WVTK Local & State News November 1, 2011

The Route 74 Bridge is has reopened. State transportation officials say the project to restore the bridge in Shoreham went faster than traditional projects and cost less because the bridge was closed during the project. The Transportation Secretary says closing the bridge inconvenienced the public by requiring users of Route 74 to detour. But he says repairing the bridge using more traditional construction techniques that include a temporary bridge or maintaining one lane of traffic likely would have added between $100,000 to $300,000 to the cost of the project.

Vermont State Police are investigating a burglary where copper piping, copper heaters and a chainsaw were taken from a house and small secondary cabin on Lincoln Road in Ripton. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the New Haven Barracks.

A recent meeting in East Middlebury was held in response to citizen concerns and a state review and a federal investigation of river work done by the town in an East Middlebury stretch of the Middlebury River just after Tropical Storm Irene. Both Town administrators and the select-board have repeatedly said they were under the impression that a general permit issued by the federal government was sufficient for this work and thought they were following the emergency regulations stipulated by the state. Going forward officials are In search of a solution to protect the town from future flooding.

A winter parking ban is in effect starting November 1st until April 1st 2012 in Brandon. No vehicle may be parked on any roadway, public parking area or town right of way from 12:01AM to 6:00AM. This parking ban assists town highway crews with snow removal from roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks. Violations of the parking ban are subject to a $5 fine and removal of the vehicle at the owners’ expense.

Panton Town Hall’s cupola will soon be removed to allow badly needed new roofing to be installed on the historic building. Meanwhile a major donation has offered more hope that the cupola can be eventually put back in place. Panton selectmen accepted not only a $35,000 bid from the McKernon Group to remove the cupola and repair the leaky roof on the 1857 structure, but also a $10,000 anonymous gift toward the cupola’s restoration and hoping it can be returned to the Town hall roof. The $10,000 will not fund the entire cost of restoring the cupola and returning it to its historic home, but officials say it is a strong start that would create momentum for the project.

The town of Lincoln last week drew one step closer to funding a 60-kilowatt solar installation with taxpayer dollars. The select-board and about 40 residents gathered at Lincoln’s Burnham Hall to discuss a proposal with the Williston-based company AllEarth Renewables. According to the town moderator there was unanimous support from those that attended the meeting.

After more than a decade of failed attempts at moving, the Brandon Police Department will open for business at its new home on Forest Dale Road this week. The 3,600-square-foot, two-floor building was the former home of an insurance company and doesn’t look like a police station from the outside. But inside, contractors have converted the space into squad rooms, holding cells, a booking area and an entry foyer complete with bulletproof glass. The renovations are expected to be completed this week and department staff will begin moving in on November 4th.

As many as 50 interested parties might respond to a lease offering for Essex County's Horace Nye Nursing Home, according to an agent for a national real-estate marketing firm. With the county-owned Nursing Home posed to lose $4.1 million next year, the County Board of Supervisors is considering a lease or even sale of the 100-bed facility.

Graduate students from New York University’s Preston Robert Tish Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management are partnering with Fort Ticonderoga as part of their work in a Cultural Heritage Tourism class. The students are developing a concept for the Fort Ticonderoga’s learning campus as part of the fort’s comprehensive plan. As part of the project the students and their professor visited Fort Ticonderoga recently to learn about the fort’s history, programs, marketing plan, partnerships and educational opportunities as a year-round learning campus.

Critics of health care reform say moving to a single-payer system in Vermont would create huge budget deficits. Vermonters for Health Care Freedom is pointing to a new analysis by Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton that suggests the state will need to implement a new payroll tax of 14.5-percent. But even with that new tax, the state is likely to run budget deficits of 300-million dollars a year, in part because Wilton believes the Shumlin Administration is over-estimating the cost savings a single-payer system will deliver. The administration has so far not given its own estimates about the overall cost of a single-payer system or proposed a source of funding.

State officials say they're ready to release cost estimates for the universal health care system the state is planning to put in place. When lawmakers passed ambitious health reform legislation earlier this year, it called on the Legislative Joint Fiscal Office and the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Administration to issue a cost report by November 1st.

