Vermont news

• AG backs decision to withhold audio, video of Poultney shooting

  08-09-2017 22:40 via vtdigger.org
  Attorney General TJ Donovan. Photo by Anne Galloway/VTDiggerVermont’s top prosecutor, who will review the investigation into a shooting last week involving five troopers that left a Poultney man dead, said he supports a Vermont State Police decision not to release any video or audio they may have of the incident, at least while the probe is continuing.
  “I understand the public’s rights to know, I understand the need for transparency when you have an officer-involved shooting,&r
  
  Read more

• Sanders swipes back at Clinton over leaked book excerpts

  08-09-2017 22:36 via vtdigger.org
  Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., appeared on The Late Show Thursday night.In a late-night TV appearance Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders responded to criticism 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leveled at him in her forthcoming book.
  In excerpts leaked earlier this week from Clinton’s book, she writes that Sanders’ primary attacks “caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump’s ‘Crooked
  
  Read more

• LISTEN: Sen. Patrick Leahy On DACA, North Korea And Other Issues bit.ly/2vLUBkK https://t.co/V4noRW0l7q

  08-09-2017 22:11 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: Sen. Patrick Leahy On DACA, North Korea And Other Issues bit.ly/2vLUBkK https://t.co/V4noRW0l7q
  
  Read more

• Gubernatorial candidate James Ehlers hires campaign manager

  08-09-2017 22:05 via vtdigger.org
  James Ehlers, of Lake Champlain International. Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDiggerClean water activist James Ehlers, who began his campaign in late July for the 2018 gubernatorial election, announced Thursday that he has hired a campaign manager.
  Ehlers, longtime executive director of the water quality advocacy group Lake Champlain International, chose former environmental lobbyist Theo Fetters. Ehlers is running as a Democrat.
  For the time being, Fetters said his position is full-time but u
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Low-income heating included in Senate funding bills

  08-09-2017 21:41 via vtdigger.org
  Sen. Pat Leahy. File photo by Erin Mansfield/VTDiggerWASHINGTON — A spending package approved by a Senate committee Thursday fully funds a federal low-income heating benefit program that some feared could be cut.
  One of two bills the Senate Appropriations Committee approved includes $3.4 billion for the low-income home energy assistance program, or LIHEAP.
  The prospects for the future of the program seemed uncertain earlier this year when President Donald Trump proposed in his budget to el
  
  Read more

• Quiros filing; Bid to collect $3M in legal fees ‘improper,’ ‘frivolous’

  08-09-2017 20:51 via vtdigger.org
  Ariel Quiros at the opening of Jay Peak Resort’s Stateside Hotel in December 2013. File photo by Hilary Niles/VTDiggerJay Peak owner Ariel Quiros is firing back at his former legal team’s request to collect $3 million in fees for defending him from investor fraud allegations before they were fired.
  Quiros’ former attorneys have submitted a slew of legal filings in recent months seeking payment of the fees, only to rebuffed by a judge who has refused to become involved in the di
  
  Read more

• Vermont Art Five: Don’t miss the South End Art Hop in Burlington this weekend

  08-09-2017 19:20 via vtdigger.org
  Traveling Mobile Museum. Image by Matt Neckers.Editor’s note: This weekly review is by Ric Kasini Kadour is a writer, artist, former gallerist and the editor and publisher of Vermont Art Guide.Burlington’s annual South End Art Hop celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend, starting Friday night through Sunday.Art Hop is the largest event of its kind in Vermont, attracting more than 30,000 visitors over the weekend. More than 600 artists are exhibiting in 100 locations from the Wat
  
  Read more

• YWP: ‘Ah! Bouvier de Flandres’

  08-09-2017 17:29 via vtdigger.org
  Illustration by Uma Chirkova/Illustration credit: YWP Photo Library
  Young Writers Project, an independent nonprofit based in Burlington, engages young people to write and use digital media to express themselves with clarity and power, and to gain confidence and skills for school, the workplace and life.Check out the most recent issue of The Voice, Young Writers Project’s monthly digital magazine. Click here.Each week, VTDigger features a writing submission – an essay, poem, fiction o
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• SCOV Law Blog: Determining a child’s ‘home state’?

