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The process of selling Jay Peak Resort has “ground to a halt” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recently filed court documents. The ski resort, which is managed by court-appointed receiver, was put up for sale after its former owners were accused of defrauding foreign investors.

On June 1, child care centers in Vermont will be able to open to all families for the first time since March after only being allowed to care for children of essential workers.

Ronald Burns lives with his mother in St. Johnsbury. They’re both diabetic, and while his mother receives disability, Ronald’s income from his part-time job has dwindled since the onset of COVID-19. Erica Heilman met with Ronald to find out how he and his mother are getting on (and brought along her socially distant, makeshift mic boom ).

On April 16, I asked Harry Norway if the pandemic had changed much about life in prison in Mississippi. Norway is one of over 200 men incarcerated by the state of Vermont at the private prison, run by the company CoreCivic. “Nothing’s changed,” he said. “Nothing’s changed.”

Gov. Phil Scott says a sustained decline in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Vermont will likely allow him to loosen restrictions on public gatherings by the end of the week.

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On June 1, child care centers in Vermont will be able to open to all families for the first time since March after only being allowed to care for children of essential workers.

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VPR Newscast for 5/27/2020 at 5:04 p.m.

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VPR Newscast for 5/27/2020 at 12:04 p.m.

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VPR Newscast for 5/27/2020 at 6:04 a.m.

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Colleges around the country are navigating the tricky process of choosing whether to re-open for in-person classes this fall. The University of Vermont, the state’s largest higher ed institution, is planning on bringing thousands of students back to school in a few months . But so are some of the state’s smaller colleges, like Vermont Law School in South Royalton.

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Tourism brings in over $2 billion of revenue to Vermont, and COVID-19 has made it very difficult for out-of-state tourists to visit Vermont hot spots. This hour, we talk with the Department of Tourism and Marketing about how summer tourism will look in Vermont, and if this will help make up for the loss in out-of-state tourism revenue.

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Law enforcement is adapting to a new reality amid the coronavirus, one that poses unique risks for officers and the public. This hour, we talk with police chiefs and officers across Vermont about policing during the pandemic, how agencies are keeping officers, civilians and suspects safe from COVID-19, and whether changes around enforcement and arrests could carry into the post-pandemic future.

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COVID-19 has driven New England’s higher education sector into financial "survival mode." Now colleges and universities must adapt or risk major — if not catastrophic — loss from the crisis. Join us for an America Amplified special from the New England News Collaborative. We'll bring together voices from across the region, and we want to hear yours.

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Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday unveiled a $400 million economic recovery package for the state, a plan that uses a large portion of the $1.25 billion in federal Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars coming to Vermont. But the package has to be approved by the state Legislature before any of the proposals take effect. We talk about what this could mean for industries like dairy, tourism, hospitality and more.

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While people seem to be avoiding doctor's offices and urgent care facilities due to COVID-19, getting regular check ups, vaccines and medical care are still recommended by doctors and state health officials. This hour, we talk with doctors and specialists about keeping up routine health care and the return of elective procedures.

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Eye On The Night Sky For May 27, 2020 by VPR

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Midday Forecast by VPR

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Farm & Garden Forecast by VPR

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Morning Forecast by VPR

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Recreational Forecast by VPR

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If people — particularly elderly people — don't want doctors to take extreme measures to potentially save their lives, does that increase Vermont's COVID-19 death rate?

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This hypothetical listener question has gotten a little more real. Love our show? Support Vermont Public Radio with a gift, sign up for our newsletter, and share your curiosity at bravelittlestate.org.

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Bonus episode: Our current president, and his presumptive opponent, are in an age group vulnerable to the coronavirus. What happens if...?Love our show? Support Vermont Public Radio with a gift, sign up for our newsletter, and share your curiosity at bravelittlestate.org.

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Parole officers doling out hand sanitizer. Inmates cooking for those in quarantine. At the Department of Corrections, it's all hands on deck.Want more of the Brave Little State experience? Ask a question about Vermont, vote on our next episode, and sign up for our newsletter — all at bravelittlestate.org. Special thanks to Vermont Public Radio's sustaining members. If you like our show, consider becoming one.

