Updated at 12:38 p.m.

As he continues to explore a 2016 run for president, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will return to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa this September.

Sanders plans to hold town meetings in Dubuque, Waterloo and Des Moines the weekend of September 13, according to spokesman Michael Briggs. Sanders will combine the trip with a previously scheduled appearance in Wisconsin at the Fighting Bob Fest, an annual gathering to celebrate the life of progressive icon — and senator-turned-presidential candidate — Robert La Follette.

September's trip will mark Sanders' second to the Hawkeye State this year. He traveled to Iowa City in May to headline the Clinton County Democratic Party's Hall of Fame Dinner and, according to the Daily Beast, met with activists there and in Des Moines. Sanders has also held political events twice in New Hampshire this year, in April and June.

Last week, Sanders reported raising an unusually large sum of money for a year in which he does not face reelection. The Vermont independent collected nearly $716,000 in the past three months, boosting his campaign treasury to $4.4 million. Sanders, who was reelected to a second six-year term in 2012, will not have to defend his Senate seat again until 2018.

For weeks, business and government leaders in Vermont nervously awaited the release of IBM's second-quarter earnings report. They speculated that the company might clarify whether it plans to sell its chip-making division to GlobalFoundries or another suitor — a decision that would affect the more than 4,000 employees of IBM's Essex Junction plant.

But Thursday afternoon's earnings announcement came and went with few clues. 

In a conference call with industry analysts, chief financial officer Martin Schroeter said that Big Blue would continue to divest itself of businesses that fail to drive company profits. Revenues from its hardware division fell 11 percent for the quarter, while those from its microelectronics business fell 18 percent.

Asked about persistent reports that IBM is seeking to sell its chip-manufacturing business, which includes the Essex Junction facility, Schroeter dodged the question. Instead, he referred to IBM's announcement earlier this week that it will invest $3 billion over the next five years in next-generation semiconductor research and development.

"We've been very, very vocal about our goal to remain the leader, the absolute leader, in high-performance and high-end systems," he said. "We're the leader today and we would expect, with this kind of investment, we can continue to maintain that leadership."

Authorities in Vermont and New York plan to take another look for a plane that went missing 43 years ago over Lake Champlain. The private jet had five people aboard when it disappeared in a 1971 snowstorm.

It was a January evening when the 10-passenger twin engine jet left Burlington bound for Providence, R.I. The Rockwell Jet Commander, owned by an Atlanta real estate company, was recorded on a single radar blip at 5,000 feet, and "then was gone on the very next sweep just seconds later," according to a news release from the Vermont Department of Public Safety. 

Early searching was fruitless and, within days, the lake had iced over. The following April, small parts of the plane floated ashore in Shelburne. The plane has never been found, despite searches with infrared, sonar and submarine technologies.

According to the press release, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing in March, got people talking again about the Lake Champlain mystery. Individuals and state and volunteer agencies have formulated a plan to search the lake with more modern equipment, including side-scanning sonar, underwater vehicles and a submarine. Vermont and New York state police will be involved, along with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Some boating traffic may be restricted; the efforts are scheduled to begin this month.

"The goal," said New York State Police Captain John Tibbitts, "is to locate and recover the remains to finally bring closure to these families." The plane was carrying two crew members and three passengers when it went down. 

Vermont's most prolific political fundraiser last quarter isn't up for reelection until 2018.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised nearly $716,000 in the past three months, according to a report he filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. That's nearly nine times as much as he raised in the preceding quarter and far more than he's ever raised when not facing a race for the U.S. Senate.

The money, which could legally be transferred to presidential campaign committee, comes as Sanders publicly flirts with a 2016 presidential run. Late last month, he traveled again to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire to speak at a bookstore and county Democratic dinner.

Sanders has raised nearly $872,000 from 21,230 individual contributions since his 2012 reelection race, according to finance director Ben Eisenberg. He has an eye-popping $4.4 million in his campaign account.

