WVTK Local & State News October 16, 2014

Officials say we are now moving into flu season. Vermont health leaders say as soon as the vaccine becomes available, people should get it. In Vermont, experts are seeing sporadic activity with people, especially children testing positive for the flu. The vaccine is recommended for everyone six months and older each year. If you need to get vaccinated, flu shots are available at area pharmacies, also Addison County Home Health and Hospice is holding flu vaccine clinics around the area.

The Republican running for Vermont's Governorship says that the state must radically rethink school spending. Scott Milne called for providing universal in-state college or job training to students who pledge to stay in Vermont. He would also reduce per-pupil spending, allow school choice, and cap property tax rates for two years. Milne had no specifics about the $42 million dollar hole in the education budget that capping property taxes would create, except to say it would force lawmakers to find other cuts.

The results are back from a recent survey in the Middlebury Area on recycling. More than 80 percent of Middlebury residents said they are at least satisfied with the town’s current curbside recycling program, but more than 73 percent of residents don’t want to see it combined with a trash pickup service. 323 people filled out the survey. The Middlebury Recycling Committee will use the results to help guide the Select Board as they move forward with preparing for the implementation of Act 148, the state’s new solid waste/recycling law.

Nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care say that they are taking precautions against a possible Ebola outbreak. Ebola, which has a high mortality rate, can be transmitted by contact with the body fluids of infected patients. The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals say that proper training on the use of protective equipment is very important. The nurses and other health care workers are doing hands-on practice with the unfamiliar equipment, putting it on and taking it off.

This Saturday, there will be a meeting on a proposed skate park in Middlebury. Tentative plans call for the new skate park to occupy a 100-foot-long-by-50-foot-wide spot just west of the basketball and tennis courts in the recreation park, off Mary Hogan Drive. This saturday’s meeting will give people a chance to weigh in on the project and have their voice heard. The meeting will take place from 11 am to 12:30 pm at the Ilsley Library.