WVTK Local & State News October 21, 2010

In final preparation for the opening of the Cross Street Bridge parking lot paving and marking will take place tomorrow in the lower lot behind the library and on Monday in the upper lot. The lower parking lot will receive a base course of pavement on Friday and the upper lot directly behind Ilsley Library will be paved, marked and restored to full service. The lot will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

A Rutland oral surgeon has been charged with fraudulently billing Vermont Medicaid after wrongly diagnosing patients and for services he didn't provide. Dr. Peter B. Gray pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 23 felony counts of Medicaid fraud. Prosecutors say Gray faces fines of up to $1,000 or twice the amount of Medicaid payments obtained, or up to ten years in prison, or both, if convicted.

The Rutland Redevelopment Authority wants another $120,000 a year and an office in City Hall. The requests were part of a reorganization plan for the group that was outlined to the Community and Economic Development Committee yesterday. The committee took no action, but the aldermen present had generally favorable reactions. The proposal came out of eight months of discussions with groups including multiple levels of city government.

Vermont State Police say they've charged a former Ira town treasurer with embezzling more than $400,000. 58 year-old Donald Hewitt was charged Wednesday with embezzlement and cited into court Dec. 13. Ira officials noticed discrepancies in school and town accounts.

Police say the car of a Vermont woman killed in her Burlington home was found 60 miles away in Hancock. Burlington police said Wednesday that an autopsy determined that 50-year-old Kathleen Smith was killed sometime between Thursday and Saturday but did not release the cause of death. Police say investigators do not know if Smith knew her killer or if there is a risk to the community. The U.S. Marshal's Service has joined the investigation.

The 90th annual meeting of the Associated Industries of Vermont was held in Montpelier yesterday. Hundreds of the state's business leaders and manufacturers came together to discuss economic issues effecting Vermont's future in business, specifically the manufacturing sector. One hot topic was the organization's desire to relicense Vermont Yankee if the nuclear plant is found to be in compliance with regulations.

The budget and costs to ratepayers for Vermont's statewide energy efficiency program are going up. Vermont ratepayers pay a tax of a bit less than a penny per kilowatt-hour on their electric bills to support power-saving programs administered by Efficiency Vermont. For residential ratepayers, the tax is going up on Feb. 1 from about seven-tenths of a cent to about nine-tenths of a cent.

FairPoint Communications Inc. has reworked the numbers and is asking the Vermont Public Service Board to take another look at the phone company's plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. FairPoint’s Vermont President says the company is hoping for a positive response from the board by late November.

The two major party candidates hoping to become Vermont's next secretary of state are both promising to make it easier for entrepreneurs to create jobs in the state. Democrat Jim Condos and Republican Jason Gibbs say they want to build on their previous government experience.

Police are investigating the suspected theft of a rescue vehicle from a fire department in southern Vermont. East Dover Fire Chief John Abel says the vehicle was discovered missing from the building early Wednesday morning after firefighters returned from a fire. Fire crews were out at a fire in Williamsville from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

The chief judge of New York's courts has implemented a new rule requiring every lawyer handling a foreclosure to sign a form verifying that all paperwork in the case is accurate. The move comes amid an uproar over revelations that mortgage lenders nationwide cut corners on paperwork and legal procedure as they moved to seize millions of homes.

New York State Police are investigating the discovery of a pellet gun at Peru Central School. The Airsoft pistol was found in a boys' locker room. Police are investigating whom it belongs to and how it got in the school. Airsoft guns fire small plastic pistols and are generally not considered dangerous, but they do look like real guns and they do violate the ban on weapons in school.

A boat that conducted extensive research on Lake Champlain was heavily damaged by last week's Nor'easter. The RV Monitor was tied to a dock at SUNY Plattsburgh's Valcour Conference Center. It's now aground in four to five feet of water. The 32-foot, six-ton boat has been used for research on water quality and blue-green algae. SUNY estimates it will take at least a month to fully assess damage to the vessel.

This season, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra marks its 10th year with Jaime Laredo as music director. Laredo will open the 2010-2011 VSO Masterworks season on Saturday at Burlington’s Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. Laredo’s tenure has resulted not only in increased popularity of the state’s professional symphony orchestra, but of a vast improvement in the quality of its playing. You can view the entire concert schedule and a lot more at VSO Dot Org.