On the eve of South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) nearly collided in the city of Orangeburg.

The two held competing rallies Friday afternoon at neighboring schools — South Carolina State University and Claflin University — less than a quarter of a mile apart. Then both candidates dropped by an oyster roast and fish fry hosted by a local politician at the county fairgrounds — barely missing one another.

The close encounter was a rare moment of drama in a race that, in the past week, has become a bit of a snoozer. Since losing the Nevada caucuses last Saturday, Sanders has all but conceded South Carolina, where he has long trailed Clinton in the polls. He spent much of the week outside the state.

Speaking in Orangeburg, which is three-quarters black, both candidates sought to appeal to the African American voters who will decide Saturday’s election.

In a largely party-line vote, the House approved a resolution Friday urging the state treasurer and the Vermont Pension Investment Committee to take steps for the state’s pension funds to divest their coal and ExxonMobil stocks. The vote: 76-57.

The resolution supports the call for divestment that Gov. Peter Shumlin made in his State of the State address in January. He appealed directly to the Vermont Pension Investment Committee earlier this week.

Treasurer Beth Pearce has argued that decisions about how pension money is invested should be based on financial factors, not politics. But after Shumlin addressed the investment committee, she and VPIC agreed to look into possible divestment of coal and ExxonMobil stocks.

The House resolution focused on both the climate change and financial arguments for divesting from fossil fuel assets. It noted, for example, that a growing number of coal companies are filing for bankruptcy.

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott said he made his decision Wednesday night. He’ll be voting for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the Republican presidential primary Tuesday — a decision his critics almost immediately denounced.

“I’m looking for somebody who can build consensus within the party,” said Scott, a Republican candidate for governor who joins a group of about 30 state legislators backing Rubio. “I think he has treated people and the process with respect… I think he has a calming effect.”

Bruce Lisman, who is competing with Scott for the Republican nomination, has declined to reveal whether he’s decided whom to support for president.

Democrats Sue Minter and Matt Dunne, competing for their party's nomination for the open governor's seat, have both said they are supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president in the primary. 

The paint is peeling, and the "L" in Elihu B. Taft's name is askew on  the school building named for the philanthropist who donated the land in the late 1920s.

So it would seem the right time for the University of Vermont to begin its $2 million-plus  renovation of the Taft School on South Williams. 

There's a problem, though. Two years after the Burlington School District and City Council agreed to convey the 1938 building to UVM under a $1.6 million, 80-year lease, the two public-school alternative programs now operating at Taft are stranded.

UVM's lease begins July 1. But there is still  no "permanent home" for the OnTop and Horizons programs, says Burlington School Board member David Kirk, Ward Seven. He's chair of the board's Infrastructure & Technology Committee, which is overseeing the relocation. 

Kirk declined further comment. 

The delay rankles some who opposed the lease to begin with,  including Colchester Avenue resident Martha Lang. She finds it troubling that district officials, even with ample time, have failed to relocate students. "They still don't know where they are going to put them," Lang said.

She objected to the lease, arguing that it went against the provision in Taft's will that directed the property be used for school children and, failing that, for indigent men.

The courts took a different view and, after a lengthy legal battle, allowed the lease of the long-closed  neighborhood school.  School officials had been trying to sell it for years.

A new location soon could be settled for at least one of the Taft programs, OnTop. It serves special-education students in grades five to 12. 

The district wants to put 27 OnTop students in leased space at the Chace Mill on Mill Street. Redstone Commercial Group, which owns the space through its  Catamount Holding Co., is seeking a zoning change  from "warehouse/office/lab" to "school."

 The Chace Mill is on the banks of the Winooski River, and safety has been part of the discussion. Redstone has offered to put up new guard rails and barrier fencing in response to concerns.

A Burlington Development Review Board  hearing is set for March 2.  According to the application and supporting paperwork from Redstone, the 8,000-square-foot space would have five classrooms and accommodate 16 school employees along with the students. 

The Chace Mill space has already been used for education, apparently without the zoning change. State records show that Petonbowk Academy operated there during at least the 2014-2015 school year.  The state-licensed independent school was authorized to enroll 15 students with autism and other disabilities. 

The Burlington School District  is looking at other locations for  Horizons, a program for students at risk of dropping out of high school. It typically enrolls 30 to 40 students.

