Vermont news

• Scott top aide asks for level-funded department budgets

  29-09-2017 23:31 via vtdigger.org
  Commissioner of Finance and Management Adam Greshin. Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDiggerGov. Phil Scott’s administration is asking agency and department heads for level-funded budgets for the next fiscal year — and that’s before any cuts in the federal funding that makes up more than 40 percent of spending by the state.
  Funding requests for fiscal 2019 — which starts next July 1 — should be flat and “filtered through the prism of the governor’s strategic
  
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• Community reels from substitute teacher Nazi salute

  29-09-2017 23:05 via vtdigger.org
  Some in the northwestern Vermont town of Georgia just want to put behind them an incident in which a longtime substitute teacher was fired for teaching third-graders the Nazi salute and to say “Heil Hitler.”
  Others remain perplexed and say they’re having a hard time separating the incident at the Georgia Elementary and Middle School from a resurgence of white supremacy and neo-Nazism nationally.
  The long-term substitute teacher, who was filling in for a regular teacher who was
  
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• Congress clears short-term FAA extension

  29-09-2017 21:26 via vtdigger.org
  WASHINGTON — The House and Senate passed a bill Thursday that authorizes the operations for the Federal Aviation Administration for six more months, averting a partial shutdown of some aviation programs.
  The short-term extension passed just two days before authorization was set to expire on September 30.
  According to Politico, failure to extend FAA authorization could impact airport funding and result in furlough of thousands of workers.
  Officials in Vermont say federal support through th
  
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• Bennington considers local tax and government restructure

  29-09-2017 20:54 via vtdigger.org
  James Barlow, a consultant working with the Bennington Charter Review Committee, gave a presentation Wednesday on options for government charter amendments. Photo by Jim Therrien/VTDiggerBENNINGTON — The town Charter Review Committee’s consultant provided an overview of charter options Wednesday that touched on two key issues under consideration.
  The idea of switching Bennington from a manager/select board form of government to a mayoral format and a proposed 1 percent local option t
  
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• The State Of Hate: Live With Mark Potok dlvr.it/PrKpVv https://t.co/HNYoGuukf3

  29-09-2017 20:52 via twitter.com
  
  The State Of Hate: Live With Mark Potok dlvr.it/PrKpVv https://t.co/HNYoGuukf3
  
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• Pomerleau $1,000,000 challenge to YMCA met in time for 100th birthday

  29-09-2017 20:10 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Greater Burlington YMCASept. 27, 2017
  Contact:Doug BishopGreater Burlington YMCA802-734-4295
  [email protected]
  Greater Burlington YMCA takes significant step toward new building
  September 26, 2017 – Burlington, VT – A little more than 100 days after being challenged by Tony Pomerleau to raise $1,000,000 for its new facility, and in time for Tony’s 100th birthday, the Greater Burlington YMCA announced today that the challenge has been met.
  At the Y’s
  
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• UVM, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences sign affiliation agreement for dual degree program

  29-09-2017 20:06 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — UVMSept. 27, 2017
  Contact:Jeff Wakefield, UVM, (802) 578-8830 or Gil Chorbajian, ACPHS, (518) 694-7394
  Sept. 27 — The University of Vermont and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have signed an affiliation agreement to provide eligible students with an opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree from UVM and a doctor of pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) from ACPHS in a total of seven years. Students seeking both of these degrees typically require eight years to
  
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• VT FaMLI Coalition announces film preview and discussions series

  29-09-2017 20:03 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Main Street AllianceSeptember 27, 2017
  Media Contact:Kyle Martel
  [email protected]
  Events to focus on the need for family and medical leave insurance
  BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Vermont Family and Medical Leave Insurance (VT FaMLI) Coalition announced Wednesday they are hosting a series of film previews and panel discussions across the state throughout the month of October to highlight the need for a statewide family and medical leave insurance program
  
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• Episcopal Church plants $600 to grow Seedlings Program

