library annually in a joint effort between the College Republicans and Democrats for nearly 10 years. Ben Kinney ’15, president of the College Republicans, spent...

As of right now, Bill de Blasio is the man to beat in the race to be the next mayor of New York City. The latest polls put him at 43%, which is enough to avoid a run-off in the Democratic primary, and it is widely believed that whoever wins the Democratic primary will sail into office. For the most part, sitting mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has stayed out of the race, but in an extensive interview with New York Magazine the term-limited Independent ripped de Blasio's campaign as "class-warfare and racist":

President Barack Obama faces a clear uphill battle in swaying skeptical lawmakers of the merits of military action in Syria, as top officials were dispatched to Capitol Hill Sunday to make the administration’s case. For example, Senate Democratic aides are drafting new language for an authorization of military force in Syria, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Sunday. The administration’s proposal is too open-ended — a complaint many lawmakers have — Leahy said after leaving the classified briefing. The current version wouldn’t garner his support, but he indicated that a more tightly written draft might. “I know it’s going to be...

In a week when we celebrated one of the greatest speeches in history, we also saw discrimination win over science. Again. Ideology defeated reason. As a scientist, I was saddened in a way I am not usually wont. The Great State of Vermont threw away cheap clean energy this week out of ignorance and fear. Vermont chose to be stupid, and will hurt the environment as a sidebar.

Former Vermont Gov. and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean showed that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) irritates the left as much as the Republican establishment when he declared that he was fearful that Cruz would one day become president. "God help us if he ever gets to be anything more than the senator from Texas," Dean said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. Dean was responding to an interview CNN's Candy Crowley had done earlier in the week with Cruz in which Cruz said that he would do whatever he could to encourage a "grassroots tsunami" that would...

A Unitarian church in Middlebury Vermont has been attempting to induce people to give their guns to the Government to be destroyed for a price far below market value.  From wcax.com: Minister Barnaby Feder says he recognizes that guns tend to sell for much more than $50 online, but that he hopes this incentive will at least make people aware of the option to dispose of firearms. So far no guns have been brought to the police department for cash. I do not see anyone organizing massive protests over this clear Church/State cooperation.   The money has been turned over...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Bosnian immigrant accused of lying to U.S. immigration authorities by denying involvement in war crimes during the conflict in Bosnia two decades ago pleaded not guilty on Friday. Prosecutors allege Edin Sakoc, who has been living in Burlington, the state's largest city, was involved in war crimes against a civilian Bosnian Serb family in 1992. An indictment says he raped a Serb woman and aided in the killing of the two elderly people she was caring for and the burning of the house they were staying in. ... Vermont has a sizable Bosnian community. Between 1993...

On Friday, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry put forth a theory as to why Detroit inevitably went bankrupt — terminal lack of government. We’ll do our best to explain. While discussing Detroit’s downfall, Harris-Perry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean agreed that “you’ve got to have a government to run the place.” Harris-Perry noted Detroit’s declining population, and in turn its tax base. The population of the city has declined dramatically over the last 10 years. Mediaite’s Noah Rothman, who calls the MSNBC host’s assessment “delusional,” provides some analysis and facts: Harris-Perry presents this fact as though former Detroit residents left –...

Danilo Lopez will be allowed to stay in the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says. Lopez, a Vermont migrant-worker-turned-activist from Mexico, advocated for a new law allowing people without legal status to get drivers' licenses. Lopez was scheduled to be deported on July 5. In 2011, Lopez was traveling in a friend’s car when a police officer pulled them over for speeding. Lopez was turned over to Border Patrol, detained and released. Since then, he’s helped Vermont’s migrant worker community get access to driver's licenses. Earlier this year, Lopez said that the campaign for driver's licenses is really...

Express your Christian Belief – Get Fined $30,000Ming Linsley, left, and Kate Baker smile after winning $30,000 from a Vermont Bed and Breakfast. The owners of the Bed-and-Breakfast made the mistake of expressing their religious beliefs to the couple. It cost them dearly. In Vermont – Gay rights trump Religious rights Yesterday, I spoke with Jim Campbell from the ADF about this recent case of Christian persecution. A Bed and Breakfast expressed their religious beliefs to a same-sex couple and ended up paying $30,000 in fines.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Townhall reported on the settlement last year. A Vermont bed and breakfast has settled a...

Israel is concerned that cutting US aid to Egypt because of a military coup could jeopardize the peace treaty. Israel is concerned that the Obama administration will suspend the $1.3 billion annual military aid to Egypt following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, and that suspension of aid could jeopardize the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Israel may ask the US to find a way to continue the aid program, even though US law bans financial aid to regimes that seized power in a coup, US sources told "Globes" yesterday. The sources familiar with the complicated three-way US-Egyptian-Israeli relationship said that keeping...

Good news from Arkansascarry.com: In July, 2013, Arkansas will become the fifth state in the United States to enact “Constitutional Carry” into law. Act 746 of the 2013 General Assembly was signed into law by Governor Mike Beebe on April 4th, 2013, after receiving only one “nay” vote from the legislature. Constitutional Carry occurs in a state when no laws exist that generally restrict the carry of handguns (open or concealed) for self-defense purposes. Arkansas law 5-73-120 currently prohibits the possession of a handgun if it is possessed “readily available for use with a purpose to employ the handgun… as...

Patient autonomy is fast becoming a one-way street. Choose to die by refusing life-sustaining treatment–sacrosanct! Want to live with life-sustaining treatment? Not your call. I recently helped successfully fight an attempt in Texas (SB 303) to legalize no consent DNRs. But they have been passed in VT and MD.