WVTK Local & State News March 14, 2011

You should be aware that Route 73 between Route 30 in Sudbury and Route 7 in Brandon is closed. High water along the Otter Creek section of Route 73 has caused the roadway to be closed to traffic. Stay up-to-date on road closures anytime at www.511vt.com.

In Vermont lots of people are following the disaster in Japan. But none are watching closer than those with family and friends in Japan. Right here at Middlebury College, freshman Yuki Takeda followed the latest from Japan and news of more aftershocks on Friday. His family lives in Tokyo about 200 miles from where the earthquake hit and says he is one of about ten Middlebury students from Japan. None are from the area directly hit.

The return of Vermont National Guard members from Korea has been delayed because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The 46 members of the air guard fighter wing have spent the last two months in South Korea as part of a peacekeeping mission. They were slated to return over the weekend, but travel in the Far East has been disrupted by the catastrophe in Japan, so the guard members will probably not return until sometime this week. The Guard members are all safe.

A Leicester man is being charged with reckless endangerment after police say he used a gun during a domestic assault. The alleged incident happened at around 6:30 Sunday night at a home on Stove Pipe Avenue in Leicester. Forty-seven-year-old Jeffrey Bradish is now facing charges of domestic assault and reckless endangerment and is behind bars for lack of bail. There's no word on how the gun was used in the alleged assault.

A Benson woman has been charged with embezzling more than $200,000 from Brandon artist Frances Bull. In an indictment handed down last week, federal prosecutors say Pamela A. Natoli stole funds for years while working as Bull’s personal assistant. The indictment includes three counts of fraud by wire for balance transfers from Bull’s bank account to Natoli’s bank account in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The Lake Champlain Bridge Community, the grassroots organization entrusted to create, plan and lead the public festivities that will celebrate the replacement and re-opening of the Lake Champlain Bridge, has unveiled the logo design that will be used to promote the event. The logo will be used on the community's website, letterhead, marketing collateral, event materials and commemorative merchandise promoting the re-opening festivities for the Lake Champlain Bridge. The community and logo can be found on the web at www.champlainbridgecommunity.org.

Now that Rutland voters have decided to build a recreation center, city government is grappling with how. Alderman Sean Sargeant said he would like to create some sort of committee to help oversee the reconstruction of Giorgetti Arena. He has had informal discussions with the Mayor, the Recreation Superintendent and the Board of Alderman President. They all support for the idea.

Worker training for Essex County residents interested in a job with the Laurentian Aerospace project in Plattsburgh will be the focus of an upcoming forum. The public session is 6 PM on Wednesday in the auditorium at Moriah Central School. The workshop will include information on Plattsburgh Aeronautical Institute training available, as well as other potential workforce-training assistance programs and educational opportunities for potential workers.

Agri-Mark has announced an $11.3 million profit after taxes for 2010 that will be distributed among the 1,275 family farms in the Northeast that own the business. The profit follows $17.9 million in payments member farmers received in monthly milk checks through the year for milk quality and other premiums. The cooperative sold $781 million in milk and manufactured dairy products in 2010.

It will cost Crown Point $2.8 million to fix its municipal water system. The town system has low pressure, is leaking, lacks working meters and has a host of other problems, according to a report presented to the town board by the New York Rural Water Association. The town has applied to Rural Development for a grant to help cover some of the repair costs.

Last week's record snow storm that dumped 2 feet across Vermont not only closed schools and businesses but has kept people from giving blood. The American Red Cross is reminding the public that patients need blood no matter what the weather may be and is urging donors to give blood, when it's safe to travel.

Committees from the Vermont House and Senate will hold a joint public hearing on a universal health care bill. This evening's hearing before the House Health Care and Senate Health and Welfare committees will give the public a chance to give their views on the effort to make sure everyone in the state has health coverage. The hearing will be conducted through Vermont Interactive Television, with Vermonters being able to testify at 15 locations throughout the state, between 6 and 8 PM tonight.

A nonprofit group that monitors toxic waste sites says most pollution comes from small sources, such as homes and mom & pop stores, not big industrial Superfund sites. The Toxics Action Center in January published a town-by-town list that identified 1,421 hazardous sites in Vermont. It showed that 90% or more of them resulted from spills and leaks of gasoline, kerosene and home heating oil at service stations, mom & pop stores, small businesses and individual homes.

The University of Vermont's Tim Kelley is the new national champion in the men's slalom, while UVM has finished the 2011 NCAA Ski Championships in sixth place. The Catamounts played host to the 4-day event, which wrapped up Saturday at Stowe Mountain Resort and Trapp Family Lodge.

Vermont ski areas are hoping what's been the third-snowiest winter on record will nudge the skier-visit total over the 4 million mark. The Vermont Ski Areas Association says ski areas are trending in that direction, but they are not speculating on a final figure. There are still six weeks of skiing left. The National Weather Service in Burlington calls this winter the third snowiest on record with 124.3 inches.

Want to learn about leasing farmland or how to keep farmland in the family? A lecture provided by Law for Food and Rural Vermont will cover just that. Today, two attorneys will discuss leasing farmland, how that will affect tax obligations, how landowners can compensate tenant farmers for improvements in soil productivity, zoning and other land-use issues. Also covered will be right-to-farm laws, public nuisance threats, how to handle zoning disputes and the Act 250 land-use law. The lecture will be held from 6:30 – 7:30 this evening at Green Mountain Girls Farm on Loop Road in Northfield.

Half a dozen Vermont communities approved measures on Town Meeting Day designed to assist residents in improving energy efficiency. The high cost of energy efficient improvements is often a barrier for homeowners, but a recent Vermont law allows towns to create energy districts that can help provide the financing. The program is called PACE - or Property Assessed Clean Energy. The energy efficiency measure was approved at Town Meetings in East Montpelier, Waitsfield, Cornwall, Marlboro, Thetford, and Albany.

The Ticonderoga Fire Department will host an open house to kick off National Volunteer Week. The event, aimed at recruiting new members, will be held from 10 AM to 2 PM Saturday and Sunday, April 9th and 10th. The Ticonderoga Fire Department presently has 57 members, three junior members and eight youth members. There is no shortage of firefighters in Ti, but new members are welcome.