Vermont Public Radio

Live call-in discussion: Twenty years ago, the United States built a military prison on the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Since then, it’s been used to hold what the U.S. government calls “enemy combatants” from the War on Terror, putting them outside international legal systems. This hour, we'll speak to two Vermonters who worked for years to free one detainee, and we’ll reflect on the legacy of the prison 20 years after it opened.

Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees lives in Hinesburg. She’s 77, and has lived a life at the crossroads of identities, cultures and worldviews — she has Native, African and European ancestors. TwoTrees works across mediums, including multi-sensory installations with sound, smell and visuals. While she calls herself a multimedia artist, she prefers the term “maker.” “If you live in a room with two things, I'll make them into something else, and I think I've been doing that since I was about 7," she said.

Turning off Route 100 on a recent spring day, Morristown’s main roads were dominated by buildings in various stages of construction. The town lies along the Lamoille River midway between St. Johnsbury and Burlington. And with just under 5,500 people, it’s becoming a residential center. While it’s not a perfect proxy, over the last five years, Morristown has, on average, registered the most new addresses of anywhere in Vermont outside of Chittenden County.

The FDA has now authorized the COVID vaccine for kids 6 months through 4 years of age. And while infants are probably not asking their parents a lot of questions about the news, older kids in that age group may have questions, including why they have to get yet more shots. (No child's favorite activity.) Our kids podcast, But Why has a handy episode for kids, answering that question and others. They also talked with a family whose kids were enrolled in a vaccine trial.

Live at noon: Host Mikaela Lefrak moderates a debate with the Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor, the latest in a series of live debates from VPR and Vermont PBS ahead of the state's Aug. 9 primary election. The Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor are: Rep. Charlie Kimbell Patricia Preston Kitty Toll David Zuckerman Broadcast live at noon on Wednesday, June 22, 2022; rebroadcast at 7 p.m. on VPR and Vermont PBS.

Donna Gordon describes her debut novel, What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me, as a love story. The novel is based on two people who left a profound impact on Gordon. The two inspirations never met in real life, but they both met Gordon around the same time, and their influence on her can been seen in the characters in the book.

A great majority of Americans have been affected by extreme weather in recent years, and many suffer long-term financial problems as a result, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. More than three-quarters of adults in the United States say they have experienced extreme weather in the last five years, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods and heat waves, the survey found.

For those who have never heard this term before, code-switching is changing from one language or vernacular to another. We all code-switch. For example, the way that we talk to children is not the same way we speak to other adults. For BIPOC communities, it’s different. Racialized code-switching occurs when a group of people change the way they sound to be understood and socially accepted. This can happen in different situations such as job interviews, college campuses, and professional environments.

Live call-in discussion: COVID-19 cases are falling in Vermont heading into summer, a trend seen across New England. With the availability of home tests, health officials plan to soon close state-run testing sites. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the first vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years over the weekend. This hour, we're getting a COVID update from Vermont's top health official.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York's new law barring sales of bullet-resistant vests to most civilians doesn't cover the type of armor worn by the gunman who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket, a gap that could limit its effectiveness in deterring future military-style assaults. During the May 14 attack, Payton Gendron wore a steel-plated vest, an armor strong enough to stop a handgun round fired by a store security guard who tried to halt Gendron's rampage.