

Vermont Edition
Vermont Public
Vermont Edition brings you news and conversation about issues affecting your life. Host Mikaela Lefrak considers the context of current events through interviews with news makers and people who make our region buzz.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 6, 2025 • 49min
Vermont history inspires two new works of fiction
Vermont author Bailey Seybolt used marvel at the beauty of one old Burlington building. Her research unearthed a dark history. Seybolt sits down with Mitch Wertlieb to discuss her true-crime novel, Coram House, and the notorious real-life abuses at St. Joseph's Orphanage it's based on.Then; the story of Vermont's founders like Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold has been told ad nauseum. But Vermont State Representative Conor Casey found something inherently funny about these men and their relationship. So, he wrote a satirical take on the events surrounding Vermont's early history, provocatively titled Founding F***ers: The Story of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. It began it's weeks long run at The Greater Boston Stage Company earlier this week and runs until May 18th. Casey sits down with Mitch to talk about why he finds Vermont's founders so funny and how the stage play came together. Broadcast live on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

May 5, 2025 • 50min
Urban and rural Vermont communities face a primary care shortage
Urban and rural Vermont communities face a primary care shortage

May 1, 2025 • 50min
Two local orchestras celebrate music and fight mental health stigma
Two local orchestras celebrate music and fight mental health stigma

Apr 30, 2025 • 50min
New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss and poet Sarah Audsley
Today on Vermont Edition, the celebrated cartoonist Harry Bliss discusses his new graphic memoir, You Can Never Die. It’s about his life, his relationship with his dog Penny, and his grief over her death. We’ll learn about his successful cartooning career with the New Yorker and collaborating with the comedian Steve Martin.Plus: April is National Poetry Month. For the final installment of our April poetry series, we’ll talk with Sarah Audsley of Johnson. Her poetry often reflects her experiences as a Korean American adoptee living in Vermont.

Apr 29, 2025 • 50min
In Vermont, who speaks for the trees?
Three forestry experts discuss the many uses of Vermont's forested lands, and the potential local impact of an executive order about timber production.

Apr 28, 2025 • 50min
Gov. Scott talks Trump's immigration policy, tariffs, and state budget
Gov. Scott talks Trump's immigration policy, tariffs, and state budget

Apr 24, 2025 • 48min
Vermont Edition At Home: François Clemmons
Vermont Edition is launching a new series, featuring intimate conversations with noteworthy Vermonters right in their own living rooms. It’s called Vermont Edition At Home. For the first installment, Mikaela Lefrak went to the Middlebury home of François Clemmons.. Clemmons is best known for playing Officer Clemmons on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.Clemmons discusses how he came to embrace his Blackness, his homosexuality, and his desire to be a performer.Broadcast live on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Apr 23, 2025 • 50min
New indie-folk musical brings the lives of Vermont farmers to Northern Stage
An original indie-folk musical premieres at Northern Stage in White River Junction next month. Set over the course of one working day, "The Vermont Farm Project" tells the stories of eight farmers. It's based on three years of interviews with farmers from Vermont and the surrounding region. Director Sarah Wansley of White River Junction and Hudson Valley-based writer Jessica Kahkoska tell us more about this unique production. Plus, Vergennes native Alexandria Hall is based in Los Angeles, but a lot of Vermont's essence is found in her work. Her poems reflect the daily life and language of rural Vermont.

Apr 22, 2025 • 51min
A cross-border conversation with Québec
Vermonters and Quebeckers share much more than a border. We do business together, get our passports out for vacation, and visit family. But this year, the threads that hold us together have frayed.Vermont Edition co-hosted a cross-border conversation in partnership with Radio Noon, a call-in program from the CBC in Quebec. Mikaela Lefrak and Radio Noon host Shawn Apel took calls and emails from listeners on both sides of the border about the current state of U.S.-Canada relations. We also heard about the real-world repercussions of President Donald Trump’s “51st state” rhetoric.Vermont Public reporter Peter Hirschfeld joined the conversation as well to talk about the effect the Trump administration is having on Canadian tourism in Vermont, and how the state's lawmakers are reacting to the increased tensions. Broadcast live on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Apr 21, 2025 • 50min
Here's how Vermont's dairy industry has transformed in the last 10 years
A new report finds that Americans consume more dairy than they did a decade ago. Vermont dairy farmers are trying to capitalize.