Vermont news

• As Boy Scouts Go Co-ed, Challenges To Scouting For Boys And Girls dlvr.it/PwmbH0 https://t.co/LJronnSmLF

  20-10-2017 23:18 via twitter.com
  
  As Boy Scouts Go Co-ed, Challenges To Scouting For Boys And Girls dlvr.it/PwmbH0 https://t.co/LJronnSmLF
  
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• School boards face challenging budgets

  20-10-2017 22:48 via vtdigger.org
  Signs in South Burlington spell out the messages of supporters and opponents of the proposed school budget last spring. Photo by Gail Callahan/VTDiggerAs the budget season begins, school board members are wondering if they need to trade in their pencils for sharpened scythes. The Scott administration has made clear that school boards will have to grapple with a $50 million hole in the state education fund that could drive up taxes statewide by 8 cents.
  At their annual retreat, school board membe
  
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• UPDATED: Judge halts eviction of homeless camp in Burlington

  20-10-2017 22:32 via vtdigger.org
  Attorney Jay Diaz, with the ACLU, and Jared Carter, answer questions from reporters on a class action lawsuit they filed on behalf of homeless residents in the city they say are being unconstitutionally evicted from encampments on public land. Photo by Morgan True / VTDiggerBURLINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the city of Burlington to halt the evacuation of a homeless camp in Burlington.The Vermont ACLU requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from evicting resident
  
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• ACLU challenges Burlington homeless eviction policy

  20-10-2017 22:32 via vtdigger.org
  Attorney Jay Diaz, with the ACLU, and Jared Carter, answer questions from reporters on a class action lawsuit they filed on behalf of homeless residents in the city they say are being unconstitutionally evicted from encampments on public land. Photo by Morgan True / VTDiggerBURLINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont is fighting the city of Burlington, claiming its policy for evicting homeless residents from camps on public property is unconstitutional.
  The class action suit
  
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• Molly Dillon named deputy commissioner of DFR Banking Division 


  20-10-2017 21:57 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — DFROct. 19, 2017
  Contact:Dale Schaft, Information Management Officer, 802-828-4872
  MONTPELIER – Molly Dillon has been named deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation’s Banking Division, Commissioner Michael S. Pieciak announced today. Dillon has more than 30 years of experience in both retail and community banking and brings to the job a wealth of knowledge of current operations and senior management.
  She comes to DFR from Merchants Tr
  
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• Vermont Law School students host ‘Mountains of Resistance’ film screening, discussion

  20-10-2017 21:45 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Law SchoolOct. 19, 2017
  Contact:Maryellen Apelquist, Director of Communications, Vermont Law Schooloffice: 802-831-1228, cell: 802-299-5593, [email protected]
  SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt., Oct. 19, 2017––Vermont Law School students will host a screening of documentary film “Mountains of Resistance,” followed by a panel discussion with environmental justice and human rights advocates, from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Oakes Hall, Room 012,
  
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• Funding available for South Lake Champlain projects

  20-10-2017 21:41 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Community FoundationOct. 19, 2017
  Contact:Lauren BrunoProgram and Grants ManagerThe Vermont Community Foundation
  [email protected] ext. 222
  Suggested TweetFunding is available for #LakeChamplain projects through programs at @vermontcf – deadline Dec 15.
  Grants are now available to support projects through the South Lake Champlain Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation.
  The South Lake Champlain Fund supports projects focused on education and res
  
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• NJ man charged with alien smuggling

  20-10-2017 21:31 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — U.S. Department of Justice United States Border PatrolOctober 19, 2017
  Contact:Tim AtkinsonUnited States Attorney’s Office, District of [email protected]
  BURLINGTON, VERMONTThe United States Attorney’s Office and the United States Border Patrol Swanton Sector announce that Jose Moreira De Sousa, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Newark, N.J., appeared yesterday in United States District Court in Burlington on a charge that he t
  
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• Vermont Supreme Court: Private emails of public officials subject to records requests

  20-10-2017 20:28 via vtdigger.org
  Attorneys Robert Hemley, left, and Brady Toensing at a Vermont Supreme Court hearing Wednesday. Pool photo by April McCullum/Burlington Free PressThe Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that the private email and text message accounts of public officials are subject to the state’s public records law, a decision hailed as a victory for advocates for government transparency.
  The high-court’s unanimous decision Friday reverses a lower court ruling earlier this year that held that the privat
  