Horizons and OnTop program director Lynn Kennedy declined to comment on the relocation and referred a reporter to Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng.
"We are considering several options and trying to be creative, while looking for the best accommodations for these students," he said via email.

Obeng declined to elaborate further and said there will be an update at the next school board meeting on March 8.

The UVM art department will use the Taft building, which will be renovated in two phases.   

On Wednesday morning, shortly before the Vermont Senate voted to legalize marijuana, a mysterious advertisement appeared on page nine of the Burlington Free Press.

The words “Governor Shumlin’s Anti-Drug Legacy” appeared in large type at the top of the full-page ad. Then, over an image of the governor: “SELL-OUT.”

What made the ad so mysterious was that its sponsor was not identified.

“Paid for by concerned Vermonters,” was all it said — in fine print, near the bottom of the page.

That had Shumlin wondering who paid for the ad — and whether it was legal.

“We’re trying to find that out,” he said Thursday morning. “You shouldn’t be able to run ads like that without saying who you are.”

The Vermont Senate altered a marijuana legalization bill Thursday to make room for more small growers, a move that swayed one senator to change her vote.

The Senate voted 17-12 to move the bill to the House. Sen. Becca Balint (D-Windham), who voted against the measure a day earlier, changed her mind after senators expanded options for small growers.

“I still have concerns,” Balint said. “I do think it’s a better bill.”

The bill, which sets up a system of taxing and regulating marijuana, would allow those 21 years of age or older to possess up to an ounce starting in 2018. Permits would be issued for up to 30 marijuana stores where Vermonters could buy up to a half-ounce at a time and out-of-staters a quarter-ounce.

Two hours after learning that five private drinking-water wells in North Bennington had tested positive for a chemical,  Gov. Peter Shumlin called a news conference to detail how his staff was responding.

Shumlin clearly wanted to contrast his administration’s quick action with the slow response that Republican Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan had to the lead contamination of the drinking water in Flint.

Prompted by news that contamination had been detected in water sources in nearby Hoosick Falls, N.Y., the Department of Environmental Conservation took water samples from the municipal water source in North Bennington, and from wells at three homes, a business and the wastewater treatment plant. The test looked for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used to make Teflon. North Bennington was home to a Teflon manufacturer, and the company, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, still operates a plant in Hoosick Falls.

 No PFOA contamination turned up in the town water supply, but levels exceeding what the Vermont Department of Health considers safe were found in the other wells, Shumlin said.

A little after 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sultana Khan picked up the phone at her Randolph home and heard something unexpected: a recorded message from the leader of a white nationalist group, urging her to vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"It was pretty shocking," she says. 

Khan wasn't the only recipient. The man behind the ad, American Freedom Party chairman William Daniel Johnson, says his super PAC attempted to reach nearly every consumer landline in Vermont Wednesday night. He says he chose the state, after placing similar calls to Iowa and New Hampshire, because he was curious how such a liberal populace would respond. 

This story was updated 2/25/2016 at 4:15 p.m. to include information about a campaign finance complaint, and  2/26/2016 at 11:42 a.m. to include a response from Better Streets for Burlington.

Road projects don’t typically become partisan affairs, but the debate over Burlington's North Avenue pilot project is anything but ordinary.

For months, residents have been arguing about whether the city should experiment with a new lane configuration on a busy section of the main thoroughfare that links the New North End to the rest of Burlington.

The city council unanimously approved the plan to turn a four-lane section into three lanes with two bike lanes. But in response to a petition signed by more than 1,500 residents, it also agreed to put a question on the Town Meeting ballot, asking residents whether the road should remain four lanes. A "no" vote will be interpreted as supportive of the pilot project.

This post was updated at 6:58 p.m. on February 24, 2016.

The Vermont Senate voted 16-13 Wednesday for a bill that would legalize the sale and possession of marijuana in 2018.

“For me the question has always been, ‘Does the current system of prohibition work?’” Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) said on the Senate floor. “The answer is clear.”

Sears and other supporters argued that taxing and regulating marijuana would be preferable to the current reality, with an estimated 80,000 Vermonters buying, growing and using marijuana illegally.

Opponents argued that legalization sends the wrong message. “Why are we saying, ‘Let’s legalize another drug’ when we have people who are in the grips of addiction?” asked Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell (D-Windsor).