WVTK Local & State News December 18, 2009

Transportation officials have set a tentative date for the demolition of the Champlain Bridge for next Wednesday, Dec. 23 at 10 a.m. Some permits and preparations still need to be finalized. The demolition crew will detonate the bridge in short segments, and then spend the winter picking up the pieces that fall into the lake. Though not encouraged, it is a public roadway and there will be viewing sites along Route 125. Both Routes 125 and 117 will be limited to one-way traffic on the day of the demolition.

The daughter of an elderly Westford woman will stay jailed without bail in her 2006 killing. State police say Jeanne Sevigny killed Mary Wilcox, burned Wilcox's body and then had the victim's grandson get rid of the remains. Sevigny's lawyer claims the shooting death was an accident.

Parts of northern New England are among the places to go for people with their hearts set on a white Christmas. federal climate researchers say New Hampshire's Pinkham Notch has a 95 percent change of show for December 25th - while St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and Caribou, Maine, also are at the top of the list.

The state's highest court is hearing a dispute over the 2003 shooting of a dog. The Supreme Court is considering whether Denis and Sarah Scheele (SHEE'-lee) of Maryland can collect damages after Northfield man Lewis Dustin shot the animal after it wandered onto his property.

A Vermont man has been ordered held on $100,000 bail after a traffic stop on Interstate 91 that turned into a drug bust. State police say they found three kilograms of cocaine in a hidden compartment of Essex Junction man Scott White's car in the Tuesday stop.

Police in St. Johnsbury are investigating a bank robbery. Authorities say a man demanded money from a clerk at the Community National Bank yesterday and then ran away. Officials have surveillance images of the suspect who drove off in a dark colored Saturn station wagon and discarded his clothing on a street.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders says the United States Department of Agriculture has started to process emergency payments to dairy farmers who have struggled with low milk prices. The Vermont independent sponsored an amendment that added the funds to the agriculture appropriations. Eligible farmers should soon receive the funding.

Vermont State Police say a 78-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who was reported missing in 2006 was killed by her daughter, who then burned her body and had the victim's grandson dispose of it. Jeanne Sevigny of Westford was held without bail yesterday in the death of Mary Wilcox, who had been living with her daughter.

The first stretch of frigid weather is filling Central Vermont's only homeless shelter to capacity. The 20-bed Good Samaritan Haven in Barre is housing its overflow at the Hedding United Methodist Church. Hedding Pastor, the Rev. Ralph Howe, says the shelter and the church are in dire need of volunteers to oversee the homeless clientele.