WVTK Local & State News June 3, 2011

A group of 13 Middlebury College students have done some design-work for a committee exploring potential centerpieces for the new Main Street roundabout. The students were enrolled in the college’s spring course “Introduction to Architectural Design,” and produced a series of drawings and miniature models of sculptures they believe could fill the Main Street roundabout next to the Cross Street Bridge. The students’ designs will be exhibited at the National Bank of Middlebury’s Main Street branch for around a month beginning Monday.

Middlebury-based Good Point Recycling has won electronic waste handling contracts for New York and Rhode Island and is close to finalizing a similar deal with Vermont as they build their reputation as one of the world’s pre-eminent e-waste recyclers. The company also serves as a broker for low-cost, refurbished computers, for classrooms and growing businesses in a half-dozen economically developing countries. Good Point does much of its work in Middlebury. It handles more than 5 million pounds of e-waste per year.

Bristol residents have consistently expressed concern about the safety of children, joggers and bicyclists that regularly use the stretch of Route 17-116 between downtown Bristol and Lincoln Road. A “pedestrian feasibility study” will be conducted throughout the summer to provide the town with several options for constructing a pedestrian path along this precarious stretch of road.

Helen Porter Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and Addison Respite Care Home Ltd. have joined forces to open a suite at the nursing home for terminally ill patients. The Center has 105 rooms designed to help people maximize their quality of life and now they have opened a room aimed at aiding terminally ill people experience compassion and dignity in death.

State police have labeled a blaze that destroyed a car on Main Street in Fair Haven as arson and are asking for information about who may have set it. Police and firefighters were called at 2 AM on Monday where a car parked in front of a Main Street home was found engulfed in flames. Police are asking anyone with information about the fire to call Fair Haven police. (802-265-4531)

Gov. Peter Shumlin has signed into law a bill authorizing up to four dispensaries where registered patients can obtain medical marijuana. Vermont law allows patients or their caregivers to grow their own marijuana, but several patients told legislators that they were unable to do so due to the high cost of equipment or because their medical condition made the task too physically demanding.

Victims of last week's flooding in central Vermont were looking for help at a forum in Barre, where representatives of more than a dozen social service and government agencies gathered. More than 100 people turned out for Thursday night's event at the Barre Auditorium, hearing presentations from officials of the United Way, the state Health Department and the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration. Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in Barre yesterday to assess flood damage.

Flash flooding in Vermont last week caused an estimated $1.7 million in damages to roads and bridges in St. Johnsbury. That according to Town Manager Ralph Nelson, who told select board members Wednesday that repairs will take all summer. Nelson says the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover 75% of the tab, and Vermont Emergency Management about 15%, leaving the town's share at about $218,000.

Cabot-Agrimark has a facility in West Springfield, Massachusetts where its warehouse was damaged during the heavy storms this week. The company says a wall collapsed at its warehouse, breaking pipes and causing a lot of water damage. It says it lost a lot of product but no one there was hurt. It's butter and nonfat powder manufacturing facility in Springfield was not damaged.

Gov. Peter Shumlin is tapping a veteran state government lawyer to fill the new job of director of health care reform. He announced that Robin Lunge, an attorney with the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration, would take the job. Lunge will oversee health care reform efforts across state government and serve as liaison to the Green Mountain Health Care Board, the group that will design a universal health care system for the state as part of the legislation.

Attorneys for the Vermont Yankee say a 2002 agreement giving the state power to decide if the plant should continue operating after 2012, was voided by the Vermont Legislature. According to Vermont Yankee, the Legislature's 2006 decision to give lawmakers authority over the future of the plant took that authority away from the Public Service Board. The State of Vermont wants the plant to close when their license expires. Entergy is asking a federal judge to allow the plant to keep operating while future of the plant is being decided.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders says he'll introduce legislation to force federal regulators to curb speculation in crude oil markets that experts blame for driving up gasoline prices. The senator says there's mounting evidence that high gasoline prices are not caused by supply and demand, but by the action of speculators. He says the average price of gasoline in Vermont is $3.88 a gallon, a dime more than the national average.

Gov. Peter Shumlin says he's looking for a tough-on-crime lawyer to fill an upcoming vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Shumlin says his nominee doesn't necessarily have to be a judge. But he wants a lawyer with good judgment, who cares about Vermont and how the court's decision will affect Vermonters. Justice Denise Johnson announced last week that she's going to leave the spot on the five-member court she has held since 1990. Johnson was Vermont's first female justice.

Teachers in Burlington have a new contract. The union and the school district reached a deal on a new labor contract following a 14-hour mediation session. They had been working without an agreement since August. Terms of the contract will not be released until both sides approve it.

New England officials are looking to make the region more self-sufficient by growing more of its own food, and they've recently commissioned a study to look at ways to expand beef production there. Farmers say one problem is the region has few slaughterhouses. Cattle must be shipped elsewhere for slaughter and the meat brought back to New England to be sold. A spokeswoman for the Vermont Agency for Agriculture says the six New England states together have only 28 slaughterhouses. In contrast, Wisconsin alone has about 285.

The Ticonderoga High School Music department will close out the academic year with a coffee house in the high school cafeteria next Tuesday, June 7, at 7 PM. The program will include vocal and instrumental soloists, duets, trios and ensembles performing folk, jazz and rock Music. Admission is $5 for an adult, $3 for children or $12 for a family.

In early October 12 Vermont teenagers from 4-H clubs across the state will be heading to the 57th Annual National 4-H Dairy Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Five of those teens are from Addison County. Cindy Kayhart of Chalker Farm in Weybridge is the Addison County organizer for the trip is. The local teens are: Andrew Levesque and Katy Tracey of the New Haven Dairy 4-H Club, Chelsea Plouffe and Sara Ingwersen from Mountain View 4-H Club, and Kristyn Jerome of the Mt. Independence 4-H Club.

The wet spring hasn't dampened spirits at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Boat builders got a head start on the museum's 2011 season last week with the launch of the newest Champlain Longboat, Maple. The celebration showcased student boat builders, faculty members from the Hannaford Career Center's Diversified Occupations program, and LCMM boatbuilding staff as they paraded from the museum grounds to the waterfront at Basin Harbor. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum on Basin Harbor Road is open daily.

A group of high school students recently got a one-up on their careers, with the help of 28 mousetraps. The Mill River Union High School Odyssey of the Mind clinched second place in the world for conquering Odyssey’s “Extreme Mousemobile” vehicle engineering challenge. The 33rd annual global competition forced students to work together as a team. This year, the Mill River team figured out how to re-engineer the mousetrap’s metal loop. While many engineers have tried making mousetrap-powered cars, the team’s vehicle earned such a high ranking because of its creativity using the energy of multiple mousetraps and the leverage and shape offered by bicycle wheels to move a ship long and short distances.

April and May were the wettest on record for nine cities in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center says more than a foot of rain fell during the two months in Huntington, West VA; Burlington, VT; Williamsport, PA; Binghamton, NY; Erie, PA; Harrisburg, PA; Buffalo, NY; and Ithaca, NY. The other record-setting city in April and May was Rochester, NY, which had just less than 11 inches of rain. In the same period, Washington, Boston and some other cities in the region went through a dry spell.