A year to the day that record rains flooded Vermont in July 2023, Lyndon Town Clerk Dawn Dwyer learned the federal government had approved her community’s request for cleanup reimbursement.

Then came the anniversary shower.

“It wasn’t raining money,” Dwyer said of the July 2024 replay storm.

Lyndon thought its 2023 damage tab of $500,000 was steep. But the 2024 deluge has required the town, population 5,491, to take out a $15 million line of credit — twice the amount of its $7.4 million annual budget — to repair roads, the municipal office building, water and sewer plants and a historic covered bridge.

“We’re not really sure if that’s going to be enough,” Dwyer said of the borrowing limit.

As Vermont prepares for March Town Meeting voting, Lyndon isn’t the only flooded community with lingering pools of red ink — and a cloud of questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will uphold past promises to cover 75% to 90% of cleanup costs amid President Donald Trump’s call for cuts.

Sutton, population 913, paid off a $500,000 line of credit for 2023 damage after requesting and receiving FEMA funds, only to see 2024 downpours require a $1 million line of credit — a figure slightly higher than the town’s annual budget — as local leaders seek another round of government help.

“We are struggling financially due to flooding,” said Patricia McClure, Sutton’s town clerk and treasurer.

Moretown, with 1,753 people and a $1.9 million annual budget, reports a collective $9 million in damage from 2023 and 2024 storms. But the town so far has received only about $750,000 from FEMA.

“It’s been really rough,” said Cherilyn Brown, Moretown’s town clerk and treasurer. “We’re in a waiting game.”

Bolton, with 1,301 people and a $1.7 million annual budget, continues to await reimbursement for road damage totaling $300,000 in 2023 and $3 million in 2024.

“The 2024 flooding destroyed pretty much everything we had repaired in 2023,” said Michael Webber, Bolton’s town clerk and treasurer. “In a good year, you never knew how long FEMA would take. Who knows what’s going to happen now?”

To date, FEMA has awarded Vermont more than $100 million for 2023 flooding and $10 million for 2024 damage, its website reports. But the agency won’t provide specifics about individual municipalities “for privacy reasons” and adds only that reimbursement timelines “will vary by weeks or months” depending on the complexity of an application, according to a statement.

Trump doesn’t have the authority to end FEMA, as such a move would require congressional action. Presidential threats aside, Lyndon is one of several Vermont communities still receiving weekly check-ins from agency officials — a fact some local leaders view as a good sign.

“My assumption,” Dwyer said, “is if there wasn’t going to be any money, we wouldn’t have to do any of this paperwork.”

Others aren’t so sure. Middlesex, population 1,779, has a $1.8 million annual budget, yet about $7 million in debt from 2023 and 2024 flooding, said Town Clerk Sarah Strohmeyer Merriman, who is retiring in March after 12 years.

“All of the above is why,” Merriman said of her departure. “We’ve been reassured from FEMA time and time again we’re done, only to get an email with more questions. Now we’re worried we can’t count on that money ever coming through.”

That sentiment can be heard statewide. Cavendish, population 1,392, had approved an annual municipal budget of about $2 million when the July 2023 storm caused an equal amount of damage. A year and a half later, the town has received only about $400,000 in FEMA funds for debris cleanup and emergency spending, with reimbursement for everything else — including $82,000 in loan interest that’s eligible for federal repayment — still outstanding.

“They send back requests for more details and documentation,” said Diane McNamara, Cavendish’s town clerk and treasurer. “People think the flood is over, but for those of us who are dealing with the paperwork, it’s not.”

Barnet, population 1,663, reports about $2.7 million in 2024 damage — a figure slightly higher than its annual budget — and a resulting $1.5 million line of credit.

“We may have to borrow more,” said Benjamin Heisholt, Barnet’s town clerk and treasurer.

Nearby St Johnsbury, population 7,364, has calculated that road damage from last year’s storms almost equals its annual $3.9 million in highway spending. Still awaiting FEMA money, leaders have juggled regular incoming revenue so as to limit borrowing to $1 million from a $4 million line of credit, said Stacy Jewell, town clerk and treasurer.

