WVTK Local & State News April 19, 2011

Middlebury is preparing for a busy roadwork schedule this Spring & Summer. Area residents will see utility improvements, ditching and repaving on several local roads. The most extensive work will include Stewart Lane, North Street, Buttolph Drive, Rolling Acres, Foote Street, Weybridge Street and Washington Street. The work schedule might also include a water main and storm water project involving portions of Charles Avenue and Water Street. This work has been made possible with the passage of two $3 Million bond issues.

After 16 years Middlebury’s After Dark Music series is ending. Series founders and coordinators Harvey and Carol Green explained that while they have enjoyed bringing numerous high-caliber folk, blues, jazz and other acts to town over the years, they are ready to retire from the physical strain and financial challenge of organizing a half-dozen shows each year. The Greens had launched the After Dark series with the goal of bringing back to Middlebury some of the performers at the annual summer Festival On-The-Green.

A small group of Middlebury voters have approved a 2011-2012 Mary Hogan Elementary School budget of almost $5.9 million. The annual budget meeting drew around nine residents who were not members of either the ID-4 school board or school administration.

Vergennes aldermen have approved the city’s farmers’ market request to use the downtown green for another season. The decision did start some discussion triggered by the proposed inclusion of a pizza maker among the market’s vendors. City Manager Mel Hawley had raised the issue that such a vendor might conflict with existing downtown eateries.

This Thursday Goshen resident’s will meet with representatives of FairPoint Communications to address bringing broadband Internet access to town. The public is encouraged to attend the meeting at 7PM at the Goshen Town Hall. While former Gov. Jim Douglas made high-speed Internet access a priority of his administration the only current option for Goshen residents is to connect to the Internet via dial-up service.

Vergennes aldermen have said they would like to retain one of two building sites on a city-owned parcel off New Haven Road as a possible future home for a new police station. The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Vergennes has also been interested in the parcel. The land was originally owned by the Vergennes ID school district and deeded to the city in 2010 when the ID board was dissolved.

Despite a challenging winter for the Vergennes Public Works Department and Police Department the city’s budget appears to be on track as the end of the fiscal year approaches on June 30th. The City Manager said that a combination of belt-tightening and better-than-expected revenue streams put the city’s finances in a better position than he had hoped even a few short weeks before.

Rutland Regional Medical Center President Thomas Huebner predicts a future full of risk and uncertainty the hospital weathers a storm of health care reform. He said the proposed reforms moving through the Legislature could be catastrophic to everything from patient care to doctor recruitment and retention in the state if the system the state settles on shortchanges health care providers. But despite the risks, he said he supports the reform efforts because the current system is unsustainable due to rapidly escalating health-care costs.

The state of Vermont has issued the permits needed to move dangerous chemicals from an Essex Junction home. Meanwhile, the potentially explosive chemicals are locked in a garage. The homeowner, Allan Fisher, said he brought the chemicals to his home from the Addison County home of his late father, a former research chemist. The Chittenden Solid Waste District says two environmental contractors have been lined up to do the work by the end of the month.

Rutland Probation and Parole Manager Michael O’Malley from Proctor died Sunday morning at Rutland Regional Medical Center after an apparent heart attack. He was 59 years old. Funeral services are scheduled for 11AM Thursday at Christ the King Church in Rutland. During his almost 30-year career with the state Department of Corrections, O’Malley was called on to lead. He served as superintendents in jails in Rutland, Burlington and Springfield and worked in the main DOC offices in Waterbury. For the last 13 years, he has run the Probation and Parole office where those that served under him said he was highly regarded.

Two subsidiaries of Entergy Corp. filed suit yesterday to stop the state of Vermont from shutting down Vermont Yankee when its state permit expires next year. Gov. Peter Shumlin says Entergy agreed in 2006 to a law that gave the state legislature power to say no to a license renewal for the plant. He says the company's now trying to get out of the agreement because it's not getting its way.

Gov. Peter Shumlin and officials from the state's two largest electric utilities are praising a decision by the Public Service Board to approve a 26-year electricity contract with the Canadian utility Hydro-Quebec. In March of last year, Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power signed a memorandum of understanding with Hydro-Quebec that lead to the contract. In its decision, the board says the agreement benefits Vermont utilities and ratepayers. The state will purchase up to 225 megawatts of electricity starting in November 2012 and ending in 2038.

An overnight fire yesterday literally brought Brattleboro to a standstill. The fire broke out Sunday a little before 9PM. Fire crews say the fourth and fifth floors of the Brooks House received extensive damage. The building houses 59 apartments and 10 businesses. Luckily everybody was able to make it out safely. No word yet on what sparked the blaze. Officials continue to investigate the exact origin and cause, but at this time they say it does not appear to be suspicious.

Purchases of clothing and shoes in New York State that are less than $55 are now exempt from the state's 4-percent sales tax. The exemption, which will be in effect until March 31, 2012, addresses a previous measure that applied to purchases less than $110, as opposed to $55. The higher purchase level will be restored April 1, 2012. Clinton and Franklin counties charge 4-percent sales tax, which, with the state figure, brings the total to 8 percent. In Essex County, the 3 3/4 percent on purchases adds up to 7 3/4 percent.

Three New York legislators want the state to register domestic violence offenders just as sex crime offenders are publicly listed. It would require anyone convicted of domestic violence to be listed in a Domestic Violence Offender Database.

More than 300 people took part in Saturday's Day of Caring volunteer efforts, which were organized by United Way of the Adirondack Region. The daylong volunteer-driven event hosted more than 30 projects that included cleaning homes of senior citizens, building homes through Habitat for Humanity and renovating the Strand Theatre. Each county within the United Way region, which includes Clinton, Essex and Franklin, took part in volunteer projects.

Students at Mount Abraham Union High School got to work in the school garden last week. A team of ninth-graders turned the soil in the beds and began seeding a wide range of crops from spring lettuce and radishes to summer tomatoes and peppers to leeks and winter squash. Volunteer Walter O’Donoghue oversees the Mount Abe Garden.

The Boston Public Library recognized a local author for his contributions to literature during the 23rd annual Literary Lights ceremony in Boston on Sunday. Author Ron Powers of Castleton was one of eight New England authors to be honored as a “literary light” by the Associates of the Boston Public Library.

Congressman Peter Welch says he's hitting the road to find out what Vermonters think should be in - and out - of the federal budget. The Democratic lawmaker is launching a "budget priorities tour" today in Winooski. The group for today’s 10:30AM session at Physician's Computer Co., in Winooski includes officials from the Rutland Tech Center, Vermont State Colleges, Vermont Country Products and Dynapower Corp.

A Vermont museum that boasts the largest public collection of Grandma Moses paintings is putting on a major display to show off some of them. "Grandma Moses and the `Primitive' Tradition," at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, will run from June 11th through October 30th. It contains 50 works by Moses and others who painted in that style. The exhibit commemorates the 150th anniversary of her birth in 1860.