More than a year after Tropical Storm Irene devastated the state, town and state officials from Bennington to Bethel are getting questions from residents concerned about Hurricane Sandy as it moves north from the Carribean.

The first applications for the flood buyout program for homeowners have been approved by FEMA. Vermont Hazard Mitigation Officer Ray Doherty says five out of nearly 100 applications for homeowner buyouts under the FEMA program were approved this week.  

It's that time of year when Vermont cities and towns are setting their tax rates, and select board and city council minutes show many have increased them slightly as they enter the 2013 fiscal year.

Across Vermont, many communities hit by Tropical Storm Irene are getting their athletic fields back in shape.

Nearly eight months after Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont's Long Term Disaster Recovery Group says it's just beginning to distribute millions of dollars in donations.

After a mild and nearly snowless winter in Vermont, many communities are coping with an early mud season.

Vermonters value debating local issues and interacting with their local government on Town Meeting Day in person, but many voters increasingly expect their towns to take advantage of the digital world as well.

Tropical Storm Irene has left one Vermont couple living on an unexpected island.

Residents in Bethel say they will begin videotaping Select Board meetings and broadcasting them via YouTube after a series of disagreements over how the town has - or has not - responded to Tropical Storm Irene.  

With the days before winter's first snowfall dwindling, volunteers descended on the flood zone over the weekend to help communities and individuals clean up Tropical Storm Irene damage.

The town manager in Wilmington has resigned, after he and the Select Board came under fire for how they handled the town government's response to Tropical Storm Irene.

Some Bethel residents question whether minutes of recent select board meetings accurately reflect all that's happened since Tropical Storm Irene.

The town of Bethel is holding an emergency meeting Monday night in response to Tropical Storm Irene flooding. It's the first select board meeting the town has publicly called since the flood devastated the Windsor County town.

Most towns have gratefully accepted offers of help from neighbors in the month since Tropical Storm Irene ripped through Vermont. But officials in one Windsor County town have largely declined similar assistance. Some say that's thwarting the town's recovery.