Each weekday, Seven Days scans the news across the Vermont media landscape to find the smartest, best and most compelling stories. We bundle them up in an email and send them out to our subscribers early each afternoon. It's called the Daily 7.

So which Vermont news stories are you reading? And which should you be reading? Here are the stories you clicked on most from this week's editions of the Daily 7:

Lesbian Couple Sues Town for Discrimination, Intimidation
By David Charns, WPTZ — Wednesday, March 5

A couple in Addison says neighbors and town officials have harassed and discriminated against them because they're lesbians.

CCTA to Shut Down All But Two Routes Monday — If Drivers Strike
By Mark Davis, Seven Days Off Message — Thursday, March 6

Two commuter routes will run on a limited schedule if CCTA drivers go on strike Monday. All others would stop operating.

School Budgets In Larger Communities Defeated
By John Dillon, Vermont Public Radio — Tuesday, March 4

An unusually high number of cities and towns rejected school budgets on Town Meeting Day this year. Burlington's failure was the first in more than a decade.

18 Dead Animals Found at Santa's Land
By Howard Weiss-Tisman, Brattleboro Reformer — Monday, March 3

The owner and animal caretaker of the Santa's Land theme park in Putney were both cited for animal cruelty after sheriff's deputies found 16 deer, a pheasant and a pig dead on the park property.

Heroin Scourge Overtakes a ‘Quaint’ Vermont Town
By Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times — Wednesday, March 5

Vermont's heroin problem arguably looks most dire in Bennington, where police say baggies have been found in school hallways.
 

The Shopkeeper Who Rescued Soloman Northup in '12 Years a Slave' Was a Middlebury Graduate
By Xian Chiang-Waren, Seven Days Live Culture — Friday, February 28

In the real-life story that inspired Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave, the man who rescued a black man illegally sold into slavery was a member of the Middlebury College class of 1829.

Bernie 'Prepared' for Possible Presidential Run
By Mark Davis, Seven Days Off Message — Thursday, March 6

Bernie-watch 2016: Sen. Bernie Sanders told the Nation that he is "prepared to run for president of the United States," though he still hasn't officially announced anything.