Vermont news

• Judge triples damages, orders Rutlander to pay state $1.8M for cleanup

  25-09-2017 23:56 via vtdigger.org
  Rutland businessman John Ruggiero sits in Rutland Superior Court during a hearing Monday to determine how much he owes the state for the environmental cleanup of his Woodstock Avenue property. Photo by Alan J. Keyes/VTDigger.
  RUTLAND – A Rutland businessman has been ordered to pay nearly $1.8 million to the state for an “emergency” cleanup it did three years ago of his property contaminated from its days as a dry cleaning shop.And that bill may rise as John Ruggeiro will still
  
  Read more

• Judge orders owner of drycleaning site to pay $1.8M for cleanup

  25-09-2017 23:56 via vtdigger.org
  Rutland businessman John Ruggiero sits in Rutland Superior Court during a hearing Monday to determine how much he owes the state for the environmental cleanup of his Woodstock Avenue property. Photo by Alan J. Keays/VTDigger.
  RUTLAND — A Rutland businessman has been ordered to pay nearly $1.8 million to the state for an “emergency” cleanup three years ago. The property was contaminated by dry cleaning chemicals.The total cost of environmental mitigation, however, will be higher
  
  Read more

• Police probe of Shrewsbury woman’s death continues

  25-09-2017 23:48 via vtdigger.org
  SHREWSBURY – Vermont State Police say they are continuing to investigate the death of a Shrewsbury woman last week at her home.
  An autopsy was conducted on the body of Sara Reynolds, 32, last week at the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington
  State Police Maj. Glenn Hall, commander of the state police criminal division, said Monday that he is still awaiting the official cause and manner of Reynolds’ death from the medical examiner. No death certificate has yet be
  
  Read more

• Task force weighs pros and cons of lottery-liquor merger

  25-09-2017 21:32 via vtdigger.org
  State officials explained Friday how a merger of the Vermont Lottery Commission with the Department of Liquor Control could work.
  A task force studying the merger took testimony on Friday. The six-member group was formed after lawmakers in April rejected Gov. Phil Scott’s executive order, which would have forced the merger of the two state entities. Scott has said a combined Liquor Control and Lottery Department could save money.Sabina Haskell, chair of the Vermont Lottery Commission, said
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Pros and cons of Lottery-Liquor merger discussed

  25-09-2017 21:32 via vtdigger.org
  Department heads outlined the problems and opportunities of merging the Vermont Lottery Commission with the Department of Liquor Control in testimony Friday before a task force created by the Legislature.
  In some respects, combining the departments makes sense, supporters said, while others pointed out the move could require drastic changes.
  The task force was established by lawmakers after an attempt by Gov. Phil Scott to complete the merger by executive order failed.
  Combining the departments
  
  Read more

• LISTEN: Fact-Checking Our Vermont Dairy Industry Discussion dlvr.it/PqNykg https://t.co/QIEhauQNP7

  25-09-2017 21:06 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: Fact-Checking Our Vermont Dairy Industry Discussion dlvr.it/PqNykg https://t.co/QIEhauQNP7
  
  Read more

• Fact-Checking Our Vermont Dairy Industry Discussion dlvr.it/PqNs5P https://t.co/x58HT0KO8H

  25-09-2017 20:56 via twitter.com
  
  Fact-Checking Our Vermont Dairy Industry Discussion dlvr.it/PqNs5P https://t.co/x58HT0KO8H
  
  Read more

• LISTEN: Taking Stock Of Vermont's Forest Loss dlvr.it/PqNcJF https://t.co/HbBz4Y4TpK

  25-09-2017 20:28 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: Taking Stock Of Vermont's Forest Loss dlvr.it/PqNcJF https://t.co/HbBz4Y4TpK
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Jensen Beach wins third Vermont Book Award

  25-09-2017 20:01 via vtdigger.org
  News release — Vermont College of Fine ArtsSept. 23, 2017
  Contact:Tim Simard
  [email protected]
  Montpelier, Vt.—Vermont author Jensen Beach has won the third Vermont Book Award for his collection of short stories titled “Swallowed by the Cold.” Beach received the award during the third annual Vermont Book Award Gala held at Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) on Saturday, Sept. 23.
  The intricate, interlocking stories of Beach’s extraordinarily poised st
  
