Upset over government spending and high taxes, protesters held a modern-day Boston Tea Party.

Public investments in private-sector economic development offer the surest long-term path to prosperity for the approximately 60,000 Vermonters living in poverty, Gov. James Douglas said during a Statehouse summit Monday morning.

As the House Appropriations Committee dealt with its version of the state budget Monday, members of the Save Our State Coalition took to sidewalks and front steps across Vermont, urging lawmakers to oppose cuts to health care and human services proposed by the Douglas Administration.

WPTZ produced a segment about the S.O.S. rally in Middlebury.

Commentator Ron Krupp talks about the hardships facing low-income families and children as food prices rise.

The House Appropriations Committee agreed unanimously Monday on a budget adjustment bill that postpones decisions on social service cuts and relies on more than $50 million in federal stimulus money to cover revenue gaps and spending increases.

A couple hundred or so people gathered at the Statehouse today to protest the proposed budget cuts.

Watch the video about the S.O.S rally.

More than 100 Vermonters protesting Gov. James Douglas’ proposed budget cuts were met with heightened security at the Statehouse on Tuesday.

Read the transcript or link to mp3 audio.

A Democratic lawmaker wants to revive the income tax increase that the late Republican Gov. Richard Snelling persuaded lawmakers to enact to help the state cope with a 1991 financial crisis.

Several hundred Vermonters turned out for candlelight vigils across the state Monday to protest state budget cuts that some fear will hit hardest for children, the elderly, the poor and others who rely on state services.

VPR’s Vermont Edition tackled school funding and Act 60 in two recent shows.

A day after Gov. Jim Douglas called for a wide-ranging round of cuts to the state budget, advocates for groups ranging from children’s services to land conservation said Friday those cuts would be devastating and need to be avoided.