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Dispatches from our fellow Vermonters, including a nurse on the front lines and an expectant dad. Plus, some essay and poetry for our times.Stay connected to our show: Sign up for our newsletter. And be brave!

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This week on NEXT: A slow reopening is now underway in every New England state. But the uncertainty over COVID-19 is prompting some businesses on Cape Cod to scale back or not reopen at all. Plus, colleges in New England are facing lawsuits from students who allege they didn't get the education they paid for this spring. And we hear about a laughing club that is trying to bring levity to current circumstances.

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As parts of New England reopen, states are working to protect themselves from visitors. This week on NEXT, New Hampshire is wary of beachgoers from Massachusetts. And despite hiccups distributing stimulus money to small businesses, some bankers are working overtime to secure funds. Plus, Maine summer camps wonder if they can open this year.

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This week on NEXT, New England states are still competing for COVID-19 testing supplies. But researchers at Yale University are studying new saliva tests that show promise. And with so many coronavirus deaths in senior living facilities, some families are considering taking their loved ones out. Plus, we hear from a country singer in Rhode Island about this catchy lyric: “Six feet apart or six feet under."

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For a hands-on subject like science, remote learning is particularly tricky. This week on NEXT, how science teachers and students are adapting and experimenting from home. And we go inside Vermont prisons to see the response to COVID-19. Plus, celebrating Ramadan in isolation.

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Public health experts say it will take widespread testing to reopen the economy. This week on NEXT, we look at where testing capacity lags in New England. And we hear from a Dartmouth scientist on how the Trump administration's overhaul of mercury emissions rules could impact human and animal health. Plus, as the number of Yiddish speakers dwindle, one woman fights to save the language.

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In this special live episode we learn about space and space exploration with Jim Green, NASA's Chief Scientist. You can listen to But Why live at vpr.org and call-in every Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time through June 19, 2020. This program is part of a collaboration with the Vermont Agency of Education to bring interactive educational opportunities to students while schools are closed.

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What is slime and how do you make it? What makes glue sticky? Why does mixing diet coke and Mentos make an explosion? How does glow in the dark stuff glow without batteries? We're talking about sticky things like slime and glue in this episode. Plus, bonus: explosions! The branch of science we're focusing on is called chemistry. Chemistry is basically the study of stuff and what it's made of, and how different substances interact with one another, sometimes even combining to make new stuff. Our guest is Kate Biberdorf, professor of instruction at the University of Texas, better known as "Kate the Chemist." Her new book is called The Big Book of Experiments.

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In this special live episode we learn about poetry and writing with Poetry Guy Ted Scheu, Rajnii Eddins, and we hear your poems! Get your pencils ready; we’ll be doing some fun writing exercises as well. You can listen to But Why live at vpr.org and call-in every Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time through June 19, 2020. This program is part of a collaboration with the Vermont Agency of Education to bring interactive educational opportunities to students while schools are closed.

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In this special live episode, we learn about bats and beavers! First up, all about bats with Barry Genzlinger of Vermont Bat Center. Then, we learn about the industrious beaver with wildlife biologist Kim Royar of the Vermont Department for Fish & Wildlife. Listen live at vpr.org and call-in every Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time through June 19, 2020. This program is part of a collaboration with the Vermont Agency of Education to bring interactive educational opportunities to students while schools are closed.

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Where is the border between sky and space? That's what 5-year-old Matthias of Durham, New Hampshire wants to know. Allesandra, 3 of Bella Vista, Arkansas wants to know why we can't hold air. We're going to get scientific, but also philosophical and imaginative with anthropologist Hugh Raffles, astronomer John O'Meara, and, a special treat, cellist Zoë Keating, who scored the episode for us to help us really feel it!

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Birdwatchers know that when they see the Red-winged Blackbird return, spring is on its way. These birds are numerous and everywhere. The males are stark-black with a red epaulette, a striking flash of color on their wings, that they use to attract mates and ward off other competing males.

