Vermont National Guard troops will face a different, possibly more dangerous mission in Afghanistan.  We learn more specifics about their mission, and how it fits within the larger U.S. strategy.  Also, an update on FairPoint's continuing problems, and using wasps to find a destructive beetle.

Peter Galbraith of Townshend, Vermont, is the United Nation's second-in-command in Afghanistan. He talks with VPR's Jane Lindholm by phone from Kabul to discuss how voting has gone in today's presidential election there.

We drop in on a weekly Russian language class in Chester taught by journalist Nicholas Daniloff.

Vermont child psychologist and writer Robert Belenky shares his observations on how several cultures address the issue of how to raise troubled and orphaned children. Also, the newest student member of the state Board of Education prepares for his role, and the music of Gil Shohat.

Details of the largest post WWII deployment in the Vermont National Guard's history have been announced.  We'll talk about the mission they'll undertake in Afghanistan and preparations on the home front.

Seven years ago Zach Niles traveled to the west African nation of Guinea to  make a documentary about musicians who lived in the country's refugee camps.  The experience changed his life and the lives of a group of refugees from neighboring Sierra Leone.

Reporter Steve Zind talks with VPR's Bob Kinzel about the events currently unfolding in Iran.

As the military and political situation in Afghanistan intensifies, Vermont troops prepare for deployment to the region.  Another Vermonter is also headed for that region: Peter Galbraith has been named deputy UN envoy in Afghanistan. Jane Lindholm talks with Galbraith about the coming surge in both military and civilian efforts and the way forward in the region.

Vermonter Peter Galbraith is headed to Afghanistan as the U.N.'s second in command. We talk with him about the region and the way forward. Also, an update on the politics of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.

Jimmy Johnson is a researcher for The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a non-profit organization that fights to keep Palestinians in the occupied territories from losing their homes.

A day after her husband was rescued from Somali pirates, Andrea Phillips said she wanted to thank friends, officials and especially President Obama for their support during the crisis.

Tremendous joy in Underhill yesterday as word emerged that Captain Richard Phillips had been rescued off the coast of Somalia.

Chief Recovery Officer Tom Evslin spells out what Vermonters can expect from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We hear from peace worker Paula Green, who's being honored by the Dalai Lama.

Middlesex Town Meeting moderator Susan Clark talks with VPR's Jane Lindholm about Switzerland's town meeting tradition, which predates Vermont's by about 600 years.

In the last of his series of stories about Iran, VPR's Steve Zind introduces us to several women with different views on the challenges facing them.

VPR's Jane Lindholm talks with Rosalind Renfrew and Bridget Stutchbury, about a new certification for coffee beans that ensures the growing practices are beneficial to birds who migrate between Central America and our region.

Today in the third of his series of reports from Iran, VPR's Steve Zind describes Tehran as a city that illustrates many of the issues facing the country today.

Today, 30 years after the revolution, there's debate in Iran about basic questions like democracy, freedom of speech and women's rights.

Iranians are swarming the polls to pick a president. In February 2009, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, VPR's Steve Zind visited Iran to find out what had changed. It was his fourth visit and here are his reports.

This economy has people in Vermont's arts scene looking at practical questions of keeping community theater, gallery exhibitions and music festivals in business.  Also, two Vermont rivers may earn the congressional designation of "wild and scenic." And VPR's Steve Zind continues our series of reports from Iran.

As Iran's economy struggles and political and social freedoms remain limited, many are disenchanted with a system in which unelected clerics have the last word and use religion to justify their decisions. VPR's Steve Zind reports from Iran.

2003 Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has never been a favorite of the authorities in her country. But in the past six weeks she's come under increasing pressure from both the government and its supporters.

VPR's Susan Keese speaks with filmakers Lisa Merton and Alan Dater about their film "Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai"

Host Jane Lindholm talks with Bill Ryerson of the Population Media Center, a Shelburne-based non-profit that is getting results with its pop culture approach to important problems.

Jane Lindholm talks with Tseming Yang about the Partnership for Environmental Law in China, and why they're sending Chinese lawyers to Vermont to study the best ways to enforce environmental laws at home.