WVTK Local & State News October 19, 2010

Eric Grenier of Orwell told police he was helping a man named “Rocko” sell cocaine in Rutland Friday night when a gun was fired into an apartment house on Summer Street. But Grenier told state police it was not he but Rocko who fired the gun. He hasn’t been charged in connection with the shooting although he was charged with a pair of misdemeanors after police found a potted marijuana plant in his car and determined he was driving with a suspended license.

Last Friday during a political forum at the Middlebury Inn, Addison County candidates for the Vermont House and Senate shared their views on issues ranging from health care to the future of Vermont Yankee. The forum provided one of the final opportunities candidates had to in front of voters before the Nov. 2 general election. More than 30 people turned out for the event co-hosted by the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and People of Addison County Together.

This Thursday Middlebury College will kick off a weeklong fall symposium that student organizers hope will shine a light on poverty that exists in our own backyard. The symposium, “American Poverty in Context,” will run October 21st to the 29th. It will bring a series of speakers to campus who have been involved in important work related to domestic poverty. Speakers will include members of Project Health, a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide affordable medical care for low-income patients, and others involved with the Vermont Fuel and Food Partnership.

According to Vergennes City Manager Mel Hawley the project to repair the sidewalk and provide handicap access to businesses at the intersection of Main and Green streets should be complete by mid-November. There will be no direct cost to city taxpayers. The project, which will also improve a bus stop and a sidewalk bulb-out at the intersection’s southeast corner, carries a total starting price of about $84,500.

The Addison Gleaners have been out in the fields, picking peppers, root vegetables, Swiss chard and anything else that happens to be left over. The produce that the gleaners pick goes to the food shelf at Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects in Middlebury. The program is in its second year.

Committee members of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission will vote today to approve or deny the town plans for Poultney, Mendon, Killington and Pawlet. They will also discuss two new development projects seeking permits that include an Act 248 application by Beaver Wood Energy and an update on an Act 250 application by Green Mountain Plaza. The commission’s meeting starts at 5 PM in the conference room on the third floor of The Opera House on Merchants Row in Rutland.

A Rutland dental surgeon with a troubled past is facing almost two dozen criminal counts for alleged Medicaid fraud. Dr. Peter B. Gray appeared in Rutland criminal court yesterday where he pleaded innocent to 23 felony counts of making fraudulent claims of service to the Medicaid program. He also denied the state’s charges and pointed to his long history in Rutland as evidence.

Fashion Bug in the Rutland Shopping Plaza is closing by the end of January. A company spokesperson said that Rutland was one of a handful of stores targeted to close this year. She said the Rutland store has been in business 15 years. It has 10 employees who are invited to apply for jobs at the store in Claremont, NH.

The Vermont Folklife Center has launched a web page on Bosnian refugees settled in Vermont. The page, part of the center’s site at vermontfolklifecenter.org, is the first in a series on the experiences of refugees who come to Vermont, titled “New Neighbors.” The site includes research by the center’s archive along with video and photographs.

The death of a woman found in the backyard of her home in Burlington's old North End Monday is now classified as a homicide. An autopsy is scheduled for later today to determine the exact cause of death. Her name has not yet been released, but authorities say a woman in her 50's lived at the home on Park Street.

Lieutenant Governor and Republican nominee for governor Brian Dubie wants his Democratic opponent investigated for possibly violating state elections law. Dubie's campaign says Peter Shumlin's financial disclosure report did not include "in-kind contributions" made by the Vermont Troopers Association.

Vermont's minimum wage will go up next year. The Department of Labor announced yesterday the wage will climb from the current $8.06 an hour to $8.15 an hour beginning on January 1st. For service and tipped employees, the wage goes from $3.91 to $3.95. Vermont's minimum wage is tied to the Consumer Price Index which rose 1.1 percent this year.

A Vermont judge is weighing whether to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at getting information about how criminal investigators use cell phone tracking technology to keep tabs on people and their whereabouts. Washington Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford heard arguments yesterday but didn't immediately render a decision. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the civil suit in March after its public records requests for the information was denied by the state Attorney General's office.

VSAC wants to be able to continue to service loans held by state residents. Changes in federal law mean the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. could get an annual quota of loans to service from across the country and that most Vermont loans would be handled by organizations out of state. The federal Department of Education wants to assign loans randomly as a way to evaluate how well loan servicers perform. The decision could affect about 150 VSAC loan-servicing jobs.

The New York state Public Service Commission wants to sign up 250 households for a new effort to help people monitor their energy usage and cut their utility bills. The households to be selected statewide for the program will have an electricity monitor installed in their homes at no cost. Participants in the Jumpstart NY initiative can see their electrical use in real time. To learn more about the program, visit www.jumpstartNY.org.

A heating oil company in northern New England is enlisting Facebook to engage customers and help distribute $10,000 to nonprofit organizations. Rather than doling the money out, Dead River is asking Facebook users to use clues to find 20 hidden $500 charitable certificates in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.