Olivia Gieger

Vermont Blue Advantage will not sell plans at all in 2026 - VTDigger The Medicare Advantage plans sold by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont will not be available for employers who provide retiree benefits or on the individual market.

Taking a look at how the national instability of Medicare Advantage is hitting close to home for Vermonters @vtdigger.bsky.social

vtdigger.org/2025/10/13/v...

What's in the Senate Version of Trump's Big Policy Bill? (Gift Article) The legislation includes tax cuts as well as big cuts to Medicaid, food benefits and other programs, and it would add more than $3 trillion to the national debt.

Well worth reading this entire list (if you can bear it):

ICYMI, I wrote about how Vermont officials are weighing a world without FEMA. TLDR, it doesn't look good for the brave little state:

vtdigger.org/2025/05/29/w...

Good News About Beech Leaf Disease The city’s forests may be in trouble, but scientists have developed some ingenious ways to save them.

"If you were to blindfold naturalists from New England and take them into some of the forests in Queens, they might think they were back home, as opposed to mere yards from Grand Central Parkway" -- What a wonderful look at NYC's urban forests in @nymag.com

www.curbed.com/article/beec...

Forced to relocate by climate change, Alaskan villagers found a new crisis The relocation highlights America’s failure to prepare for the ways climate change is making some places uninhabitable.

A story about arctic relocation and institutions' failure to provide for people who have been failed time and time again by the US gov -- a really essential read as the reality of relocation comes into finer focus for many coastal communities

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Copley Hospital weighs closing its birthing center amid statewide effort to curb health care costs - VTDigger Community members and staff advocate against losing the midwife-led center they say is a pillar of the region.

One of my favorite pieces for @vtdigger.bsky.social -- on the true costs of rural healthcare & on what one community stands to lose with the closure of a midwife-led birthing center:

vtdigger.org/2025/06/02/c...

Vermont’s Climate Superfund Faces First Legal Challenge from Fossil Fuel Interests - Inside Climate News The suit will likely take years to play out, but its arguments could affect how similar bills in other states proceed.

The DOJ suit is still fresh, but it pulls on many similar arguments that the American Petroleum Institute and US Chamber of Commerce are using in their own challenge to the VT superfund law, which I unpacked in more detail in January & you can read here

insideclimatenews.org/news/2501202...

Trump takes Vermont’s climate superfund law to court - VTDigger Following an Executive Order, the Justice Department has filed a complaint against the state’s climate superfund, among a suite of suits against other state climate actions.

Yesterday the DOJ challenged both New York and Vermont's climate superfund lawsuits in federal court. It's a move that proponents of the law have long been expecting. Now they're gearing up: vtdigger.org/2025/05/01/t...

We Can't Kill Our Way Out of a Problem • The Revelator As ecologists debate what to do about “invasive” swans in New York City, volunteers fight to keep them alive.

a great read about what happens when we manufacture environments and then dictate what is native to it or not --
therevelator.org/invasive-swa...

A conference of twin crises At the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference, one question reigned: How do you cover an existential threat when your industry is facing an existential threat of its own?

such a lovely piece by @neeldhanesha.com about how the ethos that guides our response to climate change can be the same ethos that saves the industry reporting on it.
(and about how good things happen when journalists go drinking together)
www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/a-co...

FEMA ended a grant program designed to help communities prevent disaster damages. Here’s where that leaves Vermont.   - VTDigger While some projects can move forward, more recent proposals are left seeking other sources of funding.

A big one today -- on the end of FEMA's BRIC program and where that leaves Vermonters looking for ways to prepare for the worst and prevent further damage from future floods and disasters

vtdigger.org/2025/04/23/f...

Planting Trees in Minnesota Is Harder Than It Sounds As climate change threatens trees across the state, foresters have a plan. The missing piece? Seed collectors.

Minnesota's forests are changing fast. Development and climate change are pushing them to the brink. Scientists predict that the northern part of the state will soon feel like the southern part, which is why researchers are collecting seeds to reforest the region.

Lakes Region Restoration Project Aims to Link Conservation Lands From Maine to New Hampshire - Inside Climate News Conservationists and a logging company will work together to protect Maine’s Magalloway River ecosystem, which offers a rich habitat for brook trout and wildlife.

Plus, check out my story on climate corridors and miles and miles of undeveloped wilderness in Western Maine -- come for the photos, stay for the trout and tales of 1800s logging practices

insideclimatenews.org/news/1304202...

Trump executive order targets Vermont’s first-in-the-nation ‘climate superfund’  - VTDigger As it stands, the order does not require Vermont officials to change course on implementing the law.

ICYMI -- Last week, Trump signed an executive order targeting state climate laws, including VT's landmark superfund. What that changes, for now, is not much, the state AG told me last week.

Read about what changes - and what stays the same - here

vtdigger.org/2025/04/09/t...

Gov. Phil Scott and New England governors explore cutting-edge nuclear technology - VTDigger Vermont law sets out a path to phase out nuclear power entirely in the next decade, but the Scott administration sees small nuclear reactors as a promising new source of carbon-free electricity.

Have you heard of Small Nuclear Reactors? Neither had I.

But I suspect you + I both will hear about them a lot more, as renewables face more obstacles and states like VT strive for low-carbon energy.

My latest on New England on the precipice of this nuclear tech
vtdigger.org/2025/04/01/g...

State and municipal forestry projects in limbo after Trump administration freezes funding - VTDigger The suspension of grants comes as threats to forest health increase.

My latest for @vtdigger.bsky.social on just how much is at stake for Vermont's forests with cuts to federal grant funding

vtdigger.org/2025/03/24/f...

‘My career is over’: Columbia University scientists hit hard by Trump team’s cuts The US government has begun slashing US$400 million in research grants at Columbia University over pro-Palestinian campus protests.

🚨This week, many Columbia scientists lost grants that funded over half their annual income. Others will no longer be able to do research that helps treat thousands of sick patients across the US.

"It hurts," they told me.

My story for @nature.com 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

some much-needed, even-keeled wisdom for navigating whiplash

New York Climate Superfund Becomes Law - Inside Climate News The state’s legislation is the second in a growing coalition of Northeast states requiring polluters pay for climate damages. Big Oil is already fighting back.

My latest for @insideclimatenews.org on how New York's passage of a climate superfund is fueling a growing trend of polluters-pay climate legislation

insideclimatenews.org/news/1101202...

really lovely piece about a fascinating land agreement from @chloewilliams.bsky.social

opening the @hels.bsky.social gift guide every year is every bit as exciting as opening up gifts themselves on Christmas

Making the overdue pivot to Bluesky, and what better way to do so than to share my most recent piece about a massive tribal land return in the far reaches of Maine. Check it out in @insideclimatenews.org

insideclimatenews.org/news/1711202...

@kanakarajanphd.bsky.social sat down with @oliviagieger.bsky.social to discuss how art can help explain complex ideas without diluting the science.

www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...

Ketamine targets lateral habenula, setting off cascade of antidepressant effects The drug’s affinity for overactive cells in the “anti-reward” region may help explain its rapid and long-lasting results.

Ketamine's affinity for overactive cells in the “anti-reward” region may help explain its rapid and long-lasting results.

By @oliviagieger.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/ketamine/ket...

Seeing research through a new lens: Q&A with Pei Yuan Zhang When she’s not in the lab, the cognitive scientist films documentaries that challenge her love of data and order.

@oliviagieger.bsky.social sits down with Pei Yuan Zhang to discuss life outside the lab, which for Zhang includes filming documentaries that challenge her love of data and order.

www.thetransmitter.org/craft-and-ca...