Governor Peter Shumlin and GOP challenger Randy Brock have very different views about whether marijuana should be decriminalized. Shumlin says changing the law would allow police to focus on other, more important drug issues. But Brock says Shumlin’s position sends a bad message to young people at a time when teen marijuana use in the state is the highest in the country.
The state says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has shown some flexibility and provided additional funds to people who lost mobile homes to Tropical Storm Irene. Officials see this as a positive development in what has sometimes been a rocky relationship between Vermont and the federal agency.