Vermont news

• Welch to push for changes to drug diversion law

  06-03-2018 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger
  WASHINGTON — Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., will push Congress to take action on recommendations to tweak a 2016 law that some say hindered law enforcement’s ability to battle the opioid epidemic.
  A joint investigation by the Washington Post and 60 Minutes last year raised concerns that the new policy restricted too severely the Justice Department’s ability to immediately suspend prescription drug shipments that are susp
  
  Read more

• Firefighter who lit children’s hands on fire is suspended

  06-03-2018 22:44 via vtdigger.org
  CHARLOTTE — A local firefighter has been suspended from the Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue after he was charged with lighting his children’s hands on fire.
  Levi G. Dykema, 29, of Ferrisburgh pleaded not guilty last month in Addison County Superior Court to three counts of reckless endangerment. He was accused of applying hand sanitizer to the hands of his three children and lighting it.
  Police said the children — ages 5, 7 and 10 — were not injured, despite the dan
  
  Read more

• Gun rights supporters to hold event at UVM

  06-03-2018 20:49 via vtdigger.org
  News Release —March 6, 2018
  Contact:Jace Laquerre, [email protected], (802) 399-0994 (c)
  Burlington, VT- Conservative student groups Young Americans for Liberty and Turning Point USA will be hosting gun rights event at the University of Vermont. The event will be in conjunction with the Gun Owners of Vermont and other 2nd Amendment advocacy groups. Students from high schools and colleges around the state will be joining. Tickets are free and can be obtained through the UVM ticket off
  
  Read more

• Vermont Fish & Wildlife seeks volunteers for New Dead Creek Visitor Center

  06-03-2018 20:46 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Fish & Wildlife DepartmentMarch 5, 2018
  Media Contacts:Amy Alfieri 802-759-2398; Ali Thomas 802-371-9975
  Training workshop set for April 21 and 28
  ADDISON, Vt. – The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is seeking interested volunteers to serve as department ambassadors and greet visitors at the new Dead Creek Visitor Center in Addison, Vermont. The department will be hosting a new volunteer training workshop on two consecutive Saturdays, April 21 and 28,
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• LISTEN: The Emerald Ash Borer: A Devastating Pest Arrives In Vermont, Now What? dlvr.it/QJztpR https://t.co/EEUUPHThlg

  06-03-2018 20:43 via twitter.com
  
  LISTEN: The Emerald Ash Borer: A Devastating Pest Arrives In Vermont, Now What? dlvr.it/QJztpR https://t.co/EEUUPHThlg
  
  Read more

• Vermont high school girls successfully complete cyber challenge

  06-03-2018 20:40 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Office of the GovernorMonday, March 5, 2018
  Contact:Jessica Stolz, Vermont Homeland Security Unit802-241-5094
  Rebecca Kelley, Office of the [email protected]
  Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott today recognized the Vermont high school girls who participated in the GirlsGoCyberStart challenge, a cybersecurity training partnership between states and the SANS Institute.
  Vermont had a total of 18 teams and 46 girls participate, competing with
  
  Read more

• Norwich University professor researching evolution of American education system earns several prizes

  06-03-2018 20:28 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Norwich UniversityMarch 5, 2018
  Contact:Daphne [email protected] us on Twitter @NorwichNews
  NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University Assistant Professor of History and Political Science Mark Boonshoft has been awarded three prizes for his research on the evolution of the American education system.
  Boonshoft earned the Board of Fellows Faculty Development Prize for the 2018-2019 academic year for his project, ““The Rise and Fall of &lsq
  
  Read more

• Green Up Vermont Student Writing Contest winner announced

  06-03-2018 20:25 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Green Up VermontMarch 5, 2018
  Contact:Melanie Phelps, Green Up [email protected]
  Still time to give on State Tax return
  Montpelier: Green Up Vermont announced this year’s winner in its student Writing Contest, Eden Morris, grade 8, of Northfield. Her eloquent poem illustrates that the positive actions of participating in Green Up Day can bring a sense of pride and satisfaction to the volunteer. Eden writes, “With heaps of joy and tired
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Burlington First Unitarian Universalist Society raises Black Lives Matter banner

  06-03-2018 20:20 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Unitarian Universalist Society of BurlingtonMarch 5, 2018
  Contact:Rev. Mara Dowdall, Senior MinisterPhone: 802-862-5630 (office)802-505-1248 (cell)Email: [email protected]: www.uusociety.org
  BURLINGTON, Vermont – On Sunday March 4, the First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Society of Burlington raised a Black Lives Matter banner in front of its historic meeting house at the top of Church Street. Over eighty members of the UU community gathered after Sunday servi
  
