WVTK Local & State News December 4, 2013

Vermont State Police say they found the body of a missing Ripton man.  54-year-old James Daignault was last seen on November 23rd or 24th.  He had met friends to go to a local food shelf and never returned home.  Around 9:30 p.m. Monday, police found his body and his car.  The car had gone over the embankment and was in the river at the intersection of Route 125 and Steam Mill Road.  Police are now investigating the crash.

A Vermont caregiver was convicted yesterday for falsely obtaining money from the Vermont Medicaid program.  A press release says Candice Swan plead guilty to six misdemeanor counts of false pretenses yesterday.  According to court documents, Swan falsified time sheets to get payment for services that were not provided under the Vermont Medicaid program.  Swan was sentenced to 2 and a half to 6 years, all suspended, and placed on probation.  Swan can not work as a care provider or serve as an employer-of-record under ay Medicaid waiver program for 5 years.  Swan was also ordered to pay $6,206 in restitution to Vermont Medicaid.

Opponents of a plan to bring the F-35 fighter jets to the Burlington International Airport say they’re undeterred by the Air Force’s decision to base 18 of the planes with the Vermont Air National Guard.  South Burlington lawyer James Marc Leas says they’re planning to use a combination of continued public pressure and legal actions to keep the planes from being based in Vermont, scheduled for 2020.  The Air Force announced yesterday that the Air Guard station at the South Burlington airport would be the first Air National Guard unit to get the planes.  Opponents worry about increased noise from the planes and the danger of a crash posed by the new airplanes.  The guard says they can fly the planes to minimize noise and the planes are safe.

We're just a few weeks away from an important deadline.  Come January 1, Congress will need to pass a new farm bill otherwise we would revert back to a 63-year-old dairy policy.  Senator Patrick Leahy stopped by the St. Albans Co-op Creamery yesterday to talk about how negotiations are going.  He said, this not only affect Vermont farms, but also the entire nation.  No member of Congress goes hungry by choice, but millions of Americans don't have that choice."  An example of just how this could affect your wallets, milk prices could double!

Vermont liquor investigators say a 28-year-old Burlington woman is facing charges she illegally sold five cases of a popular, hard-to-get beer online.  Investigators from the Vermont Department of Liquor Control say they spotted an online ad for Heady Topper.  Undercover investigators subsequently met with Stephanie Hoffman who provided 120, 16-ounce cans of the alcoholic beverage for $825.  Hoffman now faces a charge of selling an alcoholic beverage without authorization.