Farmers and gardeners may want to cover their crops when
temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s in parts of Vermont
and New York tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a
frost advisory for the area. The
forecast calls for temperatures in the low to mid-30s from midnight to Friday morning. The Weather Service says the frost may damage
sensitive plants and crops.
Twenty miles of train tracks between Rutland
and Leicester will be upgraded, thanks to an $8.9
million grant to Vermont from the
Federal Railroad Administration. The Vermont
grant is one of 52 projects in 37 states.
Vermont rail officials
have worked for years to upgrade the railroad network from Bennington
to Burlington to improve the
connection with rail lines in New York . They’re hoping the upgrades announced today will
improve freight service in western Vermont ,
and improve chances that Amtrak eventually will serve the Rutland-Burlington
corridor.
A Vermont
firefighter has been accused of setting his own car on fire to defraud his insurance
company. Police were called to the fire
on Aug. 12 on Route 7 in Brandon . Jeremiah Shaw of Brandon
told police he was driving when he noticed flames in the back of his car and
pulled over. The car was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The 31-year-old Shaw later confessed to
burning the car to get insurance money. He’s
been charged with arson, burning to defraud and insurance fraud.
Defense contractor General Dynamics has announced it is
cutting its Vermont workforce by
35 employees. Spokesman Karl Johnson
says the company is consolidating two divisions in St.
Petersburg , Fla. Vermont
workforce now drops to 275 with the cuts. The jobs that were cut included engineering,
administrative and program management positions. The company’s Vermont
operation is part of its combat systems division, which makes guns and
ammunition for fighter aircraft, tanks and other military vehicles.
The apple picking season is kicking off, and it’s going to
be a good crop for Vermont this
year. The New England Apple Association
says this fall, unlike last year, the weather is working with Vermont
farmers and harvests will be up throughout the region. In Vermont ,
the 2013 crop is anticipated to be 35-percent above last year’s. Over the next six to eight weeks, residents
and tourists alike will be in the pick-your-own orchards, having their own
apple harvests.
