WVTK Local & State News April 19, 2010

A Brandon man is facing a felony charge for allegedly using counterfeit bills to pay for illegal drugs. Police say 30-year-old Jeffrey Preseau printed fake money to buy OxyContin from a man who had been selling pills to him for years. Preseau pled innocent in court. He faces 14-years if convicted for making counterfeit money.

Police in South Burlington are still looking for the man that robbed the Chittenden Bank Branch on Dorset Street. The suspect entered the bank just after 11 AM Saturday morning, waited about 5 minutes, then handed the teller a note demanding money. Police say the man, who claimed to be armed, got away with an undisclosed amount of money.

The Adirondack Park Agency has granted a permit for the new Crown Point Bridge. The new bridge will have two 11-foot travel lanes with five-foot shoulders on either side and two five-foot sidewalks for pedestrian traffic. A public presentation on design features of the new bridge is being planned for sometime in May. Construction on the new bridge will likely start in 2 months.

State officials are warning families of solders deployed to Afghanistan about a phone hoax. According to guard officials, at least 3 families have gotten calls at night from an unidentified woman saying that she is sorry that their soldier has been wounded in Afghanistan. The guard says that the protocol is for the family to be contacted by the solder or someone close to him or her.

The Census Bureau says so far, 61 to 66 percent of Vermonters have returned their census forms. That compares with the national average rate of 69 percent. In 2000, about 65 percent of Vermont residents mailed in their forms.

Police in Barre are looking for a man who robbed a convenience store this past weekend. Police say the robber walked into a Cumberland Farms on South Main Street with a handgun. He demanded cash and a carton of cigarettes. The robber's described as being about 5 feet 6 inches tall with blue eyes and bad acne, and was last seen wearing a hooded sweat shirt.

An argument over a loose dog turned violent in Ticonderoga last week. Police say 41-year-old Matthew Peters shot at his neighbor with a 22-caliber rifle several times Thursday after he became angry his neighbor's dog was loose. Peters said the dog was agitating his pets. No one was injured in the shooting. Peters is being held on $15,000 dollars bail.

Vermont's unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point in March to 6.5-percent. Unemployment rates for Vermont's 17 labor market areas ranged from 5.2-percent in Hartford to 11.3-percent in Newport. But for one town, its much higher. The unemployment rate in Pittsfield has hovered around 20-percent for the past 3 months.

More than 400 people completed in the first ever City of Plattsburgh Half Marathon. The 13.5-mile run yesterday morning, to benefit the Fox Foundation, raising more than $25,000 for Parkinson’s disease in the process. 22-year-old Logan Franks of Plattsburgh was the first to finish. Coming in at fifth overall, but first for the women’s category, was 33-year-old Sara Facteau from Peru.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning an open house and public meeting today in Brattleboro on the recent leaks at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The open house will take place from 1 to 4 and 5 to 6 in the cafeteria of the Brattleboro Union High School. A more formal meeting will be held from 6 to 9 PM in the auditorium of the high school.

Police in Burlington are investigating a hit and run that left a bicyclists with a fractured shoulder and some scraps and bruises. Police said a silver Ford pickup truck sideswiped the woman as she approached the intersection of South Union and Buell Streets. Police said she was legally in the bicycle lane.