WVTK Local & State News December 23, 2010

Starting Monday, January 3, the Charlotte/Essex Ferry Crossing will not have Dockmasters on duty. All tickets will be purchased on the boat once boarded. At this time commuter cards will not be accepted since there is no computer onboard the boat. Commuter books may be purchased from the Burlington Office at any time or at the Charlotte/Essex Crossing BEFORE January 3rd.

State troopers say one person died driving on the slippery roads Wednesday. 

It happened during a snow squall on route 103 in Shrewsbury. Police say 54-year-old Tina Wood of Rutland lost control of her car and collided with a vehicle coming in the other direction. She suffered fatal injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was not hurt.

Icy roads created headaches for some drivers on Interstate 89 near Williston yesterday. Vermont State Police say there were six crashes on that stretch of highway Wednesday morning. Police are urging drivers to slow down and to be on the lookout for patches of black ice.

Someone has been spying on town officials in Charlotte. Construction crews working on an energy retrofit of the Charlotte Town Hall discovered two wireless listening devices in the ceiling panels of the building. The bugs were not working when they were discovered and Shelburne Police believe they are about 10 years old. There are no suspects and police are calling it a cold case.

Central Vermont Public Service and the Vermont Department of Public Service have agreed to a rate settlement that will reduce a November rate request. CVPS had asked the Vermont Public Service Board to authorize an 8.34 percent rate increase. CV and the DPS have agreed to reduce the increase to 7.67 percent. It is expected to take effect January 1st. The agreement also amends and extends the company’s alternative regulation plan. Under the proposed base rate change, a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month would experience a $5.91 increase.

Hinesburg town leaders and the owner of the Saputo Cheese factory building are searching for a new tenant that won't bring a stench to the neighborhood. More than 15 years ago, the factory produced a bad odor because of problems with the wastewater treatment. The goal is to find a balance between luring a business to town and not scaring off residents.

The Vermont Student Assistance Corporation has renewed its agreement with a financing company to manage the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan, which is Vermont's official 529-college savings plan. It is offering several enhancements to benefit Vermont families. The number of investment options has expanded from three to six to provide families a wider range of choices with varying strategies and degrees of risk.

Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin has named the next Vermont Fish and Wildlife commissioner. Patrick Berry is the director of government affairs and environmental advancement at the Vermont Law School. He previously worked in communications and development for Middlebury College and the Vermont Natural Resources Council. He was also a fly-fishing guide in Montana. Shumlin is also bringing back the deputy position. Kim Royer will be the number two at the fish and wildlife department.

According to the Vermont Foodbank thousands of Vermonters will not have enough to celebrate. Because of the economic decline they've seen the need rise at food shelves and meal sites around the state by upwards of 40 percent, and it's still going up. While the rate has slowed compared to a couple years ago, the need is still rising.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell and the attorneys general of 11 other states last week urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to adopt a uniform nutritional label for the front of food packages. This would ensure that consumers have access to easily understandable and fully transparent information on how healthy the products actually are.

The Tarrant Foundation has provided a grant that will match any funds donated for the music programs at Mount St. Joseph Academy and Christ the King School in Rutland before December 31st of this year, up to a total of $20,250. To date, MSJ and Christ The King have already raised or received commitments for $12,000 toward this effort. The goal is to raise the full amount by the end of the year so that the music programs will receive a cash infusion of $40,500.

A federal inspection report is faulting unsanitary practices at an artisan cheese maker who is known as a pioneer in the industry. Sally Jackson Cheese of Oroville, Washington, voluntarily recalled all of its cheese Friday after the Food and Drug Administration warned that the products could be contaminated by E. coli. Eight people in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Vermont have been sickened, 1 of whom was briefly hospitalized.

Vermont's congressional delegation says Chittenden, Franklin and Lamoille counties are eligible to receive federal disaster aid to help repair damage from a big storm earlier this month. The release of the funds was triggered by a disaster declaration signed yesterday by President Barack Obama.

A week after many Vermont school districts failed to meet a deadline for budget cutting proposals, Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin says he will not mandate the cuts to meet $23 million in savings. Shumlin said schools will get $23 million less from the state, but $19 million in federal stimulus money will be used to ensure that no school board has to make drastic cuts. The 14 supervisory unions who did meet the cuts under the Challenges for Change law will have lower property tax rates than those who did not.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon for more information about how it will fend off attacks from computer hackers. The NRC's Neil Sheehan says that in general Vermont Yankee's plan meets federal requirements. Vermont Yankee, and all other nuclear plants, must prove their computers, communications systems and networks are protected against cyber attacks.

After eight years as Vermont's governor, Republican Jim Douglas has not lost his sense of humor. He offered reporters Kool-Aid at his last press conference in Montpelier yesterday. They presented him gifts including a Wal-Mart uniform for a possible future job. Douglas says his greatest success was traveling around the state and being open to Vermonters. He is now off to teach at Middlebury College next year.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says several ponds will be off-limits to ice fishing to protect brown trout. Included on the list is North Pond in Chittenden. But Newark Pond in Newark will be open to ice fishing for the first time in decades. Officials say the yellow perch population is abundant in the Northeast Kingdom waterway.