After an often divisive debate here in Vermont, the U.S. State Department has given approval for up to 100 refugees - mostly Syrian - to settle in Rutland over the next year.

The state now says it will pay for the engineering plans to extend municipal waterlines to homes in Bennington contaminated with PFOA.

The Shumlin administration has won preliminary approval from the federal government to change the way health care providers are paid, from a system that reimburses for specific procedures to one that pays based on patient outcomes.