WVTK Local & State News November 7, 2011

Today is the day the Lake Champlain Bridge will re-open! A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 2:30 this afternoon. Sources indicate that Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is slated to attend the ceremony. New York's Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy is also expected to attend the event along with WVTK! Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he's unable to attend the opening due to prior commitments.

The new Essex County budget isn't ready, but the public hearing has been set. The 2012 spending plan is undergoing revisions that could include up to 60 layoffs and cuts to programs such as home-health-care nurses and Meals On Wheels, all to pare down a $12 million deficit over this year's budget. The County Board of Supervisors has scheduled the public hearing for 6:30PM Monday, December 5th. A public hearing on a local law to override the state's 2-percent tax-increase cap is at 6PM the same day, and the Board of Supervisors' regular meeting is at 7PM, all in the Old County Courthouse at Elizabethtown.

Fifth and sixth graders from four schools tested each other’s spelling expertise in the Southwest Regional Spelling Bee at Neshobe School on Saturday. In the end it was a team from Cornwall’s Bingham Memorial School that outscored the others, sending the Cornwall students to the state championship November 19th.

A year after its premiere at the Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury Community Television's “A History of the Cross Street Bridge” has garnered notice in the northeastern U.S. The half-hour documentary about the planning and construction of the Cross Street Bridge was screened as part of an October 27th presentation about PEG Access Television at the New School in Manhattan, and the program won an award in the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Region's 2011 video festival. The program was produced in the fall of 2010 through a collaboration between MCTV's professional staff and local volunteers from the community.

A group of local volunteers is focused on filling empty shoeboxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas. Addison County families are participating in the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, Operation Christmas Child, an effort that has hand-delivered 86 million gifts to kids worldwide since 1993. This year-round project of Samaritan’s Purse is coming to its peak, as local businesses, churches and schools prepare to collect gift-filled shoe boxes during National Collection Week, November 14th through the 21st. This year’s Addison County site is at the Valley Bible Church. For more information just visit www.samaritanspurse.org.

A day after longtime Police Chief Anthony Bossi announced plans to retire the chairman of the city’s Police Commission said a search committee would have to work fast to find an interim chief by the time Bossi leaves his post January 3rd. The commission’s policy allows the five-member group to appoint an acting chief, most likely from within the department, if the post suddenly becomes vacant. According to the commission’s recently revised policy it will take the approval of a much larger search committee that must organize, advertise for candidates and select a temporary replacement before an interim chief can be put in place.

The Vermont Department of Labor says the minimum wage paid in the state is going to go up to $8.46. Currently, the state's minimum wage is $8.15. The change will take effect January 1st. Employees who regularly receive tips, such as waiters, will see their minimum wage increase to $4.10 from $3.95. If tipped employees' tips and pay do not equal at least $8.46, the employer must pay the difference.

Hundreds of people turned out in Montpelier Sunday to voice their concerns over proposed cuts to the United States Postal Service at a town hall meeting hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders. Postal Service workers and supporters gathered to hear Senator Sanders' plan to save the Postal Service from what he calls drastic cuts. In Vermont alone that would mean a loss of 14 post offices and both processing plants. These are all postal jobs that many locals depend on. Sen. Sanders will also propose to keep Saturday service. He has 220 co-signers on his legislation and hopes to propose it next week.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has rewritten the policy for state police interaction with suspected illegal aliens. The update in the so-called bias-free policing policy follows a controversial traffic stop in September. Gov. Shumlin and the Department of Public Safety Friday announced a revised policy to strengthen bias-free policing to include direction regarding immigration status.

Vermont doctors are going to have their own bargaining group. The Times Argus of Barre says the new Physician Policy Council isn't a union, per se, and physicians won't threaten to go on strike. The Vermont Medical Society's executive director calls it a forum to provide the new Green Mountain Care Board with the best information possible reflecting the experiences of Vermont physicians.

A Burlington woman has been appointed to fill a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives that became vacant when the incumbent resigned to take another job. Jean O'Sullivan, a Democrat, is taking the seat held by former Rep. Mark Larson.

The city of Barre would like to become home to some of the Vermont state employees displaced when flooding from Tropical Storm Irene damaged the Waterbury state office complex. The Barre mayor wants to develop new office space and says state offices would be a boost to the city.

Saturday protesters gathered in Barre for an impromptu protest against wind power in Vermont. Dozens held signs and chanted "Enough, Enough". All aimed at Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin to showcase their disapproval of the Lowell Wind Project. Protesters say they are against wind turbines in the mountains saying the process is destroying Vermont's environment and in the end will produce only a small amount of power.

A committee of Vermont lawmakers this week will hear a day's worth of testimony on the impact of the closing of the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. Tropical Storm Irene flooded the antiquated hospital, and Governor Peter Shumlin recently announced his administration has no plans to try to reopen it.

Tens of thousands in the chilly Northeast remain without power eight days after a rare October snowstorm knocked much of the region into the dark. In hardest hit Connecticut, more than 104,000 customers were still in the dark as of yesterday. New Jersey and Massachusetts each had about 4,000 people still waiting for the lights to come back on. Elsewhere, companies in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire said customers affected by last weekend's storm were back on line.

Government documents show that Entergy Corp. heavily lobbied multiple federal agencies last spring as it pleaded with them unsuccessfully to join its lawsuit against the state of Vermont's efforts to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The Associated Press obtained the documents from the NRC under a Freedom of Information Act request. And they indicate the NRC's five commissioners at least planned to meet with Entergy representatives in early June, something they said they decided not to do when they testified before a U.S. Senate committee later that month.

Gov. Peter Shumlin will be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce. The meeting will be held at noon today at the Holiday Inn. The cost is $29.95 per person and includes lunch. For more information and to RSVP visit www.rutlandvermont.com.

Those who work and serve in Essex County government were asked to help contribute to the United Way during the October 31st meeting of the Ways and Mean Committee. Untied Way of the Adirondack Region, Inc., fundraising drive chairman Gerald Morrow and county Social Services Director John O’Neill presented the plan for the 2012 campaign to the members of the committee during their monthly meeting, saying that they were more worried about participation then the amount raised. They have a new goal for 2012 and that is 100 county employees that participate in the 2012 campaign. Morrow said that the county committee hopes to reach their goal by January.

The Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union is again offering local high-school seniors the opportunity to win several scholarships toward tuition at a two- or four-year accredited college. TFCU student members will be competing with high-school students from credit unions statewide for $1,000 Credit Union Association of New York awards. In addition, they will be competing regionally within the Adirondack District for a $500 scholarship and locally among TFCU members for $500 scholarships. Visit www.tfcunow.com to download a 2012 application and get more information.

At the annual conference of the Vermont Humanities Council this week, the focus is going to be on why the humanities matter. The conference gets under way at the Stoweflake Mountain Resort in Stowe on Friday. Its agenda includes discussions of the arts, history, religious studies and other disciplines.