WVTK Local & State News October 28, 2010

Weather permitting; paving will now take place on Monday and or Tuesday on Elm Street from Route 7 to the Railroad Underpass and on Seymour Street to Fire & Ice Restaurant. The intersection of Elm, Exchange and Seymour will be closed temporarily when the paving machinery is crossing the intersection. For those who typically enter Exchange Street from the south please use the north access from Route 7 during that time.

Some big plans are being finalized for the grand opening and celebration Saturday of the Cross Street Bridge. The 16-million-dollar bridge was built in a year and a half, thanks to Middlebury College and the town itself helping to pay for it. Now, there's a second bridge to get emergency equipment from one side of town to the other. Festivities on Saturday will last all day, with entertainment and plenty of local foods. The first person and car to cross it will be a re-enactment of when local Henry Sheldon crossed the Battel Bridge in 1893. Get all of the details about this event and the Third Annual Middlebury Spooktacular right here!

Construction of the new Lake Champlain Bridge continues to be on target. Construction began in June, a short eight months after closing the bridge to traffic. Work has progressed on-schedule, with construction of bridge abutments and piers under way. Fabrication of the steel bridge members is progressing off-site. The project is on track to be completed next September as scheduled.

The Vermont Foodbank has teamed up with Vermont residents, businesses and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture promoting the Pick For Your Neighbor program. A total of 17 pick-your-own orchards across the state are participating in the Pick For Your Neighbor program this fall. You are invited to pick an extra bag of apples as a donation to the Vermont Foodbank. Through the Foodbank's network of 280 food shelves, meal sites, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs, as many as 86,000 Vermonters access charitable food each year.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont along with the University of Vermont and the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture and Research program will be offering two courses intended to address some of the most pressing issues for intermediate to advanced farmers. "On-Farm Energy" and "Marketing that Sells" are both three-day intensive courses that take place over the course of several weeks in November and December. For more information and to register, click here or contact NOFA-Vt. at info@nofavt.org or 802-434-4122.

For the first time since Rutland High School started school choice in 2002, there are no out-of-town kids waiting to get into the school, and the Vermont Education Department has no idea why. Ten non-Rutland students are expected to attend the high school in the 2011-12 school year but there is no waiting list. The district is a member of the Rutland County School Choice Collaborative.

A snag has developed in efforts to keep the state from moving ahead with plans to euthanize a moose raised on an elk farm in Irasburg. Doug Nelson, who owns the property, filed a plan with the state in September detailing on how Pete the moose will be kept from other animals. Now, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the plan Nelson is proposing doesn't protect the health of the preserve's habit, captive animals or Vermont's wild deer.

A Vermont judge says the state must release a police video of state Auditor Thomas Salmon's 2009 drunken driving arrest. Lawyer John Franco, a supporter of Democratic auditor candidate Doug Hoffer, sued to get the dashboard video of the arrest of Salmon, a Republican seeking re-election. Earlier this month, a federal judge said the request was a subject for state court, not federal court.

Vermont's bitterly contested governor's race could end up being decided by state lawmakers instead of voters. Under the state constitution, the winning candidate for governor has to get more than 50% of the votes cast or else the election is thrown to the Legislature, which votes in secret ballot. A recent poll had Republican candidate Brian Dubie at 44% and Democrat Peter Shumlin at 43%.

The state Public Service Department wants to know what Burlington Telecom's lender will do if city-owned utility misses another payment. Burlington Telecom has a $386,000 interest payment to CitiCapital due on Sunday and another is due next month. The Public Service Department has now sent a letter to CitiCapital asking if they plan to shut down BT if the payment is missed.

The co-owner of a now-closed Vermont slaughterhouse has been fined $2,000 after pleading no contest to an animal cruelty charge. The attorney general's office said 52-year-old Frank Perretta of Grand Isle changed his plea on Wednesday to the misdemeanor charge accusing him of excessively shocking a calf at the Bushway Packing plant in Grand Isle.

Federal wildlife officials are proposing a coordinated national effort to fight a disease decimating bat populations before there are "irreversible losses." The draft plan, outlining ways officials can work together to check the spread of white-nose syndrome, was released yesterday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Pittsford Haunted House is one of the area's favorite, spookiest Halloween destinations. Originally a children's sanitarium in the years following World War I, the old haunted house and grounds in Pittsford are now owned by the Pittsford School District. A fun-loving crew of 100 firefighters and other volunteer staffers keep the tricks and treats coming year after year. The event continues tomorrow and Saturday.

Bikers in Burlington have a new way to store their bicycles: in storage lockers at a downtown-parking garage. The 10 lockers are made up of five long-term units and five coin-operated units in the Marketplace garage on Cherry St. and North Winooski Ave. Bikers can apply for a six-month spot in a long-term locker for $30 at City Hall. The short-term lockers are available at any time with a deposit of one quarter.