Addison County Transit
Resources has announced its holiday schedule for the Christmas and New Year’s
holidays. On Monday, December 24th
all bus routes will operate on normal schedules. The ACTR office will be closed. There will be no buses Christmas Day. On Monday, December 31st bus
routes will operate on normal schedules.
The ACTR office will be closed.
Then on New Year’s Day no buses will run except the Snow Bowl Shuttle
Bus, which will be in operation to accommodate skiers and snowboarders between
9:05 am and 4:35 pm, which is the regular winter Saturday/Sunday schedule. For more information, please call
388-1946 or go to www.actr-vt.org.
Addison County Transit
Resources has announced the kick-off of the Snow Bowl Shuttle Bus winter schedule. Saturday, December 22nd the
Saturday/Sunday winter schedule begins, and then Monday, December 24th
the Monday through Friday winter schedule begins. Monthly passes for January and/or February are available for
purchase for the Snow Bowl Shuttle in addition to the regular 10-ride passes. For more information, please call
388-1946 or go to www.actr-vt.org.
New Haven’s Winterfest
Celebration is coming up on Saturday. The festivities begin with tasty treats
and hot drinks at the Congregational Church at 5:30 PM. At 6 PM the Memorial Tree Lighting will
take place. Your are invited to decorate
the tree, warm your hands by the fire barrels, sing carols and roast
marshmallows and chestnuts while we wait for Santa to arrive at the bandstand. Enjoy a horse drawn ride around the
Town Green while you wait to talk with Santa! At 7 that evening you can head back over at the Church for
the magical sounds of hand bell ringing and caroling with the choir. Hot cocoa, coffee, eggnog, cider and
yummy desserts are to follow downstairs in the Church. For more info, please contact Suzy at newhavenrec@gmavt.net. This
is a Free Community Event.
A winter clothing swap in
Ticonderoga is now a give-away. The
Ticonderoga Revitalization Alliance’s “Jacket & Coat Swap with Santa” at
the end of last week generated so much winter clothing, it will be continued as
a free service. People can get
free clothing tomorrow the 15th and Saturday, December 22nd from
Noon to 3 PM at the Downtown Gallery on Montcalm Street. Organizers send special thanks to the
Ticonderoga community for your generous donations during this past weekend’s
swap.
Vergennes Cub Scout Pack
539 will hold a special collection for the Addison County Food Shelf on
Saturday from 9 AM to Noon at Gaines Insurance Agency on Monkton Road in
Vergennes. The food shelf is need
of donations of toiletries for the holiday season. You are being asked to donate any of the following items:
soap, shampoo, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable razors,
shaving cream, tissues, and more. These
items are needed for many of our local families who depend upon the local Food
Shelf for assistance. The Cub
Scouts will be in front of the Gaines office collecting the items on Saturday
the 15th.
Get set to join friends
and neighbors for community music-making at the Middlebury Congregational
Church, beginning at 2 PM on Sunday, December 23rd, for Middlebury's annual
"Messiah Sing". Hosted
by the church and the Middlebury College Community Chorus, everyone is welcome
to come sing choruses from Handel's "Messiah," play in the orchestra,
or simply watch and listen. This
year's reading continues the tradition of featuring soloists drawn from
communities throughout Vermont. A $5 individual contribution or $10 for a
family is requested at the door.
Work to save the Bulwagga
Bay shoreline will be completed in 2013.
The town-owned beach and campsite on Lake Champlain is being damaged by
Lake Champlain erosion. Without action the public beach and 175-site campground
will be lost. According to the Adirondack Park Agency the shoreline has moved
back 25 to 40 feet since 1995. Preliminary engineering has been completed for
the project and the town will soon seek bids for the final engineering plans. The Bulwagga Bay erosion project is
expected to cost $300-500,000.
The Adirondack Park Agency
approved 14 permits yesterday for the new Essex County emergency communication
system. Most of the permits are
for upgrades to tall telecommunication towers. The public-safety radio system was planned and pieced together
over the past two years as a series of infrastructure improvements, primarily
with updates to existing towers.
They hope to have the entire system operational by fall 2013.
Essex County Treasurer
Michael Diskin has warned county lawmakers they could be approaching a fiscal
cliff next year at budget time. Diskin
said he and Essex County Department of Social Services Commissioner John
O'Neill recently held an emergency meeting with 18 of the county’s 25
department heads and it appears there will be a hole of at least $8 million
going into budget time next year.
On Monday the county passed a 2013 budget with a 1.1 percent tax levy
increase, meeting the state tax-cap formula for the county but using $6.8
million of the county's $8.5 million reserve and $2.8 million in FEMA payments
to balance a $108 million budget.
Earlier this week the
Clarendon Select Board agreed that the town must pursue a long-term plan for
municipal operations that could include moving out of Town Hall. The board met Monday with members of a
committee charged with exploring all options for renovating the existing
building, relocating to another site or even constructing a new building. The municipal offices would require
costly renovations and would still be burdened by limited parking. The board
agreed to pursue pressing maintenance issues in the short term and consider
options for a reserve fund to offset future long-range costs at a future
meeting.
