WVTK Local & State News March 17, 2010

The residents of Port Henry have voted to stay Port Henry. Voters went to the polls yesterday answering the question as to whether or no the Village of Port Henry should dissolve. The 186 to 146 vote means the Village of Port Henry will remain as a municipality and the issue of dissolution cannot be brought back for another vote for two years.

The Vermont Department of Education is apologizing for putting two schools in our area on the list of "persistently low achieving schools". The department says a calculation error put both Otter Valley Union High School and Bridport Elementary School on the list. Instead, the list now includes the St. Johnsbury School and Lamoille Union High School.

The Vermont House has passed a bill containing a number of new driving laws. The bill mandates the use of hands-free cell phones while driving, banning texting and putting a curfew on young drivers. The bill also includes a primary seatbelt law. The bill now moves on to the Senate were they have approved a ban on texting while driving but none of the other provisions.

New Yorkers have a new tool for tracking sex offenders in their communities. A state system, set up under a law passed last year, lets residents sign up for alerts by phone, e-mail, text message or fax, when moderate and high-risk sex offenders move into or out of their town. The alerts are carried out by the State Emergency Management Services system.

The Hinesburg Selectboard voted unanimously to dismiss Police Chief Chris Morrell. A lengthy arbitration report concludes the chief refused to accept or put into place a second supervisory position that the Selectboard approved four years ago. The termination ended nearly a year of legal moves, including the chief being suspended from his duties. He was put on paid leave in April last year due to performance and low morale issues. That leave was changed to unpaid last September. Morrell has served as chief of Hinesburg police since 1994. Deputy Chief Fred Silber is currently running the department.

Governor David Paterson has temporarily halted income tax refund checks. The last round of refund checks were sent out last Friday. No more are scheduled to be sent until April 1. Budget officials say approximately $500 million is being delayed in order to get the state through the cash flow crunch.

Milk prices for farmers are falling again and Vermont is joining with other states in the Northeast to ask for help from the federal government. Farmers now get about $15 dollars for pounds of milk. The break-even point is about $18. Last year, 50 farms went out of business in Vermont. The price supports they’re looking for could help stabilize falling milk prices.

Burton snowboards will no longer be made in Vermont. The company says it is closing its manufacturing facility in South Burlington because of the high cost of doing business in the state. 43 jobs are at stake as Burton moves all of its snowboard manufacturing overseas to Austria. The research and development will move to the headquarters in Burlington.

New York State Police say a Saranac High School student has been expelled and put in a local hospital's mental health unit after planning an attack at the school. The student, whose name has not been released, made remarks to a number of other students about the attack. Authorities are still investigating the incident.

The ACLU of Vermont is suing the state after unsuccessfully seeking to find out whether police agencies are using cell phone tracking technology to keep tabs on people's whereabouts. The state Attorney General refused public records requests by the ACLU seeking information about the practice, saying that information is exempt from public records statutes.

In an effort to save taxpayers money and adjust to a declining inmate population, the Department of Corrections will be shutting down 22 housing units located in 17 prisons around the state. Some of the housing units being closed are at prisons in Malone, Altona, and Ray Brook. In the last decade, officials say, the inmate population has dropped almost 20 percent.

Vermont Senate leaders want to crack down on high fees and others costs imposed on small merchants by credit card companies. Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin joined three of his colleagues and merchants in announcing an amendment to a bill on credit card fees. The bill would allow merchants to set a minimum or maximum for credit card purchases and offer discounts for cash payments.