Friday, May 29, 2015
Since Uber launched in Burlington last fall, its drivers, who connect with passengers through an app, have been chauffeuring passengers without following the city’s vehicle-for-hire ordinance. Disgruntled traditional taxi drivers have been harping on city officials to “level the playing field” by cracking down on the company.
Despite their discontent, Weinberger said he was excited about the new service and wanted to find a way to allow it to operate here legally.
The agreement is supposed to be a stopgap solution until the city can rewrite its vehicle-for-hire ordinance to specifically address smartphone-based ride-share services. After an Uber driver who was also licensed by the city to drive taxis was arrested on a sexual assault charge last week, Weinberger pledged to address other shortcomings in Burlington's oversight of the vehicle-for-hire industry.
Tags: Uber , Miro Weinberger , Burlington , Image , Web Only
"A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy. A woman on her knees, a woman tied up, a woman abused," Sanders begins. "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man — as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously. The man and woman get dressed up on Sunday — and go to Church, or maybe to their 'revolutionary' political meeting."
The long-forgotten piece found a new audience this week after Mother Jones unearthed it as part of a Sanders profile it published Tuesday, just before the two-term senator formally kicked off his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Mainstream news organizations such as CNN, Slate and The Hill quoted liberally from it, mostly without characterizing its contents. Vox called it "bizarre." Several conservative organs touted its coverage — or lack thereof — as proof-positive of a media double-standard: Had a Republican candidate written such words, argued Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Ben Shapiro, he or she would have been sidelined from the election.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Vermont Freeman , essay , article , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 28, 2015
“I’m certainly considering it,” Scott said, adding, “I know I have to make a decision by the end of the year.”
The state’s highest-ranking Republican has been lieutenant governor for four and a half years. He was a state senator for 10 years before that. He’s widely seen as the Vermont Republican Party’s strongest hope for challenging whoever runs for governor next year as a Democrat.
Scott, 56, of Berlin, said his decision will not depend on whether three-term incumbent Democrat Peter Shumlin runs for reelection. “This is a decision I’ll have to make regardless of Gov. Shumlin’s decision,” he said.
Tags: Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , Vermont politics , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
McAllister was paid the standard legislative weekly salary of $676.56 for the weeks of May 3-16, according to the state Human Resources Department. The legislative session ended May 16.
McAllister, reached by phone at his Highgate home Wednesday, said he hadn't thought about the pay because it's automatically deposited. "I certainly don't want it," he said. "I wasn't there."
Legislators are automatically paid $1,353.12 biweekly during the five-month legislative session, unless they alert the state to stop the pay. Legislators are under no obligation to do so if they are absent from the Statehouse, but some do.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Vermont legislature , sexual assault , Image , Web Only
In the footage, obtained by a hidden camera in a hotel bar, the lawmaker's face is blurred. The story does not identify him by name. But his voice is unmistakable: that of Rep. Bob Helm (R-Fair Haven).
"It was me, unknowingly being recorded and photographed," says Helm, who serves as ALEC's Vermont state chair. "I had no idea. But whatever I said, I can go to bed with it. I can sleep fine. It was the truth."
Helm's 50-second cameo comes near the end of a six-and-a-half-minute piece documenting ALEC's role in drafting and promoting state legislation friendly to its corporate sponsors. In the story, WXIA-TV chief investigative reporter Brendan Keefe attempts to cover a recent ALEC retreat in Savannah, but he's rebuffed and eventually kicked out of the hotel.
In footage obtained the night before his unceremonious departure, Keefe captures Helm explaining how such conferences are financed.
Tags: Bob Helm , ALEC , Howard Dean , Image , Video , Web Only
Marselis Parsons, a longtime anchor and news director of WCAX-TV, died in his sleep at the Vermont Respite House in Williston after a battle with skin cancer. He was 70.
Friends, colleagues and viewers remembered Parsons fondly. In his 42 years at the South Burlington television station, Parsons became a trusted journalist and unofficial dinner companion for families all over the state.
Heidi Broe grew up watching Parsons every night on the evening news, often over supper, at her family’s home in Newport. Parsons announced floods and blizzards, wars and highway accidents, presidential bids and untimely deaths. Especially when the news was bad, it helped to have a familiar person telling the story, said Broe, a medical billing clerk who now lives in Holland, Vt.
“He delivered the news in a way that was accurate but appropriate for the mood or the tone of the story,” said Broe. “He was trustworthy, enjoyable to watch. He had a sense of humor.”
Tags: WCAX , Marselis Parsons , Image , Web Only
Online comments are great, in theory. They give readers a chance to level the informational playing field, to point out errors, to engage in civil discourse about the news. Comments give everyone a voice. Problem is, sometimes those voices deliver spam, off-topic rants, racist insults and death threats.
How do you encourage the good comments and banish the bad? That’s something we struggle with daily. At Seven Days, we do our best to make our comments section inviting. A few years ago, we created a set of commenting guidelines, rules that govern the type of feedback we’ll allow. We ask that you “treat the comments section as you would a town meeting, dinner party or classroom discussion.” We love comments that are respectful, reasonable, constructive, honest, and brief — as in, under 300 words. We’ll remove those that aren’t.
Simple, right?
Here's the full video of his campaign kickoff, which featured a speech from author and environmental activist Bill McKibben, music from the Zydeco/Cajun band Mango Jam, and free Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
Video courtesy of Channel 17.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Video , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
“The lesson to be learned is that when people stand together, and are prepared to fight back, there is nothing that can’t be accomplished,” Sanders told several thousand supporters who waved newly printed “Bernie for president” placards.
“I am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America,” Sanders said, to loud applause.
With a wide array of national and local media on hand, Sanders spoke from a stage with Lake Champlain gleaming behind him. He had a stunningly perfect, if a tad warm, day for showing off the city he once ran.
The message he delivered to that national audience would not surprise anybody who’s heard Sanders speak for the last four decades. “Enough is enough,” he bellowed. “This great nation and its government belong to all of the people, and not to a handful of billionaires.”
He added, "This campaign is going to send a message to the billionaire class. And that is: You can’t have it all. You can’t get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry. That is why we need a tax system which is fair and progressive, which makes wealthy individuals and profitable corporations begin to pay their fair share of taxes."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , 2016 presidential campaign , Hillary Clinton , Presidential Campaign , government reform , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
The crowd, you fear, will be full of overly earnest volunteers, connected bigwigs, fawning hangers-on and prima donna journalists. The speech will be full of finely honed, red-meat sound bites. And doesn't everyone know how this is all going to play out, anyway?
And then you meet Jennifer and Jonathan Tornabe.
The Tornabes aren't Bernie fanatics — they only moved to Burlington a couple years ago, from Plattsburgh. They have never volunteered for a campaign, never attended a political rally, never donated to a candidate — they aren't even sure they've even voted.
And yet the Tornabes may have been the first people to arrive at Waterfront Park for Tuesday's announcement, camping out under a shady tree five hours before events were scheduled to begin, to make sure they could be in position.
Their reason: They wanted to hear what Bernie had to say.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Waterfront Park , Burlington , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Slideshow , Web Only