Deliver More Money

[Re “Expecting Trouble: As Hospitals Close Birth Centers, Vermonters Are Traveling Farther — and Confronting What’s Lost When a Community Lacks Essential Care,” September 9]: Hannah Bassett’s excellent reporting makes clear that Vermont doesn’t have a maternity-care problem so much as a maternity-payment problem.

Our own budget hearings said so again this summer. Northwestern Medical Center told the Green Mountain Care Board that no existing model lets a small Vermont hospital break even on maternity care. Tom Frank of North Country Hospital says it will keep delivering babies “come hell or high water” — which makes me proud — but he doesn’t dispute the math. Six hospital leaders said the same thing this cycle: Medicaid covers barely half the cost.

So pay rural hospitals differently for delivering babies. It’s the fiscally conservative answer, and the numbers are the state’s own. Vermont gave Brattleboro Memorial Hospital $1.15 million last year — all state money, no match, spent once. A 300 percent multiplier on that hospital’s actual Medicaid deliveries would have sent it $1.5 million and cost Vermont $653,000, because Washington, D.C., covers 58 cents of every dollar. More to the hospital, less from the state, and it recurs.

That’s what New Hampshire started doing five years ago to protect the last Coös County delivery ward. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved it in 2021 under governor Chris Sununu. Had Vermont acted then, we’d have drawn $20 million in federal dollars into rural obstetrics by now.

Medicaid rates are set administratively. Secretary Jenney Samuelson and the Agency of Human Services can act now.

New Hampshire waited until 11 birth centers had closed before they fixed it. Vermont has lost two. Three, four, five and six are visible from here.

Pay Up

[Re “Not in My Suburb: South Burlington Doesn’t Want a 100-Bed Homeless Shelter in Town. Will Anyone?” September 9]: Regarding South Burlington’s refusal to host a homeless shelter: If it doesn’t want to take on part of the load, how about it ponies up some cash and helps Burlington with our city’s expenses related to homelessness and drug addiction?

A few million dollars a year from our neighboring municipalities would help defray the disproportionate financial burden that Burlington is bearing. And that might assuage the consciences of municipal leaders in South Burlington, Shelburne and other well-to-do towns that are freeloading on Burlington, enjoying the benefits of everything our beautiful city has to offer without helping to pay the associated costs.

Brighter Lights

[Re “Teen Cyclist Was in a Crosswalk Marked by Flashing Lights When Fatally Struck by Vehicle,” August 27, online]: I have seen half a dozen cars blow through one of these crosswalks in the years since their arrival, because the natural light on Burlington’s Pine Street is quite variable and sometimes it’s hard to see the streetlights. I feel badly for both Shiloh Skalka and Douglas Knapp, because the lights that flash are not bright enough.

I never enter a crosswalk, as a pedestrian, until I see that cars have stopped. And I see drivers violate rules of the road almost every day.

Our emergency vehicles have deafening sirens and horns. In the past year or so, they went up 10 decibels. Now you can see people holding their ears as a fire engine passes. I asked a fireman about it, and he explained that it was to make sure people did not walk in front of the trucks. I think we all would have heard about it if a fire truck killed a teen. No one has been hit by a fire truck, to my knowledge.

The flashing lights on Pine Street, on the other hand, are dangerous! We now have a casualty, and that is sad and unfair. We must warn cars of crosswalks so they can slow down in time. I place the blame on the lights, and I implore the city to make them brighter. We can turn down the fire truck sirens, but the lights must go up! Brighter lights will save lives.

Mission Control

[Re “Vermont Air National Guard Returns Home From the Middle East,” September 5, online]: The article reports that “precisely where they served has never been confirmed by the military.”

Nor has the military confirmed what Vermont F-35s bombed and what their missiles struck.

Six weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the New York Times used satellite imagery and videos to verify damage to 22 schools and 17 health care facilities — what the Times called “a fraction of the devastation.” The Times also reported that Iran’s Red Crescent Society counted at least 763 schools and 316 health care facilities damaged or destroyed and more than 46,000 residential and commercial units damaged in Tehran alone.

As the Times noted, schools and hospitals receive especially strong protection under international law. Commanders must distinguish civilian targets, weigh anticipated military gains against civilian harm and take precautions to minimize it.

So, were Vermont airmen ordered to target schools or hospitals in Iran? If so, did they comply or refuse?

There are more questions, closer to home. The 2013 F-35 Air Force Environmental Impact Statement acknowledged a risk of harm to the hearing and cognitive development of some 1,200 children in 2,963 Vermont families living within the F-35’s extreme noise zone, centered on the runway at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport. Yet Gov. Phil Scott, as commander-in-chief of the Guard, has allowed the F-35 to train at that location since 2019.

Was a record of training on Vermont children a factor in federal activation of the Vermont Guard for the civilian targets in Iran? Did such training compromise the readiness and judgment of Vermont airmen?

A ‘Vermont Gem’

The cover story on Community College of Vermont [“College Try,” September 2] was the best I’ve ever read about the college. It was thorough, accurate and reflected the special efforts made for students at CCV.

I taught there for 30 years (Winooski and Middlebury) and found the staff to be so dedicated to the mission and doing extraordinary things to help students succeed. It makes everyone want to be better.

Students can not only save money on their first two years of college but can get a more personal start to their college career, which is important for first-generation students. I know, because I was one myself.

Thank you for highlighting this Vermont gem!

This article appears in September 23 • 2026.