WVTK Local & State News October 3, 2011

A Ripton man who allegedly assaulted a woman and a 76-year-old man in a home on Lincoln Road on Friday is behind bars on $50,000 bail after state police say they needed to use a Taser to subdue him. Police arrested 28-year-old Ben Webb at a home in Middlebury Friday afternoon after a 39-year-old woman told police that Webb had assaulted her and her elderly roommate and held them at knifepoint for several hours. He is scheduled to appear in Middlebury criminal court for an arraignment today.

Middlebury College won top honors at a national energy competition this past weekend. Nineteen colleges from all over the world were challenged to design, build and operate a completely solar-powered house that is also affordable, attractive, and easy to live in. A team of students from Middlebury College placed fourth overall and won first place in three out of ten categories. "Self Reliance," the nickname for the house, will now make it's way from Washington D.C. back to Middlebury where it will be used as a teaching tool.

This week you have an incredible opportunity to support Team WVTpinK and the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. “Waiting” for a cure will take place this Thursday at Two Brothers Tavern here in Middlebury from 6 – 9PM! Local celebrities will serve as the wait staff for the evening and all of their tips will be donated to Making Strides. According to team leader Amanda Leigh, the celebrity wait staff already includes Caroline Bright – Miss Vermont 2010, Sue Hoxie from the Addison County Chamber Of Commerce along with herself and Bruce from the WVTK Wake Up Crew. Get the details now by clicking HERE!

Fall foliage has started across Vermont and in an effort to boost travel in the area, down due to the recent storm, the town of Brandon and the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to create the Brandon $50 Fall Foliage Giveaway. For every minimum two-night stay during the month of October in the 11 lodgings in Brandon, visitors will receive $50 in Brandon Bucks to be used in more than 45 retailers in town. The promotion runs until October 31st.

Two police agencies in Rutland County will soon hire additional officers using federal Community Oriented Policing Services grants. As part of $1.3 million in COPS grants awarded last week to seven departments in the state, the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department has received $153,110 to pay for a new deputy while the Pittsford Police Department received $212,742 to add a fourth officer. The grants, which can only be used to pay for new police hires, will cover the officers’ salaries for three years. Departments receiving the grants are required to keep the officers on for a fourth year at their own expense.

The 30th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will honor a Shoreham firefighter who died in the line of duty in 2009. A Burlington firefighter will also be honored. The two men are among the firefighters who will be remembered at the official national service held at the National Fire Academy in Emmetsburg, Maryland. Firefighter Peter James Coe of the Shoreham Volunteer Fire Department died after being struck by a vehicle while investigating a possible motor vehicle accident on December 27, 2009. Lieutenant Steven N. “Vinny” Costello of the Burlington Fire Department died on July 30, 2010, after being found unresponsive in the station on July 23rd.

After a six-month search, Essex County could have a new Public Health director today. Linda Beers of Schroon Lake won tentative approval last week from the County Board of Supervisors to take the job. Now the State Department of Public Health has given the county permission to hire Beers. She still must get some necessary accreditations for the position, which is why the appointment is conditional. A final vote is scheduled for 10AM today.

A probe is under way into possible impropriety in the awarding of a contract for document scanning at the Essex County Clerk's Office. The Franklin County District Attorney's Office is conducting the investigation into how contracts were awarded for a digital imaging and indexing system at the Clerk's Office.

Officials say a Norwich University student was killed and another is facing a charge of drunken driving resulting in death following an early morning car crash in Northfield. Officials say a car loaded with eight Norwich students lost control and crashed at about 1:10AM Sunday after leaving an off-campus party on Winch Hill Road. University officials said 18-year-old Renee Robbins, a first-year student from Kentwood, MI died at the scene. Police said the driver, 22-year-old Derek Saber is being held on $100,000 bail. The host of the party, Logan O'Neill, was charged with enabling consumption by a minor.

Six disaster recovery centers assisting Vermonters who were affected by Tropical Storm Irene will close this week but five others will remain open through the end of the month, according to federal officials. Disaster centers in Brattleboro, Woodstock, Killington, Northfield, Bennington and Hartford are closing. The centers in Brattleboro and Woodstock will close at 6PM on October 4th, Killington and Northfield will close at 6PM on October 5th and the centers in Bennington and Hartford will close at 6PM on October 6th. Remaining open are the disaster centers in Lyndonville, Ludlow, Rutland, Dover and Waterbury.

