WVTK Local & State News June 3, 2010

Fair Haven Police say 2 juveniles stole a car and went on a joy ride to Brandon. According to investigators, an 11-year-old male and a 12-year-old female saw the keys in the ignition of an SUV on Memorial Day and decided to take it. At one point, the kids met up with 18-year-old Monica Doyle. Police say Doyle stole items in the vehicle and later slashed the tires.

An 8-member commission, set up by the Vermont Board of Education, is looking at how the state might consolidate school districts. Officials say merging some of the 280 districts will provide more opportunities for students and cut costs. The commission will meet throughout the summer and present its recommendations to the board in the fall.

Lowe's and Kobalt Tools in partnership with SkillsUSA are helping the next generation of trade professionals develop their skills at Champlain Tec in Mineville through their Toolbox for Education program. Lowe's is donating approximately $1,100 worth of Kobalt tools to the school as part of the national program.

Police in Fair Haven say they have arrested four people who they are investigating in relation to a long string of local burglaries including stealing tires and wheels from a Grape Street home. 
The series of burglaries drove the Select Board to offer a $500 reward last month for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the burglars. While no one received the $500 reward in this arrest someone could still claim the reward by providing information tying any of the four to other burglaries, or other burglars.

Killington and communities along Routes 4 and 100 are seeking official designations of the roads as "scenic byways" by the end of the year. The program manager for Vermont Byways said that while it takes a great deal of local support, the odds are good for at least one of the roads. The program is designed to encourage towns to work together to promote their scenic, historical, recreational, cultural, archeological and natural qualities.

Authorities say there were no fatal traffic accidents through the Memorial Day Weekend. During the 4-day period from May 28 though May 31, there was 41 crashes, none with any fatalities, 98 seat belt violations and 814 speeding violations. Police were out in force to remind people to wear seat belts during the annual Click-It or Ticket Campaign, which runs through June 6.

A group of Vermont Air National Guard Solders is coming home today after spending the last month helping in Haiti. The unit just finished dismantling a number of temporary bases set up to get humanitarian aid into the country after the earthquakes this past January. The group is scheduled to arrive in Burlington this morning.

With school almost out for the summer, a number of construction projects are getting started at schools in the Plattsburgh area. At Bailey Elementary, crews are putting in a new entryway to increase security. The same will happen at Oak Street and Momot Elementary and Stafford Middle School. All the work is being paid for with state grant money.

With the state budget already more than 2 months late, Governor David Patterson said, starting Friday, he will include some of his cuts to the budget in the emergency spending bills he sends to the Legislature. Lawmakers each week must pass the emergency spending measures or risk shutting down Albany.

Under a settlement reached with State Regulators, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont will repay subscribers $3-Million. The settlement follows a state probe into the $7-Million retirement package given to former CEO William Milnes. The company also agreed to work with the state to identify strategies for holding down health care costs.

Thirty-eight communities around Vermont will benefit from municipal planning grants awarded by Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development. Grants of up to $15,000 for each community are designed to help local leaders plan for growth and development.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas plans to sign into a law a bill aimed at streamlining the state's judicial system. The resulting bill calls for consolidation of staff, regionalization of court administrative functions, use of technology to reduce unnecessary expenditures, improvement of resource flexibility, and reallocation of jurisdiction between courts. The measure will enable courts to remain open in all 14 Vermont counties, something that earlier versions of the bill did not do.

New York lawmakers have passed bills to require overtime pay for more than 200,000 housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers in the state. Overtime pay will be required after eight-hour workdays and the workers will entitled to at least one day off a week. Differences still need to be worked out between the House and Senate versions of the bills, but if the Governor ultimately signs the bill, advocates say New York will become the first state establishing those rights for household workers.

Fort Ticonderoga and The King's Garden invite guests from around the North Country to visit free of charge this Saturday. "Neighbor Appreciation Day" is an opportunity to see exhibits, experience programming and take tours. Local residents have always been admitted free of charge to Fort Ticonderoga and the King's Garden for the regular programming, but for this special day the area is expanded to include those who live in Essex, Clinton, Washington, and Warren counties in New York; and Addison, Chittenden and Rutland counties in Vermont.

Two men who allegedly set fire to a generator and lawn mower in Ticonderoga were apprehended after a search through woods at the base of Mount Defiance. Nathan Thatcher and Jonathan Paquette both of Ticonderoga were each charged with two counts of fifth-degree arson, two counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief and criminal trespass. Thatcher and Paquette are due back in court June 9.

The Vermont Bike Ferry is expanding its services. Local Motion, the group that runs the ferry that connects the bike path from Colchester to South Hero, has announced that this year they will be running during the weekends from July 3 though September 6. In the past, it was only available weekends in August. Also this year, the suggested donation for a round trip is $10.

The Plattsburgh City Beach is once again closed. The Clinton County Health Department says it's a violation of state law to have gates open with no staff. With the warm temperatures last week, the city had opened the beach gates and was treating the area like a park, people could enjoy the sand and picnic areas, but the water was off limits. The beach will officially open on June 23.

An inmate who escaped from Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility last fall will remain behind bars for another 2 to 4 years. Scott Atkins was sentenced yesterday in Clinton County Court. Adkins had served less than a year of his 4-year sentence for attempted burglary when he slipped out of the prison last August.

Officials are concerned about the spread of the invasive species in Vermont's waterways known as Rock Snot. Its real name is Didymo, and it was just spotted in the Gihon River in East Johnson. Rock snot can cover the bottom of a river and disrupt the aquatic life. In three years, it has shown up in the Lake Champlain Basin, also the Connecticut River, the Mad River, and now the Gihon.