WVTK Local & State News May 10, 2011

The Charlotte to Essex Ferry remains closed due to the continued high water situation on Lake Champlain. Grand Isle and Chimney Point ferries are running as scheduled. Get updates on any of the Lake Champlain Ferries at www.ferries.com.

The Lake Champlain Bridge Community has chosen the weekend of October 15th and 16th as the dates for the Grand Reopening Celebration. According to Vermont and New York transportation officials the Lake Champlain Bridge is scheduled to reopen on Sunday, October 9th. In the event the bridge does not open as planned, celebration events will be postponed until the spring of 2012. Many events are planned for the two-day celebration, including a grand parade that is reminiscent of the parade held in 1929 during the opening festivities for the “original” bridge. You can get all of the details by visiting the Bridge Updates page, click HERE.

Floodwaters on Lake Champlain are slowly receding. Evidence of that could be seen Monday morning on the Route 2 causeway to the Champlain Islands, where traffic is slowly returning to normal. Two lanes of traffic are now being allowed through. There is still some standing water on the roadway, but far less that a couple of days ago when the lake reached its peak levels. State transportation workers are now putting rocks down on the north side of the causeway, creating some minor traffic delays.

Authorities are now saying it's going to be weeks before cleanup can even begin around the shoreline of Lake Champlain. The floodwaters are starting to recede a bit, but businesses and communities are only starting to add up the damage and money lost by the high water. A spokesperson for Burlington Parks and Recreation says just having North Beach not open on time and closed this past week meant a loss of seven-thousand dollars, and then there's all the functions at the beach which have been canceled.

Last week the section of New York State Route 9N/22 known as the "rock cuts" between Crown Point and the village of Port Henry was closed down to traffic due to the rising waters on Lake Champlain. The roadway is the main route of transportation in eastern Essex County, and also is the main route used to get to the ferry crossing and bridge construction at Crown Point. There are now renewed calls to raise the roadway along the rock cuts. The board of supervisors unanimously passed a resolution to implore the state to raise the road.

As Lake Champlain slowly begins to recede authorities are warning people to not play in the water. On Monday night, two girls were rescued near Perkins Pier after they ventured too far into a flooded parking lot. You are reminded that even though conditions are improving, it's still very dangerous on the shore. It could take weeks, even months, before the Lake begins to look normal again.

Congressman Peter Welch and Congressman Bill Owens are teaming up to help dairy farmers. The lawmakers want to allow dairy farmers to have access to the H-2A visa program. It would allow farmers to hire foreign workers when domestic labor is unavailable. That law is available to other industries and other types of agriculture, but last year the U.S. Department of Labor excluded the dairy industry from the program. The Welch-Owens bill will change that.

The western rail corridor once again failed to make the cut yesterday as the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $2 billion in funding for rail projects. Vermont was hoping $80 million of that money would go toward a plan to extend Amtrak service from Rutland up to Burlington. Despite this being the third rejection in a row, rail advocates said they are far from ready to give up.

Police in Burlington are investigating a suspected drug overdose that left a woman in critical condition. Police say the 25-year-old woman attended a concert at Higher Ground nightclub in South Burlington on Friday where she was provided and willingly ingested a so-called designer drug. The Burlington police said that they would like to talk to anyone who may have information related to the investigation.

Debt service on the just-completed Ticonderoga Central School District building project has pushed the tax-levy hike to 4.89 percent. To keep taxes down, the district slashed nine teaching jobs from the proposed 2011-12 budget to reduce expenses. The Superintendent said layoffs were needed to reduce the tax burden, so they trimmed three teaching positions, two full-time and one half time; and two teaching assistants, one full-time and one half-time. The district also cut one administrator, two teachers and one teaching assistant due to attrition, plus eliminated gymnastics, Next Step, and Building Leadership Team.

Officials in North Carolina have identified a second Vermonter killed in a plane crash. Dentist Peter Hebert of Waterbury Center and Sheri Rowe, his office manager, were killed Friday when the single-engine plane Hebert was flying crashed two miles short of the runway. The two were on their way to a graduation ceremony in Wilmington, North Carolina when they reported a loss of fuel pressure and attempted to land in Richlands. Hebert was involved in two prior plane crashes in Vermont.

Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce says four Vermont schools are testing a new financial fluency program aimed at helping teachers find new ways of introducing personal finance concepts to young people. Teachers at Bellows Falls Union High, St. Albans City School, Twinfield Union High School and U-32 High School started last month on the six-lesson curriculum, which teaches financial concepts with a math-based curriculum, touching on budgeting, credit card interest and other personal finance topics.

The Ticonderoga Chamber of Commerce's ninth annual fundraiser dinner and auction will be held on Friday, June 17th, at Silver Bay YMCA. The event will take place in Silver Bay's Gullen Lounge located within the main Inn starting at 6PM with appetizers followed by dinner at 7PM. Early reservations are suggested as seating is limited. Contact the TACC office for reservations and more information.

A review of state records has found that New York's prisons are running at about 88 percent capacity. Gannett's Albany bureau is reporting that state prisons have as many as 8,000 excess beds at the system's 67 facilities. Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to lower the excess bed count by 3,700 to save the state roughly $72 million. Up to six prisons may be closed.

Hundreds of Rainbow and Brown trout were sent to their new home Monday, the Winooski River. VT Fish and Wildlife Game Warden Chad Barrett says each year Trophy Trout, between two and four pounds are released into the Winooski in Waterbury between the Route 2 Bridge and Bolton Dam. The fish and wildlife department hopes to get more people interested in fishing. Rivers, lakes, and ponds across Vermont will get stocked for the next two weeks.

Mail carriers from post offices across Vermont will be picking up nonperishable food items along with regular mail, for the United Way’s 19th annual Letter Carrier’s Food Drive on Saturday in an effort to fill local food shelves before the summer begins. People are encouraged to leave nonperishable food donations by their mailboxes on Saturday morning and their carriers will pick them up as they go by.

King Arthur Flour is planning a big expansion. The Norwich-based company plans to break ground on an $8 million to $10 million-construction project in June. The 4,000 square foot addition will allow the company to expand its seating and its educational classes. The company also tells the Burlington Free Press that it plans to hire an additional 12 to 15 employees once the project is complete. King Arthur Flour is the oldest flour company in America.

The third annual Middlebury Arts Walk kicks off this Friday. The initial emphasis will be on student art that will be found at more than 40 participating businesses. The Middlebury Arts Walk is a program through which local artists’ work is displayed at stores on the second Friday of each month through October between 5 and 7PM. During that time downtown Middlebury becomes a center for art that will include music, food and fun.

Vermont's artists and artisans are throwing open their studio doors for a statewide celebration of the visual arts. Open Studio Weekend, which is set for May 28-29, will take place at more than 226 sites around the state, with more than 300 artists and artisans participating. Established 19 years ago by the Vermont Crafts Council, the events will show the work of glass blowers, jewelers, furniture makers, weavers, painters and wood carvers, with some galleries hosting talks and special exhibits. For more information click HERE.

A legend at Camp Keewaydin passed away last week. Alfred Hare died on May 3 at the Helen Porter Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Middlebury. He was 96.