WVTK Local & State News December 15, 2010

Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin has picked the executive director of Smart Growth Vermont to be the state's commissioner of the Department of Economic, Housing and Community Affairs. Noelle Mackay was appointed today; Jennifer Hollar was picked as deputy commissioner. Shumlin says the mission is to support economic development, while preserving Vermont's heritage, promoting vibrant communities, and creating affordable housing.

Vermont's largest health care provider and the hospital that serves central Vermont are hoping to join forces. The trustees of Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care voted yesterday to join with the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin. Central Vermont trustees approved the proposal last week. If approved by regulators, the new parent organization will be called "Fletcher Allen Partners". But facilities connected to each organization would retain their current names.

An electronics store in South Burlington can't catch a break. Police say Small Dog Electronics on Dorset Street was burglarized just after 6 a.m. today. An unknown number of Apple iPads were stolen. This store was burglarized last week and on Monday, Small Dog's store in Waitsfield was hit too. If anyone has information, please call the South Burlington Police Department.

There's no doubt that painful pump prices are back. Gas prices in Vermont have jumped $0.46 since September. Now the average cost for a gallon of regular is $3.13, the highest price since July of 2008, when a gallon cost $4.09. Home heating oil is $0.38 more per gallon than last year and diesel fuel is up $0.18 since last month.

Officials in the town that hosts the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are looking for a way to generate tax income if the plant closes in March 2012 as is currently scheduled. The town would like to explore the possibility of taxing the used nuclear fuel, stored in dry casks that could be on the property for up to 100 years.

The school board in Vermont's largest city has said "no" to a state suggestion that it cut its budget next year by $1.2 million. Instead of agreeing to the cut suggested by the state austerity measure known as Challenges for Change, the Burlington school board approved a proposed budget for next year that included a 2.8 percent budget increase.

The chairman of the board of directors of the Vermont Youth Orchestra said no decision has been made yet on whether to reconsider its decision to fire the orchestra's new conductor. The board met Tuesday night for more than three hours to discuss its firing of Ronald Braunstein, who was hired earlier this year to lead the orchestra.

The municipal budget Rutland voters will decide on in March got even smaller this week. It’s almost 5 percent lower than the current spending plan that voters approved last year. Most of the difference is due to cuts and savings from revamped health care plans for most city employees that are both cheaper and covered in part by contributions from employees.

A proposal going before the Rutland Board of Aldermen would reorganize the Police Commission with a majority drawn from board members. The Charter and Ordinance Committee voted unanimously yesterday to recommend a charter change for the March ballot that would require members of the Board of Aldermen be appointed to three of the commission's five seats. The ballot item would also change terms on the commission from three years to two years.

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin announced yesterday that Elizabeth Miller would take over the Department of Public Service. Also, former lawmaker Megan Smith will be commissioner of the state Department of Tourism and Marketing.

The U.S. Senate is poised to consider extending a pilot program allowing heavier trucks to keep on rolling on federal highways in Maine and Vermont. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Patrick Leahy said that they persuaded the Appropriations Committee to include a 1-year extension in the Senate spending bill.

The Tiny Tim Christmas Wish Program will get some help from area musicians. The annual Tiny Tim concert will be held Friday at 7 PM at the First United Methodist Church in Ticonderoga. The event attracts local musicians who perform to raise money for the Tiny Tim Christmas Wish Program, which has provided holiday gifts to children the past 30 years.

Snowmobilers are being asked to be extra cautious when cruising through in the Green Mountain National Forest. The forest and the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers work together to maintain almost 500 miles of trails. However, snowshoers, hikers and cross-country skiers also use the trails. Snowmobiles can use the trail network December 16 - April 15.

Dozens of families got an early Christmas gift last night. Another group of troops are home from Afghanistan. The guard still expects to have everyone home before Christmas. The larger flights carrying several hundred troops are due Thursday.

Hartford Police say they have suspects in a violent home invasion that happened Monday night in White River Junction. Police say two men in ski masks entered a house on South Main Street just before midnight, beat a man inside and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police say it appears the victim and the attackers knew each other and that it was an isolated incident.

A missing Vermont man has been found alive. State police began searching for Eric Peck of Bloomfield on Monday. Peck left home last Wednesday and friends and family were concerned because he suffers from mental illness. But early Tuesday morning, Peck phoned home from a hotel in Virginia. Local police checked on him and said he was fine.

Winter has returned to the Green Mountains and it's giving state road crews a workout. John Zicconi from VTrans said the state typically spends $14 million-$20 million clearing the roads each winter. He said the next big thing for Vermont is salt brine. The state has used it in Chittenden, Franklin and parts of Addison and Grand Isle counties over the last couple of years, and is expanding it into Washington County in Central Vermont.

Vermont Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin plans to tour the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant this week, and is continuing to press for plant officials to resume pumping contaminated water from around the reactor. The incoming Democratic governor will travel to Vernon on Friday to tour the facility and visit the site of a radioactive tritium leak that was first reported in January.

The deadline for schools to answer to Challenges for Change is quickly approaching. Schools districts have until today at 4:30 to tell the Education Commissioner whether they'll be able to meet the budget cuts requested by Challenges for Change, which asks $23 million in cuts from Vermont's education budget.

Vermont legislative leaders say their priorities for the next session will be your health, money and job. That session will start in three weeks. A legislative report on health care is due in January. The governor-elect wants Vermont to introduce a single payer system. Any plan could take years to launch.

A coalition of groups in central Vermont has launched a new website. The website is called “Live More, Drink Less” and it was founded by Partners for Prevention, which is a coalition of several Washington County organizations that support healthy behavior among youth. The goal of the website is to reduce binge drinking, particularly among young adults ages 21 to 25.