WVTK Local & State News June 24, 2013

Four people are recovering after a crash between a car and shuttle bus.  That was on Friday night in Burlington, when police say the car slammed head-on with the Addison County Transportation Resources Bus.  While two passengers in the bus were treated for minor injuries, the driver of the car and his six-year-old passenger were more seriously hurt and taken to Fletcher Allen Health Care.  Police are still investigating but say neither speed nor alcohol appear to be involved.

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean is not ruling out running again for president.  It was ten years ago this month he announced his candidacy, and on Saturday former staffers and supporters gathered in Burlington for a picnic, party and reunion.  Dean said plainly he doesn’t plan on running in 2016, but also says he never says never, adding there is still work to be done with universal health care and preventing climate change.

It looks like Middlebury's Marble Works Riverfront Park will be completed on schedule.  After a recent rain delay, work was well underway on the new park last week.  The construction project began in May.  The effort to establish the new park started in 2007 when several town officials participated in a workshop which introduced member to new ideas about how to revitalize, and capitalize upon, neglected downtown natural resources.  Grass seed, protective straw matting, and hedges along the steep slope facing the Otter Creek waterfalls will be planted this week.

This morning, just after 7 o’clock, Vermont State Police responded to a single vehicle rollover crash with no injuries on River Road in Killington.  At the scene, troopers found a gray 2013 Kia Forte on its roof off the roadway in the stream.  The operator was 42-year-old Jame Corkins of Bristol.  Corkin’s vehicle was totaled.  Vermont State Police conducted an accident investigation and found that Corkins at fault for driving too fast for roadway conditions as he came around a curve too fast and crossed the centerline and crashed into the guardrail.

A New York senator is warning that buying counterfeit or poorly made cell-phone batteries can lead to phones overheating and even exploding.  U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer commented Sunday at a stop in Manhattan. The New York Democrat says problems most often occur when people replace batteries that came with their phones with bargain-priced batteries that might be counterfeit.

New York is hoping to reel in some new fisherman by offering free fishing next weekend.  That means you do not have to have a license to fish in any of the state's 7,500 lakes or ponds or 50,000 miles of streams and rivers, giving newcomers a chance to try the sport.

Vermont ranks second in the country for kids' well-being.  That's up one spot from last year.  The Annie E. Casey Foundation report released Monday showed improvements in some areas, like percentage of children with health insurance and fewer teen births.  But the report also showed poverty continues to be a problem.  Overall, Vermont ranked third in the country in education, family and community and fourth in health.