  29-09-2017 19:57 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Episcopal Church in VermontSept. 27, 2017
  Contact:Maurice L. HarrisDiocesan Communications Minister
  [email protected]: (802) 451-0249
  Bennington After-school Program Makes Progress with Support from Diocesan Grant and GoFundMe Campaign
  BENNINGTON, VERMONT— According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, about 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty thres
  
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• Leahy, Senate Dems oppose consumer protection repeal

  29-09-2017 19:52 via vtdigger.org
  Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other Senate Democrats defended a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule on binding arbitration. Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDiggerWASHINGTON —Senate Democrats are pushing to maintain a rule that allows customers to bring class action lawsuits against financial institutions.
  Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and five other Senate Democrats called on their colleagues Wednesday to keep in place the rule, created earlier this year by the Consumer Financial Protectio
  
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• Burlington’s Dr. Joseph Hagan honored with national AAP award

  29-09-2017 19:50 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Chapter of the American Academy of PediatricsSept. 28, 2017
  Contact:Justin Campfield
  [email protected]
  Montpelier, Vt. (Sept. 28, 2017) – American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter member Dr. Joseph Hagan received the Clifford G. Grulee Award at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition in Chicago on Sept. 18, 2017. The award, one of the highest bestowed by the AAP, recognizes outstanding service to the Ac
  
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• Walter Cerf Community Fund awards more than $109,000 in grants

  29-09-2017 19:42 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Community FoundationSeptember 28, 2017
  Contact:Zoe PikeThe Vermont Community Foundation802-388-3355 ext. 285
  [email protected]
  The Walter Cerf Community Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, announced 2017 grant awards totaling $109,158.70 to 25 organizations. Since 2001, the fund has made grants to organizations located in Addison County or Brandon, or that have a statewide reach and make a unique contribution to Vermont. Priority interests a
  
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• Washington Electric Co-op joins Vermont utilities to sponsor electric grid innovation and business development accelerator

  29-09-2017 19:36 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Washington Electric Cooperative, Inc.September 28, 2017
  Contact:Patty RichardsWashington Electric Cooperative802-223-5245
  East Montpelier, Vt: Washington Electric Co-op and all 19 other Vermont utilities are sponsoring Accel-VT, a new climate economy business accelerator, offered free to entrepreneurs throughout North America. The program combines the twin goals of adapting the electric grid for a future powered by renewable energy, and drawing business and innovation to Ver
  
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• Judge presses attorneys on PFOA agreement

  29-09-2017 19:35 via vtdigger.org
  The former ChemFab plant in North Bennington is considered by state officials to be the source of PFOA contamination of groundwater supplies in a wide area around the factory. Photo by Ben Garver/Berkshire EagleBENNINGTON — While poised to sign the state’s settlement with Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics to fund water line construction to PFOA-contaminated properties, a Superior Court judge raised questions Thursday about the nature of the agreement and its contents.
  Judge William C
  
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• Leahy joins in introducing campaign finance bill

  29-09-2017 19:31 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Sen. Patrick LeahySept. 27, 2017
  Press Contact:David Carle(202) 224-3693
  Leahy Joins In Introducing Bicameral Bill To Help Fix The Broken Campaign Finance System, Restore Accountability To Elections, And Empower Voters
  . . . Includes new provisions to address unprecedented conflicts of interest arising from Trump administration
  WASHINGTON – (WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2017) – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday joined Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in introducing bicam
  
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• Karen Scolforo appointed president of Castleton University

  29-09-2017 19:24 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont State Colleges SystemSeptember 28, 2017
  Contact:Tricia Coates, 802-793-1417
  Fairlee, VT – Dr. Karen Scolforo will be Castleton University’s next President. The Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) Board of Trustees voted unanimously for her appointment Thursday afternoon.
  Scolforo, who most recently served as president of Central Penn College in Summerdale, Pennsylvania, rose to the top of more than 50 candidates during an extensive national search.
  Durin
  
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• Vermont GOP: National tax reform plan could help Vermont

