Friday, December 12, 2014

WVTK Local & State News December 12, 2014

The Lazarus Building in Middlebury will be demolished on January 19. Officials had considered tearing down the structure this month but decided that the work would disrupt the downtown area too much during the busy holiday season. Once the building is gone, the property will become a pop-up park and the staging area for a major project to replace the Main Street and Merchants Row railroad overpasses with a concrete tunnel. That project is expected to start in the spring.

A Ferrisburgh man will spend four to 15 years behind bars for promoting child porn and violating his probation. Scott Cota was sentenced yesterday. According to court documents, Cota posted about 90 ads on Craigslist looking for "taboo material." That's how police say he connected with other people around the country trading explicit images of kids.

A federal grand jury is handing up a formal indictment in the case of former Colchester Police Detective Tyler Kinney. The indictment charges Kinney with three counts of heroin distribution, along with firearms trafficking and theft. Kinney was arrested last month after he allegedly developed a heroin addiction and began providing drugs and a gun to a fellow drug user. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Governor Peter Shumlin says $ 7.3 million of what is expected to be $33 million four year federal grant will be used to expand access to quality early education for Vermont children in need. Shumlin and other officials spoke at a press conference in an early education class in Burlington yesterday. Shumlin also said that by the end of the grant Vermont will be serving 70 percent of all 4-year-olds at or below 200 percent of the statewide poverty level.

A judge is rejecting convicted killer Allen Prue's request to delay his sentencing for the killing of Melissa Jenkins. Prue is facing two life sentences when he goes before a judge in St. Johnsbury next week. Prue was convicted of luring Jenkins out of her home in March of 2012 and killing her. His wife Patricia is also charged with first degree murder and is awaiting trial.