WVTK Local & State News April 6, 2010

Until the end of the school year, traffic pattern changes will be in effect in Middlebury on Court Street, Monroe Street, and Charles Avenue. From approximately 2:45–3:30, on days when Middlebury Union High School is in session, there will be no exit from Monroe Street onto Court Street. Vehicles currently using those streets will be required to find alternate routes.

Police in Rutland are still investigating a hit-and-run from over the weekend. Police said a pedestrian was left lying in the road on North Main Street. According to police, the person had non-life-threatening injuries to the head, face and leg. Anyone with information is asked to call 802-773-1816.

The future of the former Brandon High School is in the Development Review Board's hands. The DRB heard recently from developer Frank Briscoe, who wants a renewal of a permit he was previously issued to convert the building into condominiums. The board has 45 days in which to deliberate and make a decision.

Vermonters will get a chance to speak their minds about some changes to the state budget this week. The Challenges for Change Plan outlines $38-million of potential state savings. The plan comes as lawmakers are trying to close an over $150-million budget gap. The public hearing scheduled for tonight from 5 to 7 at the State House in Montpelier.

A statewide local food summit is planned for Saturday in Rutland. Farmers and food producers will get together with restaurant owners and retailers to talk about ways of getting more local products on Vermonters' plates. Up to 500 people are expected to attend the food summit. It's on Saturday beginning at 9:30 at the Rutland Middle School.

The state says the amount of money drug companies spent on buying gifts for Vermont doctors and hospitals is down. Companies spent nearly $2.6 million on gifts in the year ending last July -- down roughly $400,000 from the year before. The level is expected to drop even more now that a law banning most kinds of gifts has taken effect in the state.

A Vermont man was indicted in a Clinton County Court for allegedly committing a series of burglaries across the North Country early this year. 46-year-old Randy Therrien of Milton pled not guilty to each charge in the 14-count indictment, including 9 felonies. A pretrial conference has been scheduled for May 14.

Burlington's mayor delivered his annual State of the City address. The biggest issue the City Council was waiting for Kiss to bring up last night was Burlington Telecom. Instead the mayor spent the first half of the speech discussing the city's recent accomplishments like how fast the city saw 24 new businesses start in the past year along with 17 more expanding.

After Vermont won federal stimulus money to help create a smart grid system last fall, the Vermont Law School is getting a federal grant to research laying the legal groundwork for updating the power grid. Congressman Peter Welch says the South Royalton School will get $450,000 for the research.

Entergy, the company that owns Vermont Yankee has dropped its plan to spin off the plant in Vernon and a number of other nuclear plants into a separate company. The plan has drawn opposition since it was unveiled nearly two years ago. It comes after New York officials voted to reject the plan late last month.

A 43-year-old Milton woman has been sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison after being convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband so she could collect on his life insurance policy. Police say Rebecca Wetter and her daughter tried to hire a hit man who turned out to be an undercover police officer.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will soon launch its CleanSweepNY program to help business and farm owners properly dispose of pesticides and other chemicals. Collection events will be held in Clinton and Washington counties in early May. CleanSweepNY is not available to homeowners.