WVTK Local & State News February 16, 2012

Coming up this evening the Addison County Chamber of Commerce will be holding its After Hours Business Mixer at Countryside Carpet & Paint on Creek Road here in Middlebury. As always you’ll experience great networking opportunities, tasty food, beverages, super door prizes, and the Pot of Gold drawing! The mixer takes place from 5 – 7PM. Please visit www.addisoncounty.com to get more information. We’ll see you there!

CCTA and ACTR will be holding their public hearings to provide community members a chance to respond to the proposed route and schedule for the 116 Commuter bus service coming to Route 116 between Burlington and Middlebury via Hinesburg this spring. The Addison County hearings will take place on Wednesday March 7th at 5PM in Bristol at Holley Hall and Thursday March 8th here in Middlebury at 5PM at the Middlebury Volunteer Ambulance Association on Collins Drive. For more information, please visit any of the following websites: cctaride.org, actr-vt.org or Hinesburgrides.org.

Last night Vermont State Police attempted to conduct a motor vehicle stop on a red Chevy Cavalier on Route 7 in Brandon. There were two occupants in the vehicle, both African American males. This vehicle did not stop and led the State Police on approximately a 9-mile pursuit from Brandon to Salisbury. On West Shore Road near the intersection of Route 53, this vehicle crashed into a small wooded area. Both occupants fled into the woods off the east side of West Shore Road. Attempts to locate the two subjects were unsuccessful. Both occupants are believed to have sustained injuries from the crash. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the New Haven State Police Barracks. (802.388.4919)

The clerk who pulled a knife away from a woman who tried to rob a Vergennes convenience store on September 28th and held her down until police arrived will not face charges in the her death. Police say the clerk pulled a knife away from her, and held her on the floor while waiting for police. She died on the way to the hospital. The state medical examiner ruled the 34-year-old's death was a homicide. The medical examiner said she died of an irregular heartbeat during an altercation that was brought about when her chest was compressed while she was "acutely intoxicated with cocaine." Prosecutors said Wednesday that they would not file charges against the clerk.

Vermont Law School and Middlebury College have signed an agreement that guarantees qualified Middlebury students and graduates admission to VLS. Both institutions will benefit from the agreement. VLS administrators anticipate an increase in the number of strong applicants and Middlebury students will have a wider range of opportunities following graduation. The agreement is one of several steps that VLS has taken in recent years to expand coordination with undergraduate institutions. Those efforts also include full scholarships for one or two students from Middlebury and five other schools. There is no limit as to the number of Middlebury students or alumni who may apply to VLS.

Vermont State Police say a human skull has been found along a roadside in Danby in southern Vermont. Police said yesterday that the skull appears to be that of a young female and that trauma to it indicates that she could have been killed. A person reported finding the skull along Danby Hill Road on Sunday. Authorities say the area is being searched for additional remains or other evidence. Anyone with information related to the investigation is asked to call the Vermont State Police in Rutland.

Crown Point officials hope to complete a Monitor Bay project this spring to avoid possible conflicts with the summer boating season. The town is ready to go to bid for work to replace a retaining wall in the bay, which is home to the town board launch and campsite. The project, which will replace a deteriorating wall with a new vinyl barrier, has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the Adirondack Park Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2010 Crown Point received a state matching grant for $117,000 for the work. The town will match that amount with labor and materials.

Sale bids are due soon for Essex County's Horace Nye Nursing Home, and if it's sold, the new owner would likely foot the bill for a newly mandated sprinkler system. The county is taking sealed bids on the 100-bed facility until 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, with the minimum bid set at $4 million and a $50,000 deposit required. The cost of a sprinkler system has been estimated at $220,000, but those bids won't be sought until March. If the county sells the Nursing Home soon, that cost would likely become the responsibility of the new owner. The Nursing Home is losing more than $3 million a year, and supervisors say the county can no longer afford to carry it. Part of a 10 percent property-tax-levy increase for the county this year was due to the Nursing Home deficit.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation recently issued an air pollution control construction permit for a proposed biomass and energy center in Fair Haven. The permit, issued on February 10th, is the first air permit issued for a large-scale biomass plant in the state in at least 20 years. Beaver Wood Energy has proposed a 29-megawatt biomass-fueled power plant and wood pellet production facility off Exit 1 in Fair Haven. The project, which the company has called the Fair Haven Energy Center, will also provide space for local food producers and a steady supply of inexpensive heat. After acquiring the rest of the permits necessary they hope to begin construction in 2013.

Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power are sweetening the pot for ratepayers in hopes of clinching approval for a planned merger. The companies claim the merger will provide $144 million in savings for customers in the first 10 years. But advocates have been calling for CVPS to also pay back $21 million from an emergency rate hike a decade ago. In response, the companies are proposing a $21 million investment in an efficiency program to help customers lower their energy bills.

Gov. Peter Shumlin is opposed to the state buying into VELCO, the Vermont Electric Company. VELCO operates power lines in Vermont. GMP and CVPS are VELCO's largest owners. If GMP and CVPS merge as planned, their owner in Canada would have majority control over Vermont's power grid. Some, like Sen. Vince Illuzzi, worry about giving Gaz Metro that kind of control. Illuzzi wants the state to buy into VELCO to protect the public interest. The governor says that's a bad idea. The utilities are also opposed to Illuzzi's plan.

There's some confusion over Governor Shumlin's position on China as a trading partner. On the campaign trail, he criticized Governor Douglas about his trips to court Chinese investment in Vermont. But now Governor Shumlin is heading to California for a meeting on economic issues with Vice President Joe Biden and China's Vice President. Governor Shumlin said he thinks China could be an important investing partner with Vermont. He meets with Vice President Joe Biden and the Chinese Vice President on Friday.

It may take decades for Vermont to achieve its goals for cleaning up Lake Champlain, where phosphorus flowing in from farms, sewage treatment plants and suburban lawns has fed toxic algae blooms in recent summers. Lawmakers got that sobering assessment during an update on work being done by state and federal environmental agencies to develop a new document controlling how much pollution can flow into the lake. And an official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that the state should not expect a big shot of federal funding any time soon to help it meet those goals.

The University of Vermont has picked a new president. The Board of Trustees will announce the selection next week. The trustees have started contract negotiations with the new president, who was picked from five finalists. The next president will succeed Dan Fogel, who took office in 2002 and resigned August 1st. John Bramley, former UVM provost and professor, has been serving as interim president since Fogel's resignation.

A top Vermont budget officer says a poor month for snowfall hurt Vermont's winter tourism economy in January and created a dent in state revenues. Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding's monthly revenue report released Wednesday showed the state came up about 4.7% shy of the $133 million general fund target that had been set by consulting economists who forecast state revenues. Spaulding says tax collections remain ahead of what they were a year ago, indicating the economic recovery is proceeding slowly but surely.

Federal officials are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the armed robbery of a convenience store in Montpelier. The Champlain Farms was robbed at gunpoint on February 7th. Authorities say the suspect showed a gun and made off with an undisclosed amount of money. The suspect is described as a thin, black male, between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-6 inches tall. Police say he was wearing a ski mask, gloves and a blue hooded sweatshirt with white lettering during the robbery. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Burlington office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or the Montpelier Police Department.

The case of pigs concealed in artwork on Vermont State Police cruisers is now closed. State investigators say they know female inmates at the prison work center in Windsor are responsible for making the change in November 2009. However, as to exactly which inmate is ultimately responsible for manipulating the file will likely never be known. State police say someone will have to step forward to admit it, and as of now, all but one of the women in custody when the change was made is free.

A new, bipartisan group is pushing for public funding of campaigns, saying even donors are tired of getting constantly hit up for more cash from politicians. The New York Leadership for Accountable Government says it will promote voluntary public financing of political campaigns, lower maximum levels of contributions, and independent enforcement of campaign finance abuses. The group says it hopes to increase voter turnout and end what it calls an arms race, with politicians pressuring business operators to make more and larger campaign donations. Its members include some of Albany's big campaign donors as well as former elected officials and good-government groups.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has a new system for the Keurig single-serving brewers called Vue. It was unveiled Wednesday in New York, with the president and chief executive Larry Blanford saying the new system is the result of asking customers what they wanted, and developing it. Vue will allow consumers to brew stronger and hotter coffee, as well as up to 18 ounces to fill travel mugs. The new Vue portion pack is also partly recyclable.