...all fall down
May Day
As emerald ash borer ruins trees, folks seek to diversify green spaces
Senator recounts efforts to strengthen Vermont’s unions and workforce
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the MAY 8, 2025
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VOLUME 49, NO. 19
Schools, producers deal with federal cuts to food funds
Color by numbers
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
Orchard Elementary School students gathered outside Monday with artist Alex Cook to complete a new “You are loved” mural on a brick wall outside the school’s entrace. See story, page 2.
Fire at South Burlington senior living facility displaces more than 50 people LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Authorities are investigating what caused a massive fire Friday night at a senior living facility in
South Burlington that displaced roughly 50 people from their homes. Just after 10 p.m. on Friday, May 2, the South Burlington Fire Department was dispatched to the
Northern Meridian Apartments at 327 Lime Kiln Road. The structure, a four-story, senior housSee FIRE on page 13
Farmhouse Williston is Now Open! Serving Farm-to-Table Dinners Tuesday-Saturday 282 Holland Ln, Williston • farmhousetg.com
Since 2023, Vermont students have had access to more local products in their school meals, because of a hefty grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. That is, until that program was terminated earlier this year. The initial grant program, Local Foods for Schools, brought in roughly $334,000 across the state in partnership with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the state’s four food hubs to provide local food to all public schools at no cost to the district. While the program was touted as a one-time-only program that lasted from 2023-2024, the agricultural community was celebrating a win last October when the USDA announced that it was entering back into a cooperative agreement with the state to keep those funds not only rolling but tripling. The program under the new grant agreement was now planned to not only account for schools but also early childhood programs, intending to bring nearly $660 million in federal funding nationwide. In Vermont, that number was closer to $1.2 million, with nearly
$1 million of that planned specifically for school districts. But in March, the federal government under the President Donald Trump administration announced that it was terminating that agreement. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets had estimated that this program would provide approximately 4,000 children in early childhood settings and 83,000 children in schools with local, nutritious food sourced from approximately 100 local farms. “It was really disappointing,” said Patrick Ackerman-Hovis, director of institutional sales at Food Connects, a Brattleboro-based food hub that worked with nearly 35 schools during the first iteration of the grant. “It was an opportunity to engage with new customers for us and provide food, of course, from farms, but it’s a lot of that food system education also.” Food Connects is just one of the four food hubs that worked with all the state’s school districts and supervisory unions to bring more local products to the table, but the distribution non-profit originally began 13 years ago as a farm-toSee AGRICULTURE on page 10