Bridgewater, with 903 people and a $1.5 million annual budget, reports FEMA has reimbursed about half of some $6 million in 2023 damage. The town is set to vote March 4 on a plan to refinance existing loans “to seek a lower interest rate to save the town monies while awaiting funds,” its ballot states.

“I do feel optimistic,” Bridgewater Treasurer Melissa Spear said. “We’re beginning to see some money come in.”

Back in Lyndon, local leaders are preparing to hold Town Meeting voting in the municipal office building that flooded last summer. Dwyer notes there’s still a crack in the floor from water damage, so she’ll cordon it off “just so nobody can stumble.”

“We are small peanuts, but that’s a lot of money for a little town,” the clerk said in a community with a $15 million line of credit. “We are definitely gun-shy about this July. Heavens to Betsy if something happens again.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Flooding long past, many Vermont municipalities are still swimming in red ink.

Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. Subscribe to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox.

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In a radical move to stave off perceived bureaucratic bloat, the Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal employees, including rural workers in public land agencies.

To pay for a proposed $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, the Trump administration has fired thousands of federal workers, including 1,300 workers at the CDC in Atlanta, more than 1,000 at the Department of Veteran Affairs, and 3,400 at the Forest Service.

GOP lawmakers are also eyeing cuts to social programs, like Medicaid, that help the poor and working class.

When you picture federal employees, you might imagine bureaucrats in suits and ties in pristine DC offices. But over a quarter million federal employees are stationed in rural counties across  the country in positions like park rangers, field biologists, or grazing managers, just to name a few of the possible jobs. 

President Trump’s firings will hurt many rural communities that rely on the federal government for a large share of their economic base.

The following map shows the percent of total wages in 2023 that came from federal employment. 

(The latest county-level data we have on industry wages and employment is from 2023. These figures don’t represent recent federal layoffs. Figures are in 2023 inflation-adjusted U.S. dollars.)

In the above map, I chose to represent the share of total wages rather than the share of total employment because federal jobs pay more, on average, than private sector jobs in rural counties. Wages might therefore be a better indicator of the federal government’s economic importance.

"These higher, more stable wages would result in more local spending, supporting local businesses and communities," said Megan Lawson, Ph.D., of Headwaters Economics in an email interview with the Daily Yonder.

In 2023, wages in rural private sector jobs were $50,600 per job, on average, compared to $79,300 per job in the federal government. 

Federal jobs only make up 1.6% of the total rural workforce, but in many rural communities, they are one of the largest employers.

"Especially in the West, where many federal layoffs are affecting public land agencies, these employees will not be able to manage our natural resources and serve the public,” Lawson said. “Our gateway communities whose economies depend on natural resources or recreation on federal land will feel the ripple effects when the resources and their visitors aren't being managed well. It's unclear how quickly these effects will be felt." 

Federal wages accounted for $21 billion in nonmetropolitan, or rural, counties in 2023.

In 2023,  federal jobs made up 20% of the total workforce in rural Garfield County, Washington, a community in southeastern Washington. Garfield County lies partially within the Umatilla National Forest, which spans 1.4 million acres in southern Washington and northern Oregon.

Employment in the federal government made up 29% of wages, meanwhile, representing a total of $11 million in 2023.

In Santa Cruz County, Arizona, 12% of the workforce was employed in the federal government in 2023, while 25% of all wages came from federal jobs, representing a total of $199 million in wages.

Santa Cruz is a rural county in southern Arizona that borders Mexico. The Coronado National Forest, a 1.7 million acre piece of federal land, lies almost entirely within the county. 

We don’t know whether all of the federal jobs in Santa Cruz and Garfield counties are in the National Forest Service, however. The data doesn’t tell us. Some of those federal positions could have been remote workers for other federal agencies.