Mount. St Joseph Academy
in Rutland is kicking off its annual campaign Project Help on December 20th
and 21st. The
annual holiday campaign provides baskets for some families in need this season
in the Rutland region. MSJ
students and volunteers will collect food and monetary donations from area
residents during the first day of the campaign. The eighth grade class from
Christ the King School will join them. On Friday the 21st the
students will deliver the gift baskets to local families. In addition to food
items, each basket will contain gifts for children, donated by the parishioners
of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Rutland.
Rutland City Police are
preparing to work more closely with federal law enforcement agencies to take
illegal guns and drugs off city streets.
Since the start of the year, federal agencies like the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement
Administration have worked with city police and the Vermont State Police Drug
Task Force. Starting next month,
city Patrolman Justin Souza will work with federal law enforcement even more closely.
Many of the details of his assignment are still being worked out.
Vermont communities and
businesses are receiving $1.1 million in flood recovery grants. The awards will assist the village and
town of Waterbury repair a damaged sewage pump station and plan for the
development of a multi-use recreation trail connecting the downtown to Little
River State Park. Also, the
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and Springfield Regional Development
Corporation have partnered to use $1 million for grants and loans targeted to
businesses still struggling to pay for damages or losses in southern Windsor
and Windham counties.
A Vermont covered bridge
that's being rebuilt following Tropical Storm Irene is expected to reopen by
the end of the month. The bridge in Quechee was destroyed by the storm in
August 2011. The Valley News
reports construction began in late summer, and officials originally hoped to
have the bridge functional by now. But an abutment required more work than
expected, which contributed to the increased construction time and increased
costs.
The Department of
Marketing and Tourism reported Wednesday that Vermont tourism is on the
rebound. Commissioner Megan Smith
presented new information on state tourism at the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber
of Commerce’s annual meeting in Ludlow. According to new data the tourism
market recovered much better than other sectors of the economy and the national
tourism industry. Smith said
visitor spending in Vermont increased nearly 20 percent since 2009. In 2009,
visitors spent an estimated $1.4 billion in the state. In 2011, the figure
jumped to $1.7 billion.
A cold dining experience
was intentional, but all for a good cause. Diners ate out in the cold, on tables and chairs set up
Thursday outside on Church Street in Burlington as a fundraiser for the
Committee on Temporary Shelter. A
handful of restaurants provided the food with supporters for COTS making
20-dollar donations. COTS serves
about two-thousand people in every year in Burlington, and a spokesperson says
they've seen an increase in the number of people needing their help.
A hiker had some help
coming down Mount Hunger Wednesday night.
That's because the 22-year-old hiker fell near the summit of the
mountain, suffering a painful shoulder injury. That, combined with an icy trail, slowed down the hikers
until it was too dark to carry on.
Rescue teams helped bring the injured hiker down who was then taken by
ambulance to Central Vermont Hospital.
Another group is on board
with the coalition government devised by the GOP and the IDC in the state
Senate. The New York State
Troopers PBA has released a statement, saying the organization is
"optimistic" a bipartisan leadership government in the chamber will
make the Senate stronger. The
group points out that both Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos and IDC chief
Senator Jeffrey Klein have both historically supported policies "that
benefit not only New York State Troopers, but the public at large."
Governor Andrew Cuomo
continues to enjoy record high approval ratings. A new Quinnipiac University poll finds Cuomo's approval
rating at 74 percent. The governor
himself believes his approval rating is based on his handling of the aftermath
of Hurricane Sandy.
The New York State
Comptroller is encouraging New Yorkers to consider investing in their
children's college education this holiday season. He's suggesting New Yorkers open or contribute to an
existing 529 College Savings plan and take advantage of the tax write-off at
the end of the year. The plan
sponsored by the State of New York features a broad array of investment
options, including three age-based investment options that automatically
rebalance the assets in the portfolio to become more conservative as the child
approaches college age.
Education advocates in New
York State have come out with recommendations to protect preschool special
education programs. The groups Advocates for Children of New York and the
Alliance for Quality Education want the state to vigorously audit programs and
improve financing procedures. The preschool special education program serves 3-
to 5-year-olds with developmental delays or other disabilities.
Continuing coverage on
Vermont's debate into giving migrant workers licenses. Now that Governor Peter Shumlin has
come out and support it, groups pushing for legislation hope that's the key to
get it passed. Lawmakers took
testimony on the issue Thursday in Montpelier. Shumlin has vowed to pass it when the session resumes next
month. It's a promise that some
migrant workers are hopeful about.
"Definitely very excited. Really, really excited. Again like my
colleague said, really excited to hear that Governor Shumlin is for human
rights, this is a human rights issue," said Migrant Justice spokes person
Natalia Fajardo. More than 1,500
migrant workers want Vermont driver's licenses. They say they're necessary to get food and in case of a
medical emergency.
The Vermont Department of
Health says free vaccines for Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, will
be available on Wednesday. You can
get the vaccine known as Tdap at any of the 12 health department locations
across the state. The announcement
comes after a rise in cases across the state. While it's been many years since anyone in Vermont has died
from it there have been more than 500 cases 2012. "More and more cases are being reported daily to the
health department in every county. The majority of cases are school aged
children from eleven to fourteen," Vermont Health Commissioner said. Officials say it is easily spread by
adults so they're encouraging people 19 and older to get the free vaccine. To find the Department of Health
District Office closest to you click here.
