The Vermont House today voted 105-37 to increase the state
sales tax on gasoline. The tax will add
a 4 percent increase to the price of gasoline at a time when many small
businesses, including farmers and other working Vermonters, are struggling to
make ends meet. Debate over the increase
lasted nearly all day yesterday with Republicans proposing various amendments. The bill is now cleared for a final,
formalized vote in the State House within a few weeks. If it passes, the tax would be phased in over
two years.
The Addison Central Supervisory Union Board on Wednesday
evening offered the job of superintendent to Peter Burrows, principal of Willamette
High School Eugene ,
Ore.
A new report is showing thousands of Vermont
children are living in poverty. The
report released Wednesday by Population Health Institute at the University
of Wisconsin Orleans
and Essex Counties
Lawmakers in Montpelier
have tabled the idea of new tax to satellite television subscribers. Satellite subscribers across the state got an
email this week telling them the House of representatives is quote
"considering a tax hike that will force you to pay 5-percent more EVERY
month for the service you love”. The
bill had no sponsor and had been floated by the cable industry.
New York Lawmakers have reached a deal, signing off on a new
budget last night. New
York 's budget is due each year by the end of March. Governor Cuomo and legislislative leaders
announced last night that they have an agreement on a 136-billion-dollar budget. That means a spending increase of about
2-percent over last year. The budget
includes plans to raise the minimum wage from 7-25 an hour to 9 dollars an hour,
in stages over the next few years, and a
350-dollar tax rebate for middle class families.
The maple syrup season is on hold right now, due to the most
recent storm and very cold weather.
While the sap had been running, temperatures dipping into the teens
brought it to a halt. Owners of maple
syrup operations say if there's a frozen obstruction in the one-inch lines
running from trees it takes more than one 34-degree day to free it up. The hope now is the slowly rising
temperatures will get the sap flowing once again.
The Vermont State Police will be going cyber tomorrow, joining
more than 100 agencies across six countries in one giant Twitter event. It's a 24-hour Tweet-a-thon to draw attention
to the use of social media by law enforcement.
Agencies will tweet using the same hash-tag to create awareness about
police work. So far, the agencies who
will take to Twitter tomoow include dozens in the U-S, Canada ,
England , Sweden ,
Iceland and Australia .