The post Federal Layoffs Will Hurt Rural Counties appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

Why Should Delaware Care?
The Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission recommends how the state spends a $250 million settlement it won from opioid manufacturers and distributors. Following reports of fraud last summer, the flow of new grants has all but stopped. 

Following a leadership shakeup on a commission responsible for how Delaware spends millions of dollars to fight opioid addiction, there are new legal questions as to whether new oversight can take hold.

Joanna Champney, the state’s top substance abuse director, was appointed co-chair of the Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission two weeks ago by Gov. Matt Meyer after months of controversy surrounding the program.

It also means staff that previously managed oversight and day-to-day administration of the fund, which were previously handled by the lieutenant governor’s office, would transfer to her office in the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. 

Her office would be instrumental in selecting which organizations are nominated for grants, which in some cases have totaled up to $500,000. 

But a member of the commission challenged the move at a recent meeting, questioning if it’s legal for Champney’s office to take control of the embattled fund. David Humes, a member of the full 15-member commission, chairs the subcommittee that reviews the administrative compliance of the government body. 

Is legislation required?

At a Tuesday commission meeting, Humes aired concerns that sparked an hour-long debate over the influence of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health in the grantmaking process. 

Now, the commission wants clarification from the Delaware Department of Justice as to whether it’s within the law for staff to be transferred to Champney’s office. 

He argued the commission should remain under the wing of the lieutenant governor based on a 2021 law created to manage the millions of settlement dollars flowing into the state. 

That law designated the commission as a subcommittee of the Behavioral Health Consortium, a board in the lieutenant governor’s office that approves the recommendations made by the commission. It also says the consortium “shall provide administrative support to the commission.” 

“It is my belief that legislation would be required to move the (commission) to the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health,” Humes said in an email to commission members one week after the appointment. 

In attendance at the meeting was Delaware State Solicitor Patty Davis, who leads the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and has contributed to the commission’s work. 

She quickly dismissed the idea that the staff transition was in violation of the code. 

Davis said the law didn’t include what office the commission staff would land within and since the consortium is not a state office, where the staff goes is “nebulous.”

“Our code is not prescriptive as to where they sit, I’m very comfortable with them sitting with DSAMH,” Davis said during the meeting. “I’m very comfortable with the way that this decision was made.”

She also said the process of approving the grants would remain unchanged and that all final approvals would still go through the consortium.

While Humes said he respected Davis’ opinion on the matter, he still introduced a motion to clarify whether commission staff could be moved to the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, which the committee overwhelmingly approved. 

That clarification would be presented to members of the full commission at a March 3 meeting. 

Memo shows change still waits

Spotlight Delaware also obtained a Feb. 5 memo sent by Champney and Attorney General Kathy Jennings, the commission’s other co-chair, discussing the administrative transition between the two offices. 

The memo said an update on the transition would be discussed at a commission meeting in early March. 

It also said Champney’s office was in the process of transitioning employees from the lieutenant governor’s office to the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health once it has the “authority to do so.”

A spokesperson for Champney’s office said that because the jobs haven’t been transferred to the agency yet, they can’t be filled. 

“Situating oversight of the (commission) staff within DSAMH will also allow for grantmaking personnel to consider how grant applicants’ funding requests align with existing grant awards made by the state using federal funds and how funding requests fit into the state’s continuum of care,” the memo said. 

When asked if the new leadership transition violates the law governing the commission, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice denied the claim.

They pointed to a piece of Delaware code that said the co-chairs are responsible for “guiding the administration” of the commission. 

“What’s unambiguous here is that these decisions are ultimately up to the governor and the attorney general,” the DOJ said. “The governor has chosen commission leadership that emphasizes expertise rather than station; moving the staffing from the lieutenant governor’s office to DSAMH.” 

Grants have been on pause

Delaware hasn’t awarded any new grants from the opioid fund since last July, when it approved $2 million in three-month extension grants for previous awardees. It came soon after a letter from Jennings called for a pause on grants, claiming the program was “rife with potential for fraud, waste, and abuse.”

