WVTK Local & State News October 20, 2011

Here in Middlebury Stewart Lane and North Pleasant Street paving is expected to take place today and tomorrow. Southbound Route 7 will be detoured onto Exchange Street, then Seymour Street to Main Street. Traffic Control will be posted at Exchange. Work is expected to begin around 7AM each day. Meanwhile Northbound North Pleasant Street will have lane shifting as the pavers complete areas at Stewart and Elm.

Vermont State Police say someone has stolen about 35 guardrail posts that are being used to repair storm damage caused by Irene. Police say the posts were at the construction site on Route 121 at the intersection for Leach Road in Rockingham. The metal guardrail posts are about 5 feet long. Anyone with information is encouraged to call police at 875-2112.

The proposed sale of a transitional housing development has put homelessness on Rutland’s agenda. The Board of Aldermen voted this week to release its mortgage on 82 Grove St., paving the way for the Rutland Parent-Child Center to buy the property from The Housing Foundation, Inc. The city acted as a pass-through for $179,000 in grant money when the building was renovated in 2004 to serve as transitional housing. Mayor Christopher Louras had asked that the board discuss the issue in committee before acting because he was worried on the effect it would have on services to homeless families.

The town of Benson may be getting an increase in law enforcement presence sometime this year as town officials consider contracting with the Fair Haven Police Department. Mostly, the town has had issues with people speeding throughout town as well as children and youths staying out to all hours in the night and being loud. In the past the town has contracted the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department and have relied on their town constables and the Vermont State Police, but it was not enough.

With a huge budget shortfall looming, Essex County is considering leasing the money-losing Horace Nye Nursing home to a private entity. The county Nursing Home in Elizabethtown could lose more than $3 million next year. The entire county budget has a shortfall of about $13 million for next year. The Board of Supervisors is looking for ways to save money, including getting out of the nursing-home business.

A Ticonderoga man has been charged with choking a woman, then taking a swing at Police Chief Mark Johns. Daniel M. Harrison was charged with the misdemeanors of unlawful imprisonment and criminal obstruction of breathing. Harrison was taken before Ticonderoga Town Justice James O'Bryan, and then sent to the Essex County Jail when he didn't pay $2,500 bail. Police said a competency evaluation of Harrison is pending.

The Hudson Headwaters Health Network is now part of the Healthcare Information Xchange of New York. The Xchange is a community-based, nonprofit regional health-information organization that covers a 17-county region from Albany through the North Country, including Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties. Its members are able to securely share a patient's medical records.

New York Voters seeking to cast absentee ballots in this year's election are facing upcoming deadlines. Voters in Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties seeking to obtain absentee ballots must send in their applications by November 1st. Voters can also come in to local election board offices and pick up an absentee ballot by November 7th, which is the day before Election Day.

Damage from a boiler explosion last spring and a subsequent legal fight have forced Ticonderoga to move its senior citizen program from the Armory. Six months after a blast destroyed one boiler and seriously damaged another, the Armory still has no heat. With cold weather approaching, town officials have moved their senior citizen center. The Ticonderoga Senior Center has relocated to the lower floor of the Community Building at 132 Montcalm St. The phone number remains the same. It is open 10AM to 3PM weekdays and is closed on holidays and whenever the Community Building is closed.

A former bank employee has admitted to stealing at least $165,000 to pay for personal expenses. Prosecutors say Brian Bouchard of Burlington, took the money while he was employed at Chittenden Bank/People's United Bank. The bank discovered the money was missing earlier this year. Prosecutors say Bouchard paid back the money before being contacted by federal officials. He could face up to 30 years in prison.

