On Wednesday the Vermont Agency of Transportation
will be holding an Open Forum and Public Hearing regarding the Middlebury State
Airport Runway Reconstruction and Safety Area Improvements. The Open Forum begins at 6 PM and
provides an opportunity for interested parties to ask questions of VTrans
representatives specific to their property. The Public hearing begins at 6:30 PM so VTrans can receive
comments and suggestions for changes from interested persons. Project plans are
available for review in the Middlebury Town Clerk's Office.
The Addison County Chamber Of Commerce After Hours
Business Mixer is coming up next Thursday the 17th. January’s mixer
is hosted by the Rikert Nordic Center. Come early at 4 PM and enjoy an hour of
free skiing. Rentals are free too if you don’t have your own equipment. The mixer will take place from 5 –
7PM. For more information or to
RSVP to see just visit the Chamber Website.
Beginner skiers and snowboarders at the Middlebury
College Snow Bowl will receive a magic carpet treatment this winter with a ride
on the unique SunKid Wonder Carpet conveyor lift system. The Austria-based SunKid Company installed
the unique people-mover belt at the Snow Bowl just in time for the arrival of
plenty of snow, which fell between Christmas and New Year’s Day. In addition to luring local skiers and
snowboarders, the Middlebury College Snow Bowl will be in the national spotlight
when it hosts the 2013 NCAA Alpine-Nordic Skiing Championship March 6th
– 9th.
A local business has announced their expansion. Bryan
and Jenny Phelps, owners of Noonie Deli here in the Marble Works are expanding with
a second location in Essex to open in the this spring. The new location will be in the Towne
Marketplace complex at 1 Market Place, near Susie Wilson Road. The deli will occupy space previously
used by the Essex Party Store. Noonie Deli is a member of the Vermont Fresh
Network and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.
Two New York School
Board meetings are scheduled for today.
The Westport Central School Board will hold a budget session and regular
meeting at 5:30 this evening in the library of the school. Topics for discussion include the
budget and policy review. There will also be a presentation on the ‘Dignity for
all Students’ Act. Meanwhile the
Willsboro Central School Board will meet at 6 in the conference room of the
school. Agenda items include
business and finance reports and personnel discussions. Both of these meetings
are open to all.
The Elizabethtown-Lewis
Central School Board will meet at 6 PM tomorrow in the conference room of the
school. Items on the agenda
include public recognition of faculty and staff members for supporting community
members during the holidays, recognition of the Adirondack Youth Climate Board
and a presentation of the E-L-C-S Green Team. The meeting is open to the public.
Moses-Ludington Hospital
has a new director of medical emergency care. Dr. Todd G. Menia has been appointed medical director of the
emergency department at the Ticonderoga hospital, a division of Inter-Lakes
Health. Inter-Lakes Health is an
affiliate of Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. Dr. Menia will be an employee of
Fletcher Allen Health Care working at Inter-Lakes Health. He will supervise and
work alongside the Inter-Lakes Health Emergency Department team in conjunction
with specialists in the Fletcher Allen Emergency Department.
As new 114th District
Assemblyman Dan Stec visited several counties this week to witness their annual
reorganizational ceremonies, he identified his initial legislative priorities. While the state leaders will be
grappling with whether to allow casinos, raising the minimum wage and gun
control as top issues, Stec said he would be advocating other objectives that
reflect the needs of his constituents in the southern Adirondacks. This past
week, Stec visited the reorganizational meetings of Essex County, Washington
County, and his home turf of Warren County.
Rep. Peter Welch was in
Rutland yesterday and outlined several priorities he will pursue in the
upcoming session, including a proposal to help people make their homes more
energy efficient. Speaking at the
future Green Mountain Power Energy Innovation Center on Merchants Row he also
proposed assisting owners of commercial buildings in making their facilities
more energy efficient as well as the need to push the federal government in the
same direction. In order to
implement these initiatives, three pieces of legislation would be vital
including the HOMES Act, the need to reform the 179-D Commercial Tax Credit and
Energy Saving Performance Contracts.
Every single Rutland
High School Yearbook is on its way to the Internet. The Rutland Free Library and Rutland Historical Society are
recruiting volunteers to help digitize the library’s yearbook collection. The RHS
collection goes back to the first yearbook published in 1930. Volunteers must
be able to attend a 30-minute training session and work two to three hours at a
time. No special computer knowledge is required, but a basic familiarity is
advised.
Vermont has been awarded
nearly $378,000 in historic preservation grants. The grants are part of $22.9 million in historic
preservation grants awarded nationwide. Vermont has received 1.6% of the total
award. State officials may use the
grants to fund projects such as nominations for the National Register of
Historic Places, preservation education, architectural planning, repairs, and
other subjects. The grants were
announced yesterday by Vermont's Congressional delegation.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has
proposed changing the way courts deal with drunken drivers to reduce the rate
of repeat offenders. The state
would set up DUI courts, similar to drug courts, in which judges would monitor
the treatment of people with second or third DUI offenses and could impose
sanctions and rewards. The goal is
to reduce drunken driving by helping impaired drivers overcome their addiction. Shumlin announced yesterday that Robert
Sand will leave his job as Windsor County state's attorney in March and join
the Vermont Department of Public Safety to help officials set up the courts,
including developing DUI treatment dockets. The Governor also proposed consolidating the Community High
School of Vermont and the Vermont Correctional Industries programs to better
train inmates to be successful outside of prison.