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• LISTEN: Vermont Aims To Strengthen Cybersecurity Defenses dlvr.it/Pwl7t4 https://t.co/78PP1gpYxW

  20-10-2017 19:45 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: Vermont Aims To Strengthen Cybersecurity Defenses dlvr.it/Pwl7t4 https://t.co/78PP1gpYxW
  
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• South Burlington teen pleads guilty in school threats case

  20-10-2017 17:47 via vtdigger.org
  Josiah Leach, 19, leaves the federal court in Burlington after pleading guilty to making threats against students and teachers at South Burlington High School. Photo by Morgan True / VTDiggerBURLINGTON — A South Burlington teenager is unlikely to face prison for making threats to harm or kill students and teachers at his high school after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors this week.
  Josiah Leach, 19, was arrested in April after a series of escalating threats through a web of email acco
  
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• Unemployment rate drops below 3 percent

  20-10-2017 17:34 via vtdigger.org
  Vermont’s unemployment rate fell again in September to 2.9 percent, the lowest rate in more than a decade.
  “The last time the unemployment rate was this low was below 3 percent was in December 2000, nearly 17 years ago,” Lindsay Kurrle, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor, said in a press release. “Needless to say, employers are looking for workers at all levels. Students, career changers, re-entrants to the labor market—whatever your individual situ
  
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• SCOV Law Blog: A voluntary move?

  20-10-2017 17:30 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This piece from the SCOV Law Blog is by SCOV Law editor Andrew Delaney. 
  In re Durkee, 2017 VT 49
  Creative Commons photo by walknboston via FlickrThe Department for Children and Families provides temporary housing assistance under its general assistance program. The program is for folks who are in bad situations and need temporary emergency financial help to get or maintain housing. The program doesn’t provide housing directly, just financial assistance. People wh
  
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• Hermitage Club taps members to pay off debt

  20-10-2017 17:14 via vtdigger.org
  In January 2016, the Hermitage Club members welcome the new Barnstormer lift, which takes riders to the top of Haystack Mountain in a bubble protected from wind and snow with heated benches. Photo courtesy Hermitage Club(This story by Chris Mays was published in the Brattleboro Reformer on Oct. 20, 2017.)
  DEERFIELD VALLEY — To pay off some debt, the Hermitage Club is requiring members to pay an extra, one-time $10,000 fee.
  “We believe the one-time 2017 dues adjustment will provide so
  
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• We'll talk today with two members of the cybersecurity team that Gov. Scott created. Questions/comments? dlvr.it/PwZRXb #VT #vtpoli

  20-10-2017 16:36 via twitter.com
  We'll talk today with two members of the cybersecurity team that Gov. Scott created. Questions/comments? dlvr.it/PwZRXb #VT #vtpoli
  
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• Regional marketing campaign pitches ‘Real Rutland’

  20-10-2017 16:25 via vtdigger.org
  RUTLAND — A marketing initiative aimed at boosting Rutland County’s declining population as well as helping the region land more tourists aims to show people the “Real Rutland.”
  The “Real Rutland” campaign was unveiled Thursday night at the annual meeting of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce held in the downtown Paramount Theatre.
  The video ads feature local people involved in recreational and cultural activities, from mountain biking to rock climbing to
  
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• State council weighs Bennington TIF

  20-10-2017 15:47 via vtdigger.org
  A rendering from a redevelopment brochure for the Putnam Block project in downtown Bennington.BENNINGTON — Bennington’s application for a downtown tax increment financing district is moving toward approval by the Vermont Economic Progress Council.
  Members of the council, which approves TIF districts and monitors the economic development program, were in town Wednesday for a hearing on the proposal. Afterward, Chairman Stephan Morse said the town’s application for TIF designatio
  
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• Vermont man sentenced for possession of oxycodone

  20-10-2017 15:28 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney District of VermontOctober 19, 2017
  Contact:Tim AtkinsonUnited States Attorney’s Office, District of Vermont802.951.6725
  [email protected]
  The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Robert Mackenzie, 62, of Fletcher, Vermont, was sentenced on October 18, 2017, in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont, to serve a one (1) year term of probation after his guilty pl
  
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• Community rallies around moose poaching incident, raises funds for reward