  Read more

• Democratic Socialist Ben Mitchell announces congressional candidacy

  06-03-2018 20:17 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Ben Mitchell for CongressFebruary 27, 2018
  Media Contact:Ben Mitchell for Congresswww.mitchellforcongress.orgben.mitchell@mitchellforvt.orgPhone 802-289-4838PO Box 807 Bellows Falls VT. 05101
  Westminster, Vermont: Democratic Socialist Ben Mitchell is formally announcing his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives at the Westminster Town Meeting on Saturday, March 3. A Westminster resident for more than twenty years, Mr. Mitchell describes himself as “a
  
  Read more

• Agency of Agriculture files proposed subsurface tile drainage amendment to required agricultural practices rule

  06-03-2018 20:11 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & MarketsFeb. 28, 2018
  Contact:Ryan PatchSr. Ag Development CoordinatorVermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets(802) [email protected] email [email protected]
  Agency Announces Public Hearings with Public Comment Period Open Until April 19, 2018.
  February 28, 2018 / Montpelier, VT. – On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (the Agency or VAAFM) filed a pr
  
  Read more

• BFA St. Albans students join March 14 school walkout

  06-03-2018 20:02 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — BFA St. Albans27 February, 2018
  Contact:Sophia Venturo, Public Relations Subcommittee ChairEmail: [email protected]: (802)-782-1464Twitter: @BFAWalkoutInstagram: @BFAWalkout
  Bellows Free Academy Walkout CommitteeEnough is Enough
  SAINT ALBANS, VT, FEBRUARY 27th, 2018 ​– As hundreds of young people from across the country are leaving school for seventeen minutes to honor the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, students of Bellows F
  
  Read more

• Vermont delegation backs latest gun-reform effort

  06-03-2018 19:57 via vtdigger.org
  One legislative initiative could result in some form of background checks before sales at guns shows, such as the one shown here in Barre. File photo by Terry J. Allen
  WASHINGTON — Standing outside the Capitol on a bright, late-winter day, a Red Sox hat shielding his eyes from the sun, Rep. Peter Welch reflected on what many have deemed to be a unique moment in the country’s politics on guns.
  “The debate has totally changed,” he said in an interview last week.
  In the days
  
  Read more

• Occupy, Disrupt, Walk Out: Student Activism Today dlvr.it/QJzChk https://t.co/XIDUyfVpfj

  06-03-2018 18:59 via twitter.com
  
  Occupy, Disrupt, Walk Out: Student Activism Today dlvr.it/QJzChk https://t.co/XIDUyfVpfj
  
  Read more

• Norwich Writers Series brings author Elizabeth Hand to campus

  06-03-2018 18:52 via vtdigger.org
  News Release — Norwich UniversityMarch 6, 2018
  Contact:Daphne [email protected] us on Twitter @NorwichNews
  NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University’s 2018-19 Writers Series presents award-winning author Elizabeth Hand on Monday, March 26, at 4 p.m. in the Kreitzberg Library Todd Multipurpose Room. This event is free and open to the public.
  The author of fourteen novels and four collections of short fiction, Hand has won the Nebula, World Fantasy, James Tip
  
  Read more

• South Royalton shooting suspect has violent past

  06-03-2018 17:47 via vtdigger.org
  A Hartford police officer keeps her eye on woods along Happy Hollow Road in South Royalton on Sunday. Police were searching for a man involved in a shooting on the road. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley News
  This story by Tim Camerato was published by the Valley News on March 6, 2018.
  SOUTH ROYALTON — The South Royalton man suspected of fatally shooting his estranged wife over the weekend was being monitored by a “high-risk unit” from the Vermont Department of Corrections prior t
  
  Read more

• Leahy and staff had central role in F-35 basing decision

  06-03-2018 04:11 via vtdigger.org
   
  Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., second from right, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, speak with  Gen. Craig McKinley, left, and Gen. Michael Dubie on March 3, 2011. Photo by Tech. Sgt. John Orrell/U.S. Air Force
  In December 2012, more than 100 Vermonters gathered outside U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Burlington office to voice their displeasure over his support for a plan to base a squadron of F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport.Get all of VTDigger's political ne
  
