Vermont

VTDigger.org

VTDigger is a nonprofit daily news organization dedicated to watchdog reporting on Vermont institutions, businesses and government. Its mission is to produce rigorous journalism that explains issues, holds government officials and entities accountable and engages Vermonters in democratic processes. The staff produces in-depth stories on health care, politics, business, criminal justice, the environment and education.  

Vermont Public Radio

VPR knits Vermonters together with its statewide network, as well as serving “Vermontophiles” in surrounding states, Canada and around the world. We provide a variety of local and NPR and other programming, including two daily news programs, “Morning Edition,” and “All Things Considered,” a daily talk show “Vermont Edition” and our people-powered “Brave Little State” project. Our reporters generate dozens of newscast items and in-depth stories a week. And we maintain a robust website. We are a respected institution in our state, and recognized for innovation in serving our mostly-rural audience. As Vermont’s daily newspapers and commercial broadcasters are struggling and reducing staff, VPR is determined to work with our partners to preserve great reporting in all parts of our state.  

Theo Wells-Spackman

Theo Wells-Spackman covers economic inequality in Vermont for VTDigger, where he previously reported on education, floods, and general news as an intern. Prior to joining that newsroom, he was production intern for the Trenton Project, a documentary series diving into the local history and culture of Trenton, New Jersey. He has also worked as a research intern for Facing History and Ourselves. His journalistic work began in high school, when he worked on a documentary covering gender bias in Vermont public schools for the program “What’s the Story?” He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University, where he was a producer and editor for the podcast section at the Daily Princetonian. He is from Weybridge, Vermont.

Lucy Tompkins

Prior to joining Seven Days, Tompkins reported on housing issues as a freelance reporter in New York City, and for the Texas Tribune. She worked for The New York Times as a national reporting fellow and later on their Headway team. Before that, she spent two years in Berlin on a Fulbright fellowship, where she studied international asylum policy and interviewed Syrian migrants about their experiences in Germany. She started her career as an education reporter at The Missoulian, where she led an investigation into private residential treatment programs for teenagers that led to changes in state law and the closure of many of the programs. She speaks Spanish and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Montana.

Seven Days

Seven Days is a free weekly newspaper with a print circulation of 35,000 and a robust digital presence. It covers breaking news but specializes in long form journalism, publishing the kind of stories you'd expect to find in a national magazine. Founded in 1995, it’s now owned by one of the founders and 15 longtime employees.

VTDigger

VTDigger is a nonprofit, digital news organization dedicated to covering Vermont. Its mission is to produce rigorous journalism that explains complex issues, promotes public accountability and fosters democratic and civic engagement. During its 15-year history, VTDigger has grown from a one-person investigative news outlet to one of the state’s biggest newsrooms.

Carly Berlin

Carly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public and VTDigger. Previously, she was the metro reporter for New Orleans Public Radio, where she focused on housing, transportation and city government. Her stories have aired on Marketplace, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Before working in radio, she was the Gulf Coast Correspondent for Southerly, where she reported on disaster recovery across south Louisiana during two recording-breaking hurricane seasons. Much of that coverage centered on the aftermath of Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Lake Charles at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. Berlin grew up in Atlanta and earned a BA in English with a Creative Writing concentration from Bowdoin College in 2018. She’s an avid bird watcher and ultimate frisbee player.

Vermont Public/VTDigger

VPR knits Vermonters together with its statewide network, as well as serving “Vermontophiles” in surrounding states, Canada and around the world. We provide a variety of local and NPR and other programming, including two daily news programs, “Morning Edition,” and “All Things Considered,” a daily talk show “Vermont Edition” and our people-powered “Brave Little State” project. Our reporters generate dozens of newscast items and in-depth stories a week. And we maintain a robust website. We are a respected institution in our state, and recognized for innovation in serving our mostly-rural audience. As Vermont’s daily newspapers and commercial broadcasters are struggling and reducing staff, VPR is determined to work with our partners to preserve great reporting in all parts of our state.

Rachel Hellman

Rachel Hellman reports on the challenges and opportunities in Vermont’s small towns for Seven Days, a weekly paper and news site based in Burlington, Vermont. Previously, Hellman was a freelance journalist and her writing, which focused on the societal and environmental impact of climate change, appeared in The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Fortune, and U.S. News & World Report. As an intern for CBS News, Hellman assisted in producing a groundbreaking nationwide investigation into the changes that police departments in the U.S. have made over the past five years regarding race and policing. Since graduating magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, she has worked on a carpentry team for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, on an all-women farm crew in central Vermont, and as a commercial pie baker in Brooklyn, New York.

Seven Days

Seven Days is a free, award-winning weekly paper with a print circulation of 35,000, the largest in Vermont, and a news site. Founded in 1995, Seven Days has been an improbable success story, thriving as traditional print media declined and filling a news void. It's been called “The New Yorker of the north” and for good reason: Seven Days delivers news with depth and context, such as a 5,000-word piece that revealed that people wait months to see specialists at the area's largest hospital. The state launched an immediate investigation in response.