A couple that had never had kids or pets adopts a puppy and records an audio diary of the first seven months of that new and often difficult experience. Plus, Zoie Saunders is confirmed as Vermont’s Secretary of Education, both Vermont’s US senators say they’ll vote against a short-term budget bill Republicans passed in the House this week, a St. Michael’s College professor is trying to capture images of bobcats and other mountain cats in urban and suburban areas of the state, president Trump taps a six-tern New Hampshire lawmaker to head up New England’s FEMA office, a nearly 500-acre parcel of private land in Wallingford has been conserved as federal land, and the UVM women’s basketball team has a chance to get to the NCAA tournament when they tip off against the Great Danes in Albany.

Programs that provide support for older Vermonters and their caregivers could be at risk due to proposed federal cuts to Medicaid. Plus, the Trump administration shutters a nationwide program that provided local food for schools and food shelves, GE Areospace invests in Rutland, the Vermont Senate gives initial approval to more restrictions on social media for kids, a call for state lawmakers to take action against bullying in schools after a Vermont teenager’s suicide last year, and the Essex Westford School Board announces the district's next superintendent.

The board members of a small community hospital in Morrisville face a difficult decision on whether to close its birthing center. Plus, Middlebury College is among 60 universities under threat of enforcement for allegedly failing to protect Jewish students on campus, Ripton elementary school is losing its kindergarten and first grade classes, the Scott administration warns volatility in Washington makes it hard to predict Vermont’s future economic health despite current strong revenues, the Department of Public safety seeks input regarding a new report suggesting changes to how emergency dispatch calls are handled, and Vermont now has its first official Animal Welfare Director.