  29-09-2017 19:21 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Republican PartySeptember 28, 2017
  Contact:Jeff Bartley
  [email protected], 802-223-3411
  Vermont’s Federal Delegation Needs to Come to the Table
  Berlin, VT – In response to President Donald Trump releasing his Tax Reform Plan, Jeff Bartley, Executive Director of the Vermont Republican Party issued the following statement:
  “Vermonters continue to struggle with kitchen table issues under the burden of the state and federal tax system. We believe President
  
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• Ribbon cutting officially opens Gifford’s new independent living facility

  29-09-2017 19:17 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Gifford Medical CenterSept. 27, 2017
  Contact:Robin Dutcher(802) 728-2284
  Strode Independent Living Newest Addition to Morgan Orchards Sr. Living Community
  RANDOLPH – On September 26, 2017, Gifford officially celebrated the opening of 49 new apartments in Strode Independent Living on the Morgan Orchards Senior Living campus in Randolph Center.
  Gifford staff, apartment residents, neighbors, and community members (many who have supported the Morgan Orchards project from t
  
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• Vernon receives Village Center designation

  29-09-2017 19:13 via vtdigger.org
  News ReleaseSept. 28, 2017
  Contact:Martin Langeveld, newsafternewspapers.com, 802-380-0226
  Town Administrator: Michelle Pong, (802) 257-0292, Ext. 12, Email: [email protected]
  Chair of the Friends of Vernon Center, Inc.: Arthur Miller, 802-490-0751
  Chair of the Planning Commission: Bob Spencer, 978-479-1450
  An area in the Town of Vernon has been designated as a Vermont Village Center by the Vermont Downtown Development Board. The designated area includes the Town Office building, the element
  
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• VLS presents ‘New Economy Law and Policy Forum: A Speaker Series on Building a Sustainable, Just and Democratic Future’

  29-09-2017 18:41 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Law SchoolSept. 28, 2017
  Contact:Maryellen Apelquist, Director of Communications, Vermont Law Schooloffice: 802-831-1228, cell: 802-299-5593, [email protected]
  Featuring Zephyr Teachout, Gar Alperovitz, Frances Moore Lappé
  SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt., Sept. 28, 2017––The New Economy Law Center at Vermont Law School will launch a “New Economy Law and Policy Forum: A Speaker Series on Building a Sustainable, Just and Democratic Future” at
  
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• YWP: ‘Toad in a Hole’

  29-09-2017 18:17 via vtdigger.org
  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 or nonfiction – accompanied by a photo or illustration from Yo
  
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• SCOV Law Blog: Contesting a civil license suspension

  29-09-2017 17:57 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This piece from the SCOV Law Blog is by Amy Davis. 
  State v. Love, 2017 VT 75
  Creative Commons photo by walknboston via Flickr
  This case considers when the court must hold a final hearing on a civil suspension of a driver’s license. Does the court have to hold it within 21 days of the preliminary hearing, and, if it’s not, does the civil suspension need to be dismissed. Yes and yes!
  So, this statute says that when you violate this statute, meaning that if yo
  
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• Students demand expulsion of UVM sophomore who stole BLM flag

  29-09-2017 17:37 via vtdigger.org
  A UVM student protester. Photo courtesy of Elias Periera, a UVM student.Two hundred University of Vermont students marched Monday to the UVM Waterman Building to serve President Tom Sullivan a list of demands.
  The students demanded the expulsion of a student who stole a Black Lives Matter flag on campus last fall and that the university hire more faculty of color, reform diversity requirements and increase training for faculty. They also asked UVM to rename a building on campus that wa
  
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• LISTEN: How To Celebrate 'Banned Book Week' In Vermont dlvr.it/PrHQsZ https://t.co/jofFv0FszV

  29-09-2017 16:51 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: How To Celebrate 'Banned Book Week' In Vermont dlvr.it/PrHQsZ https://t.co/jofFv0FszV
  
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• How To Celebrate 'Banned Book Week' In Vermont dlvr.it/PrHMgX https://t.co/GQzfaNhBAP

  29-09-2017 16:45 via twitter.com
  
  How To Celebrate 'Banned Book Week' In Vermont dlvr.it/PrHMgX https://t.co/GQzfaNhBAP
  
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• Addiction forum asks ‘why don’t they just stop?’

