WVTK Local & State News September 28, 2011

A three-car crash in Addison County landed several people in the hospital. It happened at about a quarter after seven last night on Route 30 in Whiting. Police say 56-year-old Melody Brown went to pass a tractor and hit another car head-on. She injured her shoulder. The other driver, 17-year-old Ramsey Bronson, broke his arm and leg in several places and was flown to Fletcher Allen Healthcare. Another car also hit Brown's car. That driver suffered minor injuries.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the departures of National Guardsmen on Thursday and Friday. One set is scheduled to leave from Post Road at 8AM Thursday and will have a police escort to the Route 4 bypass westbound. Five to eight tractor-trailers out of Maine are scheduled to depart from Post Roast at 7AM Friday, and will have a city police escort to Killington and then by the Vermont State Police.

The Brand-Aid fund to help local businesses and building owners in the Brandon area impacted by Tropical Storm Irene has raised more than $20,000. The Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce created the fund a few days after last month’s storm as a way to help about 19 local business and commercial property owners in Brandon and Forest Dale that suffered damage. Business and commercial property owners have until Friday to submit an application to be able to receive money. After that an ad hoc committee will figure out how the money will be allocated.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week has found about $40 million to refill disaster aid accounts and now expect the relief fund to stay solvent until at least Friday, the end of the budget year. The agency had to hunt through every financial nook and cranny to find extra money with its disaster relief fund about to run dry and Congress at an impasse on proposals to refill aid accounts.

Governor Peter Shumlin has announced the formation of a non-profit group that will help Vermonters recover from damages caused by Tropical Storm Irene. The Vermont Long Term Disaster Fund will work with other non-profit organizations in the state to coordinate assistance for people who have significant unmet financial needs.
To date, Vermonters have donated $1.3 million to the fund and officials plan to continue to fund-raise in the future. David Coates, a long time director of the National Life Group, will chair the new organization.

Essex County is waiting for federal funding to pay for flood damage, but Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives don't know when it will be coming. Severe storms in April and August caused millions of dollars of damage to county and town infrastructure, but members of the Essex County Board of Supervisors said as of Monday they haven't been paid for any of it.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation plans to open seven temporary bridges by the end of October to replace those damaged by Irene. Officials say 34 state highway bridges were closed because of flood damage after the storm. While 25 have reopened, the agency says nine remain closed to full public travel. The agency said Tuesday that 7 of those bridges will get temporary replacements by the end of next month. The first two are scheduled to open this weekend on Route 100A in Plymouth and Route 100 in Pittsfield. Temporary bridges also will be installed on Route 12 in Barnard and Bethel, Routes 30 and 100 in Jamaica, and Route 73 in Rochester. The agency plans to replace the two other bridges on Route 12A in Roxbury by mid-December.

Most of the employees displaced by the flooding of the state office complex in Waterbury are back at work. Three major state agencies and about 1,600 employees are based out of the complex. The buildings were swamped by the Winooski River during Tropical Storm Irene and remain closed indefinitely. The state has been scrambling to find temporary offices so employees can get back to work.

Fired Rutland Police Sgt. David Schauwecker has asked a judge to end his lawsuit against the city. The former sergeant pleaded no contest in July to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling evidence. His civil complaint against the city, in which he sought a return to his job, remained active but dormant with no new filings since the end of December.

Police in West Brattleboro are investigating a shooting. Officers say they responded to a truck parked near the Fleming Food Mart. They found a woman inside the truck who had been shot in the leg. Police recovered a shotgun at the scene and arrested the driver of the vehicle. The woman was airlifted to a Massachusetts hospital. Their names have not been released.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's owners are asking a federal court to sharply limit the reasons Vermont could use for denying the plant the state license it needs to operate for another 20 years. Lawyers for Entergy Corporation are asking that Vermont regulators be barred from considering safety, but also reliability of the plant and the cost of power from it.

Vermont State Colleges and the University of Vermont will be able to share more information online. The schools got a $1 million grant to upgrade technology that will allow researchers to access data from other schools to develop more complete studies. All of the state colleges will be connected to UVM and other schools throughout the Northeast. It's part of a 2-year project paid for by the National Science Foundation.

An Environmental Protection Agency official says about 200 gallons of oil products were recovered from a tugboat that sank in Lake Champlain in 1963. But no fuel was found in the tanks on the tug William McAllister when they were examined by divers in 165 feet of water about five miles south of Port Kent, New York.

Town officials around Vermont and others interested in the online presence of municipal governments have three chances to hone their skills this week. Joanna Cummings from the Snelling Center for Government is offering an online seminar on how towns can improve their websites. The sessions are Wednesday from 1 to 1:30PM, Thursday from 6 to 6:30PM and Friday from Noon to 12:30PM. They're part of the work e-Vermont does in its mission to optimize rural communities' use of online resources in a variety of sectors, including education, business, government, and community building.

About 75 people gathered at City Hall park in Burlington Monday evening. Their goal was to urge Congress to sign a bill they say would save the Postal Service billions of dollars a year. The U.S. Postal Service has lost nearly $12 billion in the past three years. But Senator Bernie Sanders says that's Congress' fault. Congress is considering several bills to help the postal service cut spending. Bills being considered include 120,000 employee layoffs, closing thousands of offices across the country, and ending Saturday mail service. Sanders says he will introduce legislation next week that would pay the postal service back $50 billion.

Six Crown Point students are attending Ticonderoga High School daily to take a physics class, a course not currently available in Crown Point. The Ti school superintendent said it’s working out very well and is a good opportunity for these kids to get a class normally not available to them. The six Crown Point students join 16 Ti High students in the class and labs.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Wednesday, October 26, at 6PM at the Best Western Plus Ticonderoga Inn & Suites. The dinner and awards ceremony will be used as an opportunity to recognize the 2011 Volunteer of the Year, Chamber Volunteer of the Year and Business of the Year as well as TACC appreciation awards. Last year, awards were given to individuals, businesses, organizations and committees who not only support the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce, but also give themselves for the betterment of the area and surrounding communities.

There’s a hybrid vehicle known as a doodlebug and you don't see many of them around. That's because the vehicles date back to the 1940s and are rare. Gardner Stone of G. Stone Motors in Middlebury had his eye on a doodlebug for many years. Now he is proud to display his collectible tractor at his auto dealership in Middlebury. The doodlebug is a cross between a tractor and a Model A Ford. Doodlebug tractors were handmade during World War II when production tractors were in short supply. The preservation of doodlebugs has become popular in New England and upstate New York where clubs hold monthly meets.

Panera Bread has opened its doors on Church Street in Burlington. The soup and sandwich shop has taken over part of the space vacated by Old Navy. The Burlington franchise is the first in Vermont and it's created 68 new jobs. Panera is planning to expand in Vermont. A café in Rutland is slated to open in December, and two more are going into Williston and South Burlington by next year.

The fourth annual Hay Festival in Killington kicks off this week. You may notice hay sculptures if you drive along Route 4. Thirty-seven businesses built animals out of haystacks, which will be a part of the Vermont Life photo contest for the festival. People are encouraged to take pictures of sculptures at the festival making them eligible for a $500 prize. The festival runs through Columbus Day.