Tuesday, May 13, 2014

WVTK Local & State News May 13, 2014

Middlebury Voters are heading to the polls today to decide on the fate of the new Municipal Building and Gymnasium Project. The proposal calls for building a new municipal building on the so called Osborne House Site and a new Gymnasium on Creak Road. On Town Meeting Day, the $6.5 million project passed by a vote of 915 to 798. Since then a petition was signed by enough residents to trigger a revote. If a majority of voters today vote "Yes," the bond will pass and the project will go forward as originally proposed. If a majority of voters vote "No" and meet a minimum threshold of 611 votes, the bond will not be approved. The polls are open today till 7 o’clock at the current Municipal Building.

Police in Starksboro are investigating a break in at the Town Offices. Authorities say a person or persons broke into the storage shed, which stores some sports equipment. The suspects then broke into the town office vandalized the office and removed the copper water pipes from the basement. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the New Haven State Police at (802) 388-4919.

Participants in Vermont's Reach Up welfare-to-work program will be seeing longer-lasting child care subsidies and an increase in the amount of income the program will disregard when calculating benefits. Supporters say the legislation will help address a so-called "benefit cliff," in which people sometimes go to work and find they're earning less in a low-wage job than they were getting in state benefits.

A police report says a state social worker had checked on a Winooski baby less than an hour before the child died. 14-month-old Peighton Geraw died April 4 from trauma to the neck and head. Police have ruled his death was a homicide. Investigators found that a caseworker from the Vermont Department of Children and Families had visited the home in Winooski to investigate a child abuse claim. The caseworker later told police he observed bruises on the baby's neck as the child was sleeping in a crib, but did not take any action. The police report shows the child was found not breathing about 40 minutes after the caseworker left the home.

There was a ribbon cutting earlier today in Rutland celebrating the city's first community solar array. Fifty residents and businesses will get solar power from the Hillside Road project at no upfront cost and get a credit on their electric bills for energy produced. The project was a cooperative effort between NRG and Green Mountain Power.