Thursday, December 30, 2010

WVTK Local & State News December 30, 2010

Starting this Saturday, you’ll notice a few changes on the menu at your favorite chain restaurant. A new law in Vermont requires the menu or drive-thru to show the calorie count of each item. The law doesn’t just apply to fast food, it also applies to some sit down restaurants too. The Vermont Health Department is hoping the new law will help people make healthier choices.

A member of one of the most well-known Vermont families has passed on. A family friend says Agathe von Trapp passed away at the age of 97 at a hospice in Maryland after suffering from congestive heart failure. Agathe was the oldest of 7 and part of the family which inspired the Broadway show and classic film "The Sound of Music."

Police in Burlington are on the lookout for 3 thieves who attacked the owner of a Queen City bakery. 36-year-old Paul Bonelli says he woke up on December 22 to find 3 men trying to break into his car. When he chased them Bonelli says the men attacked him. Nothing was taken from the car. All of the men are believed to be in their late teens.

A former Chittenden County state's attorney will be a special prosecutor in the investigation of Burlington Telecom. Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan has appointed Robert Simpson to the investigation into the municipally owned telecom, which is about $50-million-dollars in debt.

State game wardens say the ice is forming on lakes and ponds, with an average of 5 inches of ice around Chittenden County. In Mallets Bay, it's roughly 6 to 7 inches thick. Wardens say its building nearly ideal conditions for ice fishermen, however, the weekend calls for temperatures above 40 degrees and possibly rain.

The top emergency management official in Burlington is going to become the next director of Vermont Emergency Management. Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin announced yesterday that he will appointed Michael O'Neil to the post. O'Neil is currently chief engineer and emergency management director for the Burlington Fire Department.

The Vermont Army National Guard is planning to build a new armory off Route 100 in North Hyde Park. The new readiness center and field maintenance shop will replace the Morrisville armory and consolidate maintenance facilities in Lyndonville and St. Albans.

The next time you call the DMV in New York, you could be calling a woman’s prison. Bedford Hills' inmates will be answering calls but will not have access to customer data or DMV computers. Inmates in the program are given a book with answers to general questions, such as office hours and locations. More detailed customer calls will get transferred to civilian DMV employees.

There's apparently another lucky lottery winner who bought a ticket in Vermont. This time, the ticket was for Mega Millions, and was sold at the Hannaford supermarket in St. Albans. The ticket matched 5 of the 6 winning numbers for a $250-thousand dollar price, but the winner also bought the Megaplier, which bumped it up to a million.