WVTK Local & State News January 3, 2011

Police in Rutland are investigating a shooting that left one person with non-life threatening injuries. According to reports, 22-year-old Tiffanie Felix was shot in the lower back while driving along Route 4 in West Rutland early yesterday morning. Police say 4 other people were in the car at the time but they are offering little details.

It’s going to be a busy week at the state capitol this week. On Wednesday, state lawmakers will be sworn into office and then Governor Jim Douglas will give his farewell address. On Thursday, lawmakers will hold a joint session were Peter Shumlin will be sworn into office followed by his inaugural address.

A 3-year partnership meant to help keep teens and young adults off drugs is paying off. The effort began in January of 2008, when the Vermont Department of Health awarded the Boys and Girls Club of Vergennes a 3-year, $360-thousand-dollar grant. Since then the club as been working with schools, state and local health providers, and police and they say the effort is paying off.

Fire firefighters were busy yesterday afternoon fighting a fire at a Brandon business. Fire fighters from multiple departments arrived just after 2 to structure fire at the Naylor and Breen Construction Company on Franklin Street. According to reports, there was also an explosion on the scene. A cause for the fire has not yet been determined.

A weekend carbon monoxide poisoning has officials reminding us once again of the dangers of carbon monoxide. Rescue crews over the weekend responded to a call at a vacation home in Killington and found a propane wall heater leaking carbon monoxide. One person was pronounced dead while 8 others were hospitalized. Authorities say the survivors are lucky to be alive; the home was not equipped with carbon monoxide detectors.

Although Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin says schools across the state don’t have to meet the Challenges for Change budget reduction this year, Otter Valley Union High School has done just that. The proposed budget for 2011-2012, has been cut by over $450-thousand-dollars while retaining the school resource officer.

Some taxpayers in Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union towns — including Brandon, Goshen, Leicester and Whiting — will be very pleased come Town Meeting Day. Most area school budgets will translate into significant reductions in the local tax rate thanks to lower proposed spending and the state per pupil spending formula.

You might want to start paying for some of your purchases with cash now that a new law has gone into effect in Vermont. The law passed last year allows stores to set a minimum amount for credit card purchases. Stores can also offer shoppers up to 3-percent discounts if they pay with cash.