WVTK Local & State News January 11, 2011

The first of five forums on Addison Northwest Supervisory Union’s unification will be held tonight at Vergennes Union High School. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM and run for 90 minutes. The five Addison Northwest Supervisory Union towns will vote on unification on Town Meeting Day. All five towns must vote yes if the change is to be adopted.

Addison County lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle found something to like in Gov. Peter Shumlin’s priorities for the next two years. The list includes universal health care, expanding high-speed Internet access and cell phone service throughout the state, no new taxes, and spurring a “renaissance in Vermont agriculture.” Middlebury Rep. Paul Ralston was impressed with the first inaugural address he has witnessed as a lawmaker and New Haven Rep. Harvey Smith was pleased with what he considered to be the general theme of Shumlin’s speech.

Green Mountain Beverage has announced that it will acquire and move into the Connor Homes headquarters on Route 7 South in Middlebury. Meanwhile, Connor Homes will leave Middlebury and relocate to the now-vacant Vermont Tubbs complex in Brandon. The 115,000-square-foot building was proving too spacious for Connor Homes but was seen as offering good growth potential for Green Mountain Beverage to make its popular line of Woodchuck hard ciders.

Two veteran Addison County lawmakers will play key roles in the Legislature’s health care reform efforts. Weybridge Sen. Claire Ayer will serve as chairwoman of the Senate Health Care Committee, while Lincoln Rep. Michael Fisher has been named vice chair of the House Health Care panel.

When the Bristol-based Mothers Without Borders Vermont group hosts its fifth annual sew-a-thon to create dresses for orphans around the world, it will get a little extra bonus. The founder of the international aid organization Mothers Without Borders, Kathy Headlee Miner, will be at the event to describe the group’s accomplishments and encourage volunteers on to greater achievements.

New statistics show that Vermonters' median family income is falling. The Vermont Economy Newsletter's analysis of just-released Vermont Tax Department data found that after adjusting for inflation median family income fell by $1,275 in 2009 or 1.9%. The statistics found that half of Vermont families earn more than the median of $64,900 and half earn less.

Some Vermont veterans sleeping on the street will soon have a place to call home. The ribbon was cut Monday afternoon in Winooski on a new $5.8-million housing project. Construction started a year ago. There are 12 apartments for low-income people and an additional 16 apartments specifically for veterans. Vets can start moving in over the next few weeks.

A judge says the state of Vermont was wrong to seek $1,300 in fees in exchange for providing public records sought by a state employees' union. The Vermont State Employees Association sued last summer after the state said it would charge the fee to produce e-mails and other documents related to the proposed elimination of a union job and to the state's purchase of web-monitoring software to keep tabs on state employees' online activities.

Vermont's new governor laid out his agenda at the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast yesterday. Shumlin asked them to stick with him on his proposed single-payer health care system as the best way to restrain higher insurance premiums. He also pledged to continue working on statewide broadband and have it in place by 2013.

Two state legislators are considering a special education proposal this session to ease the cost of special services on local schools. They are talking about presenting the Legislature with a bill that would put more of the burden of paying to educate special needs students on the state and increasing reimbursements to schools from 60 percent to 100 percent. The suggestion of making special education entirely a state expense is nothing new. And one of the legislators said it’s highly unlikely the suggestion will be considered for law.

The Hilton Burlington Hotel near the waterfront has had the first recorded outbreak of bedbugs in a Burlington lodging. There has been an alarming increase in the number of bed bug infestations across the nation and now a reported case at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington. Through testing they did find that there was a small outbreak of bedbugs and have since been taken care of by an exterminator.

A top official in the administration of former Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas has landed a new job with the state's second-largest electric company. Neale Lunderville served as secretary of administration in the Douglas administration until it left office last week. Now he's joining Green Mountain Power with the title of leader of enterprise innovation.

In what might have far-ranging implications, five Westport part-time residents have petitioned Westport Central School to vote in school elections. They have petitioned the district and the New York State Education Department to be allowed to vote on the school budget and for board elections. All list other states as their primary residences but each contend that since they pay school taxes as property owners, they should be given voting privileges.

The weight of Burlington Telecom's debt is again pushing down the city's credit rating. Moody's Investors Services announced Monday that it has downgraded the city's general obligation bond rating from A2 to A3. The downgrade is due largely to the 16.9 million dollars owed to the city's pooled cash account by Burlington Telecom.

An Internet threat was posted on the Burlington Free Press website, with the user threatening to bring a gun to a City Council meeting. Burlington Police placed an armed officer at Monday's meeting as a precaution, a sign that authorities are taking threats against politicians more seriously in the wake of the mass shooting in Arizona.

Most children who are victims of sexual abuse are abused by someone they know and that's the message of a video produced by the New York State Department of Criminal Justice. The video will soon be available in libraries across New York State. It's a 35-minute video, which includes testimony from both sex offenders and survivors. It has some very candid interviews with sex offenders who explain how they got close to their victims.