  20-10-2017 15:15 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Fish & Wildlife DepartmentOctober 19, 2017
  Media Contacts:Col. Jason Batchelder, 802-828-1483
  Lt. Dave Gregory, 802-751-0103
  WESTMORE, Vt. – A Go Fund Me campaign has been started to raise reward money for an unsolved moose poaching case that took place in September. The campaign was started by Craftsbury Common resident Cindi Bollettieri.
  A cow moose was shot from the road out of season and at night on Saturday, September 23. Vermont’s regulated moos
  
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• Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will meet Oct. 26

  20-10-2017 15:11 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Public Service DepartmentOctober 19, 2017
  Contact:Anthony Leshinskie, State Nuclear Engineer(802) 272-1714
  [email protected]
  Vermont Public Service Department Announces October 26, 2017 Meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel.
  Montpelier, VT – The Public Service Department today announced the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will be held on Thursday, October 26, 2017, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
  
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• Mobius announces recipients of the 2017-2018 Vermont Mentoring Grants

  20-10-2017 15:03 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — MobiusOctober 19, 2017
  Media Contact:Benji Thurber
  [email protected]: 802-658-1888Cell: 802-249-8316
  Burlington, VT—This fall, through the 2017-2018 Vermont Mentoring Grants, Mobius has awarded 33 grants, totaling $331,700, to support adult-to-youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This funding will support more than 100 new and existing program sites, and more than 1,800 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont.
  “Mobius conti
  
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• VHCB celebrates 30 years of community investment across Vermont

  20-10-2017 14:59 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Housing and Conservation BoardOctober 17, 2017
  Contact:Gus Seelig, Executive Director 802-828-3250
  Jen Hollar, Director of Policy and Special Projects, 802-793-7346
  Awards $5.2 Million to Construct and Rehabilitate Housing and to Conserve Land
  MONTPELIER—The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) celebrated 30 years of grant making at an event at Shelburne Farms, then held a Board meeting two days later, making grants totaling almost $5.2 million to supp
  
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• LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont strongly condemns recent ‘hang them all’ comment

  20-10-2017 14:54 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — LGBTQIA Alliance of VermontOct. 18, 2017
  Contact:Keith E Goslant802-249-2658
  It is truly disturbing and repulsive that Donald Trump would ‘joke’ about Mike Pence wanting to ‘hang them all’ in reference to LGBTQ people. Hate motivated violence is tragically still a reality of life for LGBTQ people across our country, it is being encouraged and sanctioned by statements such as this, and affirmatively advanced by the most recent policy stances taken by t
  
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• Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission adopts a new regional plan

  20-10-2017 14:50 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — TRORCOct. 18, 2017
  Contact:Peter G. GregoryPhone: 802-457-3188Email: [email protected]
  TRORC recently adopted a new Regional Plan and has also received approval from the Department of Public Service on its Energy Implementation Plan(Woodstock, VT)— On July 26, 2017 the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission Board unanimously adopted a new Regional Plan. The Regional Plan charts a course for land use, economic development, conservation, transportation, housing, an
  
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• 65 coders and 18 teams participate in Vermont’s seventh annual HackVT

  20-10-2017 14:46 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of CommerceOct. 17, 2017
  Contact:Nicole BelanusOperations ManagerLake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce
  [email protected]
  www.vermont.org/chamber
  COLCHESTER, Vt. – In its seventh year, HackVT awarded $9,500 in cash to four teams on Saturday.
  Teams from around Vermont as well as teams from New York and Massachusetts developed apps using geospatial data provided by the Vermont Center for Geographic Information. The annual event is an
  
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• YWP: ‘Vegas’

  20-10-2017 14:45 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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• Speaker Mitzi Johnson’s statement on the Marriage Equality State Historic Marker

  20-10-2017 14:41 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Speaker Mitzi JohnsonOct 17, 2017
  Contact:Katherine LevasseurChief of Staff, Office of the Speaker
  [email protected](w) 802.828.2245
  SPEAKER MITZI JOHNSON’S STATEMENT ON THE UNVEILING OF THE MARRIAGE EQUALITY STATE HISTORIC MARKER ON THE STATE HOUSE LAWN
  “We cannot underestimate the significance of marriage equality for all Vermonters. This legislation not only established marriage equality for all Vermonters, it once again put our brave little state at
  
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• Vermont PBS and Vermont International Film Festival announce the VAMP online database