Jennings’ letter followed a separate notice from the state’s top auditor that accused a Kent County nonprofit of securing its grant with “fraudulent documentation.” 

Members of the Behavioral Health Consortium, which approves the recommendations from the commission, greenlit the July grants after a meeting that slammed the letter. 

During that meeting, one nonprofit leader called the letter a politically motivated “witch hunt,” due to it being released so close to a heated gubernatorial primary race between then-Lt. Gov. and Commission Co-chair Bethany Hall-Long and Meyer, an allegation the DOJ denied. 

“This is not Monopoly money. These are real dollars that the DOJ fought incredibly hard to secure, and every penny belongs to the public,” a DOJ spokesperson said in an email at the time.

Since then, the state has yet to put forward any recommendations as the commission contended with mismanagement concerns and the fraud allegations. 

Champney’s first major task will be distributing $13 million in grants set aside by the consortium in July. Compared to the previous two grant phases in 2022 and 2023, this new sum would be the largest amount distributed by the commission to date. 

Get Involved
The commission is set to have its first full meeting of 2025 on March 3 at 1 p.m. at the Delaware Technical Community College Stanton Campus or on Zoom.
Find the agenda here. 

The post A new question surrounds Delaware’s opioid fund. Is new oversight legal? appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

” width=”224″ height=”168″ align=”right” hspace=”10″ alt=”The federal government employs as many as 10,000 wildland firefighters each year. With hiring freezes in place nationwide, fire season is in limbo” title=”The federal government employs as many as 10,000 wildland firefighters each year. With hiring freezes in place nationwide, fire season is in limbo” />Executive orders coming from the White House could transform a range of core issues affecting Greater Yellowstone. From Forest Service and BLM priorities to national park staffing cuts, public lands advocates must brace for a long season of conflict.

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Classes have moved to the newly completed campus on Fairview Road.

This artcle was written by BenitoLink intern Meghan Lee. Lea este artículo en español aquí.

Since opening on Jan. 27, Gavilan College’s campus in Hollister has expanded the services in the community. Administrators say that enrollment has nearly doubled, from 473 students in the 2024 spring semester to 879 in the current semester. 

Judy Rodriguez has been the instructional site director of the Hollister campus for 28 years. She said that the new, larger building accommodates a wider range of course offerings than the old site did in the Briggs building in downtown Hollister. 

“Students are so appreciative and they’re acclimating to the new campus. They’re excited about being able to take science classes here,” Rodriguez said. 

Jaime Rosales is a communications major at Gavilan, where he serves as a peer mentor. He started taking classes in Hollister in 2015, and said the difference between the old and new facilities is huge. 

“It’s a big leap forward, I’ll tell you that much. State-of-the-art stuff, huge compared to the other one, it’s a lovely site,” Rosales said. “It hasn’t been without its issues. There’s things to iron out still as far as the building goes. But everything’s been working as it should.” 

The campus now offers biology and chemistry classes, which were unavailable at the Briggs site. It also has a cafeteria, library, food pantry and community room. Rodriquez said these new resources are for the whole community, not just students. 

“Having a community room that can be used for meetings and workshops provides an opportunity to build relationships with outside entities and opens the door to welcome our community,” Rodriguez said. 

Rosales said he hopes to see the campus grow even more. 

“Growth is always good. It means people are going to school, so that’s pretty exciting,” Rosales said. 

Gavilan’s Board of Trustees is considering a short-term update for the campus using what remains of Measure X bond money: either a chain link fence around the developed property, or an outdoor athletic facility. 

Gavilan Capital Projects Director Serafin Fernandez will be consulting with his team and community members to assess the need for larger projects and secure funding for them.

The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour, United Way, Taylor Farms and the Emma Bowen Foundation.

The post Gavilan doubles its Hollister student body for spring semester appeared first on BenitoLink.

Federal authorities in Vermont have charged a former Coventry resident with making false statements to buy firearms that were later used in a shootout last month that killed a border patrol agent in the same Northeast Kingdom town.

