WVTK Local & State News February 24, 2011

A Winter Storm Warning goes into effect from The National Weather Service from 4AM to 11PM Friday that includes Addison, Rutland and Essex Counties. We could see anywhere from 6 to 10 Inches from this storm. Today is expected to start out Sunny with Snow Showers moving in by this afternoon with a High in the 30’s.

National FFA Week is currently underway. The Future Farmers of America tradition in Vermont goes back to the mid 1900s. It remains a strong force in both local agriculture and career-oriented education. FFA is in sharp focus year-round at the Hannaford Career Center here in Middlebury as it is elsewhere. Students receive training in farm management, crops and even maple sugaring is part of the academic mix. FFA Week gives members here in Addison County a chance to educate the public about agriculture.

In an attempt to improve communication, Crown Point departments are now required to give reports at each town board meeting. Bethany Kosmider would like department heads to attend the town board meetings to make their reports. That way they are available to answer questions from the community during the public comments portion of each meeting.

Yesterday Rutland City Mayor Christopher Louras urged lawmakers to pursue with force the single-payer health-care proposal now under consideration in the Statehouse. At the risk of offending his former Republican colleagues and the Rutland business community at large, Louras said, he believes the states health-care system must be “blown up” and remade from scratch.

The North Ferrisburgh United Methodist church is taking 15 teens and adults on a Mission trip to continue the rebuilding efforts in Mississippi. The group will fly into New Orleans to see the damage from Hurricane Katrina that is still evident. Then the group will drive to Gulfport, Mississippi and join 15 more Vermonters for several rebuilding projects in the area.

Concerned moms came to appeal to Sen. Patrick Leahy's staff. They want the senator to vote against federal budget cuts to the Head-Start program. But if the House of Representative gets its way Head-Start will face drastic cuts. The proposed 22.4 percent cut would mean 336 Vermont kids would be dropped from the program, close to one-quarter of classrooms would close and over 120 employees would also lose their jobs statewide.’

On Wednesday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo presented his proposed 2011-2012 Executive Budget. The Governor's proposal transforms the state budget process to conform to fiscal realities and eliminates a $10 billion deficit without raising taxes or borrowing. The proposal includes items like reducing the cost of State Government to merging and consolidating State Agencies.

The former Cobbler's Bench Building in downtown Ticonderoga has been purchased by a cooperative that intends to turn the three-story behemoth into shops and offices. The Ticonderoga Revitalization Alliance has just closed on the building. The group formed Wild Horses One LLC to buy the sprawling structure from Champlain National Bank.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce has welcomed Trendy Threads Consignment Boutique as one of its newest members. The Chamber will host a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, March 15, at 1 PM. Trendy Threads is located at 85 Montcalm St.

Vermonters who want to weigh in on the performance of the state's five Supreme Court justices have a chance to do so this week. The justices and 10 other lower court judges are going through the judicial retention process, in which the Legislature votes every six years on whether they should continue on the bench. Today's public hearing is set for 7 p.m. at the Statehouse in Montpelier.

A bill moving through the Vermont statehouse would provide employers with a $2,000 tax credit for hiring recent war veterans. Hundreds of Vermont National Guard soldiers returned from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan in December, and since then, many have been unable to find work. Almost a third of them are still looking for a job.

The Burlington Fire Department says smoking materials that were improperly disposed of started a fire at a condominium building that displaced 40 people in the Vermont city. There were no injuries in the fire at the Riverwatch Condominiums, which was reported just before 5 AM Yesterday. Firefighters arrived within three minutes to find heavy fire on a third floor balcony that extended into the roof.

A Vermont company that installed 936 solar panels at its Springfield factory is going to be able to take advantage of a state tax credit after all. The budget adjustment bill signed last week by Gov. Peter Shumlin contained the credit that the IVEK Corp. had expected after it built the solar array.

An urgent plea has gone out to save federal funding for senior-volunteer programs. If the Corporation for National and Community Service is eliminated, as proposed in federal legislation, there would be no money for local programs that take elderly and disabled clients to medical appointments or deliver nutritious food to seniors and shut-ins who use the Meals on Wheels program.

New State Senator Betty Little was appointed to a newly-created team last week aimed at increasing minority and women-owned business participation in state procurement and contracting. The team was established through an executive order handed down by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Little says lawmakers are currently seeing more of a focus on initiatives promoting economic development and job creation.

Fort Ticonderoga Executive Director Beth Hill believes the Fort and the community are linked; what's good for the fort is good for the town. Hill now has an even greater role in the local economy. She has been elected to the board of directors of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism/Lake Placid CVB, formerly known as the Essex County/Lake Placid Visitors Bureau.

A group of Ticonderoga Middle School students have spent their winter break in Hawaii as part of a College For Every Student exchange program. Rachel Bennett, Kolby Bradford, Claire Burns, Lillith Ida and Dale Quesnel made the trip along with teacher Heather York and Principal Bruce Tubbs. They are scheduled to return home February 28th.

The Essex County Agricultural Society has set the 2011 Essex County Fair dates as August 10-14. They have been busy planning the fair. The Society is also planning a benefit weekend May 13-15 for the American Cancer Society and Fair Buildings improvement. The weekend will be filled with a Music Festival, Car Show and Motor Cycle Rally.

The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce is finishing it's Fun House float for the 16th annual Magic Hat Mardi Gras Parade. This year marks the Chamber's centennial, and they wanted to do something really fun for the parade that will be held March 6th. Entrance fees by those in the parade benefit the Women's Rape Crisis Center. Last year, the Mardi Gras Parade raised thirty-three thousand dollars for the center.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has recently published a book filled with letters from Vermonters about how the recession is affecting them. The Senator's office put out a request for stories and received more than 400 of them, detailing the hardships the economic crisis has brought with it. He has already shared a number of the letters with his colleagues on the Senate floor in hopes of reminding them that the effects of the recession are not over.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation has launched an investigation into Vermont Rail Systems. They maintain the tracks between Rutland and Whitehall, N.Y., which are used by Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express. Amtrak just ranked Vermont Rail Systems as the worst host railroad in the nation for Amtrak passenger service, arguing the on-time arrival of the Ethan Allen Express train is often below 30 percent because of problems with that stretch of track.

The political unrest in Libya means more pain at the pump for Vermonters. On Wednesday oil hit a price of $100 a barrel for the first time in two years. That means gas prices have been rising nearly every day. The current average for a gallon of gas here in Vermont is $3.31, 2 cents higher than the day before and 7 cents higher than the national average. It's also over 50 cents higher than this time last year.

The fun never ends for Vermont's champion grocery bagger. Krystal Smith of Burlington, whose victory in the U.S. Best Bagger Championship in Las Vegas earned her $10,000 and a spot on "The Late Show With David Letterman," is headed to the Statehouse for some kudos from Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin. The 24-year-old Smith, who works at a Hannaford Supermarket, won a Vermont competition last fall at the Champlain Valley Exposition.