Teachers and school boards in a southwestern Vermont school district have resumed negotiations, hours after teachers started walking the picket lines. The two sides met Wednesday afternoon, after failed to reach an agreement after nearly 16 hours of negotiations that ended around 2AM. The issues separating the two sides include salaries and health care benefits.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is moving ahead with its expansion plans. The company will occupy the Gardner Supply building, and attach it to its currently existing building. The expansion means hundreds of new jobs in Essex alone, as well as more business. Green Mountain will also make changes to its Williston site, and is putting in new offices in South Burlington, in addition to renovations already completed in Waterbury.

Social Security recipients will see their monthly check getting a little fatter starting in January. The 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment for some 55 million people will mean an additional $39 a month, or about $467 a year, on average. AARP says, "Every dollar makes a difference." Social Security recipients didn't get an increase in 2010 or 2011 because inflation was too low. They were the first two years without a raise since automatic increases were adopted in 1975. More than 124,000 Vermonters receive Social Security.

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation have decided to cancel the annual firewood lottery for 2012, due to post-Irene safety concerns. The program allows residents each January to cut up to three cords of designated trees on state land for personal use firewood. The trees are marked as groups of hardwoods close to state forest highways to make cutting and hauling easier.

The state of Vermont is looking for ideas on what to do with its Waterbury office complex, which has been closed since it was flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Irene. The administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin has issued a request for information, seeking ideas from anyone interested in redeveloping the collection of 47 buildings totaling more than 700,000 square feet. The buildings are the former site of the Vermont State Hospital, which other state agencies moved into and renovated when the hospital shrunk to a fraction of its former size in the 1970s and '80s. Shumlin says selling the Waterbury complex is 1 of the options his administration is considering. Part of that consideration is what sorts of offers the state might get from potential buyers.

Vermont's moose hunting season ends today. Wildlife officials say hunters turned out in strong numbers for opening day last weekend. The state issued more than 400 permits for the season.

Work is just about finished on a big wind project in the Northeast Kingdom. The $90 million wind farm in Sheffield will provide power for about 14,000 homes. Power from 16 turbines will be sold to the Burlington Electric Department, the Vermont Electric Cooperative, and the Washington Electric Cooperative. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for next week.

The University of Vermont is trying to tackle a budget gap. According to the Burlington Free Press, the state's largest university will face a projected $36 million deficit in five years. Trustees at UVM will meet Friday and Saturday to discuss the problem. Possible solutions include eliminating several low enrollment academic programs. The board of trustees unanimously approved a 5.8 percent tuition hike this year, part of the 2012 budget that also includes nearly $3 million in spending cuts.

A new survey says hunters spend more than $189 million in Vermont annually. The survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Census Bureau says about $151 million is spent on equipment, more than $20 million is trip-related and more than $17 million is spent on other items.

Ten states from Massachusetts to Maryland and the District of Columbia are forming a new regional electric vehicle network. The Northeast Electric Vehicle Network announced Wednesday would work to plan and install charging stations throughout the region as well as attracting investment in clean vehicle infrastructure. The network is being supported by a nearly $1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to New York's Energy Research and Development Authority. The 10 states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. President Obama has called for 1 million plug-in vehicles to be on the road nationwide by 2015, and the network hopes to account for 200,000 of those vehicles.

The Slate Valley Museum will host a unique Halloween adventure in one of Vermont's remaining ghost towns. The vanished community of West Castleton once served as a slate industry center. This Saturday officials from the Granville, NY museum will lead participants on a tour of the former West Castleton Slate Company. The event will include ghost stories and stories of some of the real horrors of the slate industry. Visitors will sit around a campfire at the site. The tour begins at 4:30PM at the Lake Bomoseen State Park. A recommended donation of $5 per person will go toward the museum’s Tropical Storm Irene recovery effort.

The state is seeking volunteers to help clean up from Tropical Storm Irene. Gov. Peter Shumlin has named this Saturday as Vermont Clean Up Day. Some victims of Irene are still facing daunting tasks and need the help, whether it's donating money or lost goods, or volunteering to help clean up flood-torn communities. Visit http://www.vtcleanup.org/ to lean how you can help!