Editor’s note: As 2019 comes to an end, VTDigger reporters are looking back on some of the year’s top stories.
Ranking our readers’ favorite stories has become something of a New Years tradition. When we’re done counting down and singing “Auld Lang Syne,” we sit down to crunch the numbers from Google and Facebook about which stories drew the most interest from readers on our site and around the web.
This year, like most years, our major investigations are present: our ongoing coverage of the EB-5 fraud scandal and our series on the concentration of property ownership in Burlington both made the list. But 2019 also saw new trends: body camera footage, which increasingly serves to illustrate stories about contentious police encounters, played a role in two popular stories this year. And stories about Vermont businesses — like the ever-expanding Darn Tough sock company — reliably draw an audience.
Here are our readers’ picks for the ten top stories of 2019.
1. People are leaving VT in droves. Where are they going?
Demographic trends loom over nearly every discussion about state policy. So VTDigger’s data reporter Erin Petenko looked at legislative research, census data and IRS filings to analyze how many Vermonters were leaving the state — and where they were going. The upshot? From 2010 to 2018, the state’s total population dropped by about 10,000 people. Florida claimed the most Vermonters, while Vermont gained more people from New York than from any other state. Plus, research suggests that it’s working-class and middle-class residents that the state is most at risk of losing.
2. Body camera footage shows officer and Douglas Kilburn trading blows
In March, Burlington Police Officer Cory Campbell responded to a call of a disorderly male at the University of Vermont Medical Center. After a series of interactions with Douglas Kilburn, who was at the hospital to visit his wife, Campbell re-engaged with Kilburn in the ambulance bay, where the two traded blows, leaving Kilburn bleeding from the face. Kilburn died days after the encounter, and the chief medical examiner ruled his death a homicide — a finding that Burlington’s mayor and police chief disputed.
The body camera footage, released in July, let citizens see for themselves how the encounter played out. It’s been viewed more than 700,000 times. Attorney General TJ Donovan announced in November that his office would not bring charges against Campbell.
3. Jay Peak receiver takes USCIS to court over green card delays
While the most high-profile development in the Vermont EB-5 scandal this year was the indictment of four men for alleged fraud, other legal action could reveal new details about the state’s troubled program. In November, Michael Goldberg, the court-appointed receiver overseeing Jay Peak and other properties, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and other top-ranking federal officials. The suit alleges that the federal agency is delaying the process for EB-5 investors to become permanent U.S. residents. Goldberg’s suit followed a move by USCIS affirming its decision to close the state’s EB-5 center.
4. Vermont CEO causes stir with comments following White House event
When President Donald Trump tweeted that four members of Congress, all women of color, could “go back” to where they came from, it sparked a major backlash. Vermont’s Republican governor condemned the comment, and Rep. Peter Welch said it was a reason he decided to come out in favor of impeachment. But Stacy Manosh, the Johnson Woolen Mills CEO who had recently visited the White House as part of a manufacturing showcase, told Business Insider she couldn’t agree with Trump more: “I would have added, ‘If you’re not happy here, you can leave and we’ll help you pack,'” she wrote in an email.
When VTDigger’s Anne Wallace Allen reached out, Manosh said Business Insider had mischaracterized her comments. But the original email showed that BI had published Manosh’s comments nearly verbatim. They did, however, leave off Manosh’s sign-off: “Deplorably yours.”
5. Hundreds turn out in Burlington to protest former Wisconsin Gov. Walker
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came to Burlington for a Vermont GOP fundraiser this May — and despite criticism, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott appeared alongside him. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the event to push back on Walker’s anti-union policies, while inside the event, Walker praised Scott for his “fiscal discipline.” The protest was a rallying point for organized labor in Vermont — months later, one of the state’s largest unions elected a new roster of leaders who promised to “revitalize Vermont’s labor movement.”
6. Docs show F-35 afterburners use may be higher than publicly predicted
Weeks before the first F-35 fighter jets touched down at the Vermont Air National Guard base in Burlington, Jasper Craven examined whether the Guard’s predictions about afterburners were likely to be kept. In assessing the environmental impacts around Burlington, the Air Force previously estimated the noisy booster jets would be used on about 5% of takeoffs. But internal documents show that other bases flying the F-35s use afterburners about 50% of the time.
Even after the ceremonious first landing, Vermont Guard officials said they would use afterburners at the lower rate. But local activists still pressed for a new environmental impact study — a request that was later denied.
7. Darn Tough Vermont will expand to former Keurig building in Waterbury
Darn Tough was one of the first companies profiled in VTDigger’s series on in-state manufacturers, “Making it in Vermont.” Ric Cabot, whose father started Cabot Hosiery Mills in Northfield in 1978, launched the Darn Tough brand to refocus the struggling mill on producing high-end, specialty socks. Fifteen years later, a series of expansions has led the company to add a new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in a former Keurig Dr. Pepper building in Waterbury. They’re slated to start producing socks there in late 2020.
8. Body camera footage lends insights into teen’s encounter with police
Burlington teenager Phin Brown’s encounter with U.S. Secret Service agents might not have made news if Brown hadn’t shared his story online. His video describing his treatment by federal agents — and Burlington Police officers’ response to the situation — went viral on Facebook Live, prompting the BPD to release their officers’ bodycam footage of the aftermath. Brown, visibly upset, told officers that he was racially profiled when he was stopped and frisked outside his home. The Secret Service agents dismissed those accusations — and the police said their hands were tied in dealing with the federal agency.
9. Danville fire chief reluctant to enter house filled with human waste and trash
A debate over a cluttered house in Danville struck a chord on Facebook with firefighters’ associations across the country. VTDigger’s Northeast Kingdom reporter Justin Trombly wrote in August about a Selectboard meeting where the town’s fire chief said his firefighters would refuse to return to a house filled with “human waste, rotting food (and) garbage,” citing safety concerns. “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Chief Chris Walsh said. The Selectboard discussed calling a fire marshal — a move that would likely leave the house condemned. But the chief said he didn’t want to be responsible for kicking the occupant out of their home.
10. Who owns Burlington? The largest holdings are in the hands of a few
VTDigger’s Burlington reporter Aidan Quigley analyzed property records to look at how the top landowners in Vermont’s largest city are contributing to its real estate squeeze. He found that the top 20 private-sector property owners in Burlington own 4.3% of all property value in the city, just under $233 million in total. Meanwhile, the University of Vermont and UVM Medical Center control 20% of property in the city. Both serve as economic engines, but as nonprofit institutions, neither one pays property taxes.
