WVTK Local & State News February 22, 2012

The town of Middlebury will soon offer free wireless Internet. Money in the town budget along with funding from the Vermont Council on Rural Development has allowed the Ilsley Library to expand its coverage to the downtown. Though a provider hasn't been chosen yet, the library director hopes the signal will reach most of Main Street, the town green, as well as Merchant's Row, meaning people can browse the web for free almost anywhere downtown. They hope to have free town Wi-Fi up and running this summer. Similar programs are also in the works in Poultney, Bristol and Vergennes.

Monkton residents will be voting at Town Meeting March 6th to select a town flag. The project was launched in December. Residents had until February 1st to submit their entries and applications. Thirty-four entries were received including fourteen from Monkton Central School sixth grade students and from a workshop with the Monkton Boy Scouts. The five final designs will be digitized and exhibited on Town Meeting Day for voting. Residents will vote for their top three choices. The winning flag will be unveiled on June 24th. The Monkton Flag Project was funded by a community grant from Neat Repeats in Middlebury. The Monkton Community Coffeehouse organized the project. Voting takes place at the Monkton Central School gym on the 6th from 10AM - 1PM and 4PM – 7PM.

Rutland Police are investigating a deadly hit and run crash. This happened just before six Tuesday night, on Lincoln Avenue, near the intersection of Williams and Grant streets. Police say a Rutland woman was pushing her husband who is in a wheelchair. That's when a vehicle hit her from behind. Police say 57-year old Deborah Jean Campbell suffered catastrophic injuries. She later died at the hospital. Her husband's injuries do not appear to be life threatening. Police have very few details on the vehicle that hit the couple and took off. If you know anything call Rutland police at 802-773-1816.

Residents in Castleton will decide whether to build a new municipal building on Town Meeting Day. Town offices were moved to modular units this summer when the current building became uninhabitable due to mold and structural issues. Now, town officials want to build a new $2 million facility that would house town offices, police, fire, and emergency responders. But many in the town would rather renovate the existing historic building.

Hubbardton firefighters responded to a destructive fire at a home located on Old Ti Road during the morning hours Monday. Smoke from the house fire was visible to Hubbardton and Castleton residents living several miles from the site. Because of the shaded location of the home, overnight icing on the upslope driveway approach to the residence presented a challenge to firefighters as they had to quickly attach tire chains to the engines to get to the residence.

Rutland City Police said somebody removed a safe and some merchandise out of Aubuchon Hardware in the early morning hours Monday. Police said phone lines were also cut on the outside of the building and were waiting to receive footage from in-store surveillance equipment. Anyone with information on the burglary is asked to call Rutland City Police at 773-1816.

The Port Henry Village Board won't get started on its new budget until next month. The first public budget workshop will take place at 7PM Monday, March 19th at the Village Hall on Main Street. The Village Treasurer said the Village Campground restoration project now under way would affect the new budget. The Port Henry Village Campground on Lake Champlain was heavily damaged during Tropical Storm Irene last year and had to close early.

A presentation on "SmartPower" will be offered in Proctor at 6:30PM on March 7th. Central Vermont Public Service will present its "smart grid," the company's effort to modernize and automate the electric grid. Smart grid technology is part of a nationwide initiative that is taking advantage of federal funding to bring our current electric grid up to date with today's smarter, more reliable technologies. Over the next two years, about 80 percent of Vermont’s households will have smart meters installed.

Two key lawmakers say Vermont won't meet its goal of getting 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017. And the chairman and vice chairwoman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee say they're scaling back a goal of 30% renewable by 2025 that had been outlined in legislation pending before the panel.

A report by the Vermont state auditor's office has found that about $415,000 has been reported missing from 16 supervisory units or school districts since 2000. State Auditor Tom Salmon says for a small state, the frequency of incidents involving fraud, embezzlement or theft in Vermont schools is alarming.

The state Legislature is considering a bill that would commission a study to determine if racial and ethnic minorities are treated differently by the state's criminal justice system. The bill being considered by the House Judiciary Committee would also require all of the state's law enforcement agencies to adopt "bias-free policing" policies to ensure minorities are treated fairly.

Residents and business owners in Waterbury are renewing their call to bring back to town the state workers displaced by Tropical Storm Irene. The Vermont House and Senate Institutions committees took nearly two hours of testimony yesterday afternoon about how the loss of roughly 1,500 state workers has harmed the local economy in the north-central Vermont town. The administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin has proposed bringing some, but not all of the workers back to Waterbury. Business owners say they need to get the situation resolved soon. Lawmakers promised to keep the concerns in mind.

The University of Vermont is making plans to introduce its next president. An official announcement of who has been chosen as the university's next president is expected this morning. However according to WCAX-TV as of last night The University of Vermont has picked E. Thomas Sullivan to be the new leader at the university. He will be introduced to the campus community at an event at the Davis Center in Burlington.

The Pentagon is preparing for massive budget cuts that could ripple through the Vermont National Guard. But the Vermont Air Guard hopes their efforts to secure the next generation fighter jets will help them stave off the cuts. Vermont is still in the running to receive F-35 fighter jets to replace their F-16s, and Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie hopes that gains from that program would compensate for any potential job losses coming down the line in this round of cuts.

A mild winter across the Northeast is injecting extra uncertainty into maple syrup season, but many producers say they'll just go with the flow, whenever it starts. Temperatures have been up and snowfall totals have been down, raising concerns about the maple syrup crop. But producers say the weather during the six-week season when sap flows matters more than the weather leading up to it. Last year, U.S. maple production, led by Vermont, hit an all-time high of 2.79 million gallons.

Thirty college students from the Boston area are facing charges after they tried to enter the United States from Canada at the Derby Line border crossing with alcohol and drugs in their bags. On Monday, the Vermont State Police issued 26 citations for minors in possession of alcohol, charged three people with marijuana possession and charged one Boston University student with possessing a single tablet of ecstasy. Trooper Andrew Jensen says the students were traveling back to Boston on eight tour buses after a weekend outing in Quebec.

South Burlington's newest burger restaurant has been burglarized. According to the Burlington Free Press, two men broke into the Five Guys restaurant along Shelburne Road sometime early Monday. Surveillance tape shows the pair making off with a safe holding about $2,000. South Burlington police say they've seen a spike in burglaries over the last two months.

The South Burlington city council passed a controversial development ban. Those who have already received permits for their projects will be allowed to continue. But some seeking approval for expansion or new development will need to make their case in front of the city council. The goal of the ban is to slow growth in the city until new planning and zoning policies can be considered. Councilors who voted against the measure called it overly broad and expensive.

Registration is now open for Fort Ticonderoga’s 17th annual War College of the Seven Years’ War May 18-20. The annual seminar focuses on the French & Indian War in North America (1754-1763), bringing together a panel of historians from around the country and beyond. The War College takes place in the Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center and is open to the public; pre-registration is required. Registration forms can be downloaded from the Fort’s website at www.fort-ticonderoga.org.

Lent, the forty-day liturgical season that precedes Easter in the Christian calendar begins today. The beginning of lent is marked by Ash Wednesday for Western Christian churches. Roman Catholic along with some other churches hold special services, which see worshippers marked on the forehead with ashes as a symbol of death, and repentance. The observation of the forty days of Lent is a representation of Jesus Christ’s withdrawal into the desert for forty days and is marked by fasting from both food and festivities.