Monday, February 8, 2010

WVTK Local & State News February 8, 2010

The Addison County Green Energy Expo will jump on the local food bandwagon this year. In addition to booths and workshops on green building, living off the grid, and alternative energy sources, organizers say they plan to fill the cafeteria of Middlebury Union High School with exhibits by local farmers and food producers. The event, sponsored by the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, the Addison County Relocalization Network and several other local organizations, takes place March 13.

The Ilsley Public Library is inviting people to talk about civil liberties over lunch. Starting Feb. 17 and running through May, the library will host discussions on the third Wednesday of the month. Each will focus on a different book, from novels to a treatise on the Bill of Rights.

Police in Burlington are asking federal authorities to help investigate whether two massage parlors where violent sexual assaults took place might be part of a network that exploits women who are in the country illegally. A Burlington man is charged with assaulting Korean women at the two parlors.

The Putney Historical Society has already raised $720,000 to rebuild the Putney General Store. The Society bought the store after it was burned in a 2008 fire. It was then destroyed by an arson last November. No arrests have been made in the arson case.

Two schools in Vermont are among the colleges and universities that produced a high number of Peace Corps volunteers last year. The University of Vermont came in 13th among medium-sized schools. Middlebury College ranked third among small schools.

Plans for downtown development in South Burlington have received a boost from the Vermont Downtown Board. The Board approved the city's application as a New Town Center, allowing the city to seek Tax Increment Financing for property being developed around Market Street.

A student leader at the University of Vermont says students can't abide more tuition and fee increases. Ash, vice president of the Student Government Association, spoke at a trustees meeting Friday. She says students understand the economic model that focused on both high tuition and high financial aid, but students are no longer willing to keep spending more to get more.

Nuclear power will be the topic of a debate at the University of Vermont. William Tucker, author of "Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution" and "End America's Energy Odyssey" will argue on Monday in favor of increased use of nuclear power. Arguing against it will be Tyson Theron Slocus, director of the group Public Citizen's energy program.

The Vermont attorney general says a Mount Tabor man has been sentenced to two years of probation and must pay $29,000 in cleanup costs for illegally burying 23 55-gallon drums of hazardous materials including waste oil on his property. David B. McLellan was sentenced on Thursday after being convicted of 3 felonies.

A plan to add more flights between New York's Plattsburgh International Airport and Boston could mean a loss of customers for Vermont's Burlington International Airport. Plattsburgh is poised to receive $2.1 million in federal subsidies to begin flying 34-passenger turboprops between Boston and Plattsburgh up to three times a day in the coming months.