A Vermont sheriff is
lobbying the public in the town of Newfane to support construction of a new
cell tower. Windham County Sheriff
Keith Clark says the 150-foot cell tower would also host his department's
emergency radio equipment. The
Brattleboro Reformer reports the department feels it needs a new tower at its
Newfane Village headquarters. Clark says the proposal for the Newfane tower
makes the most sense and would save taxpayers money.
The Supreme Court says
it will hear two days' worth of arguments over laws affecting gay marriage
during the last week of March. Justices
announced yesterday they would hear arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry on
March 26th and United States v. Windsor on March 27th. Nine states; Connecticut, Iowa, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington along
with the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.
The Vermont Health
Department says influenza is now confirmed in all areas of Vermont. For the first time this season, the
department reported widespread flu activity to the Centers for Disease Control. The health department is urging
everyone 6 months or older to get a seasonal flu vaccine. They say the flu can
be a serious illness, especially for the very young and old.
Burlington Mayor Miro
Weinberger wants to see the city's waterfront district spruced up. Yesterday he announced the Waterfront
and Downtown Public Investment Action Plan, saying it will identify and build
the next vital public investments, funded by tax-increment financing. That is, it will be if approved by
voters. Potential improvements
include redeveloping the Moran Plant, extending the lakefront boardwalk and
building a staircase to Battery Park from the waterfront.
A Hinesburg man is
expected to be arraigned on charges of attempted murder and assault and robbery
in connection with three armed robberies in Chittenden County in November.
Police say Jason Peet is accused of robbing the Simons Store in South
Burlington, and the Champlain Farms and Maplefields stores in Colchester using
a long-barreled handgun.
Bank officials are
offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the man who robbed a bank in Hardwick in September. Police say the Union
Bank was robbed on September 6th by a man wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses
who handed a teller a note claiming he had a gun.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is
expected to make a public push for gun control legislation in the coming
days. The "New York Daily
News" reports Cuomo will launch a major public-relations assault on Senate
Republicans with help from national and state anti-gun groups if GOP lawmakers
in the Senate balk at gun control legislation.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
says school districts still have plenty of time to reach an agreement on
teacher evaluation plans. Cuomo
says there are still ten days left before such evaluations are due to state
officials, a length he calls a "lifetime." The state's roughly 700 school districts are required by law
to get union-negotiated teacher and principal evaluation systems approved by
January 17th or lose a four percent funding increase. Cuomo says there is still plenty of time for districts
having problems coming to an agreement with teachers to strike a deal.
A coalition of
Adirondack Park and regional environmental groups is calling on state officials
to help create a new mandatory boat inspection program for Lake George. The
groups say boat inspections and cleaning are needed to stop the spread of
invasive species into the lake.
Skiing conditions have
been ideal these past few weeks, but almost every year, skiers searching for
untouched powder ski out of bounds and get lost. This means search and rescue
has to be called, man-hours are used, and taxpayer dollars are spent. "It is technically illegal,"
Captain Donald Patch said of the Vermont State Police, Rutland Barracks. But because police fear a ticket would
deter lost skiers from calling and asking for help, it's been years since
anyone has been charged. Already this season, 40 Killington or Pico mountain
skiers have skied out of bounds, gotten lost and had to call. The majority were
from out of state. "Anybody
that has to be fielded in that area, it's a dangerous situation because of
steep inclines, the snow is deep," Captain Patch said. Every search and rescue mission takes
about four hours. We reached out to Vermont State Police to find out how much
that costs you and I, who foot the bill, but did not hear back. Aside from taxpayer
dollars, it's officer time. "The
troopers on duty, when they're stuck on those cases up there, they're not able
to tend to other incidents," the Captain said. With the diverse terrain, and sheer volume of space, the
Killington Resort Communications Manager doesn't see why skiing out of bounds
is even desired. "We have 140
trails, there are 71 miles, anything you want from long cruisers, blue square
trails, tree skiing, steeps, bumps, parks, it's offered in bounds," Sarah
Thorson said. Thorson says the
violators know they're breaking the law. To ski out of bounds, you would
literally have to lift a rope and ignore the signs. "The signs are very very prominent," Thorson
added. Not only is it Vermont State Police troopers who respond, but also
Vermont Fish and Wildlife, volunteers and the ski patrol. There will be a meeting soon involving
all of those agencies, to discuss how skiing out of bounds can be prevented.
The Burlington City
Council preliminarily passed a ban on assault weapons. It now goes to a committee to be worked
on and then would return to the council.
If passed for a second time, the ban because it's a charter change would
still need the approval of Burlington voters and legislators in Montpelier. The ban would outlaw semi-automatic
guns and multiple ammo clips in the city. Before the ban was passed, gun supporters packed the
council meeting and they made it clear any attempt to outlaw these guns was
going too far. "It should be
federal. So we have federal laws. So it's the same across the nation. Not
Burlington has this. Barre has this. Rutland has this. Brattleboro has
this," says Clint Gray, who was against the ban. Councilor Norman Blais says he had proposed the ban on
semi-automatic weapons and multiple ammo clips to make the city safer. Blais says he was motivated by
tragedies including in Newtown, Connecticut. Opponents pointed out that the guns could be easily bought
outside the city and brought to Burlington. They also argued there should be a greater emphasis on
mental health. Vermont Governor
Peter Shumlin said he wouldn't talk specifically about what is happening in
Burlington. But he did weigh in
generally on gun control measures.
"I firmly believe that a 50 state solution is the only way that
we're going to make real progress," says Shumlin. The governor says there needs to be a
greater focus on mental health.
And that's something he thinks can be done in Vermont.