In its first meeting since the Supreme Court effectively voided Burlington's buffer zone, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to start "urgently investigating and supporting legally defensible alternatives that ensure women’s safety and access to healthcare services."

On June 26, the nation's highest court ruled that a buffer zone law in Massachusetts, created to prevent protesters from coming within 35 feet of reproductive health centers, violated the First Amendment.

Burlington had erected a similar buffer zone in 2012, but upon the advice of city attorney Eileen Blackwood, the city stopped enforcing it after the ruling. Part of the city's law remains in place. Blackwood explained that while the zone itself has been dismantled, people are still prohibited from "obstructing, detaining, hindering, impeding, or blocking a person's entry or exit from a clinic." 

The sidewalks of St. Paul Street, where Planned Parenthood runs a clinic, have gotten more crowded, according to Jill Krowinski, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood in Vermont. Prior to the ruling, a handful of protesters showed up one or two days a week. Now they're outside four to five days a week, and last Saturday, there was crowd of roughly 20 people, according to Krowinski.

As the city council's ordinance committee considers its options, Krowinski described the tactic that Burlington's Planned Parenthood is employing: "The more protestors we see, the more greeters we’ll have." 

The Supreme Court ruling suggested that Massachusetts' buffer zone wasn't "narrowly tailored," and people seeking reproductive health services could be protected using other means. It stated, “A painted line is easy to enforce, but the prime objective of the First Amendment is not efficiency.”

One of the potential long-term options suggested by Blackwood would make it a criminal rather than a civil offense to violate the still-standing part of the city's ordinance. Krowinski said that Planned Parenthood is working with its other affiliates to find alternatives, too. One possibility they are considering: asking the City Council to establish a "bubble" in lieu of a buffer that would create a barrier around patients rather than a building. The Supreme Court upheld Colorado's "bubble" law in 2000. 

At Monday's meeting, Krowinski described protestors "persistently following and engaging with patients even when they say they are not interested" and taking photos and video footage of people entering the St. Paul Street facility. 

Two of those protestors were also at the city council meeting and disputed her account. "We are being misrepresented here," said Agnes Clift. "We will continue to be there praying and offering support and literature to people."

The Burlington school district is asking the City Council for an interest-free loan of up to $4.8 million to make sure it can pay its bills during a 90-day period.

Confronted with the possibility that it will temporarily run out of cash — a common situation for school districts across the state, according to school board chair Patrick Halladay — the Burlington School Board's finance committee has been looking for a line of credit.

"This is nothing that would be considered atypical," Halladay said, adding that the cash flow situation doesn't stem from the district's deficit troubles. "The complication we have this time is this hasn’t been how things have been done in Burlington in the past."

Up until July 1, the city and the school district shared a pooled cash account. If the school district was running low on money and needed to send out paychecks or pay for other expenses, it could temporarily draw on city funds. They terminated that arrangement and separated their accounts at the request of the Agency of Education.  

In early June, the school board asked the City Council for a loan of up to $2.6 million at a 0.5 percent interest rate. At the time, several councilors on the board of finance expressed misgivings about approving such a low interest rate. Before the council had a chance to vote on the request, both city and school officials found at that state law doesn't actually allow municipalities to charge schools interest on loans.

The Department for Children and Families worker who visited a Winooski toddler to investigate an abuse complaint and left shortly before the child was brought to a hospital and pronounced dead will not be charged with a crime.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan on Thursday released the results of a state police inquiry that considered the circumstances surrounding 15-month-old Peighton Geraw’s death and DCF’s involvement with the child.

DCF supervisor John Salter visited Peighton’s home to follow up on a complaint from an emergency room physician who told DCF after the child was treated for a stomach illness that Peighton had unexplained bruises on his neck.

A written summary of an investigation — released to the news media, Donovan said, with DCF’s consent — described what Salter later told a police investigator happened when Salter visited the apartment where Peighton lived on April 4.

