The Frequency: Daily Vermont News Vermont Public

Renters have a lot to gain from things that reduce emissions in their space – so why is it so hard to do this work in rental properties? Plus, the Vermont Senate approves a new fee for EV owners, a case of measles has been discovered in Vermont, Sen. Jane Kitchel has been appointed to a powerful committee, and health care organizations are encouraging more people to volunteer for hospice care.

Homeowners are taking more precautions to protect their property from flooding in the face of climate change – but it’s resulting in some counterintuitive choices. Plus, one of the Vermont Legislature’s longest-serving lawmakers won’t seek reelection, President Biden approves a disaster declaration tied to January storm, Efficiency Vermont has a new tool to help Vermonters figure out weatherization and EV incentives, and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies is studying how tick pesticides impact other insects.

Constructing apartment buildings with mass timber, which is touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to steel and concrete. Plus, local reaction to new EPA rules on so-called forever chemicals, Addison County’s top prosecutor gets her law license reinstated, new state unemployment numbers are in, and rabies is on the rise in Caledonia County.

Property tax burdens are forecast to spike amid rising school budgets. What state lawmakers are — and aren’t — doing to draw down tax burdens. And how Gov. Phil Scott is responding.

The hard choices education officials will need to make as numerous school budgets continue to get voted down. Plus, Vermont’s new education secretary indicates she wants to explore school consolidation, why Gov. Scott isn’t satisfied with a new bill updating Act 250, a federal grand jury indicts a man for setting fire to the door of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office, volunteers are asked to help clean up the Burlington waterfront ahead of Earth Day, and the tentative sale of an independent Vermont book publisher to a huge international counterpart.

Efforts by an organic farmer and men serving time in a Maine prison to grow fresh produce for the incarcerated population there. Plus, Vermont House lawmakers move a bill that will only slightly reduce property taxes this year, a lawsuit is filed over a school district’s handling of its budget vote on Town Meeting Day, controlled springtime burns get underway in the Green Mountain National Forest, doctors at UVM are studying new ways to treat rectal cancer, and two Vermonters win coveted Guggenheim fellowships.