  20-10-2017 14:37 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont PBSOct.17, 2017
  Contact:Julia Andrews, Vermont PBS
  [email protected] / 802.655.4891
  www.vermontpbs.org
  Joint Project Provides Online Database of Vermont Films, Vermont PBS Archive for Community Use
  Colchester, VT – October 17, 2017 – Vermont PBS and the Vermont International Film Foundation (VTIFF) today announced the launch of a joint online database of Vermont films and TV programs past and present, the Vermont Archive Movie Project (VAMP) databas
  
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• Washington Electric Co-op wins Governor’s Award for Outstanding Workplace Safety

  20-10-2017 14:32 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Washington Electric CooperativeOctober 17, 2017
  Contact:Patty Richards, 802-223-5245
  East Montpelier, Vt: On October 13, WEC was honored to receive the 2017 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Workplace Safety in the Small Business category. The award was presented by Gov. Phil Scott and Dept. of Labor Commissioner Lindsay Kurrie and accepted on WEC’s behalf by Rick Stergas, WEC Safety and Environmental Compliance Specialist.
  The annual award is the state’s hi
  
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• nothing,nowhere. Blends Hip-Hop and Emo to Make Tomorrow’s Pop

  20-10-2017 14:00
  Joe Mulherin is part of an emerging group of artists that is bridging the chasm between rap and rock. His debut is one of the most promising albums of the year.
  
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• Essex woman named teacher of the year

  20-10-2017 11:47 via vtdigger.org
  An Essex teacher was named the 2018 Teacher of the Year last week by the Vermont Agency of Education.Linda Cloutier-Namdar has been teaching English at Essex High School since 2006 and started her career in 1981 during her final semester at the University of Vermont where she studied English literature.Cloutier-Namdar sees teaching as a calling, and it hit her like a “lightning bolt,” she said.Essex High School English teacher Linda Cloutier-Namdar. Courtesy photo“Each time I f
  
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• Scott administration: No new revenues needed for Lake Champlain cleanup

  20-10-2017 11:24 via vtdigger.org
  Anson Tebbetts, secretary of the Agency of Agriculture for Gov. Phil Scott. Photo by Erin Mansfield/VTDigger
  A panel of senior Scott administration officials say no new fees or taxes are needed to pay for Lake Champlian clean up for the next seven years.
  The Legislature asked the Act 73 Working Group, to find reliable long-term funding for a federally-mandated effort to reduce phosphorus pollution in Lake Champlain.Instead of fulfilling that legislative charge, the working group, which includes
  
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• Senate passes budget resolution, clearing the way for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts

  20-10-2017 10:44 via vtdigger.org
  Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and top congressional Democrats oppose the GOP budget resolution proposal. Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDiggerWASHINGTON — The Senate approved a budget resolution Thursday night — a key step in Republicans’ plans to reform the tax code.
  Next a conference committee will reconcile the Senate resolution with a House version.The resolution serves as a fiscal blueprint for the next year, and is a guide for the 12 appropriation bills that set specific level
  
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• Vermont Agency of Agriculture announces $1M in grant funding for farm capital equipment assistance program

  20-10-2017 05:12 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & MarketsOctober 18, 2017
  Contact:Ryan PatchVermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets802-272-0323
  [email protected]
  The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is pleased to announce $1 million in funding for the Capital Equipment Assistance Program (CEAP). This financial assistance program is available to support farmers to acquire new or innovative equipment that will aid in the elimination of runoff from agricul
  
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• Vermont Housing & Conservation Board to receive $3.6 million in federal funding for farmland protection

  20-10-2017 05:07 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Housing & Conservation BoardOct. 17, 2017
  Contact:Gus Seelig 828-3250; [email protected]
  Nancy Everhart 828-5066; [email protected]
  The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will use $3.6 million in new federal funding to purchase conservation easements on farmland. The funds come from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), a Farm Bill initiative.
  Gus Seelig, Executive Director of VHCB sai
  
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• The Deeper Dig: From needles to Narcan

  20-10-2017 03:25 via vtdigger.org
  Narcan kit and instructions. Photo by Bob LoCicero/VTDiggerThe spread of drugs like heroin and fentanyl throughout Vermont is an ongoing issue without an obvious solution. But the opiate overdose reversal drug naloxone, or Narcan, has been proven to save lives.
  Since 2013, the Vermont Department of Health has distributed free naloxone to a variety of drug treatment facilities around the state. A recent VTDigger analysis found that the bulk of that supply went t
  
