WVTK Local & State News January 14, 2011

The Middlebury select-board is standing behind the concept of providing $25,000 in town money to pay a portion of the cost of a new local events marketing coordinator. This person would draw out-of-towners to spend money downtown and in other local businesses that serve visitors. The goal of coordinator would be to produce more in town revenue through increased rooms and meals tax collections than the cost of the position.

The Town Hall Theater in Middlebury and 12 other organizations received just over $169,000 in Cultural Facilities Grants from the Vermont Arts Council on Thursday. The theater received $2,875 to help install snow guards on the slate roof of their building. Other recipients this year include the Vermont Children’s Theater in East Burke, the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, the Cutler Memorial Library in Plainfield and the Weston Community Association in Weston.

The Ferrisburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment closed its public hearing on a proposed Route 7 Dollar General store on January 6th. The board has 45-days to make a decision on the planned 10,000-square-foot-store.

Green Mountain Beverage CEO Bret Williams confirmed that the hard cider company plans later this year to move from Pond Lane into the Connor Homes building on Route 7 in Middlebury. Connor Homes will move into the Vermont Tubbs complex in Brandon within the next several weeks. The sale of the Connor Homes building to Green Mountain Beverage is expected be completed by late February. The transition of both companies into their new headquarters will follow in the next few weeks and months.

Vermont State Police hope to crack down on the thefts of copper and catalytic converters by enforcing laws on salvage yards that buy them. The converters are mainly stainless steel, but contain small amounts of platinum, a precious metal. State law requires scrap metal processors to verify the identity of a seller as well as the seller's license plate and a description of the items sold. If a seller is unable prove that he or she owns the property, the business must submit a report to local police the same day.

The Finance Committee in Rutland City has proposed meeting people with outstanding parking tickets halfway. The committee voted unanimously yesterday to recommend the Board of Aldermen offer an amnesty period during which people with unpaid parking tickets from 2005 to 2008 can pay off their fines for 50 cents on the dollar.

Expanding Giorgetti Park could be headed to voters again. The Recreation Committee voted unanimously this week to recommend the Board of Alderman place up to a $4.3 million bond on the March ballot. Several Aldermen said a reduced city budget and a level school budget eased their reservations about sending forward a proposal similar to the one voter’s rejected last year.

Back in 2004 Shawn Byrne of West Rutland applied for a vanity plate with a biblical reference. The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles denied the request citing a state law forbidding religious references on vanity plates. Byrne sued, losing in federal court in 2007, but winning an appeal last year. The state has now agreed to forego further appeal and settled, saying it would issue Byrne the plate upon receipt of a new application, stop enforcement of the religious restriction and pay Byrne $150,000 in attorney’s fees.

Developers of two proposed biomass and pellet plants in Fair Haven and Pownal said a three-year EPA deferral of greenhouse gas permit requirements does not affect them at all. On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to defer greenhouse gas permitting requirements for carbon dioxide emissions from biomass and other biogenic sources for three years starting in July.

Castleton State College will offer students emergency identification bracelets through a partnership with XtremeSportsID starting January 25th. 

The XtremeSportsID bracelet is lightweight, durable and made of the same silicon material as Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong bracelets. Castleton State is the first college in the nation to partner with XtremeSportsID.

Port Henry will hold village elections Tuesday, March 15. Offices on the ballot will be mayor and two trustee positions. These are elected offices with a two-year term serving on the village of Port Henry board of trustees. An independent nominating petition is required and can be obtained by contacting the village clerk. The deadline to submit petitions is Feb. 8.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce "After Business Mixer" will be held on Thursday, January 20th, at the Best Western Ticonderoga Inn and Suites from 5:30-7 PM. Sponsors providing door prizes will be the Best Western, Sugar & Spice Country Shoppe and the Wagon Wheel Restaurant. The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce serves Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Hague, Moriah, Putnam and surrounding areas.

A new housing facility to support seniors who are interested in both independent and assisted living may come to Westport by the end of 2012. Adirondack Grand, a project started in 2009 would be built on the Westport Industrial Park. It’s still in the development stages and the developers have been working with the Westport town board on the project because the complex would require the extension of the current town sewer system, which may be able to be funded through grants.

A special panel looking at Vermont's tax structure is recommending lowering Vermont's income tax rates but it would eliminate most standard and itemized deductions. The Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission also is recommending lowering Vermont’s sales tax rate - currently 6% - but apply it more broadly, including to clothes and services.

Telecommunications company FairPoint Communications Inc. has gotten a federal bankruptcy court judge to agree with its reorganization plan three weeks after getting the OK from regulators in the last holdout state, Vermont. The company's Vermont president, Mike Smith, said the decision is giving them the green light to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the month.

New York education officials are raising the bar for students. The state Board of Regents has approved new standards in the state's public schools. Starting next fall kindergartners and first grade students will be expected to have more math skills and students in most all grades will also need to do a better job of interpreting literature from a wide variety of genres and cultures.

There is a lot more attention on keeping lawmakers safe after the shooting in Tucson. In fact, New Hampshire legislators can now carry guns in their statehouse after a ban was lifted last week. In Vermont’ Capitol however no one is allowed in the building with a gun including legislators. Police officers are the only ones allowed to carry a gun

If some New York lawmakers have their way leaving snow on your car could cost you. A lawmaker from Suffolk County New York wants to make flying ice and snow illegal on Long Island and then hopefully other lawmakers across New York State will follow. That means you'd have to brush off your car or pay up. New York State police say it's a good idea.

Vermont's two largest electric utilities say they're going to buy power from Hydro-Quebec at prices below those in the existing contract. The Central Vermont Public Service Corp. and Green Mountain Power negotiated the contract with Hydro-Quebec, but all Vermont utilities are getting some power from Hydro-Quebec. The Vermont Public Service Board is reviewing the plan for Vermont utilities to purchase up to 225 megawatts of energy, mostly hydroelectricity, from Hydro-Quebec's U.S. subsidiary, between 2012 and 2038.