WVTK Local & State News May 19, 2011

Lake Champlain floodwaters are rising again after days of rain poured runoff into the already swollen body of water between Vermont and New York. Since on-again, off-again rains began Saturday the lake has risen seven inches, to 102.6 feet above sea level. That's well short of the all-time record of 103.2 feet set May 6, but still about 2-feet above flood stage. Hundreds of homes and low-lying areas in Vermont and New York remain flooded. Officials say it could be weeks before the lake level is back to normal.

Two ferry routes that cross Lake Champlain are still closed due to flooding. Lake Champlain Transportation said it is not sure when they will re-open. The Charlotte, Essex ferry and the Burlington, Port Kent Ferry are out of commission. Employees said the Essex, New York dock is covered in nearly 18 inches of water. That route will be closed until further notice. The Burlington ferry does not open until June 16. But, transportation leaders are keeping a close eye on the water level by the dock. The Grand Isle and Crown Pointe ferries continue to run on schedule.

With voters in Vergennes rejecting a planned school board merger on Tuesday, the Vermont Education Commissioner worries this will have a negative effect on other districts considering mergers. He believes that it would have been better for all of the students in the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union district now and in the future. Act 153, which was approved by the Legislature last year, requires all Supervisory Unions to consider district consolidation. Opponents of district consolidation worry that it will eventually lead to school closures and reduce local control. The towns of Bolton, Huntington, Jericho, Richmond and Underhill will vote on a unification plan for their Chittenden East Supervisory Union on June 7th.

Vermont State Police are currently investigating the report of a stolen 6 wheel ATV. On Monday a Green 1997 6 Wheel Argo belonging to LMS Construction was stolen from a residence on Sunset lake Road in Orwell. LMS has been doing work for the Shoreham Telephone Company in the Orwell area. LMS Construction is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest concerning the stolen ATV. Anyone with information is being asked to contact the Vermont State Police in New Haven. (Trooper Leise at 802-388-4919)

Rutland City Police say they made a major drug bust. It happened Tuesday night at the Highlander Motel on North Main St. Police say they found nearly six ounces of crack and 250 bags of heroin. The estimated street value is $22,000. 25-year-old Eugene White of Brooklyn, NY is in jail on drug trafficking charges. He is being held on $500,000 bail.

With the slam of an auctioneer’s gavel, something about the Vermont dairy industry underwent a dramatic change yesterday. When the Morrison family in Leicester put their cows up for auction, the number of dairy farms in Vermont slipped to under a thousand. That's the first time on record. In the 1950's, the number of dairy farms in Vermont was more than eleven thousand. However, since that time, while the actual number of farms has dropped, production has climbed by more than half a billion pounds. Many of the cows sold yesterday are going to neighboring farms, with the equipment being auctioned off on tomorrow.

A Rhode Island man is behind bars in connection with a string of Chittenden County burglaries and police say he may have hit other homes around the state. Around noon on Tuesday Hinesburg Police responded to a burglary at a home on Pond Road. They located the suspect, Durand Perry, at a nearby residence where he reportedly confessed to that burglary. A short time later another home burglary, this time on Texas Hill Road, was called in. Perry reportedly confessed to taking a TV in that case as well as a third burglary. He faces numerous felony charges and is being held for lack of bail.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has signed a bill calling on manufacturers of light bulbs containing mercury to set up and pay for a recycling program for the bulbs. Vermont becomes the third state in the country, behind Maine and Washington, to pass what's called a producer responsibility law for mercury-containing products. The law calls for producers to provide for the collection and recycling of the bulbs and other products containing mercury, including some thermostats and auto switches.

Vermont will soon require private health insurers to cover the services of midwives and home births, joining a handful of other states. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill saying access to midwifery care and home birth should not be limited only to those who can afford those services out of pocket. He and others say the change will hold down health care expenses. But the Vermont Medical Society and some insurance companies say the change actually could lead to higher costs if a mother must be transferred from home to a hospital because of problems during birth.

A labor union is complaining that large wind-power projects in northern Vermont and New Hampshire are bypassing local ironworkers and bringing in out-of-state crews, undermining the projects' hoped-for benefits to the areas' hard-pressed economies. Officials with Ironworkers Local 7 say union members are being bypassed on the job in Sheffield and Coos County, NH, in favor of crews being brought in from Utah by RMT, the general contractor on the two projects.

The state is trying to block the arrival of a bug that destroys ash trees. The Vermont Agriculture Agency is hanging purple traps in campgrounds and along roads to check for the emerald ash borer. The purple color attracts the bug. The emerald ash borer has not been found in Vermont, but has killed forests in other states. The traps will be used as surveillance to determine whether the bugs are present and they will be monitored throughout the summer. Officials say the traps pose no risk to humans or animals, but they are very sticky. If you see one lying on the ground you're asked to call the USDA's toll-free number. (1-866-322-4512)

There's a new push to connect Vermont and Montreal with Amtrak service. The route from Montreal through Vermont was halted in 1994 because of low ridership. It was restarted a year later, but only going as far north as St. Albans. Now Gov. Peter Shumlin and Sen. Patrick Leahy are leading the effort to restore the route across the border. State and provincial officials are scheduled to meet next week in Burlington to discuss the return of Amtrak service between Vermont and Montreal.

The New York State Comptroller is proposing a law that would use computer databases to crack down on abusers of public pensions. He wants the legal power to use tax records to compare to pension records that would show when a pensioner is collecting full-time pay while he or she is collecting full-time pension benefits. The measure introduced to the Legislature would allow the state to find so-called double dippers and save money for state and local governments and school districts.

New York officials said 367 court employees statewide would be laid off as of June 1. The workers were notified Wednesday morning. The state's judicial branch is dealing with a $170 million cut in the state budget passed March 31. Judges have already been ordered to close court by 4:30 PM every day to reduce overtime pay, a move that could extend trials by days. Courts are also calling fewer jurors to duty, but officials said 95 percent of the $2.7 billion budget is for personnel.

A Vermont environmental group is urging that wind power development be stopped in the state to help save bats. The state is drafting new rules for the protection of bats in light of the epidemic that's been decimating bat populations in Vermont and elsewhere in the eastern and southern United States. Vermonters for a Clean Environment is responding to that request for comment by raising another problem that it says is plaguing bats -- bats getting into fatal collisions with wind turbine blades.

The Rutland hospital will play host to a meeting on the state’s emerging energy needs. The Vermont Department of Public Service is seeking public input from the meetings, on strategies the state can use to address energy issues and opportunities associated with how the state develops and uses the land, how people move, how the state uses and conserves energy and generates new supplies of that energy. The meeting will be held in the Leahy Education Center at the Rutland Regional Medical Center from 6 to 9 PM on June 16.