Michelle Zajko, 32, allegedly provided a false address when buying three firearms from the Last Frontier gun store in Mount Tabor in February 2024, according to charging documents filed Tuesday in federal court in Burlington. 

According to the filings, two of those guns were later traced back to Teresa Youngblut, of Washington state, and Felix Bauckholt, a German national, who were involved in the Jan. 20 shootout on Interstate 91. Bauckholt and David Maland, a border patrol agent, were killed in that incident.

That afternoon, after Maland pulled over a Toyota Prius with North Carolina license plates, according to court documents, Youngblut came out of the vehicle and opened fire. Bauckholt, a passenger in the car, also drew a gun, court records stated, but was killed before firing a shot.

Youngblut has since pleaded not guilty to federal firearms offenses in connection with the shootout and has been held in custody without bail. Youngblut has not been charged directly in Maland’s killing and the FBI has declined to answer questions about who fired the shot that killed the border patrol agent.

Following the incident, the court records stated, Youngblut was found in “direct possession” of a Glock .40-caliber pistol and Bauckholt had a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield .380-caliber pistol in a holster on his waistband — both guns that Zajko had purchased in February 2024.  

A third gun that Zajko allegedly purchased from the gun shop in Mount Tabor was a Ruger pistol. James Loomis, a task force agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, wrote, “To my knowledge, law enforcement has not recovered that firearm to date” in the charging document. 

Loomis also wrote that the Vermont address Zajko provided to the Mount Tabor gun shop when she purchased the three firearms was false, since she had moved out of that residence prior to buying the guns.

That residence is a house in Coventry, although it has an Orleans mailing address.

The charging documents do not describe how the guns got from Zajko to Youngblut and Bauckholt. 

But according to data from license plate readers in New York state, a car registered to Bauckholt — the same one that Maland pulled over in the fatal traffic stop last month — was recorded driving north on Interstate 87 on Feb. 13, 2024 and south on the same road three days later.

That data “would be consistent with Bauckholt’s vehicle being driven towards southwestern Vermont” the day before Zajko bought the Glock and the Smith & Wesson pistols, and “being driven away from Vermont two days” after the purchase, according to the court documents.

“Michelle Zajko may have returned to Vermont specifically to purchase the firearms using her still-valid Vermont Driver’s License that bore the address of her previous residence,” the court records read.

A day after the shooting, the ATF sent an alert to federally licensed firearms dealers asking them to contact ATF if they had “any information about transfers or attempted transfers” of firearms to Zajko.

Zajko was one of three people arrested over the weekend in Maryland and linked to a series of violent acts across the country.

Zajko, Daniel Arthur Blank, 26, and Jack Amadeus LaSota, had separate bail hearings late Tuesday morning in the District Court of Maryland for Allegany County.

Zajko, Blank and LaSota, who is also known as “Ziz,” appeared remotely for their court hearings Tuesday from the jail where they have been held since their arrests Sunday.

_{Clockwise from left: Jack Lasota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank. Photos courtesy of Allegany County Sheriff’s Office}

Judge Erich Bean, who presided in each of the bail hearings, ordered all three individuals held without bail as the cases against them proceed, according to court documents. Their next hearings are set for March 24, the filings stated. 

Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott, whose office is prosecuting the cases, did not immediately return phone and email messages Tuesday seeking comment. 

The three individuals have been linked by court records, acquaintances and media reports to multiple killings across the U.S., including a 2022 double homicide in Pennsylvania of Zajko’s parents, the January murder of a Vallejo, California landlord, and the shooting in Coventry, Vermont.

LaSota, Zajko and Blank were taken into custody Sunday after a resident of Frostburg, Maryland, contacted Maryland State Police reporting seeing three “suspicious” people on his property with two white box trucks, according to charging documents.

Responding officers found Zajko, Blank and LaSota in the box trucks parked on the resident’s land, the filings stated. All three were uncooperative and refused to provide their names, according to the charging documents, and were eventually taken into custody. 

