WVTK Local & State News January 11, 2010

Vermont State Police say a snowmobiling accident on a frozen lake has killed a man, his daughter and 3-year-old granddaughter. Police say three snowmobiles carrying six people altogether went through ice on Lake Dunmore near Salisbury at around noon Saturday. Five people went into the water and were later pulled out by rescue crews. A 4-year-old was pushed to safety before the snowmobile he was riding went through the ice. Fifty-year-old Kevin Flynn, of Whiting; 24-year-old Carrie Flynn, of Whiting; and 3-year-old Bryanna Popp of Brandon were pronounced dead at a Middlebury hospital. Carrie Flynn was Bryanna's aunt. Flynn's wife, 47-year-old Terry Flynn, and Bryanna's brother, 6-year-old Jeremiah Popp, survived.

Coast Guard Officials are warning everyone that the ice on our lakes may not be as thick as it looks. The warning comes after Saturday's accident on Lake Dunmore.

500 Vermont National Guard Solders left yesterday morning for a yearlong deployment. The guard members will stop at Camp Atterbury in Indiana before heading overseas. The Afghanistan deployment amounts to one-half of the entire Vermont Army Guard. And the ones who were chosen come from every sector of the organization.

A bill making its way though the Vermont legislature could make it mandatory for Vermont Hunters to were fluorescent orange or blaze orange while hunting. It’s a law that 40 other states have already adopted. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department say 4 or 5 of the deaths in the last decade might have been prevented if the victims had been wearing orange.

South Burlington police are looking for a woman they say robbed a shopper in the Shaws Supermarket on Shelburne Road. Investigators say an unknown woman just before 6:30 Saturday Night snuck up behind the shopper and grabbed her purse. The suspect then ran out the store and down Farrell Street.

Police have arrested a Vermont woman for allegedly selling morphine pills. Police say 26-year-old Michelle Cora Ricketts of Rutland also was found Tuesday with two bags of heroin, a crack pipe and a syringe. Ricketts, who police said was wanted on an active arrest warrant, was brought to Marble Valley Correctional Center.

Vermont utility regulators have ordered the Vermont Community Wind Farm to remove a meteorological test tower from a Clarendon peak and pay a $6,000 fine. Wind Farm spokesman Jeff Wennberg says they're disappointed, but will comply with the order.

General Electric Aviation in Rutland has been awarded $11.9 million in tax credits to manufacture a cleaner, energy efficient aircraft engine. The award was part of $2.3 billion in tax credits given to 183 projects around the country. The money will come from last year's $787 billion stimulus program.

What would you do with some extra cash? The U.S. Census Bureau is looking for hundreds of temporary workers to help count everyone in Vermont in 2010.

Most of the jobs are for people who will work in the field earning $13.50 an hour. 
To apply for work, applicants must take a 30-minute multiple-choice test. Anyone interested in taking a test can call (866) 861-2010 toll free or 264-0860 to make an appointment.

Vermont's newest federal judge is on the job. Christina Reiss was sworn in Friday in U.S. District Court in Rutland. She is the state's 19th federal judge and the first woman to hold the position. She previously served as a state judge.

Jury selection begins Monday in the second trial of a Vermont orthopedic surgeon accused of molesting a patient. A jury failed to reach a verdict in Dr. Joseph Abate's first trial last May. Abate, of Colchester, is charged with sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct.

Authorities say both drivers were killed in a two-vehicle crash in Burlington Sunday afternoon. Police say there is no indication that speed or road conditions caused the crash or that drugs or alcohol played a role. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The Saranac Central School Board will be asking voters to approve a nearly 18-Million-Dollar capital improvement project. They say roughly 80 percent of the project is energy and technology related. They add the heating system is nearly 50-years-old at the schools. There will be a public meeting on January 26 at 6 PM in the Middle/High School Gym.

A woman who contracted Legionnaires' disease after staying at a Vermont hotel in 2008 has been awarded about $490,000 by a jury. Fifth-7-year-old Gail Stevens of Bennington says she's pleased with the amount. She stayed at the Cortina Inn in March 2008. The owners did not respond to the complaint.