WVTK Local & State News March 29, 2011

Middlebury Assistant Town Manager Joe Colangelo will be stepping down this week to take the job of town administrator of Hinesburg. He has served as Middlebury’s assistant manager for the past three and a half years, focusing on budget matters and human resources.

Vermont State Police say DNA tests of blood left at the scene of Bristol burglary helped lead them to a suspect. Police say 39-year-old Andrew Carter of Bristol was charged on Sunday after DNA tests linked him to an April 2009 burglary on the Lower Notch Road in Bristol. Carter is due in court next month to answer the burglary charge.

The city of Vergennes will change how it sends out sewer bills. Homeowners will receive their sewer bills quarterly along with their tax bills in the upcoming fiscal year. A change in when bills are sent will be more efficient and save the city money in the long run. The city also said that for most homeowners it would be easier to make quarterly payments rather than two semi-annual payments.

Police say a man reportedly pumped gas into his car and drove off without paying at multiple Rutland area gas stations Sunday evening. Justin Mclaren reportedly stole $36 of gas from the Stewart's in West Rutland. Police did not say how much gas he stole from another Stewart's in Rutland City. They said that he was previously arrested for the same offense.

The military will buy an additional $9.8 million in jet engine components from the Rutland GE plant over the next two years. Sen. Patrick Leahy announced the deal yesterday, saying it was part of a total of $246 million in components ordered from several GE plants. Leahy is a senior member of the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The New York Citizens Advisory Committee to the Lake Champlain Basin Program is hosting a Watershed Stewardship Summit today. The summit will present the successes and challenges in preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species in the Lake Champlain basin and Adirondacks. The event, which is open to the public, will be held from 1 to 3:30 PM at the Nature Conservancy office on Route 73 in Keene Valley.

Health officials say tests have detected low-levels of radioactivity from a stricken Japanese nuclear plant in snow samples in New Hampshire and air samples in Maine. Health officials say the levels do not pose a threat to public health. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services says the amount of radiation detected in snow in Concord is at least 25 times below the level of concern, even for infants and pregnant women. Vermont's expected to have test results sometime today.

Addison County’s House delegation voted along party lines last week on the groundbreaking health care reform legislation. The Vermont House voted 92-49 in favor of H.202, which is the legislation that establishes a road map for a single-payer health care system for the state.

The Middlebury College administration has announced that it will launch two new schools in the Middle East in the coming years. This brings the total number of schools in the region to three. Middlebury launched a program in Alexandria, Egypt in 2007. Students in that program were evacuated in late January in the face of growing unrest in the country. The two new programs are in Israel and Jordan.

Middlebury officials have reported continuing progress in talks aimed at advancing a small-scale hydroelectric project at the Otter Creek Falls. The Holm family has been seeking to install a water turbine that would harness electricity from the Otter Creek Falls. It is a project that could generate more than 1 megawatt of electricity, which is enough to power the downtown area.

Vergennes aldermen have acknowledged the city could not keep up with this winter’s near-record snowfall. However they defended the efforts of the city’s public works department. Mayor Michael Daniels said that he was particularly upset about abuse public works employees had received from some residents despite what he called the employees’ tireless efforts.

After nine days of missile strikes and bombings, the president told the public that the American military would no longer be in charge in Libya. Critics of military intervention include Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who worries it could lead to another prolonged conflict and another battlefront for American forces to fight in the Arab world. The president did not to use the word "war" in his speech, but he said that military action was necessary to stop a massacre similar to Bosnia and Rwanda.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin says that if some states want to turn down federal money for high-speed rail, Vermont and other northeastern states will be happy to take it. Shumlin made the remark yesterday before meeting with U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and other leaders in Rutland to talk about expanding passenger rail service in Vermont and New England. He says he'd like to bring passenger rail to the western side of the state and upgrade the existing Amtrak Vermonter route.

Numbers from the U.S. Census show in 2009, Vermont was around 96 percent white, meaning 4 or 5 percent non-white. But Vermont's corrections department says last June more than 10 percent of people behind bars were minorities. And now the state is asking why. Members of the Vermont Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights are concerned about a trend in the state's criminal justice system. In a mostly white state corrections department figures show 10-15 percent of prisoners are non-white.

Eight fifth and sixth graders at Middlebury’s Aurora School have developed two water-recycling schemes that NASA will be reviewing as part of a national scholastic competition. They were picked as one of 20 finalists from throughout the country in NASA’s “Waste Limitation Management and Recycling Design Challenge.” It’s a challenge from NASA designed to maximize use of every precious drop of water that astronauts find or take with them into space. It currently costs $20,000 to take a one-liter bottle of water from Earth to the International Space Station. The challenge was open to kids in grades 5 through 8. Their task was to design a water recycling system for the unique environment of the moon. Winners will be announced on May 2nd will win an expense-paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A group of 17 Japanese students and six administrators stayed with the families of 15 Vermont students and several teachers from Mount Abraham and Harwood union high schools last week. The students explored a wide range of environmental issues together by visiting such places as the University of Vermont, Middlebury College, the Statehouse and Mount Abe.

Vergennes City resident Catherine Brooks, who is the cultural heritage tourism coordinator for the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, has told the City Council about an opportunity for Vergennes to link up with Plattsburgh to celebrate the upcoming 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. A pivotal event in that war is known as the Battle of Plattsburgh or the Battle of Valcour Island. The ships that fought in the winning U.S. side were built in Vergennes.

Vermont lawmakers might take some guidance on critical issues from the annual Doyle Poll. Results from about 15,000 questionnaires handed out on Town Meeting Day were released Monday. One surprising find was that 45 percent of respondents favor renewing Vermont Yankee's license, 41 percent are opposed and 14 percent are not sure. That's a big turnaround from last year when just 31 percent supported Yankee. Regarding health care reform only 31 percent think Vermonters should be required to buy health insurance, 50 percent are against and 19 percent aren't sure. One of the strongest results in the survey was for mandatory minimum sentences for repeat drunk drivers, 79 percent favor that.

Burlington is getting some new stores on the Church Street Marketplace. Now that Old Navy has moved to Williston, Panera bread will lease part of the 25,000 square foot space. It was confirmed yesterday that there is discussion with the Outdoor Gear Exchange to take over the remainder of the Old Navy space.

If you're hoping to win a moose hunting permit this year, now is your chance to apply. The state fish and wildlife department is now accepting moose hunting applications for the two lotteries planned, but you have to apply by early June. One lottery is for the regular hunting season, October 15th through the 20th, while the other is for the new archery season, October 1st through the 7th. The fish and wildlife department has proposed a total of 455 permits this year, but that still needs to be finalized.

Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is recommending Sean Cota of Bellows Falls to President Barack Obama for appointment to a federal agency that could have a role in cleaning up the nation's financial markets. Leahy has recommended him to a seat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Cota runs Cota & Cota, a longtime family-owned heating oil dealer.

Vermont Law School will host a community forum to discuss how proposals in the Vermont Legislature will affect Vermonters' access to affordable health care. Saturday's event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 9:30 AM to 3 PM at the South Royalton School. Breakfast and lunch will be served. The event is sponsored by the law school's chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.