WVTK Local & State News June 28, 2013

The stormy weather has moved out of the area.  The Vermont Emergency Operations Center demobilized and released all of its responders earlier this afternoon.  But emergency officials are still urging people to be prepared.  Officials say rising lake levels are still a big concern.  This morning, all state roads were open and no local road closures were reported.  In New York, severe flooding was reported in the Mohawk Valley and the Mohawk River overflowed its banks.

Goodbye candy bars and donuts and hello granola bars and dried fruit.  Snack foods sold in schools are getting an overhaul.  New federal rules set limits for fat, salt and sugar.  This includes treats sold in vending machines, snacks must be limited to 200 calories.  While increasing protein, whole grains and nutrients.  These rules will go into effect for the 2014 and 2015 school year.  But Special fundraising events, like bake sales, will still be allowed to take place at schools.

Police say a thief made off with antique silver worth about $4,000 in Cornwall.  Investigators say a thief or thieves broke into an elderly man's home and stole a dozen place settings of antique sterling silver from 1921.  It was in a felt-lined wooden box.  Anyone with information should call Vermont State Police.

Vermont Gas is debating with the Conservation Law Foundation environmental group over the greenhouse gas impact of the project.  A CLF expert witness filed testimony with the state Public Service Board last week saying that Vermont Gas had underestimated the greenhouse gas emissions the new project through Addison County would cause.  Vermont Gas is responding by saying the CLF witness is seriously overestimating the greenhouse gas emissions from the project.  Up for debate are the impacts of natural gas versus other fuels from the time they are extracted from the ground to the time they are burned as fuel.

Sen. Patrick Leahy says Senate passage this week of comprehensive immigration reform shows that the Senate still can work together and accomplish things.  But the Vermont Democrat, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and led the immigration debate, says he fears for the bill's fate in the Republican-dominated House.  Leahy says the bill, which beefs up border security and provides a path to citizenship for 11 million people in the country illegally, could die in the House if its leadership listens to what he calls a tiny minority of radical, Tea Party Republicans.  Among the bill's benefits to Vermont, he says, are work visas for immigrant dairy farm workers.