WVTK Local & State News October 29, 2010

A man is dead after being shot by a Vermont State Police trooper outside of a Rutland convenience store. It happened just before 9:00 PM in front of the Stewart's Shop on the corner of State and Grove Streets. State police say, during a traffic stop, Trooper Christopher Lora learned the man in the car was wanted in New York on probation violations and was likely armed. Police say the man came out of his car, ignoring the trooper's commands, and drew a gun from his waistband. That's when Trooper Lora reportedly shot him. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name is being withheld pending family notification. State Police will be releasing more information at a press conference this afternoon.

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.

More green training is necessary for Vermont to have a truly green economy. That was the key message from the Vermont Environmental Consortium’s annual expo at Middlebury College. Most attendees agreed the state’s business leaders and educational providers need to be working to build up training networks to ensure that the in-state green economy continues to grow.

Last week around 80 Bristol Elementary School 3rd and 4th grade students hiked three miles and raised around $600. This was in support of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger’s 14th annual Hike for Hunger. The students began their hour-and-a-half hike downtown accompanied by their teachers and several parents.

Hancock, Ripton and East Middlebury residents are relieved since the capture of a man whom authorities have said to be a “strong suspect” in the recent murder of Kathleen Smith of Burlington. Since his capture at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl residents along Route 125 had been on high alert following the discovery of Smith’s abandoned car off Texas Falls Road in Hancock.

The Chase Purinton Monument on Quaker Street in Lincoln looks excellent again. The foundation of the 107-year-old monument was crumbling and in need of repair earlier this year. Pete Mikkelsen felt it was time to take action. The two old millstones inscribed with words commemorating the first Lincoln town meeting held at that location were lifted and a new concrete base was created for them.

Ferrisburgh selectmen are asking residents to back their proposed purchase of a property adjacent to the town office building when they head to the polls next Tuesday. Selectmen this summer struck a $150,000 deal with homeowners Donald and Patience Sisters for their home and 2 acres. That property sits south of the Grange Hall.

Otter Creek Brewing is seeking the town of Middlebury’s approval to establish a 90-seat pub-style restaurant and visitors’ center inside their brewery on Exchange Street. Brewery officials stressed the new service will have limited hours, a limited menu and should not hurt but actually enhance restaurants and shops in downtown Middlebury.

Shoreham voters will be asked to pick from among three options for upgrading their undersized municipal offices on December 7th. The options include building a new, 2,000-square-foot municipal office building on the village green, building a two-story structure at the site of the former Newton Academy on School Street or rejecting both of those options placing the issue back on the selectboard’s drawing board.

Williston police say they used a Taser to arrest a man who resisted after running away from a traffic stop. Police say 35-year-old Terry Mead of Rutland fled when he was stopped yesterday in Willison for driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen. Mead faces charges of grand larceny, unlawful mischief, resisting arrest and operating a motor without the owner's.

The Rutland School Board unanimously approved a $42,000 annual lease on a Porter Place building for maintenance. 

The money to pay rent on the facility near the state fairgrounds isn’t budgeted for 2011-12 but the district plans to take the money from any available source. The district can cancel the lease with six months notice but if it decides to maintain the lease for seven years, there’s an option to buy.

On a police dashboard video released yesterday Vermont State Auditor Thomas Salmon appears to struggle with field sobriety tests after he was pulled over in Montpelier in November of 2009 following a dinner with staff. The tape was released a day after a judge ruled it was a public record in response to a lawsuit filed by a supporter of Salmon's major party opponent, Doug Hoffer.

A young bald eagle that was wounded by a shotgun blast in northern Vermont almost two months ago is back in the wild. Officials from the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science released the male eagle at about 11:20 a.m. Thursday at the North Thetford boat launch on the western bank of the Connecticut River. The bird promptly flew across the river into New Hampshire.

The state of Vermont says it has settled a federal lawsuit that charged the state's psychiatric hospital in Waterbury was deficient. In 2006 the Department of Justice brought a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that care at the facility was substandard. Since then officials have worked to improve care at the hospital. The state says federal monitors now say the state hospital is among the top 15% of state hospitals in the country.

Governor David Patterson has announced that nearly 900 state jobs are going to have to go by the end of the year. Patterson says that he is not happy with the decision and neither are lawmakers and unions. He says even with the thousands of early retirements, layoffs are his last resort to cut the budget gap.

Police are now investigating the deaths of the elderly parents of Pamela Raymond of Morrisville. The 53-year-old woman is already charged with second-degree murder in the death of her four-month-old grandson, by giving him a lethal dose of a prescription anti-depressant. Court documents reveal a friend of the woman's described how Raymond cared for her elderly parents in her home prior to their deaths in 2008, feeding them and giving them their medications.

Six people who say it's time for U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy to hang it up are getting their chance to say it. Taking criticism from all corners of the political spectrum, Leahy faced off against his challengers yesterday in a freewheeling debate that touched on the legalization of marijuana, the nuclear threat posed by Iran and Vermont's dairy industry.

Many of the state's utility assistance programs are broke leaving Vermonters wondering what they will do when the cold weather hits. The Warmth Program, run by the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, offers statewide assistance but is run entirely on donations. Coordinators for the Warmth program say they're not the only ones. They say Shareheat, which helps out CVPS customers, is in even worse shape. You can help out by donating directly to the Warmth and Shareheat programs. One hundred percent of donations made to the Warmth program are used for fuel and power assistance. CVPS matches whatever donations are made to its Shareheat program.

Yesterday the University Of Vermont announced it will be connected by a fiber optic network to other schools in the Northeast. Senator Patrick Leahy helped secure $3-million for the Vermont connection. This fiber optic network is about 6,000 times faster than your typical home Internet. The first major project to use the network will be to study algae in Lake Champlain and other lakes.

New airline service is coming to Plattsburgh's International Airport, courtesy of Spirit Airlines. The relatively low-fare carrier will begin offering direct flights between Fort Lauderdale, FL and Plattsburgh in January. In May, the airline will add direct flights to and from Myrtle Beach, SC.

Vermont's climate change website is going through some changes itself. The site, run by the Agency of Natural Resources, provides information about how climate change is impacting Vermont. Now thanks to a redesign, data on greenhouse gas emissions, initiatives to fight it and ways for people to help are now available. Visit the site by clicking here.