Progress Report
But first a question: Good that the University of Vermont mens basketball team whipped Rutgers Sunday afternoon, but did the Catamounts really have to stay in the super-luxury Heldrich Hotel in downtown New Brunswick, N.J, where the single room rate starts at just a smidge under $200 a night? No doubt they got a group rate, and one assumes that the players, at least, doubled up. But that would have been true at the Hyatt Regency just a few blocks away, which is cheaper, if not cheap. Or at any one of three or four perfectly decent (and even less expensive) hotels closer to the arena in suburban Piscataway.

Speech Harassment
Over at the Vermont Tiger web site, University of Vermont economics professor Art Woolf had some kind words for the News Guy’s Sept 14 post about possible threats to free speech in UVM’s proposed (and subsequently altere

Of Salmon and Moose
It’s a little early to pronounce State Auditor Tom Salmon politically cooked and ready to have the loser’s fork stuck into his carcass. But just a little. Salmon, of course, is the elected Democrat who took the political risk earlier this year of becoming a Republican in a state where that is generally not considered a shrewd career move. Last week he made the persona

The Shape of the Earth
Announcing the potential refinancing of Burlington Telcom’s debt last week, Burlington Mayor Robert Kiss proclaimed that the latest development “confirms that the use of pooled cash has not been, and is not, an increased risk to the taxpayers of Burlington.” This is false. The taxpayers of Burlington could have lost the $17 mil

It’s Only Money
A Vermont worker who earns more than he or she would doing the same job in another state probably doesn’t earn much money. But a Vermonter who earns less – perhaps quite a bit less – than he or she would plying the same trade elsewhere could be an affluent professional person. That’s because low-wage jobs in Vermont pay better than they do nationwide, while high-income jobs pay less.