• by Ray Schultz , November 26, 2023

Stowe, Vermont has paid $20,000 to cover the legal costs of the Stowe Reporter in its effort to access information on a terminated police officer.  

In July, Judge Daniel Richardson ruled that documents the town of Stowe had sent to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council could not be shielded. 

“The fact that the town contributes material that the Council considers and keeps confidential for its own purpose does not extend this bubble of confidentiality to the Town as originator and supplier,” Richardson wrote, according to the Stowe Reporter. 

The settlement phase concluded earlier this month. 

The town agreed to the settlement with Matthew Byrne, a lawyer who represents the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, owner of the Stowe Reporter and four other northern Vermont weekly newspapers, the VTDigger reports.