WVTK Local & State News August 21. 2012

The Willsboro Central School Board of Education has scheduled a special board for this morning at 9 to discuss the tax rate and tax levy for the 2012-13 fiscal year.  The meeting will be held in the conference room at the school.

This morning at 10:30 the Middlebury Town Center Steering Committee will meet.  This will include a review of the Task Force Mission and Charters along with a project schedule. The Middlebury Business Development Fund Advisory Board is meeting this afternoon at 3:30 in the Main Conference Room of the Town Offices.  Then on Friday the Finance and Fundraising Task Force will meet at 9:00 AM.  All meetings are being held at the Middlebury Town Offices.  Learn more right now on the Town’s Website.

After nearly a year of construction, the newly expanded and renovated Addison County Humane Society is complete and open for adoptions. You are invited for a public open house on Friday from 1 to 4 PM. Tours of the shelter will be given at that time. No RSVP necessary.  A few features of the new facility include a reception area to welcome guests and potential adopters; an admission area, which will provide greater privacy for persons needing to surrender their pet and/or the intake of stray or lost animals; an incoming area designated for all newly admitted animals, providing quiet space for new animals to adjust to the facility and be medically cleared for adoption; “Meet & Greet” rooms for potential adopters to play and become familiar with animals they are considering for adoption; “Cat Land” housing and public viewing area for cats that are available for adoption; and of course the separate “Dog Barn” offering housing and public viewing area for dogs that are available for adoption.  Visit them online right now at www.addisonhumane.org. 

It’s time once again for the Addison County Chamber of Commerce Annual Auction! Whether you're looking for something unique for yourself, searching for a gift for a special someone, or looking to add a little adventure to your life, you're sure to find something in their auction. Every bid helps the Chamber promote local businesses and our region as a tourism destination.  Many of the items will go to the live portion of the auction held in conjunction with their annual meeting, Thursday, September 6th from 5 to 8 PM at the Vergennes Opera House. Make plans to join them and start bidding now by clicking HERE! 

An out-of-control car crashed through the front plate glass window of the National Bank of Middlebury branch office on Route 7 in Middlebury. The accident occurred around 3:10 yesterday afternoon.  According to Middlebury Police, there were no serious injuries although the bank's front window was shattered also the large supporting framing of the all-glass facade may have sustained serious damage.  Police said the driver of the late model Toyota Prius may have been confused, but it is not yet known what caused the accident. Unintended acceleration linked to Toyotas has been blamed for several hundred accidents nationwide since 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, it is too soon to know if the accident in Middlebury is connected to the reported problem.

The new owner of the historic Miss Port Henry Diner says the downtown eatery will be a friendly place when it reopens.  Donald Foote of Wadhams, who recently bought the restaurant, has restored it to its 1933 glory, complete with the original paint colors. Restoring the historic exterior means a shade of lime green with dark stripes, and volunteers from the pH7 community-development group of Port Henry and Moriah were helping to make it happen. The diner is at Main Street and St. Patrick’s Place, open Tuesday through Sunday weekly from 6AM until 2PM for breakfast and lunch and will feature American and Tex-Mex cuisine.

Rutland City Police filled a room with pepper-spray and used a battering ram to apprehend a man who had locked himself in a room at the Rodeway Inn in Rutland yesterday afternoon.  Police say they were called to the inn on North Main Street at about 2PM for a report that a man was refusing to vacate a room that he had not paid for. When police knocked on the door the man threatened to use a firearm on anyone who entered the room. The man suffered only self-inflicted injuries during the incident, police said, and was taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center for evaluation.  Police said the man would face a charge of unlawful trespass. The investigation continues and further charges are possible.

A solar project planned for the Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport would generate power and reduce consumption costs for the state-owned airport.  An application has been submitted to the state Public Service Board for a 49 kilowatt solar project on the west side of the airport. The project site will be set back 50 feet from the existing fence line and will be located approximately 1,000 feet to the west of the main runway.   Work on the project would begin this construction season if all permits are approved.

The American Red Cross, Vermont and the New Hampshire Valley chapter, will be hosting the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce mixer today from 5 to 7 PM at 117 Strongs Ave.   The event will feature acknowledgement of Tropical Storm Irene supporters, a Vermont State Fair theme featuring classic fair foods, a historic display of 95 years of Red Cross memorabilia, and door prizes. For more information, call 773-2747 or visit www.rutlandvermont.com.

Two Vermont state senators are holding a community meeting to discuss health care reform at 7PM Thursday at the Sudbury Town Meeting House.  Democratic Addison County Sen. Claire Ayer and Sen. Kevin Mullin, a Republican from Rutland County, will be on hand to discuss Vermont’s new Universal Coverage Law. They will give a brief overview of the law and the plans for implementation followed by a time to answer audience questions.  The forum is organized by the Sudbury Community Club in response to the concerns, confusion and excitement voiced by residents regarding the law. It is free and open to the public. The Sudbury Town Meeting House is located on Route 30 at the intersection with Huff Pond Road.

