WVTK Local & State News August 19, 2011 (Afternoon Update)

New York state transportation officials say the center arch span for the new Lake Champlain Bridge will be floated to the construction site next week and lifted into place, weather permitting. They say that tentative plans call for the 400-foot arch to be brought on barges from Port Henry, on the New York shore 2 miles west of the bridge. Agency officials say a definite date for the move will be set as assembly of the arch nears completion. It will take about four hours to move the arch to the construction site and another eight to lift into place. High winds or lightning could delay the lift.

Seth Webb, Killington’s Economic and Tourism Director has been offered a job as interim town manager. If Webb accepts the offer from the town's Select Board, he will fill in for Kathleen Ramsay, the town's manager since 2008, who submitted her resignation on Tuesday to return to Middlebury.

Vermont's unemployment rate continues to climb. For the third month in a row, the statewide jobless rate is up. The state Department of Labor says the rate for July was 5.7%, up two-tenths of a percent. The July rate is just under the rate for July 2010 and 3.4% less than the national unemployment rate. Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan says that among the state's 17 labor-market areas, Hartford had the lowest rate at 3.7%, while Newport had the highest at 8.2%.

New York's Congressional leaders want federal officials to change how they distribute disaster aid. Residents of northern New York were denied federal money to help cleanup after flooding this spring -- mostly from Lake Champlain. Homeowners on the Vermont side received millions of dollars to rebuild. Congressional leaders in New York say that's because the formula FEMA uses is based on a state's total population. Even though the rural North Country is comparable in population to Vermont, FEMA's formulas factored in New York's larger population centers and washed away any chance for upstate residents.

Pharmaceutical companies are underwriting a new program in Vermont that they say will help uninsured and under-insured people who are struggling to pay for prescriptions. The Montpelier-based non-profit Vermont Rx Card has launched the program. It's designed to give residents discounts on medications at local pharmacies. The discount card is accepted at almost every chain and independent pharmacy in the state, and there are no eligibility requirements or enrollment forms.

Governor Peter Shumlin will travel to Labrador this weekend to "begin the conversation" with Canadian officials about bringing large amounts of electricity generated by their massive hydro dams to the New England region in the coming years. Shumlin says it's clear that Canada is going to have a surplus hydropower in the future and he thinks it could be a good source of electricity for many New England states.