Wednesday, June 10, 2015

WVTK Local & State News June 10, 2015

It's day five of the manhunt for two escaped prison inmates from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. Governor Peter Shumlin and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held a joint press conference this afternoon. During the press conference they announced that both Vermont State Police and New York State Police are working together along with other state agencies on both sides of the lake. It was also discussed that Vermont was a possible destination of the escaped convicts. Earlier today, authorities were once again going door to door in the Dannemora area. Yesterday, officials followed a lead in Willsboro and have not found anything yet. Both governors reiterated the fact that these two escaped convicts are dangerous, if you see them or have any information, call police immediately.

It took three times but residents from Addison Northeast and Northwest Supervisor Unions passed budgets for their high schools. The Vergennes Union High School spending plan of $10,258,933 passed by a vote of 814-645. And the Mount Abe budget passed 852 to 597.

The Vermont Air National Guard announced 150 members are deploying to the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan by the end of the month. The National Guard says the deployment, in support of the Pacific Command Theater Security Package, will provide forces capable of a variety of operations, including disaster relief, global situational awareness, combating piracy, active defense and power projection. About 10 F-16 Fighting Falcons will also be sent to Japan for the deployment. The National Guard says throughout the week, communities may see transient military aircraft in the area.

The annual count of homeless people conducted by the federal government shows a drop of more than two-percent in Vermont's homeless count this year. The report shows that at the end of January, there were a little over 15-hundred homeless people in Vermont. Those findings are supported by the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance.

Officials say changes to the Vermont Health Connect Insurance Exchange say they have sped up the process for changing personal details of the people who use the system. The old system took more than 30 minutes to process while the new system takes took about five minutes. Officials say they expect to have a current backlog of more than 10,000 backorders cleared up by fall.