  29-09-2017 15:52 via vtdigger.org
  A Brattleboro Community Television camera films a public forum titled “Why Don’t They Just Stop? Ways to Think About and Talk About Addiction” for posting on its website, www.brattleborotv.org. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerBRATTLEBORO — A dozen local drug overdoses last Fourth of July sparked headlines throughout New England.
  “The astonishing spate,” one newspaper editorialized, “is cause for a deep reflection on the state of the nation.”
  
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• Minter named CEO of Special Olympics Vermont

  29-09-2017 11:20 via vtdigger.org
  Sue Minter thanks supporters after conceding the governor’s race to Republican Phil Scott in November 2016. File photo by Andrew Kutches/VTDiggerNearly a year after losing her bid for governor, Sue Minter has been named the new president and CEO of Special Olympics Vermont.
  Minter will succeed Lisa DeNatale, who is retiring after running the South Burlington-based nonprofit organization for six years.
  “I don’t have any plans to run for governor,” Minter said in an intervi
  
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• The Deeper Dig: Pollution politics on Lake Champlain

  29-09-2017 01:38 via vtdigger.org
  An outbreak of blue-green algae has closed Lake Carmi in northern Vermont.Dozens of beaches up and down Lake Champlain were on high alert this week due to toxic algae blooms. In Franklin County, similar cyanobacteria has kept Lake Carmi closed for over four weeks.
  Both sites have seen this problem before. Excess phosphorous from farms, roads and parking lots has caused algae blooms in waters across Vermont for decades. While multiple governors have worked to address the pollution, including pass
  
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• Bob Allen: Endorsing a price on carbon pollution

  29-09-2017 01:05 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Allen, the president of Green Mountain College.
  Several months ago President Trump made the ill-conceived decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. In doing so, the president argued that he was protecting the American economy. In reality, his actions will keep our economy stuck in the polluting energy system of the past. We all know the future must be different. As the leader of an institution committed to environmenta
  
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• Amelia Shea: A long-term view of Vermont Yankee site

  29-09-2017 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Amelia Shea, of Brattleboro, who is a member of New England Coalition, a peace and environmental activist and has worked at Green Living Journal since 1991.
  Some environmentalists, in reference to the current practices of factory farming, overfishing and methods for energy extraction such as fracking, have called the western industrialized view towards the environment as a war against nature.
  This view applies to the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vern
  
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• Fourth Burlington Telecom bidder tells city he’s finished

  29-09-2017 00:57 via vtdigger.org
  Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. File photo by Alexandre Silberman/VTDigger
  BURLINGTON — A private equity investor informed the city Thursday that he no longer wants to be considered as a potential purchaser of Burlington Telecom.
  The mayor and city councilors scrambled this week to see if they could resolve what officials have described as the investor’s potential conflict of interest.“Since Tuesday we have spent hours together and with other parties exploring whether there i
  
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• David Deen: The second migration

  29-09-2017 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Deen, a Democratic state representative from Westminster and the chair of the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee. He a board member of the Connecticut River Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited and an honorary trustee and former river steward of the Connecticut River Conservancy, formerly the Connecticut River Watershed Council.
  In springtime, we cheer on our Connecticut River migrating fish including salmon, shad, American eel, sea
  
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• Beaches reopen amid concerns about tourism

  29-09-2017 00:30 via vtdigger.org
  A warning posted by the Burlington Parks Recreation and Waterfront Department to visitors at Oakledge Cove. Photo by Morgan True / VTDiggerPublic beaches on Lake Champlain in Burlington have begun to reopen after a toxic bloom that looked like “pea soup” earlier in the week dissipated Thursday as a cool front moved in. Meanwhile, the head of the local Chamber of Commerce expressed concern the closings are sending a bad message beyond the state’s borders.
  Lake Champlain Regional
  
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