WVTK Local & State News January 17, 2012

A Brandon man is in the hospital after a head-on collision in Leicester last night. It happened just before 10 Monday night. Police say 33-year-old Andrew Mitchell attempted to cross Route 7 onto Fern Lake Road when a tractor-trailer collided with his car. Mitchell was taken to the hospital with multiple skull fractures.

The Town Of Middlebury is closer to offering public Wi-Fi access. The downtown public Wi-Fi project has been talked about on and off over the past few years. Ilsley Public Library Director David Clark said the library is committed to hosting the project, which has enough funding to go forward. He said the planned schedule is for the Wi-Fi network to be up and running by sometime this summer. The project has a budget of $10,000, half of which comes from the municipal budget. The town’s Downtown Improvement District Commission recently recommended that the town allot another $5,000 from its funds.

FairPoint Communications expanded broadband Internet service to 225 Granville homes and businesses in late December. The arrival of high-speed Internet in the town is a milestone for the company. Now all of FairPoint’s Addison County exchanges have at least some broadband coverage, and nearly 90 percent of the company’s customers statewide have access to broadband Internet.

As the Bixby Memorial Free Library in Vergennes prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday in October they are currently taking steps to keep the institution relevant for its second century. In the next few months, the Bixby will automate its card catalog, receive computer hardware and software as part of the e-Vermont grant the library helped Vergennes win, run computer literacy workshops, and on Town Meeting Day survey residents of the five communities it serves to find out what kinds of things the community would like to see happen at the library that you’d participate in.

Middlebury College will soon expand its renewable energy portfolio. Next month it will install 34 solar power collectors off Route 125, between McCardell Bicentennial Hall and the college organic garden. The 143-kilowatt project, slated to go up in February, is expected to generate 200,000 kW-hours of electricity per year, and will be metered against Battell Hall to offset the annual power consumption of the year-round dormitory, which annually uses about 190,000 kWh. The college signed a Power Purchase Agreement with AllEarth Renewables of Williston for five years.

Addison County residents have been taking advantage of a solar water initiative. Almost 100 residents have hooked their homes up to a solar hot water system in large part due to Solar Addison County. The program was launched last summer by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

The Otter Valley Union High School board has approved a proposed $10,332,550 spending plan for 2012-13. That represents an increase of 2.32 percent over the current spending plan. Last year the alternative education Harvest Program and the school resource office were two major items in question however; both of those line items remain in place.

Last Tuesday Vergennes aldermen agreed to increase the city’s financial contribution toward installing sprinklers in City Hall and the Vergennes Opera House to $35,000. The increased contribution for the delayed project is up from an earlier estimated city share of $20,000 to $22,000.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will deliver his budget address today. During his State of the State last week the governor talked about flood relief for communities still rebuilding following Tropical Storm Irene. Essex County was one of the hardest hit areas. Damage estimates are in the tens of millions of dollars. The Governor did not give any specific details for financial help but local leaders are keeping their fingers crossed that cash is on the way. Several homes in the Jay area were hit twice, first by a major ice jam in the spring and then by Irene.

It's still possible that the Ticonderoga Town Police Department could move to the old Rite Aid Drug Store on Montcalm Street. According to Supervisor Debra Malaney that would help the downtown business district a lot. The Rite Aid building is still viewed as the best choice. Another downtown possibility for the Police Department is the building that formerly housed the Family Dollar store.

One popular Ticonderoga eatery that closed last year will reopen soon. Russ Slater who cited a lack of business for the closing had operated the Carillon Restaurant on Hague Road. Now the building owner is completing renovations, and the restaurant will reopen soon. Another Ticonderoga restaurant, Ti-Pi, which closed in December, is expected to reopen as soon as the owner of the building finds someone to run it.

