WVTK Local & State News December 17, 2009

An advisory panel in New York has recommended a last-minute design to replace the closed Crown Point Bridge over Lake Champlain. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports the design looks similar to the current span, which was closed in October after being deemed unsafe by engineers.

Renovation work has been wrapped up on a Windsor apartment building that in its earlier life once housed 10 percent of the town's population. The Rutland Herald reports the number of apartments has been reduced to 58 in the structure, which before the renovation was considered a magnet for crime.

State officials have backtracked on their effort to have a kidnapper about to be freed from prison register as a sex offender. Harley Breer wasn't convicted of a sex crime in a 1999 incident but a state probation officer had pushed to make him register. That officer has since retired.

A new survey of caves in Vermont, Massachusetts and New York shows bat populations have taken a huge hit in caves struck by deadly white-nose syndrome. The survey showed an average population drop of 91 percent. The disease has been a problem across much of New England and the mid-Atlantic.

The Vermont Supreme Court is getting set to hear a case over whether the owners of a dog that was fatally shot should be able to collect damages for loss of companionship and emotional distress. Denis and Sarah Scheele, sued Lewis Dustin of Northfield after their dog wandered onto Dustin's property and Dustin shot it.

Vermont State Police say a woman and her daughter have been charged with dealing heroin and cocaine after being caught with big quantities of both during a traffic stop in Brattleboro. Melissa Davis and Haley Colburn, both of Royalton, were the focus of a two-month investigation before being arrested this week on Interstate 91.

Price Chopper, a Schenectady-based company with 119 stores in six Northeastern states, says it is negotiating to buy 19 P&C stores in four states including Vermont. Price Chopper already offered $12.3 million for four P&C stores in northern New York. Those stores are among the 22 stores in its latest bid.

A temporary bridge has opened to truck traffic over the Connecticut River between Lebanon and Hartford, Vt., until a new bridge is built. The Route 4 bridge, which is a key route for trucks serving area businesses, opened yesterday. Heavy trucks have been banned from the original bridge since 2008 because of extensive bridge corrosion.