Wednesday, October 21, 2015
"I thank the vice president for a lifetime of public service and for all that he has done for our nation," Sanders said in a written statement. "I look forward to continuing to work with him to address the major crises we face."
At first glance, it might appear that Biden's decision would bolster Sanders' candidacy. After all, what unconventional upstart would want to compete with a political juggernaut boasting establishment support and the ability to attract a diverse coalition of supporters?
Perhaps the kind that's already facing another political juggernaut boasting establishment support and the ability to attract a diverse coalition of supporters: former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Joe Biden , Hillary Clinton , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Benning delivered the news Friday in a letter to McAllister, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual assault. McAllister, a 64-year-old Highgate farmer, pleaded not guilty to three felony and three misdemeanor charges involving three women — one of whom has since died — and is awaiting trial.
In last week's Seven Days, McAllister insisted he would not resign his Senate seat, nor take a plea deal. That prompted Benning to write his colleague, who, he claims, promised last spring to step down by November if his case was still pending.
“It is therefore with some dismay that I am reading news reports quoting you as determined to go to trial and refusing to resign,” Benning wrote, adding that McAllister’s return to the Statehouse in January would be “extraordinarily uncomfortable for every individual in the building, including you” and would leave the Senate “in complete disarray.”
Tags: Norm McAllister , Joe Benning , Peg Flory , Image , Web Only
Savage announced his resignation at the selectboard meeting on October 13, according to meeting minutes. Savage also resigned his position on the town planning commission and his appointment as town health officer, according to the minutes.
Savage pleaded not guilty in September to federal drug charges, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and oxycodone.
On July 1, federal agents raided Savage's home and attached auto garage on Route 2 south of town and confiscated 103 firearms, $25,000 in cash, 3.9 grams of cocaine, 60 prescription opiate pills, 67 grams of marijuana and equipment for a meth lab, according to court documents.
Tags: Alburgh , Bernard Savage , cannabis related , drugs , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 19, 2015
Surrounded by three-dozen supporters and a barnful of calves, retired Wall Street banker Bruce Lisman formally launched his bid for governor Monday morning with a frontal assault on the administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin.
"I would say that I decided to run because, honestly, I thought this administration is so remarkably and relentlessly incompetent that we should do something," Lisman told his audience, shivering in frigid temperatures at the Green Mountain Dairy Farm in Sheldon.
Characterizing himself as an outsider equipped to "fix what's wrong" and bring "a culture of change" to Montpelier, the Shelburne Republican promised to take on a state government that "has forgotten who it serves" and cut a state budget that "has become the enemy of the people and the economy."
"People know that the Shumlin administration and those who aided them and those who have stood by in silence are the ones who are at fault for this mess," he said. "The people know everything."
Tags: Bruce Lisman , gubernatorial campaign , Peter Shumlin , Shawn Shouldice , John Powell , Maggie Lisman , Image , Web Only
State officials refused to divulge even the name of a Canadian business they voted preliminarily to offer $200,000. The company, looking to expand in the United States, has considered the Northeast Kingdom for a plant that would hire at least 50 people. Its products and potential location will remain secret until negotiations are completed, members of the Emergency Board said.
Shumlin and the heads of the legislature’s money committees spent two hours behind closed doors discussing Shumlin’s recommendations to tap the Enterprise Fund to try to persuade two companies to open new facilities in rural areas. This special fund was set up to allow state officials to try to lure companies to move or expand in Vermont.
The bigger award — $500,000 — would go to G.W. Plastics, an injection-molding manufacturer with plants in Bethel and Royalton in Vermont, as well as in Texas, Arizona, Mexico and China. The company needs to expand because of a contract with a new customer. According to the Shumlin administration, the company has considered opening a new facility in New Hampshire close to its new customer. Vermont officials hope by offering $500,000 to the company, G.W. Plastics would instead expand in Vermont.
Tags: Emergency Board , G.W. Plastics , Image , Web Only
Sunday, October 18, 2015
On this week's Saturday Night Live, the irascible Brooklynite famous for his work on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm delivered a brilliant sendup of the irascible Brooklynite famous for running for president. During the show's cold open, David appeared as Sanders in a sketch skewering last week's Democratic debate. Channeling Sanders' unmodulated intensity, he immediately pledged to "dial it right up to a 10."
"We're doomed!" David-as-Sanders shouted. "We need a revolution! Millions of people on the streets. And we gotta do something! And we gotta do it now!"
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Larry David , SNL , underwear , Image , Recommended Reading , Video , Web Only
Friday, October 16, 2015
Three other longtime employees outside the newsroom will also leave Vermont's largest daily newspaper under the deal the Gannett Corporation offered across the chain to employees who are at least 55-years-old and have 15 years of service as of October 12.
The Gannett buyout, targeting higher-paid employees, is the latest cost-cutting effort by the national media company, which has slashed its workforce during the last 10 years.
Will the shrinking news staff in Burlington shrink some more? In Burlington, all five positions will be filled, including the executive editor slot, according to Free Press Media president and publisher Al Getler. It's too early to say who will take over as the top editor, he said. “It's too important a presence for the state of Vermont to not do a thorough search," Getler said. "It's going to take some time."
Tags: Burlington Free Press , Gannett , Michael Donoghue , Michael Townsend , Image , Web Only
Walters, 90, wasn’t ill when he started the campaign that led to Vermont’s 2013 Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act. Walters said repeatedly over the years that he didn’t know whether he would ever need the law himself, but he knew he would want the option.
Walters, who lived at Wake Robin retirement community with his wife, Ginny, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014. His health declined rapidly during the past two months, Necrason said.
“Dick was grateful to be able to direct his own end of life under Act 39,” said Necrason, whose firm, Necrason Group, formerly Sirotkin & Necrason, has represented the advocacy group Patient Choices Vermont for more than a decade.
Necrason said Walters’ family told him Friday afternoon that his death was “peaceful, relatively quick and with some cheer.”
Tags: Physician-assisted suicide , death with dignity , end-of-life choices , Dick Walters , Image , Web Only
For nearly a decade, the life-size figure, clad in his signature mustard-yellow jumpsuit over red-and-white striped undergarments, had sat on a wooden bench in the playground outside Burlington's Ronald McDonald House. It's not the first time he's fallen victim to vandalism — someone burned his face with a lighter in August — but this time the damage appears irreparable, and he's been removed from the bench.
Were the vandals, who struck two weeks ago, attempting a political statement against the interminably controversial corporate restaurant chain? If so, they picked a poor target, according to Kristine Bickford, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Since 1984, the charity has provided temporary lodging and meals to families with children receiving medical services from the University of Vermont's Children's Hospital. People can stay at the former church parsonage on the corner of South Winooski and Pearl streets for $10 a night.
Tags: Burlington , Ronald McDonald , University of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Occasionally, Green Cab owner Charlie Herrick, who sat behind the two lobbyists, chimed in. So did several others in the audience.
The conversation was civil, and city officials and Uber reps appear close to arriving at a set of rules they'll both accept. But afterwards Herrick upbraided the effort, telling reporters: "They are deregulating the industry. That is what is happening in this room."
Burlington is nearing the end of a months-long rewrite of its taxi regulations, prompted by the arrival last October of the ride-hailing company Uber, which connects passengers with drivers through an app. After the city attorney determined that the company was operating illegally, councilors approved a temporary operating agreement with Uber. They decided to overhaul the current ordinance so that it would apply alike to traditional cab companies and companies such as Uber, which considers itself a "transportation network company."
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