The Henry Sheldon Museum announced that after a national search, Eva Garcelon-Hart has been appointed the new archivist of the Sheldon’s Stewart-Swift Research Center. She received her Masters in Library and Information Studies and Masters in Art History degrees from U.C. Berkeley and worked as an archivist at Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

Vermont activists and lawmakers are planning a busy week at the Vermont Statehouse, with events designed to push their agendas. Today, Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell will be unveiling a report of a task force that's been looking into issues of property law raised by Tropical Storm Irene. Also, supporters of using a "genuine progress indicator," which combines a range of measures about social well being in place of more traditional economic indicators, will hold a news conference to talk up their agenda. The group is also promoting the idea of a state bank. And on Wednesday, critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision are planning a midday event to demand that it be reversed.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is halting the Green Mountain Care Board's search for a PR firm. Last week the five-person panel tasked with redesigning health care coverage in Vermont put out a help wanted ad looking for a communications specialist to help craft its public image. A senior staff member says the governor was frustrated when he learned of the job posting and asked the board not to go forward with its plan. Because the health care reform law says the board and the executive branch are supposed to remain separate, the governor can only voice his strong opposition to the proposal. He cannot tell the board members they cannot hire a PR firm. The board is expected to react to the governor's request this week.

It was a little over a year ago that a Blue Ribbon Tax Commission proposed some significant changes to the Vermont tax code, and at the time, Legislative leaders expressed a fair amount of interest in the plan. However it's unlikely that any of the recommendations will be adopted during the 2012 session. The Panel also proposed expanding the base of the state sales tax to include many services, a move that would allow lawmakers to lower the sales tax rate. But it appears that there's little interest at the Statehouse to consider this change during the current session.

The Vermont Army National Guard's band is now getting the recognition it earned during World War II fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. The Vermont National Guard's 40th Army Band was honored last week. The 31 members of the band, then based in Brattleboro, were called to active duty in February 1941, nine months before the United States entered the war.

Vermont's three congressional lawmakers gave out more than $236,000 in bonuses to their staff members last year. The Burlington Free Press also reports that Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Peter Welch expect to return about $816,000 to the government, representing about 10% of their allowances, that went unspent in fiscal 2011.

A historian, writer and editor who co-founded a magazine about country living and wrote 17 books, has died at age 89. Richard Ketchum died Thursday at a retirement community in Shelburne. He co-founded Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal, written for people who had moved to rural areas after growing tired of hectic city and suburban life.

Middlebury is about to welcome its latest adult-beverage offering, Drop In Brewing and the America Brewing Guild. Owned and operated by Steve Parkes, Drop In Brewing and the America Brewing Guild School will act as both beer-maker and brewing school when it opens early this spring. The facility is currently under construction at the former Dundon Plumbing site on Route 7. The 1,600-square-feet of brewing and teaching space includes 3,200-square-feet of classrooms, lab space, and a 900-square-feet independently operated sandwich shop. Parkes said he has received a lot of encouragement and support from local banks and the business community.

Shelburne Players has scheduled a free informational meeting at Pierson Library in Shelburne on Thursday, January 26th from 6:30 to 8PM for anyone interested in the company’s April comedy "Lend Me A Tenor" by Ken Ludwig. For more information and the audition schedule just visit www.shelburneplayers.com.

Singer-songwriter Julie Frost from New Haven beat out some of Hollywood’s biggest musicians Sunday night to take home a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song. Frost, along with her co-writers Madonna and Jimmy Harry, were presented the prestigious award at the 69th annual awards show in Los Angeles for the song “Masterpiece”. Frost began her music career while living in Chicago in the early ’90s, which led her to produce several original albums. Throughout her career she has worked with prominent artists like Beyonce, Black Eye Peas and Pitbull. She hopes to return to Vermont this Spring.

Registered snowmobilers in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine will be able to roam trails in all three states during the last weekend in January. Any snowmobile legally registered in 1 of the participating states will be allowed on trails in all three during the Jan. 27-29 weekend. All other host state regulations will apply, including speed limits, youth laws and Vermont's mandatory liability insurance.