WVTK Local & State News October 15, 2010

New England is bracing for a nor'easter that could bring 1-3 inches of rain and strong wind gusts to parts of the six-state region. The National Weather Service says some higher elevations in the Berkshires and southern Vermont could even see a bit of wet snow mixed in during the storm.

Tonight is “The First Annual WVTK Celebrity Wait Night “ to benefit The American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Walk! Please join us at the Farmers Diner here in the Historic Marble Works in Middlebury from 5 – 8:30 PM! Local and Regional Celebrities, including 92-1 WVTK’s Sarah Stone & Bruce Zeman, will be waiting on tables and working hard to earn BIG tips from you that will be donated directly to the American Cancer Society! And it’s not too late to get involved with “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” this Sunday at Dorset Park in South Burlington. Support the WVTK Addison County Striders right now by clicking here!

The UD-3 school board will begin asking the public’s help in formulating one the most difficult budgets ever put together for Middlebury Union Middle School and High School. Plans call for the UD-3 board to draft a 2011-2012 budget that reflects a state-recommended 2-percent decrease in net education spending compared to this year’s budget. The UD-3 meeting is set for 6 PM in the Middlebury Union High School library next Tuesday the 19th.

The Bristol Planning Commission will be making revisions to the town’s zoning regulations over the course of the next eight weeks. Beginning with the next meeting on Tuesday members of the planning commission will review the five downtown zones. Members of the commission will also address the Conservation Zone.

This past Tuesday Students from Leicester Central School, Whiting Elementary School and Sudbury Country School gathered in Leicester to spend an hour inside the National Science Center Mobile Discovery Unit. It’s a semi-trailer truck equipped with a full array of science gadgets including an exhibit demonstrating static electricity.

Vergennes officials and the owner of the Grist Mill Island in the Otter Creek Falls have reached a deal. Both sides hope it will end both an ongoing Development Review Board permit process and Environmental Court case that have lingered for more than two years.

It appears that Lincoln author Louella Bryant’s writing career is beginning to take off with some recent recognition. Premier Book Awards recently named “Full Bloom,” her collection of 14 short stories, the Best Book of the Year in the General Fiction category.

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution has awarded filmmaker Caro Thompson of Walden, VT, its History Medal for her documentary "Champlain: The Lake Between". The film, which premiered on Vermont Public Television as part of the Champlain Quadricentennial, explores the diplomacy and trade between Native nations and Europeans that flourished in the region during the 17th and 18th centuries. Vermont Public Television will re-air "Champlain: The Lake Between" on Monday, October 18, at 10:30 PM.

The Rutland School Board is considering forbidding students from traveling internationally on school trips. The Board is expected to vote on the policy at its meeting November 23rd. Under the new policy, students would not take school trips internationally but exceptions could be made for school partnerships. Members agreed that some international travel for students is dangerous in this day and age.

City officials in Burlington intentionally dumped trash outside of City Hall yesterday for a demonstration of what was truly trash, and what could be recycled or put into composting. It's the city's second annual waste sort, assisted by the Chittenden Solid Waste District. City Hall is hoped to be an example to Chittenden County businesses, where its estimated waste that is thrown away is really only 25-percent trash.

The Attorney General's Office is warning us once again to be on the lookout for scams. There has been a recent spike in wire transfer frauds. The scam works like this ... you get an "official letter" telling you that you've won along with a check for part of the winnings. In order to get the rest, you'll need to wire money to cover some sort of fee.

The Vermont State Police are searching for two "armed and dangerous" men in connection with the shooting of a woman in the town of Charleston. Police say 53-year-old Donelle Morin, of Charleston, was found lying in the road on Vermont Route 5A in Charleston at about 11:10 AM yesterday, suffering from injuries that weren't life-threatening. Police say two male suspects, one white and one African American, fled the scene in a gray, short body Chevrolet Silverado or Dodge Ram pickup truck.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is faulting the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant for poor housekeeping in the 1970s and inadequate checking of underground pipes much more recently. The NRC issued an inspection report on Wednesday calling recent leaks of tritium at the Vernon reactor minor, saying they had posed no threat to the public health and safety.