WVTK Local & State News November 2, 2011

Otter Creek Brewing of Middlebury announced an agreement with Ken and Kathleen Strong, the founders of The Shed Restaurant in Stowe to have Otter Creek Brewing acquire The Shed Brewery and the award winning Shed brand family of ales. The change is effective immediately. Plans are underway to transfer The Shed’s existing brewing equipment to Middlebury so that there is no interruption in supply to the marketplace.

The regular Westport Town Council meeting scheduled for November 8th has been changed to Wednesday November 9th with the preliminary-budget public hearing at 6:30PM. The board meeting will follow. The meetings are at the Town Hall and are open to all.

Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras’ proposed 2012-13 budget would pay for two new police officers and three new trucks. The $18.3 million budget is up 5.37 percent from last year. Along with the budget, Louras has sent the Board of Aldermen $579,000 worth of suggested cuts. The police department would get $135,000 to hire two new police officers to focus on drug enforcement. The Board of Aldermen has already voted to refer the budget to the appropriate committees and hearings should begin in the coming weeks.

Power has been restored to most of the Vermont households and businesses that lost service during the weekend's snowstorm. Just a handful of customers were still in the dark Tuesday evening. Officials say about 7,500 lost power at some point during the October storm. Areas devastated in August by remnants of Hurricane Irene reported 13 inches of snow.

Amtrak's Vermonter and Lake Shore Limited trains are still seeing disruptions from the weekend snowstorm as crews work to clear debris from tracks. Amtrak says Vermonter trains today will originate and terminate in Springfield, MA, with no alternate transportation provided. Lake Shore Limited trains 448 and 449 are canceled between Albany and Boston today with alternate bus transportation provided. A determination on Thursday's operations will be made sometime today. Passengers who have paid for travel on canceled trains can contact Amtrak to receive refunds without penalty.

Vermont's largest utility is proposing a 4.8% rate increase. Central Vermont Public Service Corp. said Tuesday that it's asked the Vermont Public Service Board to authorize the increase, which would take effect in January if approved. Chief Executive Officer Larry Reilly says the rate change is being driven by a variety of factors, including new power contracts at competitive, slightly higher costs, and investments to improve reliability for customers. If the change were approved, the bill for a residential customer using 400-kilowatt hours of electricity a month would rise from $82.26 to $86.22.

New projections by the state of Vermont say a public, universal health care system would cost between $8.2 billion and $9.5 billion a year by 2020, but that sticking with the current system based on private insurers would cost even more. That amounts to roughly $13,000 to $14,000 per person. Either way, costs for health care in the state are expected roughly to double in the current decade. But a report by Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration and legislative researchers says what would be most costly would be for Vermont to stick with its current health care system. Still unresolved is how to pay for the new system.

Officials say the U.S. Senate has approved a transportation bill that includes emergency funding that will help repair roads and bridges in Vermont damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Irene. The bill includes $1.9 billion in emergency assistance for the Federal Highway Administration. Sen. Patrick Leahy says the bill includes waivers that will allow the state to be reimbursed for more than the current $100 million state limit on federal emergency highway repair funds. It would also allow the state to receive 100% reimbursement for permanent repairs if the damage is more than twice the state's annual federal highway funding. A House bill will now go to the House Appropriations Committee before it gets to the full House.

A litigation trust made up of former FairPoint Communications creditors is blaming Verizon Communications for FairPoint's bankruptcy. In a $2 billion fraudulent transfer lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the FairPoint litigation trust claims FairPoint went bankrupt because of its "disastrous" $2.3 billion purchase of Verizon's landline and Internet operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in 2008. FairPoint filed for bankruptcy 18 months after the acquisition. Verizon is calling the lawsuit meritless.

A Vermont judge says protesters can be arrested if they refuse to leave private property before Green Mountain Power contractors set off explosives while building a road that is part of a wind power project in Lowell. Superior Court Judge Martin Maley issued the order Tuesday as part of an ongoing dispute between GMP and the protesters who object to the construction an industrial wind farm atop the mountain. GMP says delays caused by the protesters are increasing the costs of its 21-turbine project.

