Why doesn't Vermont call "youth violence" what it really is - male violence?

"Hello. I'm terrible at public speaking, so I may stutter," said the tiny redhead in a tiny voice, her microphone howling in the cool evening breeze.

But the woman didn't stutter, or even pause, as she told a crowd of some 50 strangers gathered on the Statehouse steps about the four times she'd been sexually assaulted as a child.

Talk preview: Elie Wiesel

In awarding Elie Wiesel the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee described him as a "messenger to mankind." Wiesel, 78, will bring his message of activism against genocide to Burlington on April 25, when he is scheduled to speak at the University of Vermont.

The author of some 40 books, Wiesel is best known for Night, the disquieting account of his imprisonment as a young Jew in a series of Nazi death camps.

Are Vermonters getting stiffed on the facts about home funerals?

Any mother can appreciate the bond that held Elizabeth Knox to her daughter on the day in October 1995 when 7-year-old Alison Sanders was pronounced brain-dead from the impact of an airbag that deployed during a low-speed car accident. Even after the life-support machines were disconnected and her heart stopped beating, Alison was still Knox's child, and the mother needed time to let go.

Visiting judges testify to the dangers of being a woman on the bench in Afghanistan

» Sidebar: VT couple fundraises to build a school in Afghanistan

When Juvenile Court Judge Marzia Basel came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2002, she and her fellow Afghan women judges were given some of the highest diplomatic honors afforded to visiting foreign dignitaries.

Laurie David gets the public hot and bothered about global warming

Laurie David's daily reality is all about record heat waves, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, migrating deadly viruses and catastrophic storms. It's lucky for her she married a professional comedian, she says, or her life might become a major downer.

David, 48, is the wife of writer/actor/producer Larry David, of "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame.

Former Nixon Counsel John Dean probes the modern conservative psyche

John Dean has a few choice words for the conservatives who set the tone and agenda of national politics today. None of those terms is flattering: "malicious," "mean-spirited," "hypocritical," "bigoted," "ruthless," "bullying," "amoral" and "Machiavellian." But the former White House attorney has spent enough time in the top echelon of power to recognize a certain personality type when he sees it - what social scientists now call "right-wing authoritarians.

A Burlington vet readies recruits for the rigors of special warfare

For Bill Atkinson, homeland security starts with a good sidestroke. A 21-year veteran of one of the most elite combat units in the world -- the U.S. Navy SEALs -- Atkinson is working to fix an unusual problem for the branch of the military that spends most of its time around water.

"The Navy discovered recently that a lot of the candidates they were getting for their special operations programs don't swim very well," he says.

Vermont dips into a turbulent debate over groundwater protection

Every summer for the last several years, some residents of Williston have turned on their faucets and no water has come out. In Cleveland, Ohio, last month, the mayor proposed raising the rates on municipal water by 80 percent, inspiring a flood of criticism. And in Detroit, Michigan, a few years ago, more than 40,000 people -- mostly elderly, poor and disabled -- had their water shut off by the city because they couldn't afford to pay their bills, prompting Social Services to take some of their children away.

Vermont advocates address poverty and the military/corporate agenda

Two dozen local activists took part last week in an ambitious three-day effort to formulate responses to the causes and consequences of economic inequality in the United States. The focus was on "training trainers" who can help build a movement in Vermont and across the country to obstruct the Bush/corporate agenda and to advance the cause of economic justice.

A former Sanders aide exposes the brothel of Washington politics

David Sirota is a rare breed among political strategists -- a successful idealist. Capitol Hill is rife with ambitious, young wonks with overachiever resumes and public-policy degrees from elite institutions like Harvard, Georgetown and the LBJ School. But few are able to convert their elite academic pedigrees into careers of national prominence, while still remaining true to their populist roots.