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Blue jays are pretty common. We see them all the time, and yet, they still have mysteries to share with us. Blue jays are also known as the "engineers of the forest." Their diet consists of acorns and beech nuts and they take these seeds to new areas and cache, or bury, their food. Sometimes they forget to come back to get these stored nuts and seeds allowing them to grow. The birds are planting new trees and expanding the forest.

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In the past 125 years, only two Januarys have stayed below freezing for the entire month. Some Vermonters relish a period of warmer temperatures while others lament the melting snow. Is there such a thing as a regular, consistent January thaw?

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You don't expect to see a moth in November, but these winter moths have adapted to thrive in the cold. The operophtera bruceata, or the Bruce Spanworm moth, spends the summer as a catapiller in the canopy of hardwood trees. They eat and eat, getting bigger until they fall down into the leaf litter and pupate. As the weather turns cold, around the end of October, they emerge as adults. This comes in very handy for these moths, because most of the birds have migrated away and there are very few predators left.

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If you've been in the woods or in the garden and spotted a quick flash of metallic emerald that was there one second and gone the next, then you have probably encountered a tiger beetle. These insects earn their name. They are fast, fierce predators, even as larva. There are 16 species of tiger beetles that have been spotted in Vermont. Out of those 16, almost half are considered to be of conservation concern.

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We’ve been exploring all the ways that music has changed the world and us. In this episode we’ll discover that music might belong to more than just humanity. So many creatures on our shared planet also have a voice.

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“In the beginning was the voice. Voice is sounding breath, the audible sign of life.” Those beautiful words were written by Otto Jespersen, an early 20th century Danish linguist, in the book Language, Its Nature, Development and Origin. Jespersen was on to something with that statement, voice as “the audible sign of life.” It reminds me of another popular quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Music is the universal language of mankind.”

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You’re at a wedding reception, this song starts to play and suddenly the dance floor is full of people moving together in rhythm. The crowd intuits the pulse of the music, corporately agrees on where the beat is and starts to move together. That’s how group dance works. This ability is something we share as humans and with other members of the animal kingdom. But do we ever think about what it takes to make this happen? How do we dance together and why?

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Which came first, language or music? It’s not just a “chicken or the egg” type of question. Many linguists and theorists have debated this subject. For a long time the accepted norm stated that music appears “to be derived from language,” meaning that music is a subset of verbal communication. But modern research is painting a different picture. There’s an earlier episode of Timeline called “Baby Talk” that dives into that research regarding the development of human communication.

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Do you remember the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”? The director starts a movie about space by first showing us early humanity. We are introduced to two warring factions of hairy proto-humans, yelling and grunting at one another over some unknown conflict. That night one of the tribes wakes up at sunrise to a strange, black, rectangular object. In the shadow of this monolith, one of the members of the tribe picks up a bone and examines it. After a moment, it begins to beat the ground with this first “tool.”

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How the events of last year changed Vermont schools and law enforcement. Also - where's Jack?

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How do you know if a young person is plotting a school massacre? And what do you do then?

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How a Republican governor who had been rated "A" by the NRA decided that Vermont, one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation, needed gun control laws.

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When does planning a school shooting become attempted murder? The question went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court.

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Who is Jack Sawyer, and why did he want to kill his former classmates?

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What role does storytelling have in addressing the opioid crisis? In March, Vermont Public Radio hosted a gathering at the Turning Point Center of Burlington to talk through that question with the team behind My Heart Still Beats .

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"When you have anxiety, or chronic depression, your mind is constantly going. And I tried opiates and realized that my brain was just quiet for a little bit."

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"When you're told over and over, 'Your child's a problem child — he's bad, he's bad, he's bad, he's bad!' ... You believe your kid's bad."

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"There were three things you could be good at: fighting, drinking or sports. So, I stink at sports. I can't fight. But I guess I can drink."

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"You’re right, I probably do deserve to be in jail the rest of my life. Or, I do deserve to give my life for hers. But since I can’t, let’s save somebody else’s life."