WVTK Local & State News January 18, 2012

A head-on collision involving a car and a tractor-trailer on Route 7 Monday night severely injured a Brandon man who remains hospitalized in New Hampshire. Police say Andrew Mitchell was attempting to cross Route 7 to turn onto Fern Lake Road when the truck travelling north struck his car. Police say Mitchell was seriously injured in the crash with multiple skull fractures and numerous cuts. He was taken first to Rutland Regional Medical Center and then to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center where a spokeswoman said she could not release any information about his condition.

The Addison County Chamber Of Commerce and the Ticonderoga Chamber will be hosting Mixers tomorrow evening. The first Addison County Chamber Mixer of 2012 will be held at Café Provence in Brandon from 5-7PM. You can join in on an evening of great food and drinks, door prizes, pot of gold and more! For more information and to RSVP to Sue Hoxie just visit www.addisoncounty.com. The Ti Chamber’s “After Business Mixer” will be held at Sugar Hill Manor Bed & Breakfast in Crown Point from 5:30 to 7PM. Sponsors providing door prizes will be Best Western Plus Ticonderoga Inn & Suites, International Paper, Sugar & Spice Country Shoppe and the Wagon Wheel Restaurant. More info can be found at www.ticonderogany.com.

Police need your help finding a man who led them on a high-speed chase Monday night. Vermont State troopers were conducting a warrant on Thomas Weston's home in Monkton. The 23-year-old drove home, saw police at his residence and took off, leading them on a chase through Monkton and Bristol. Police spiked Weston's tires, but say he continued driving for about two miles before ditching his vehicle and taking off on foot. Police eventually abandoned their search after a five-mile foot pursuit. Weston is still at large. Call police if you know where he is.

A Benson woman was sentenced for embezzling from her employer yesterday. Pamela Natoli was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud. Prosecutors say Natoli stole more than $200,000 from the Brandon art gallery where she worked by writing checks to herself from the owner's account.

The former treasurer of the town of Ira is due to be sentenced today for embezzling more than $300,000 from taxpayers. Donald Hewitt has admitted his guilt and is even working with the state auditor to help educate other communities about the risks of embezzlement. Hewitt could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison but because of his work with Salmon, his remorse and his efforts to make restitution, Hewitt's lawyer is asking the judge for no jail time.

The executive director of Addison County Home Health and Hospice in Middlebury said five new members were added to the agency's Board of Directors for three-year terms, which begin immediately. The sixteen members of the board represent eleven towns within Addison County. The nonprofit agency employs more than 180 full and part-time employees and serves people of all ages within Addison County.

The Essex County Public Health Director Linda Beers has concerns about rabies in the area. Recently a stray cat in Westport was found to have the deadly disease. Seven people who were playing with and feeding the feline needed to get rabies shots. Beers said she would meet individually with town supervisors soon to discuss rabies control. Animals seen wandering around, especially nocturnal creatures out during the day should be avoided.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is presenting a $132 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. That makes the overall budget, including federal funds tied to state spending, about the same as the current budget. Cuomo says it includes about a 2-percent decrease in state spending. The budget proposed Tuesday contains no new or higher taxes or fees, but instead is built around spending about $2 billion from the "millionaire tax" increase on New York's top earners adopted in December. His budget includes 4-percent increases for public schools and hospitals and health care facilities through the Medicaid health care system. Those increases total $1.4 billion. Cuomo also plans longer-term measures, including a far less expensive retirement system for new hires in state and local government jobs.

Police say two teenagers face criminal charges after a fire at the Champlain Valley Expo. Firefighters were called to the Expo Tuesday morning for a fire at trailer. Firefighters use that trailer for training. The trailer was destroyed and firefighters say it was no accident. Police say they followed tracks in the snow, which led them to 18-year-old Colin Howard, and a 14-year-old boy. The teenagers face arson and trespass charges.

A Burlington elementary school was locked down yesterday. Burlington police received a report of an incident involving a gun outside of H.O. Wheeler around 2:45PM. Most of the children had already left school for the day. By the time police arrived, the suspects had fled. The school reopened around 3.

The state of Vermont is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to support the constitutionality of the federal health care reform law known as the Affordable Care Act. Attorney General William Sorrell says the state filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court last week. Last August an appeals court ruled a provision of the health care law was unconstitutional. The United States government has appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments in the matter in March.

Aides to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin have unveiled the next steps in his plan to move Vermont toward a single-payer health care system, and some business groups aren't happy about it. Yesterday administration officials got two key legislative allies to introduce a bill that would set up the Vermont version of a health insurance exchange, or marketplace, called for under federal health reform legislation. Both Jeanne Keller of Burlington and the National Federation of Independent Business' state chapter say by including employers with up to 100 workers, the Vermont exchange would cover too broad a range of businesses, and provide too few types of health insurance coverage. House Health Care Committee Chairman Mike Fisher says those claims are exaggerated.

A former office manager for a Vermont municipal utility has been sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison in the state's largest embezzlement case. Yesterday Joyce Bellavance apologized for stealing $1.6 million in customer funds from the Hardwick Electric Department, saying she felt worthless and wanted to buy people's affections. The Burlington Free Press reports that three members of the department asked that she be given the maximum 3-year sentence.

The price Vermonters pay for home heating oil and other fuels continues to rise, with the price of fuel oil averaging nearly $3.84 a gallon this month, up 6 cents from December, and 69 cents more than a year ago, according the state’s monthly fuel price report. Propane averaged $3.26 a gallon in January, up a penny from December; kerosene increased 3.5 cents to $4.25 a gallon. With seasonably warm temperatures so far this winter, the federal Energy Information Administration said consumers would spend less on home heating oil than initially forecast.

Scientists studying white nose syndrome in bats estimate the fungal ailment has killed at least 5.7 million bats in 16 states and Canada, providing alarming new numbers about the scope of its decimation. First detected in a cave west of Albany in 2006, white nose has spread to 16 states from the Northeast to the South and as far west as Kentucky. It also has been detected in four Canadian provinces.

1 of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's ice cream is expected to be on hand as lawmakers and advocates unveil a resolution calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution overturning the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. That 5 4-ruling two years ago found that corporations have the same rights as individuals to make unlimited contributions to independent groups seeking to influence elections.

Vermont is at the top of the list when it comes to states that are at highest risk for loss due to embezzlement. That's according to a new study just released by a Boston-based firm that examined 473 major embezzlement cases across the country where at least $100,000 dollars was taken. Vermont tops the list but is closely followed by Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Montana.

L.L. Bean is donating up to $1 million to the National Park Foundation with the goal of increasing family outdoor recreation and getting children to visit national parks. The Maine-based outdoors retailer says the Million Moment Mission aims to get people to share stories, ideas and photos of outdoor experiences online. L.L. Bean will donate $1 for each of them, up to $1 million.

A new piece of art is now part of Ticonderoga’s Community Building. “War Party from Ticonderoga,” a painting by Robert Griffing, has been donated to the town and now hangs in the town hall’s lobby. Historians Keith Dolbeck and Dan Blanchette of Ticonderoga arranged the donation. During the past two decades Blanchette and Dolbeck have found many items with historical significance. They would like to someday create a museum in downtown Ticonderoga to display the artifacts.

The Ticonderoga Middle School recently held its 2012 Geography Bee. Ten contestants representing grades 6-8 participated in the local bee. The championship round pitted Emily Powers against Mackenzie Strum. In the end eighth grader Mackenzie Strum became the winner of the 2012 Geography Bee. Strum will now take a written exam in hopes of being selected to compete at the New York State Geography Bee contest in Albany on March 30th.