Both Zajko and LaSota were wearing gun belts with ammunition and a handgun was seized from Zajko’s front waistband, the filings added. 

“All of the subjects involved are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country,” charging documents say. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Former Vermont resident faces federal firearm charge related to killing of border patrol agent.

ICT Staff

Leonard Peltier is free at last.

The longtime American Indian Movement activist was released Tuesday from federal prison in Sumterville, Florida, after 49 years behind bars in what he has long maintained was a wrongful conviction in the deaths of two federal agents during a 1975 standoff at Pine Ridge.

“Today I am finally free!” Peltier said in a statement released by NDN Collective, which has led the recent effort to win his release from prison. “They have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!”

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Peltier, 80, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, left in an SUV and did not stop to speak to nearly two dozen supporters gathered outside the prison gates, The Associated Press reported.

He was set to return to his tribal homelands in North Dakota, where a homecoming celebration and community feed were scheduled for Wednesday.

“Leonard Peltier is free!” Nick Tilsen, founder and chief executive at NDN Collective, said in the statement. “He never gave up fighting for his freedom so we never gave up fighting for him. Today our elder Leonard Peltier walks into the open arms of his people.”

Tilsen has called Peltier “the longest living Indigenous political prisoner in the history of the United States.”

In poor health and after years of fighting for his release, Peltier was finally granted clemency by then-President Joe Biden just minutes before Biden left office on Jan. 20. Biden’s order will allow Peltier to serve out the remainder of his sentence with home confinement on the reservation.

“This moment would not be happening without [then-Interior] Secretary Deb Haaland and President Biden responding to the calls for Peltier’s release that have echoed through generations of grassroots organizing,” said Holly Cook Macarro, who handles government affairs for NDN Collective. “Today is a testament to the many voices who fought tirelessly for Peltier’s freedom and justice.”

Peltier, who was an activist with the American Indian Movement during the 1975 standoff, has long maintained he was wrongfully convicted. He was convicted of murder in the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, but those convictions were overturned, leaving him with convictions for aiding and abetting in their deaths.

A woman who testified that she saw Peltier shoot the agents later recanted, saying she had been coerced into making the statements.

“He represents every person who’s been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school,” said Nick Estes, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who advocated for Peltier’s release.

Supporters gathered outside the prison Tuesday, waving signs saying “Free Leonard Peltier.”

“We never thought he would get out,” said Ray St. Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who traveled to Florida to be there for Peltier’s release. “It shows you should never give up hope. We can take this repairing the damage that was done. This is a start.”

Not everyone cheered his release, however, Former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who resigned as the Donald Trump took office, called Peltier “a remorseless killer” in a private letter to Biden obtained by The Associated Press.

Peltier had long sought release from prison, and was most recently denied parole in July. He would not have been eligible again for consideration until 2026.

He thanked his supporters Tuesday in the written statement and looked ahead to the homecoming.

“Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom. I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”

This article contains material from The Associated Press.

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Iglesias de Carolina del Norte se unieron a una demanda junto a más de veinticuatro entidades religiosas, en contra de la política que permite al Servicio de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, en inglés) en “lugares sensibles”, incluyendo lugares de culto.

La entrada Iglesias de Carolina del Norte se unen a demanda contra política que permite a ICE en lugares de culto se publicó primero en Enlace Latino NC.

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Iglesias de Carolina del Norte se unen a demanda contra política que permite a ICE en lugares de culto was first posted on febrero 18, 2025 at 2:06 pm.
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Mississippians are no strangers to ticks, but residents of the Magnolia State may be surprised to learn that these pesky parasites are capable of spreading a food allergy that makes red meat particularly hazardous. The allergy, known as alpha-gal syndrome, affects hundreds of thousands of Americans.

The post Mississippi Researchers Investigate Growing Tick-Borne Allergy to Red Meat appeared first on Mississippi Free Press.