For decades, Vermont Yankee, a nuclear power plant in Vernon, was the largest producer of electricity for the state.

The plant has been shut down since 2014, and the company that now owns it is in the process of deconstructing it. That company, NorthStar, has recently submitted a plan that describes in detail the final steps of decommissioning, which is projected to be completed ahead of schedule, by 2026.

However, national developments mean that radioactive spent fuel on the site is likely to stay where it is for the foreseeable future.

Host Sam Gale Rosen spoke to VTDigger environmental reporter Emma Cotton, who has been covering the decommissioning process.

Edi Abeneto is food shelf supervisor at Feeding Chittenden, a Burlington-based nonprofit that focuses on hunger relief and serves more than 12,000 people every year. 

Abeneto has worked at the organization for more than 17 years. He speaks six languages, and among other duties, he facilitates communication and provides interpretation for visitors from a wide range of backgrounds.

Over time, he said he’s built up trust with visitors that help him connect them to whatever help they need. 

“I was able to break down the barriers to food access, you know, and while building trust and communication with the new Americans,” Abeneto said. “So every time they see me here, I can say, be more comfortable because I speak the languages, you know, I give them more information about what we're doing.

Host Sam Gale Rosen talked to Abeneto about some of what his work involves.

Managing big emotions is hard for adults, so what must it be like if you’re 3 feet tall and still in diapers? Anyone who’s been around kids knows how they can get overwhelmed by big emotional reactions. Those can run the gamut from despair to rage to laughing fits, sometimes within the same five-minute period.

So, how can you teach kids to manage emotions in a healthy way? Especially if you’re still figuring it out yourself?

Deeper Dig host Sam Gale Rosen talks about this with Alyssa Blask Campbell, a Burlington-based expert on parenting, education and child development. She’s the CEO of Seed & Sew, which serves parents, teachers and caregivers with tools for mental wellness and building emotional intelligence. She also hosts the podcast “Voices of Your Village.”

Her new book, written with Lauren Elizabeth Stauble, is called “Tiny Humans, Big Emotions: How to Navigate Tantrums, Meltdowns, and Defiance to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children.”