WVTK Local & State News January 8, 2010

Vermont and New York authorities are now turning their attention to financing the Lake Champlain Bridge project. John Zicconi estimated the total cost at $110 million, a figure that includes the costs of the bridge, the temporary ferry and the ferry’s operating costs. The federal government is expected to pay 80 percent of the costs. Vermont and New York would be responsible for 10 percent each. The bridge costs, Zicconi said, could be spread over three fiscal years. Zicconi said the public can expect the two transportation departments to announce the final choice of design soon after the public comment period closes on Jan. 11. Meanwhile work on the Crown Point Ferry is well under way and on schedule according to the sub-contractor. Workers spend seven days a week and put in at least 12 hour days on the construction site.

As Vermont tries to get its fiscal house in order, Governor Jim Douglas warns the state will nave to trim education spending. In his final State of the State address, Douglas also told lawmakers Vermont needs to beef up job creation and economic development efforts.

Gov. Jim Douglas is also urging Vermont lawmakers to roll back income, capital gains and estate tax increases passed last year. Douglas says the tax changes are prompting some affluent, longtime Vermonters to leave the state, or change their permanent residences to avoid Vermont's tax burdens. He's asking in particular that lawmakers go back to making the first $3.5 million of an estate's value exempt from the tax, up from the $2 million, to which it was lowered last year. He says the lower threshold makes it harder for farmers and small business owners to pass on their properties to their children. He also wants to restore an exemption from the capital gains tax for the first 40 percent of capital gains income.

A Virginia court has taken the same step as a Vermont court, ordering a woman to hand over custody of a 7-year-old girl to the woman's former lesbian partner in Vermont. Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven, and Lisa Mller broke up in 2003 - with Miller renouncing homosexuality and moving to Virginia.

The federal government will help subsidize Vermont's Catamount Health insurance program for low-income residents. Vermont Public Radio reports the decision should save the state millions and marks a change from Bush administration policy that put a lower cap on the subsidy.

Come September, Bennington Police Chief Richard Gauthier says he's planning to retire. Gauthier has spent 30 years on the police force - the last 12 of them as chief. Town officials are hoping to promote his successor from within.