WVTK Local & State News December 15, 2009

University of Vermont researchers are getting more than $20 million of federal stimulus funding for some 54 research projects. The Burlington Free Press reports UVM's College of Medicine along has received more than $12 million for 38 different projects, with more funding also considered likely.

Vermont's attorney general is seeking information from dairy farmers about allegations of antitrust activity by dairy processors.The move comes after a group of dairy farmers sued Dairy Farmers of America and Dean Foods Co. in October, claiming they monopolized the market into which farmers sell milk and fixed prices.

State Rep. Peg Flory is moving to the state Senate. Gov. Jim Douglas yesterday appointed the Pittsford lawmaker to succeed state Sen. Hull Maynard, who retired last month.Flory, a lawyer, served on the House Judiciary Committee in Montpelier for two years. She will assume Maynard's seat when the Legislature convenes in 2010.

Officials with a Rutland county school district, the Rutland South Supervisory Union, say they don't know the origin of a forgotten bank account they were reminded of recently. The bank account started in the early 1980s held $15,000. At a meeting last month the district board voted to close the account and put the money into an active account.

Seven firms are competing to appraise the value of 8 hydroelectric dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in Vermont and New Hampshire. The Vermont Legislature appropriated $200,000 to appraise the dams owned by TransCanada Hydro Northeast to help small cash-strapped towns determine the dams' value for tax purposes.