  Read more

• North Country CEO to lead Rutland Regional

  06-03-2018 03:50 via vtdigger.org
  Incoming Rutland Regional Medical Center CEO Claudio Fort.
  In some ways, Claudio Fort says it will be tough to leave North Country Health System in Newport, where he’s been in charge since 2008.
  “I think the Northeast Kingdom is kind of the underdog in Vermont … and I think there’s untapped potential in this community,” Fort said.
  But he’s also looking forward to a “great professional opportunity” at Rutland Regional Medical Center, where Fort wil
  
  Read more

• Burlington firefighters, police unions split over regional dispatch plan

  06-03-2018 03:35 via vtdigger.org
  A dispatcher working her shift in Hartford, Vt.
  Photo byJennifer Hauck/Valley News
  BURLINGTON — Unions representing Burlington firefighters and police officers are split over a ballot item that would regionalize Chittenden County dispatchers.Voters in seven Chittenden County communities — Burlington, Colchester, Milton, Shelburne, South Burlington, Williston and Winooski — will be asked tomorrow if they want to move forward with a plan that would move all the emergency dispatch
  
  Read more

• Barre voters to decide on new mayor, local option tax

  06-03-2018 03:14 via vtdigger.org
  Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon at a Statehouse press conference. File photo by Anne Galloway/VTDigger
  Thom Lauzon’s 12-year run as Barre’s mayor is coming to an end. Voters on Tuesday will pick his replacement and decide whether to pay a Lauzon-backed one percent option tax on rooms, meals and alcohol, which they have twice rejected.
  The candidates facing off in the mayoral contest — Sue Higby and Lucas Herring — are both city councilors campaigning on platforms of economic deve
  
  Read more

• Paul Costello: Democracy and community leadership

  06-03-2018 02:51 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Paul Costello, the executive director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development.
  Yeah, these are disturbing times.
  During this period of political division and antagonism nationally — when the ideals of democracy are undermined and skepticism is rampant, and when social media blasts us with endless iterations of bad news — our own faith in the power and future of democracy can be challenged.
  Maybe that’s healthy.
  It reminds us that d
  
  Read more

• Greta Binzin: Trees don’t grow overnight

  06-03-2018 02:47 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Greta Binzen, of Strafford, who is junior majoring in environmental studies at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.
  In a country where climate change is censored from government websites and most federal environmental programs are underfunded, it’s easy to assume that politics and environmental protection are perpetually at-odds. But trees don’t grow overnight, nor do people change overnight. To see the steady progress of environm
  
  Read more

• Dean Whitlock: The cost of legalized marijuana

  06-03-2018 02:43 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Dean Whitlock, of Thetford, a freelance writer who has been researching the issues surrounding marijuana legalization for years. A former supporter of legalization, he is now opposed. He is a member of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM-VT)
  Think about all the tax money Vermont will get if we legalize commercial, tax-and-regulate marijuana.
  I am.
  But I want the facts. I don’t trust the profit-driven, multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry to tell
  
  Read more

• Adam Grinold: Economic development is about people and communities

  06-03-2018 02:30 via vtdigger.org
  Editor’s note: This commentary is by Adam Grinold, who is the executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.
  I lead an organization that is working to build a vibrant regional economy. The dry language of economic development does little justice to the way our work touches real people and real communities. A sample of our activities from just the past few weeks illustrates the range of challenges and triumphs, and what our daily work entails:
  • We brought 50 people tog
  
  Read more

• LIVE updates from Town Meeting Day 2018

  06-03-2018 01:54 via vtdigger.org
  This page will be updated throughout the day as VTDigger reporters and editors track local elections and town meetings across the state.
  Vermont’s 246 cities and towns will cast municipal ballots this week. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
   Get all of VTDigger's political news.You'll never miss a political story with our weekly headlines in your inbox.Daily
  Sundays only (Weekly Wrap) Email me stories on these subjects... Business News
  Courts & Corrections News
  Education News
  
  Read more

• Plan to import drugs from Canada called a ‘long shot’

  06-03-2018 01:00 via vtdigger.org
  Human Services Secretary Al Gobeille. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
  Just about everyone agrees that Vermonters are paying too much for prescription drugs, but that unity does not extend to a plan approved by the Senate to address the issue by importing cheaper drugs from Canada.
  Senators last week were unanimous in their support of the bill (S.175), which would first allocate money and resources toward determining the feasibility of an importing scheme that is also being considered in se
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!