  Read more

• ‘Blue Wrap’ and new app earn UVM Medical Center national awards

  25-09-2017 19:54 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — UVMSeptember 24, 2017
  Contact:Michael Carrese(802) 847-2886
  Innovations in Recycling and Physician Involvement in Purchasing Are Highlighted
  (BURLINGTON, VT) The University of Vermont Medical Center is being recognized for creative initiatives to reduce operating room waste and lower the cost of medical devices by Vizient, Inc. – the largest member-driven health care performance improvement company in the country.
  Sustainability Excellence Award
  The sustainability awar
  
  Read more

• Vermont Teddy Bear reveals a nostalgic event: in honor of Kevin Lepage

  25-09-2017 19:32 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Teddy Bear Co.September 25th, 2017
  Contact:Mary SleeperWholesale Sales CoordinatorVermont Teddy Bear Company802.985.3001
  [email protected]
  Shelburne, VT – Vermont’s very own Kevin Lepage, a well-known local race car driver, is making an appearance at our factory in Shelburne, Vermont on September 29th. We will be honoring his last race at Thunder Road for the 55th Annual Milk Bowl. Vermont Teddy Bear was the first to sponsor Kevin in 1994, which then led t
  
  Read more

• Secretary of State Jim Condos announces fourth biennial statewide Transparency Tour

  25-09-2017 19:27 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Secretary of State Jim CondosSeptember 25, 2017
  Contact:Eric Covey, 802-828-2148
  www.sec.state.vt.us/
  Montpelier, VT—Secretary of State Jim Condos is pleased to announce the start of his fourth biennial Transparency Tour. The tour will stop at 12 locations across the state to discuss transparency and open government, Vermont’s Public Records Act, and Open Meeting Law with municipal and state employees and citizens who serve on local government boards. The public
  
  Read more

• ‘Kids Out Loud!’ to bring 1,000 Vermonters to Church Street Marketplace

  25-09-2017 19:23 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Let’s Grow KidsSept. 25, 2017
  Contact:Nicole HaleyCommunications ManagerLet’s Grow KidsCell: 802-391-0545Email: [email protected]://www.letsgrowkids.org/kids-out-loud
  Let’s Grow Kids, Vermont musicians team up for early childhood anthem & flash mob
  Burlington, Vermont— This Sunday, October 1st,1,000 Vermonters from across the state will convene on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington in support of Vermont’s youngest children
  
  Read more

• Vermont Production Council aims to attract more film and television projects

  25-09-2017 19:19 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Production CouncilSept. 21, 2017
  Contact:Vermont Production Council
  
[email protected]
  
vermontproductioncouncil.com
  Organization to Foster Film Productions in State
  MANCHESTER, VT: “We’ve Greenlit The Green Mountains” boasts the website of the newly-formed Vermont Production Council. The goal of the organization is to identify and promote resources from around the state and to connect them with content creators seeking l
  
  Read more

• Archer Mayor in Burlington Oct. 12 for book talk and signing

  25-09-2017 19:14 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Phoenix BooksSept. 21, 2017
  Contact:Kristen EatonPhoenix Books802.872.7111 (p)802.872.7112 (f)
  [email protected]
  www.phoenixbooks.biz
  Burlington, Vermont – September 21, 2017: Phoenix Books Burlington will host Archer Mayor for a book talk and signing on Thursday, October 12th at 7pm. In Trace, the 28th Joe Gunther mystery novel, Gunther and the VBI are pulled into three different critical cases at the same time, each equally important, each potentially deadly.
  
  Read more

• Mayor Miro Weinberger’s public appearance schedule for Sept. 25-29, 2017

  25-09-2017 19:05 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Mayor Miro WeinbergerSeptember 22, 2017
  Contact:Katie Vane802.734.0617
  Mayor Miro Weinberger’s public appearance schedule for September 25 – 29, 2017:
  Monday, September 255:30 pm Special City Council Work Session re: Burlington Telecom (expected executive session) – Contois Auditorium, City Hall7:00 pm City Council Meeting – Contois Auditorium, City Hall
  Tuesday, September 264:00 pm Unveiling of Bobby and Holly Miller Plaque – Top Block of Churc
  