Amtrak service remains at a standstill throughout much of New England. Several trees fell across the tracks during this weekend's storm. 68 Passengers on Amtrak's Vermonter line were stranded during the storm when the train hit a downed tree near Amherst, Massachusetts. The Vermont and Massachusetts portions of that route remain closed to rail traffic.

New Yorkers are being reminded that Monday is the deadline for New Yorkers to register for FEMA aid in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene. The deadline to register for Tropical Storm Lee aid in New York is November 14th.

Vermont state officials have dramatically lowered their estimates of the costs of repairs to roads, bridges and culverts following Tropical Storm Irene. State officials as recently as mid-October had thought the costs of those repairs could reach $620 million. Gov. Peter Shumlin and his aides said Monday that the costs are expected to range from $175 million to $250 million. Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter says initial estimates were higher because they were made with standard construction practices in mind, rather than emergency ones. Officials say the work has gone much faster than expected, and praised transportation workers and others for their efforts.

Cities and towns across the state are trying to give some flexibility to people still reeling from Tropical Storm Irene who are currently having trouble paying their taxes. In Killington, voters have overwhelmingly agreed on a 40-day grace period before imposing an 8-percent commission on delinquent taxes. Steve Jeffrey is the executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. His office is recommending that towns give taxpayers displaced by the storm the benefit of the doubt, or even consider abating penalties altogether. Statewide, Governor Peter Shumlin has allowed education property taxes to be abated under certain circumstances.

The state of Vermont and FairPoint Communications say they believe a $1.6 million settlement is a good way to resolve a series of complaints about the company’s service after it took over the landline telephone and Internet system in the state. The Public Service Department’s James Porter says the company has fixed many of the problems, such as customers receiving wrong bills. The settlement money would be used to further expand broadband service in Vermont.

Teachers in southwestern Vermont say they have reached a tentative deal with their Bennington county school boards that would end a 9-day-old teacher strike. Union spokesman Darren Allen said late Monday afternoon teachers are ready to go back to school today. The issues that separated the two sides were salaries, health care benefits, and how much time teachers will be in contact with students during the day.

Vermont's education commissioner says the 9-day old teacher strike in the Bennington area prompted him to revive a proposal to ban teacher strikes and prevent school boards from imposing contracts on teachers' unions. The Commissioner says he hopes the strike in the Bennington Southwest Supervisory Union will give a boost to the idea, which has been on his desk for two years.

Senator Patrick Leahy says he hopes protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States will play a prominent role in the 2012 elections. The protests have spread around the country and the world and one of their goals is to highlight the growing economic disparity between the top 1% of the population and the remaining 99% of all workers. Leahy says the protesters are raising important issues that need to be considered.

Residents in Bethel say they will begin videotaping Select Board meetings and broadcasting them via YouTube, after a series of disagreements over how the town has - or has not - responded to Tropical Storm Irene. A group of citizens say town officials have failed to follow-up with their public requests for aid and demands to increase transparency. The Secretary of State's office says the group is within its rights, as long as the videotaping does not disrupt town business.

The Ticonderoga High School Yearbook staff is offering students a new alternative. In the past, students or parents who wished to order a yearbook would bring a check or cash to school. This year, there is an additional option. The 2012 yearbook can be ordered online with a credit card. There is no additional fee for using a credit card. Interested parents can find the link by going to the district web page www.ticonderogak12.org.

There’s been a lot to celebrate recently at the Whiting Community Church, including some unexpected anonymous donations. Also the church’s 200th birthday bash drew more than 200 people and raised $600. People turned out on October 1st to eat, compete in three-legged races and a crosscut saw tournament, attend services, bob for apples, and watch the fireworks.

Food is more expensive than last year by about four percent. One of the biggest increases can be found in something that most of us have in our cupboards at home, peanut butter. Popular peanut brands like JIF, Skippy and Peter Pan are all going up about 40 percent. To put it in perspective, if the current price is $2.59, soon you could be paying $3.62. The spike is blamed on a hot dry summer, delaying peanut farmers from planting. The Vermont Health Department ensures that the price will not affect the Women's, Infant and Children program that give food to families in need.