A recently suggested Castleton town-wide referendum on a proposed wind project has been postponed until at least Town Meeting Day.  Planning Commission Chairman John Hale proposed the vote and the Select Board compromised to move it to next year. Doing so would allow residents to further learn about the project and allow them to complete the amendments to the town plan.  Hale proposed last month to include the referendum on the proposed Reunion Power wind project on the Grandpa’s Knob ridgeline on the ballot of the upcoming primary vote or general election. In the meantime, the Planning Commission has been working on amending portions of the town plan to include changes regarding the wind project. A public hearing is scheduled for 7PM August 30th to discuss the amendments.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders says "smart grid" electrical technology offers real benefits for Vermont consumers and the environment.  Sanders and some Vermont environmental leaders said at a news conference yesterday that Vermont is a national leader in developing a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electrical system.  He says Vermont received $69 million in federal stimulus funds to modernize its electric transmission system.  As an example of the technology's benefits, a representative of the Vermont Electric Cooperative said its near-universal smart meter coverage cut the outage response time in half after Tropical Storm Irene hit the state last year.  The U.S. Department of Energy says that in the long term, smart-grid technology can cut carbon emissions from electricity use by up to 15% a year.

The merger between the state's two largest power companies may cause rates to rise slightly at one of Vermont's smallest utilities.  The cause is a higher transmission charge levied by the new company.  The new charges are one of the unintended consequences stemming from the sale of Central Vermont Public Service Corporation and its merger into Canadian-owned Green Mountain Power.  The newly merged company wants to impose a new, single transmission rate for the electricity it carries on its lines for other companies. For the Washington Electric Co-op, the change could mean a slight increase in its own retail rates.

The resort community of Stowe will be getting a new multimillion-dollar ice rink. Town officials say the current arena is suffering from some structural problems. They have been looking at replacing it for about a decade. Residents narrowly voted down the proposal for the rink last year. But they voted in favor of it in March after a successful campaign.

New York’s Comptroller says state tax revenues for July were marginally above projections, following two months in which they came up short. He says the state's fiscal picture remains tied to the strength of the national recovery.

The New York State Attorney General's office has sent letters to 10 upstate counties telling them get in line with a federal law requiring them to accommodate Spanish-speaking voters from Puerto Rico. Letters sent this month by Civil Rights Bureau Chief Kristen Clarke note the Voting Rights Act requires jurisdictions with significant numbers of Puerto Rican residents with limited English to ensure they can vote.

Lake Champlain is not the only lake that has been dealing with various beach closings this season. A University of Michigan researcher says more than one in five Great Lakes beach closing orders based on bacteria concerns may be unnecessary, and he's testing that idea this summer.  David Rockwell of the university's School of Natural Resources and Environment is using a $140,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to test the relationship between E. coli test results and actual health risk to swimmers.  The project is a collaboration of Michigan and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

Brandon Music on Country Club Road in Brandon will present the Chronicles this Thursday at 7:30pm. The Chronicles have quickly created a presence in the northeast music scene but have set their sights on reaching national and international audiences. General Admission is $12. Venue is BYOB. Brandon Music offers an Early Bird dinner special, which includes a ticket for the jazz performance, for $22 per person. Albany's Metroland recognized the Chronicles in their 2011 "best of capital region" issue as the best in live hip-hop with "jazz chops out the yin yang, and new tunes at their fingertips every time they pick up their instruments."

Hikers up and down the Long Trail last week had to move aside for someone taking the hills at breakneck pace.  Ultra-runner and Vermont native Nikki Kimball ran the 272-mile Long Trail in 5 days, 7 hours and 42 minutes, smashing the previous women's record on the trail.  Along the way, Nikki was raising money for the nonprofit Vermont organization, Girls on the Run. And she had a film crew capturing her agonizing and inspiring race against time.

From Fox 44 & ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont & New York:

Vermont rescuers say a teenager has been rescued after falling about 50 feet while hiking at Smugglers Notch.  Stowe Mountain Rescue says the teen, who was hiking with an adult relative, had wandered up into one of the gullies above the information booth into steep terrain when he slipped and fell Monday morning.  The relative was able to call 911. Neil Van Dyke, the team leader for Stowe Mountain Rescue, says it took crews about two hours to bring the teen to the road. He was taken to Fletcher Allen Health Care for treatment of multiple non-life-threatening injuries.  Cambridge Fire and Rescue, Vermont State Police and Colchester rescue helped with the rescue.

It's back to school in Burlington! And for elementary school kids, each day this year will be a little longer. 15 minutes longer to be exact.  The 2012 - 2013 school year is around the corner. Teachers are preparing their classrooms and dads, like Adam Buchwald are spending time with their little ones before they send them off to the real world. His son, Charlie Buchwald and his pals start kindergarten next Wednesday.  "He's learning to read and write a little bit now, we're hoping by the end of the year he can do that more," Adam Buchwald said.  The Burlington School District Superintendent says with 15 minute longer school days, there's an even better chance of Charlie's success. All six Burlington elementary schools will start at 8:10 and finish at 2:45. Teachers prep time increased by 15 minutes, so to make up for that lost time, its been added to the end of the day.  "It increases their core academic time, particularly in literacy and math," Jeanne Collins said.  And while 15 minutes seems small....  "I wouldn't mind if it was a little more, but I guess a little's better than nothing," Buchwald said.  Collins says it will allow teachers to dive deeper into a subject. "Which means there is more focus time throughout the day and less time taken away by transitions."  If you think about it, students spend six hours a day in school, but take out lunch time, recess and passing periods, it's even less.  For some parents the longer school day will have little impact on their schedules, but other parents say even just this little change will make a big difference.  "It makes it a lot easier at the end of the day to pick them up and get some work done," Buchwald said.  Elementary schools start Wednesday August 29th. Burlington High School opens two days sooner, on Monday.