  Read more

• Highland Center for the Arts hosts the 2017 Governor’s Arts Awards

  25-09-2017 19:01 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Highland Center for the ArtsSeptember 25, 2017
  Media Contact:Katie Gilmartin
  [email protected]
  Highland Center for the Arts presents Rick & the All-Star Ramblers on Saturday, October 7 at 7:00 PM.
  A Rick & The All-Star Ramblers Western Swing Band performance is a trip back in time to when life in Vermont was filled with simpler, more musical day’s – a time of live radio and touring musical revues. This high energy, entertaining, and dan
  
  Read more

• Vermont school expands its view with Irish campus

  25-09-2017 18:08 via vtdigger.org
  Champlain College students (from left) Charles Cox, Barry Huston, Matthew Wolf and Cara Johnson pose in a window of the Burlington school’s outpost in Dublin, Ireland. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerDUBLIN, Ireland — Ask Vermont student Charles Cox what brought him from the Green Mountains to the Emerald Isle and he could quip about an airplane. Instead, he remembers a bus ride when, feeling faint and breathless en route to a school rugby game last year, he landed in a hospita
  
  Read more

• Carbon tax No. 1 at climate hearing

  25-09-2017 17:45 via vtdigger.org
  Dr. Alan Betts, of Atmospheric Research in Pittsford, speaks at the Governor’s Climate Action Commission’s public hearing at Burr and Burton on Thursday. Photo by Cherise Madigan/Bennington Banner(This story by by Cherise Madigan was posted Sunday in the Bennington Banner.)
  MANCHESTER — The implementation of a carbon tax was the No. 1 request at a public hearing of Gov. Phil Scott’s Climate Action Commission at Burr and Burton Academy Thursday night.
  Members of the commis
  
  Read more

• Airport officials anxious over federal funding

  25-09-2017 17:33 via vtdigger.org
  WASHINGTON — The authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration is set to expire in just a week, and neither the House nor Senate has yet moved forward on legislation to extend it.
  The legislation is required to continue the work of the FAA, which regulates civil aviation across the country. But the bill has been stuck in limbo amid a few lingering disagreements, including over whether to privatize air traffic control services.
  Congress is likely to move forward with a short-term ex
  
  Read more

• Shelburne official questions hospital preparedness in filing in suit with Vermont Railway

  25-09-2017 17:14 via vtdigger.org
  From left, Lydia Clemens, Selectboard Chairman Gary von Stange and Dave Connery applaud at a rally in May 2016 in Shelburne against a planned salt storage facility. Photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger(This story by Mike Donoghue was published in the Shelburne News on Sept. 21, 2017.)
  A Shelburne Selectboard member who is employed by the University of Vermont Health Network says she believes local hospitals “do not have the response capabilities to deal with a mass casualty event.”
  Dr. C
  
  Read more

• Taking Stock Of Vermont's Forest Loss dlvr.it/PqKHgj https://t.co/Vomon1wG12

  25-09-2017 15:12 via twitter.com
  
  Taking Stock Of Vermont's Forest Loss dlvr.it/PqKHgj https://t.co/Vomon1wG12
  
  Read more

• Lawsuit: Jay Peak attorneys got $25,000 ‘kickbacks’ for each new investor

  25-09-2017 06:06 via vtdigger.org
  Bill Stenger outside the Stateside Hotel at Jay Peak in September 2013. File photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger
  Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state allege that Bill Stenger, the former CEO and president of Jay Peak Resort, paid $25,000 to immigration attorneys in “kickbacks” for each new investor the lawyers brought into the projects.New evidence shows that the $25,000 fee agreement was a fill-in-the-blank form Stenger sent to immigration attorneys. Payment was to be made within se
  
  Read more

• Walt Amses: A bridge too far

  25-09-2017 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Walt Amses, a writer from North Calais.
  Is it really possible that Senate Republicans still don’t realize that President Donald Trump is more married to his ego than he’s ever been to any of his three wives or the GOP agenda? That POTUS collaborating with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — anathema to the startled Senate leadership — seemed to be earth-shattering, was itself an indication that their self-serving mythology may final
  
  Read more

• Bill Schubart: Understanding and reducing poverty

  25-09-2017 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bill Schubart, a regular commentator for Vermont Public Radio and a former board member of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the umbrella organization for VTDigger.org. This piece was first aired on VPR.
  In Vermont’s early years, poverty was managed by an elected “overseer of the poor” until we passed the Social Welfare Act of 1967, which formally relieved communities of responsibility for care of their poor and ended the office of “
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!