WVTK Local & State News December 17, 2010

Vermont will officially enter winter next week having received $14.4 million of the total $14.9 million in heating fuel assistance from the Federal Government for the entire season. The Addison Community Action/Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity has been helping a lot of people sign up for fuel benefits since the weather started getting cold. The organization has helped around 100 people secure fuel aid during the past two weeks.

The Better Middlebury Partnership is lobbying for the town to hire an economic development director who would work to bring new businesses and jobs to the area. The proposed $100,000 position is part of an effort to stimulate the local economy and build on the town’s recent accomplishments of completing the Cross Street Bridge and landing education company e-Corporate English. Middlebury College and the business community would help underwrite the position.

At a summit in Montpelier last week, members of the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s Working Landscape Partnership laid out a plan that they hope will preserve and bolster the state’s agricultural and forestry economy. There were many people at the summit from Addison County who are interested in sustaining the area’s agricultural way of life and the culture surrounding it.

At their next meeting Vergennes aldermen will look at a proposal to create a city law that would allow Vergennes police to issue city tickets for possession of drug paraphernalia. Mayor Michael Daniels said there were enough questions from city council members that they decided to wait until Vergennes Police Chief George Merkel could attend a meeting in person to make the case for an ordinance he is proposing.

State Sen. Claire Ayer returned on Monday from a weeklong visit to Taiwan. She was co-leader of a 10-person delegation made up of legislators from four New England states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

Crown Point Supervisor Bethany Kosmider is seeking to halt an investigation of the business dealings of herself and her husband by district attorney's offices in Essex and Clinton counties. According to court filings, she and her husband are seeking the suppression of a massive amount of bank records obtained during an ongoing investigation that could be used to secure a criminal indictment by a grand jury.

The Chaffee Arts Center in Rutland, will now offer open studio space to member and non-member artists. The cost is only $7 for non-members and members enter for free. Operated by the Rutland Area Art Association for nearly 50 years, the Chaffee Arts Center is one of the longest-running community arts organizations in Vermont. The open studio hours are every Thursday from 5 to 8 PM.

Middlebury's historic passenger depot on Seymour Street is getting major facelift. The renovations include work on the train station's second-floor tower room, which was long closed and off limits to tenants until now. Trackside Depot received a state historical tax credit to begin the project and also received federal taxpayer funds for improved "green" energy efficiency and new electrical wiring and heating units.

You can keep summer alive this winter. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Vermont State Parks is offering three brand new Holiday Gift Packages that give recipients something fun to open and use right away, and something really fun to look forward to this summer. Shipping is free and you can order packages online anytime at www.vtstateparks.com.

More Vermont soldiers are back home in time for the holidays. About 300 Vermont National Guard soldiers returned to Vermont Thursday after a yearlong mission. The Guard members arrived at the Vermont Air National Guard base in two aircrafts in the third return of soldiers to Vermont this week.

This week school districts had to report to the state if they were able to cut their budgets as recommended by lawmakers and the governor as part of Challenges for Change. Sixty-two of 63 districts had their numbers in by yesterday afternoon and a preliminary count shows the plan fell far short just $4 million. Only 14 districts met their targeted cuts. Of those 14, 11 exceeded the recommended cuts.

Funding for an experimental engine has made its way back into a budget bill in the U.S. Senate. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy supports it, citing the need for competition. He also says it will help GE Aviation in Rutland because the company will make parts for the engine.

Vermont is getting high marks on its public health emergency preparedness in a new national study ranking the states. The Trust For America's Health says Vermont was 1 of 18 states to achieve 8 of 10 indicators gauging preparedness. But the state did not meet two because of a decrease in the state's public health budget and emergency staffs' inability to acknowledge that they were notified of an emergency or drill within 60 minutes.

Vermont State Police say a shoeless toddler found walking down a road has been reunited with his mother, who was asleep when he walked out by himself. Wearing socks but no shoes in snowy, 12-degree cold, the 21-month-old boy was spotted by a motorist driving to work in Whitingham on Thursday. The motorist called police, who sent an ambulance crew that found him healthy and unharmed.

New York's unemployment rate was 8.3% in November, holding almost steady compared to October and less than the 8.9% recorded a year earlier. Government was the sector that lost the most jobs over the past year: almost 40,000, including about 25,000 at the local level. The biggest gain was in educational and health services. That sector grew by almost 31,000 jobs.

Small Dog Electronics is offering a $1,000 Reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons involved in the burglaries at their Headquarters in Waitsfield and the retail location in South Burlington. If you suspect any individual or have any leads, please contact the South Burlington Police Department or Crime Stoppers.

It took nearly a year for the North County Small Business Development Center to secure a $53,000 grant. This award is one of only eleven across the country and the only one in New York. It's meant to help businesses after the area lost nearly 600 jobs when the Pfizer plants closed down.

A contractor from Williston is to stay far away from any home repair work in Vermont. Donald Bevins was found in willful contempt by the Washington Superior Court in Montpelier of court orders designed to protect the public from home improvement fraud. The same applies to his company Twin City Roofing. Failure to comply is likely to result in him going to jail, according to Attorney General William Sorrell, who has filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against the roofing company.