WVTK Local & State News April 3, 2012

The Paquette Building at the Field Days site containing RV's and boats has been broken into. Signs of forced entry were evident on several boats and RV's, as there were tool and pry marks on the doors and hatches. Damage to the property is undetermined at this time. Two battery-powered alarms were stolen from the building. There have been several recent burglaries at this property and State Police are asking the public for help in solving them. Please contact the New Haven Barracks if you have information regarding burglaries at Field Days. (802-388-4919)

The town of Bristol hopes to take advantage of a new State program to repair a bridge closed since 2010. Town administrator Bill Bryant says Bristol would save $117,000 under the accelerated bridge program. Bristol would bond for the bridge expense and pay it back over 20 years. This new program would see the State close one-third of the bridges scheduled for work this year instead of taking the more standard approach of building temporary roads and bridges to re-route traffic while work is under way. Under the new accelerated program, a bridge that takes up to 10 years to plan and build might now take two year.

The next Addison County Legislative Breakfast will take place on Monday the 9th at the Congregational Church in Shoreham. It’s another excellent opportunity to meet your Addison County legislators. Breakfasts start at 7AM with the program beginning at 7:30. Purchase of breakfast not required to attend but helps the hosts to defray the cost of opening their venue. For more information click HERE!

A Vermont Environmental Court Judge said the Development Review Board in Brandon lacked details and facts in its decision to grant a conditional use permit for the controversial Brandon Plaza project. Developer William McCabe proposed a 36,000-square-foot Hannaford supermarket, 12,000 square feet of separate retail space and 5,000 square feet for an out building where Route 7 meets Nickerson Road. The judge’s decision effectively sends the project back to the board.

The Monkton town flag will be dedicated on June 24, the 250th founding celebration of the town. Linda Reynolds, a Mt. Abraham Union High School art teacher, designed the winning flag. Her design, which depicts Monkton’s distinctive landscape of farm fields, pond and hills, garnered seventy per cent of the first choice vote by Town Residents. You can pre-order your own copy of the winning Monkton flag. The deadline for placing orders is May 18. Flags will be distributed prior to the 250th Founding Celebration. To find out how to pre-order a flag or for more information visit www.monktoncc.org.

Teachers of the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union are filing an unfair labor practice, alleging that the Union's boards forced teachers to remove buttons because the board thought parents and students were complaining. According to a press release, the school system issued an order yesterday saying all staff members are prohibited from displaying signs, wearing buttons, or having conversations with students about contract negotiations. Last week, teachers voted to strike unless a tentative agreement between them and the supervisory union's boards is reached before school starts Wednesday. Teachers are opened a strike headquarters yesterday afternoon. They have been working without a contract for more than 640 days.

Teachers and school boards in two Vermont supervisory unions will make a last ditch effort today to avert a strike. Teachers in the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union and the Windham Northeast Education Association are set to walk off the job tomorrow morning if no deal is reached. Teachers in both districts have been working for than a year without a contract.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Spring Open House on Wednesday, May 9th from 10:00AM to 2:00PM. The open house is open to all Chamber members who what to learn more about their benefits and any businesses or organization interested in becoming a TACC member. Coffee and light refreshments will be available. An Insurance Open House will also take place as part of the event. Chamber Members receive an array of benefits including marketing, promotion, publicity, exposure, credibility, member referrals, access to marketing and networking opportunities, a commerce card discount program, health insurance, energy savings, small business support, seminars, trainings, Chamber communications and more. For more information visit www.ticonderogany.com or the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.

A part-time Ticonderoga police officer was arrested in Whitehall last Friday. Thomas Ruby, who is a part-time officer with the Ticonderoga and Whitehall police departments, was charged with violating an order of protection his estranged wife has against him. Ticonderoga officials said he would not work for the Ticonderoga Police Department while an investigation takes place.

The 42nd mayor in Burlington’s history is now on duty, and ready to serve. Miro Weinberger took the oath of office Monday night during the city council meeting, and afterwards gave his first State of the City address. He's focusing immediately on the city's budget gap, as well as the city's housing crunch and the Moran Plant Re-Development Project. Four new councilors were also sworn in, and Joan Shannon is replacing Bill Keough as Council President.

A new study by four Vermont police departments says, per capita, black drivers are almost twice as likely as white drivers to be stopped by police in Burlington and South Burlington. That's 1 of the findings released by a group called the Uncommon Alliance and police from Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski and the University of Vermont.