Nytosha Laforce — Peighton’s mother, who is now charged with second-degree murder in the case — and her boyfriend Tyler Chicoine were there, according to the summary. It recounts an interview in which Salter described seeing Peighton in a poorly lit room:

“[Salter] advised they went into the bedroom and [Peighton] appeared to be sleeping with a blanket up to his clavicles. He reiterates to Nytosha that he has to view the injuries and they walked over to the crib and she gently touches his head and turns him so he can see the bruise on the left side of his neck. [Salter] advised that she was very slow and methodical about moving him and got the impression that she did not want to wake [Peighton] and then returned his head to straight up and down, as the child was sleeping on his back.”

Salter left, intending to follow up with the doctor and “would have probably been back for an additional visit,” the summary states. 

The first Vermont political candidate in a decade to secure public financing says he thinks all state elections should be funded by taxpayers.

Standing in front of Burlington's iconic "Democracy" statue Thursday afternoon, Progressive lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Dean Corren argued that public election financing is the only way to reduce the influence of money in politics.

"Let me make my position clear: Big money is the opposite of free speech," he said. "And when it dominates our elections, it is the opposite of democracy."

To drive the point home, the former four-term Burlington state representative highlighted his opponent's fundraising practices. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, raised 40 percent of his contributions when he ran for reelection in 2012 from those donating more than $100 and 43 percent from corporations and political action committees, Corren said.

"With big money putting up these kinds of numbers, it's fair to ask who gets to speak, who gets listened to, who gets to call the tunes," the Progressive said. "Everyone knows the answer to that question: It's the one who pays the piper."

Updated, 4 p.m. 7/7/14 with additional information provided by NEASC.
The association in charge of accrediting New England colleges has put Burlington College on probation, citing concerns about its finances. 

The Queen City college made the New England Association of Schools and Colleges' (NEASC) decision public in a statement issued Monday. The probation period can last up to two years, during which time the college must meet certain undisclosed benchmarks to hold onto its accreditation. 

The private liberal arts school took on $10 million in debt to purchase its new campus from the Roman Catholic Diocese 2011. It moved to the landmark 90,000-square-foot former orphanage on North Avenue from a 19,000-square-foot building on the same street. Much of the building remains vacant. The college needs several million dollars worth of renovations to be habitable and roughly $20 million to be restored, according to its president, Christine Plunkett.  

The real estate transaction was predicated on bold financial goals. Most notably, college officials plan to bolster revenue by increasing enrollment, currently at 290, to 750, despite a declining high school population. Burlington College relies almost entirely on tuition dollars for its revenue.

Coralee Holm, a spokesperson for the college, said she didn't know whether being put on probation would affect their efforts to recruit new students. "I can't say. There are variety of reasons why kids come or don’t come to college," Holm said, adding that "We don’t anticipate it significantly impacting our student population."

Seeking to put his past behind him, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Milne on Thursday disclosed a series of health, legal and substance abuse issues he's faced over the years.

In a written statement distributed to reporters, Milne said he was arrested three times in college — twice for driving under the influence of alcohol and once for "possession of a small amount of pot and cocaine." He also disclosed that he suffered a stroke in 2006, but said he has since made a full recovery.

Milne, who is seeking to depose Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, said his revelations were not prompted by an imminent news story, though he believes opposition researchers have been reviewing public records related to his past. He said his disclosure spoke to his commitment to transparency.

"I don't want people working for me and have this come out in October and have them feel I'm not being straightforward with them or think this is not a reason to join us," he said in an interview. "If we were getting a lot of momentum in October, my sense is it would come up — and I want it to be old news by October."

Milne said that while he was embarrassed by the "poor choices" he made in college, he does not believe they disqualify him from serving as governor.

"I think life is a process of learning," he said. "I'm extremely confident that I can do a better job than the Shumlin administration has done by putting a good team together in Montpelier. The mistakes I made in the past are part of who I am."