  08-09-2017 17:16 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This piece from the SCOV Law Blog is by Eric Fanning. 
  Pierce v. Slate, 2017 VT 63
  Creative Commons photo by walknboston via FlickrI’ll bet everyone reading this has heard the old saying, “Home is where the heart is.” Right now you might be asking yourself why I bothered to begin this post with possibly the most clichéd of all clichés.
  I’ll tell you why — because in a sense that’s pretty much what this case is about: Whe
  
  Read more

• We're talking today with @SenatorLeahy about DACA, North Korea & other key issues. What are your questions? bit.ly/2wMZLyo #vtpoli

  08-09-2017 16:38 via twitter.com
  We're talking today with @SenatorLeahy about DACA, North Korea & other key issues. What are your questions? bit.ly/2wMZLyo #vtpoli
  
  Read more

• Scott creates 13-member panel to look at pot legalization

  08-09-2017 12:34 via vtdigger.org
  Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday created a commission of 13 members, with additional subcommittee participants, to study marijuana legalization in Vermont.
  The commission was formed as part of an executive order creating a commission to be co-chaired by Tom Little, a Republican who formerly represented Shelburne in the House, and former Vermont Democratic Party Chairman Jake Perkinson.
  “As I’ve said before, I’m not philosophically opposed to eliminating the prohibition on recreation
  
  Read more

• Rutland Town administrator’s job status to be decided Monday

  08-09-2017 02:50 via vtdigger.org
  The Rutland Town Selectboard meets Tuesday night. File photo by Alan J. Keays/VTDiggerRUTLAND TOWN — The Selectboard has scheduled a public meeting for next week to take up the job status of suspended Town Administrator Joe Zingale.
  The announcement follows two closed-door sessions the board held this week to discuss a “personnel” matter. Officials refused to provide any additional comment on the purpose of those meetings.The warning for the special board meeting posted Thursda
  
  Read more

• Leak in Warren School’s new roof derails classes

  08-09-2017 02:43 via vtdigger.org
  Officials discuss construction work on the Warren School during a meeting Wednesday. From left, Christine Sullivan, chair of the Harwood district board; Superintendent Brigid Nease; Ray Daigle, director of maintenance and operations for the district; Warren Principal Beth Peterson; and Michelle Baker, director of finance and operations for the district. Photo by Cyrus Ready-Campbell/VTDiggerWARREN — Administrators are figuring out how to get Warren School students back in class during repa
  
  Read more

• John Klar: Organic truths

  08-09-2017 01:05 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Klar, a Vermont grass-fed beef farmer, and an attorney and pastor who lives in Westfield.
  Modern industrial farming methods are a growing menace to our ecosystem, and to human health. We can no longer afford to permit corporations to lie to us about the health risks of their products. The other big lie we must confront is that we need GMOs in order to feed the world.
  Even if this absurd statement were true, it would suffer from a serious shortcomin
  
  Read more

• Howard Fairman: Time for a multiparty system

  08-09-2017 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Howard Fairman, of Putney, a native Vermonter who likes to study official public documents, presentations and acts, and share his findings with fellow grassroots Vermonters.
  Bernie is in the right place at the right time to lead an upgrade of our hidebound two-party national government to an innovative three- or four-party national government.
  Third and fourth political parties are common worldwide.
  Nationally or regionally competitive, they each stand
  
  Read more

• Gregory Dennis: Trump, climate and summer disaster films

  08-09-2017 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Gregory Dennis of Cornwall. It first appeared in the Addison Independent.
  It’s technically still summer, so still a season for disaster films. And we’re in the middle of watching two of them.
  Let’s call the first one “Trump: The Sequel.”
  The Donald’s presidency holds daily plot twists. But if you’d paid attention to his past career – bankrupt casinos, Trump “University” and other ripoffs &ndash
  
  Read more

• Burlington teachers vote to strike next week

  08-09-2017 00:37 via vtdigger.org
  Teachers surround Burlington Education Association President Fran Brock on Thursday as she announces a teacher strike to begin Wednesday. Photo by Kelsey Neubauer/VTDiggerBURLINGTON — The city’s teachers have voted to go on strike Wednesday if the school board doesn’t agree to reopen contract negotiations.
  The vote came Thursday in response to the board’s imposition of salary and other terms on the union last week. The sides remained deadlocked after months of talks.
  &ldq
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!