The public will get a chance tonight to weigh in on plans to run power lines under Lake Champlain. A hearing will be held at 6PM at the municipal offices in Whitehall, New York. The plan calls for burying two five-inch cables at the bottom of the lake on the New York side. Those lines would carry power from the Montreal area to the New York City market. The project would cost about two billion dollars. Five other public hearings will be held later this month.

Richmond is considering new parking restrictions near a dangerous but popular swimming hole. Last night the select board voted yes on a proposal that would ban parking on the traveled portion of Dugway Road, an access route to Huntington Gorge. The Police Chief says congestion along the road has slowed rescue efforts in the past and has been a problem for years. The issue will appear before the select-board again May 7.

A Vermont judge has ordered a Texas debt settlement company to pay a fine of $2 million in a consumer fraud case. Credit Solutions of America also must pay full refunds to 207 Vermonters totaling about $350,000. The state accused the company of using unsubstantiated claims that people can reduce their debt "in 60 seconds" to advertise its services.

Vermont has launched an environmental public health tracking web portal bringing environmental and public health data together in one place. The portal is designed to help policymakers, health professionals, researchers, students, residents and anyone who is interested to explore questions about links between our environment and health. The Health Department was awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in December 2009 to plan and build the statewide Tracking portal infrastructure and database.

Federal immigration agents arrested three illegal aliens in Vermont during a six-day nationwide sweep. Overall, more than 31-hundred arrests were made during Operation Cross Check. Those targeted were in the country illegally and were fugitives or considered threats to national security. The sweep comes nearly a year after officials pledged to focus their deportation efforts on illegal immigrants with serious criminal histories. In Vermont, two people were arrested in Burlington and a third was arrested in Springfield.

A new report shows widespread housing discrimination in Vermont's rental market. Rachel Batterson, Project Manager of Vermont Legal Aid's Housing Discrimination Law Project directed the study, conducted between 2009 and 2011. It found that rental housing providers gave preferential treatment to white renters 38% of the time; preferred white, American-born renters 40% of the time; preferred applicants with no children 36% of the time; and showed preferential treatment towards renters without disabilities 27 percent of the time.

President Barack Obama's visit to Vermont raised a lot of money and now police departments say they want a piece of it. Police say that will help cover their costs for the president's visit. While in Vermont, Mr. Obama banked hundreds of thousands for his re-election campaign. But police departments might never see any of it and taxpayers could end up paying for part of his fundraising trip.

Three teenagers, ages 13, 14 and 15, have been charged in connection with a vandalism and arson spree in Brattleboro over the weekend that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Brattleboro police arrested the three teens yesterday. Because of their age, their cases will be handled in juvenile court, and their names will remain confidential. The teens set fires at Vermont Bread Co., Barrows & Fisher Oil Co. and left extensive obscene and racist graffiti at both Brattleboro Union High School and Brattleboro Middle School.

Residents in a village who lost their covered bridge in last summer's storm say they just want it back the way it was. The current bridge in Quechee has been blockaded and unused since Irene hit last August. The Valley News reports residents were polled on redesign options at a weekend meeting.

Results from the annual Doyle Poll show strong support for banning the use of cell phones while driving and expanding Vermont's bottle deposit law. Washington County Senator Bill Doyle conducts the survey annually at town meetings. Of the 14 questions asked this year, the cell phone and bottle deposit questions both received support from over 3/4ths of respondents. Vermonters also remain about evenly divided on whether the state should continue efforts to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The lowest yes total was the 35-percent for the number of people who are optimistic about the future of Vermont.

Students from Moriah, Peru, Ticonderoga and Beekmantown took honors in the recent North Country History Day at Fort Ticonderoga's Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center. The winning students will now compete at New York State History Day in Cooperstown on April 23rd. A gift from Wal-Mart SuperCenter of Ticonderoga helped support the regional contest.

A popular outdoor recreation destination will soon become more accessible. While mountain bikers, hikers and runners have been eager to hit the trails after an unusually warm winter, the team behind Rutland’s Pine Hill Park unveiled something new on Friday. An existing old carriage route running six miles from behind Proctor High School, south to Rocky Pond, will be called the “carriage trail” and act as a connector to the city park’s multi-use trails. But preparing the trail for pedestrian and mountain biking use will take time and it won’t be officially open and marked until the end of this fall.