Vermont 8th graders improved their performance on national math and reading tests this year. Results of National Assessment of Educational Progress tests show 46-percent of 8th graders are proficient or above in math. That's up three percentage points from the last test in 2009. It's also well above the national proficiency rate of 34-percent. In reading, 44-percent of Vermont 8th graders are proficient or above. Again that is up 3-points from the last test and compares to the national rate of 32-percent. Vermont fourth graders saw their scores hold steady in reading and drop two points in Math.

New national test scores show New York is the only state to see math scores fall for fourth graders over the past two years. Overall, the report shows the state's progress is mostly stagnant. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found New York's fourth graders who took the math test in the spring had a lower average score than the national average. New York's 8th grade math score was also lower than the national average and showed no significant improvement since 2009.

The Vermont Transportation Agency says a short stretch of Route 14 in East Montpelier has been reopened after repairs to damage caused by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. The stretch near the village of East Montpelier was restricted to one land on September 26th and then closed on October 6th after a section began sliding into the Winooski River.

Students in Bennington and surrounding communities did something yesterday they haven't done in more than a week: they went to school. A tentative deal in the nine-day-old teachers' strike was reached Monday afternoon and evening. The final contract sorted out more than a hundred different issues, and exact details are still not available. Union officials say both sides met in the middle over health care premiums, while teachers got a modest salary increase but had to compromise on the issue of allowing administrators more control of their time.

A flock of birds are creating some big problems at the Burlington Airport. Airport officials tell the Burlington Free Press that planes have struck birds on at least eight occasions over the last month. Officials say the birds represent a serious safety issue and a threat to aircraft operations at the airport. A St. Michael's College compost area is being blamed for some of the problems. The airport is now working on a plan to mitigate the problem.

Russian piano sensation Alexander Melnikov makes his Middlebury College Performing Arts Series solo debut with an all-Shostakovich concert program on Friday, November 18th at 7PM in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall. He will play Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87, a tour de force set of works in every major and minor key. This rarely performed masterpiece pays homage to the genius of Bach. Tickets are $25 for the general public. For more info and ticket prices click HERE.

Vermont Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources Deb Markowitz announced last week that two Vermont projects would be included in President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. The two projects chosen for Vermont include the Winooski River Watershed Project and the Connecticut River Blueway. Blue trails, also known as blueways or water trails, connect communities, promote health and recreation, and safeguard clean water.

Opponents of smart meters rallied in Montpelier yesterday. The meters are designed to help manage electricity use. Protesters are concerned about privacy where the meters would be installed. Vermont's two largest utilities, Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power, are both getting ready to install smart meters in place of the traditional ones. Vermont utility companies say installing the meters will save money. Those opposed can opt out, but there's a monthly fee for doing so.

The State of Vermont is holding on to tens of millions of dollars, some of which could belong to you. According to Treasurer Beth Pearce Fifty-six million dollars in unclaimed money is sitting at the state treasurer's office in Montpelier. It might be un-cashed checks, insurance proceeds, bank accounts or refunds. This morning the state treasury is releasing hard copies of roughly 6-thousand names added to its unclaimed property list in the last year. For more information on finding unclaimed property click HERE.

Now that Halloween is over and your kids are still candy-eating zombies, you may want to get the sugary temptations out of their sight, and yours. So what do you do with the leftover treats? Here are some ideas. Freeze it: Candy, especially chocolate, keeps well in the freezer. Donate it: Nursing homes, doctor’s offices, women’s shelters and even the troops overseas may appreciate your sweet treats. Just check with the organization first. Cook with it. Craft with it: Leftover Tootsie Rolls and M&Ms make for great gingerbread house decorations. Or do what we do here at WVTK, Make your co-workers eat it: Bring a bucket of leftover candy to the office and watch it disappear in a flash!

A vintage diner in Colchester that’s been a fixture for more than 20 year has been sold, but the new owners don’t plan to keep it open. Karen Griffin, who owned Libby’s Blue Line Diner, said the business closed Monday. She declined to name the new owner. Griffin told the Burlington Free Press that the decision to close came a few weeks ago. She said she didn’t know if Libby’s might open at a new location.