WVTK Local & State News February 1, 2011

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning that goes into effect from 1AM Wednesday – 7AM Thursday and includes Middlebury, Port Henry, Ticonderoga and Rutland. The Weather Channel says we’ll see some snow throughout today – High in the Upper Teens.

We are bracing for one of the strongest winter storms of the season. It will be a one-two punch, with snow starting about mid-day today, bringing anywhere from one to four inches. After a break, a heavier batch will move in tomorrow, with as much as eight to eighteen inches of snow left behind when the storm finally rolls out on Thursday. Remember we’ll keep you up to date with the latest forecasts along with school closings and cancellations from the WVTK Storm Center.

Addison County has been known as a state leader in bias-free policing policies. However, members of the Addison County Farm Worker Coalition say there is work to be done. The Addison Coalition along with migrant outreach and human rights groups across the state, are preparing for discussions on how to expand and strengthen anti-discrimination policies in police departments across the state.

This Spring, Middlebury residents will be asked to launch a multi-year makeover of Mary Hogan Elementary School’s playground facilities that would include replacement of the popular Kidspace apparatus. Residents at the annual ID-4 school district meeting in April will be asked to earmark up to $10,000 in education reserve money for Middlebury-based LandWorks to design a new playground plan for the recreation spaces at Mary Hogan.

Voters in the five Addison Northwest Supervisory Union towns who want to learn more about the proposed unification of the supervisory union have a number of ways to do so before voting on March 1. Officials have scheduled one more informational forum at the Addison Central School on Tuesday, February 8, at 7 PM. Superintendent Tom O’Brien also said unification questions will be welcome at school meetings in Addison and Ferrisburgh and at the annual meetings for Vergennes Union high and elementary schools.

Residents in Brandon will a familiar name challenging an incumbent on Town Meeting Day this year. Attorney Jim Leary has submitted a petition and will run for a three-year seat on the Brandon select-board against longtime selectman and board chair Richard Baker.

A public meeting will be held in Bristol on February 10th to discuss the town’s application to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation for two variances concerning the operation of its Pine Street landfill. According to town officials the state has changed the way in which it interprets its regulations regarding the operations of municipal landfills. The new interpretation would require the town of Bristol to build enough money into the budget to cover closure fund obligations. That would be an amount close to $1 million.

Two New York tour bus drivers allegedly under the influence of alcohol when they drove high school students to Killington Ski Area say they're not guilty. They were released on conditions yesterday after entering not guilty pleas. The Department of Motor Vehicles took the two and another United Coach of Staten Island driver off the road Saturday after alcohol was detected in their systems.

Starting this year, Castleton State College will be giving the town of Castleton $10,000 as a yearly donation for the town’s emergency services. The Castleton town manager said the reason behind why the college is giving the town the money is because of the high number of police and fire calls the town responds to at the college. The $10,000 donation from the college will be distributed between the town’s fire and police departments and the town’s first responders.

A suspect in a plot to attack a Michigan mosque pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges stemming from threats made in 2002 against the president and against veterans' facilities in Vermont. Court documents show 63-year-old Roger Stockham was charged with threatening employees at a Veterans Administration hospital in White River Junction and a veteran’s center in South Burlington. Authorities say he threatened the life of the president.

In the fall, students at Vermont state colleges will have to pay more. Tuition will increase at all five schools in the state system. The announcement comes four months before it usually does partly because they want to give students more time to plan. Students were upset by the news with many left wondering how they will pay up to $1,200 more dollars next year.

Peter Shumlin made his first official visit as governor to the Vermont National Guard base in Colchester Monday morning. Shumlin presented the Guard's Charitable Foundation with a check for more than $70,000. The money was raised through the governor's inaugural celebration. The Guard says the money will be used to support families while soldiers are deployed. It will also be used to ease the transition for returning soldiers who are looking for work.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he has unearthed what he calls a longtime Albany secret that quietly increases spending drastically in a flawed budget process. He vows to scrap the system. Cuomo said it would have automatically increased Medicaid and education spending by 13 percent, so that even a 7-percent cut announced publicly would be a 6-percent increase in funding.

Rescuers say a skier from New Jersey lost overnight at Vermont's Killington Resort has been found and is being evaluated at a hospital. He was found on a snowmobile trail in Mendon around 1:30 yesterday afternoon. He told Vermont State Police he was fine except for cold hands and toes and was taken to the hospital. The skier was reported lost on Sunday afternoon.

There was a constitutional competition at the statehouse yesterday. Students came to Montpelier to test their knowledge about the constitution. About 70 Vermont schools teach the "We The People" course. Competing schools have teams made up of four students. The winning school will go to Washington D.C. for the national competition.