With usage dwindling, the Moriah Disaster Recovery Center closed yesterday. The center in Jay will shut down tomorrow. The center at the Jay Community Center in AuSable Forks will be open 8AM to 8PM today and tomorrow. Those with flood damage can register online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov.

The Westport Town Council will hold two special meetings to work on the new town budget. The first one is at 3:30PM today and the second at 6:30PM on Wednesday. The board will also discuss any other business that might come up. The meetings are at the Westport Town Hall.

The farmers market in Rutland has been named as the top farmers market in Vermont. A contest by the American Farmland Trust conservation organization ranked the top farmers markets nationwide and within each state. In Vermont, Rutland's farmers market got the most votes, followed by markets in Brattleboro, Chelsea, Burlington and Stowe. Rutland's farmers market has grown to the point where there's a waiting list for vendors to get in. City officials say they're looking for bigger location for the market.

Federal and state environmental officials have set a series of public meetings for the coming week to talk about their plan for cleaning up Lake Champlain. The meetings are to focus on strategies for reducing phosphorus in the northern half of the lake. A similar set of hearings set for November will focus on the southern end of the lake. The hearings start tomorrow at 10AM at the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District in Berlin for the agriculture sector, and at 4PM at the Northwest Regional Planning Commission in St. Albans for municipal officials. Other hearings are set for Wednesday and Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and members of the Vermont Air National Guard held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the largest military solar project in New England. The National Guard base in Burlington will now rely on solar energy thanks to an $8.8 million federal grant. The U.S. Military might be the largest energy spender, but in Vermont, they now strive to be the biggest energy saver. The Vermont Air National Guard base is lined with 5,600 solar panels. In the future officials would like to see the National Guard's Ethan Allen Firing Range switch to wind energy.

A newly created board set up to design and implement a publicly funded health care system for the state of Vermont is to hold its first meeting on Tuesday. The board was established by a law passed this year aimed at moving Vermont toward a single-payer health care system, a goal Gov. Peter Shumlin says can be met by 2017 if not sooner. Among the board's tasks will be to come up with a package of benefits that would be covered by a state plan, and the review methods for how the newly designed health system would be paid for.

Responsible fatherhood is to be the topic at a daylong conference scheduled for Nov. 1 at the Vermont Statehouse. The forum is expected to feature research showing that when fathers are involved in children's upbringing, things ranging from academic performance to the ability to handle stress and frustration are improved. Conversely, children in fatherless homes are five times more likely to live in poverty, and boys are three times as likely to end up serving time in prison.

Massachusetts education officials are developing plans to test students as soon as they enter kindergarten to determine how prepared they are to start school. Massachusetts Education Secretary Paul Reville says they would not be used to determine who could enter kindergarten. Officials say 25 states already have kindergarten assessment programs, including Connecticut and Vermont.

An acclaimed photo exhibit that spotlights Vermont's at-risk youth is headed to Capitol Hill in Washington. The Vermont Coalition for Runaway & Homeless Youth Programs is presenting "High-Low," a conceptual done in hinged panels of photographs by Vermont photographer Ned Castle and audio narrations by the young people with whom he collaborated. The exhibit will be on display today through Friday in the Russell Senate Building's rotunda. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who will also host a reception in his Washington office for members of Vermont’s Coalition for Runaway & Homeless Youth tomorrow, is sponsoring it.

A University of Vermont assistant professor is going to Washington to meet President Obama and be honored with the government's highest award for young scientists. The university says Joshua Bongard is 1 of 94 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award provides $500,000 in research funds over several years. The 37-year-old Bongard works on robotics in UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. He will be honored at a White House ceremony later this month.

Vermont transportation officials say they want to reverse a trend in which the percentage of kids who walk to school has dropped sharply in recent decades. This Wednesday, Vermont will celebrate International Walk to School Day. Communities across Vermont will join together in support of walking and biking to school as a vital and healthy activity. State officials say their goal is to reverse a trend in which the percentage of kids who walk to school has dropped from about half a few decades ago to fewer than 15% as of 2010. Advantages to reversing that trend are said to include more fit kids and better air quality around schools when fewer cars are stopping to drop kids off.