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• State backs off controversial plan for PFOA-tainted soil

  20-10-2017 03:16 via vtdigger.org
  BENNINGTON — Water line construction to bypass widespread PFOA contamination of private wells has begun in Bennington and North Bennington.The Agency of Natural Resources said Thursday it no longer intends todeposit PFOA-contaminated soils from the project along the Route 279 right of way, describing that option as “a last resort.”
  Construction has begun to extend municipal water lines in Bennington to address PFOA contamination of wells around former ChemFab plants. Photo cour
  
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• Vermont Yankee buyer assures tribe it will hire cultural adviser

  20-10-2017 01:55 via vtdigger.org
  Rich Holschuh, public liaison for the Elnu Abenaki tribe, stands by the Connecticut River in Brattleboro. File poto by Mike Faher/VTDiggerVERNON – If NorthStar Group Services gets a chance to decommission Vermont Yankee, the company will have a hired cultural expert watching over its work.
  In a nod to Native American concerns about the Vernon site’s historical importance, NorthStar CEO Scott State is committing to enlisting a consultant on matters such as archaeology, anthropology an
  
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• When Dead Stars Collide: Dartmouth Physicist Explains Breakthrough 'Kilonova' Observation dlvr.it/PwcDKF

  20-10-2017 01:45 via twitter.com
  When Dead Stars Collide: Dartmouth Physicist Explains Breakthrough 'Kilonova' Observation dlvr.it/PwcDKF
  
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• LISTEN: When Dead Stars Collide: Dartmouth Physicist Explains Breakthrough 'Kilonova' Observation dlvr.it/PwcDNf

  20-10-2017 01:45 via twitter.com
  LISTEN: When Dead Stars Collide: Dartmouth Physicist Explains Breakthrough 'Kilonova' Observation dlvr.it/PwcDNf
  
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• Rutland Town ‘public nuisance’ law targets blight, unsafe sites

  20-10-2017 01:07 via vtdigger.org
  Flory’s Plaza in the Center Rutland area of Rutland Town has been vacant and unkempt for years. It is one property that could have to be cleaned up under an ordinance the Selectboard adopted recently. Photo by Alan J. Keays/VTDiggerRUTLAND TOWN — The Selectboard has approved a “public nuisance” ordinance to try to clean up blighted and unsafe properties in town.The five-member board voted unanimously at its regular meeting this week to adopt the measure.
  “The origin
  
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• Bill Schubart: Refocusing education

  20-10-2017 01:05 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.
  It’s no secret that many colleges and prep schools are in financial trouble. Accrediting organizations predict a significant number of institutional failures in the next decade. We even feel the pain here in Vermont but, understandably, no one wants t
  
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• Karl Meyer: Fish futures on a broken river

  20-10-2017 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Karl Meyer, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, who is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He is a participating stakeholder in FERC relicensing proceedings for the Northfield Mountain and Turners Falls projects.
  It’s been decades since migratory fish on New England’s great river got a break — bleak since deregulation came to federally licensed electricity plants on the Connecticut beginning in 1998.
  Deregulation turned a r
  
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• Jules Rabin: Paddock is a ‘fractal’ mirroring our country

  20-10-2017 00:55 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jules Rabin, who came to Vermont in 1968 to teach at Goddard College and 10 years later shifted to baking bread in a wood-fired oven. He lives in Plainfield.There is a new field in mathematics, fractals, that studies the strange fact of nature that some natural forms like cauliflower and shorelines repeat their gross structures in their smaller parts: cauliflower heads, for example, repeat their forms in their little florets and those florets in yet lit
  
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• DMV chief Ide retiring after nearly decade at helm

  20-10-2017 00:52 via vtdigger.org
  DMV Commissioner Rob Ide, from left, Col. Jake Elovirta, and Vermont ACLU staff attorney Jay Diaz. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDiggerMotor Vehicles Commissioner Rob Ide said Thursday he will retire in December after eight years leading the department.
  The former lawmaker from Peacham said he decided to step down after recently turning 66 years old. He also said that for the first time he dreaded the winter commute.
  “When you get here you know for a lot of reasons,” Ide said in a
  
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