Friday, May 20, 2016
Rep. David Deen (D-Westminster) said he tried to persuade the governor’s staff that adding members of the public to the state’s Clean Water Fund Board was a good idea. “I’ve been having an argument with them all afternoon,” Deen said. “And I lost.”
The bill, H. 518, would have added four people, including two municipal officials, to the five-member board established as part of a broad clean water bill last year. The existing five members are all state agency secretaries. The board’s job is to make recommendations to the governor about how to spend money intended for cleaning up waterways.
Tags: David Deen , Gov. Peter Shumlin , Clean Water Fund Board , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 19, 2016
The name is a nod to the former Strand Theater, which burned down at the site in the mid-1950s. The proposed development by Burlington-based Redstone would make over a key block on the northwest corner of West Allen and Main, now the site of a pocket park and shuttered drive-through bank.
The hall could host conventions, performances and community events, said Bill Niquette, senior associate at Redstone. It's not envisioned as a commercial movie theater. The bank will be demolished.
The goal is for the Winooski development to extend the downtown-style street life on the lower block of Main around Sneakers Bistro, the Mule Bar and other businesses to what is now a "dead block," Niquette said. The building would have three or four entrances, with the event hall at the northern end of the block. It would also have a roof deck facing west.
Tags: Winooski , the Strand , Bill Niquette , Redstone , Image , Web Only
Though he remains far behind Clinton in the delegate count, Sanders is hoping to inflict a “heavy blow” on Clinton by winning the California primary and is determined to have a vocal presence at the Democratic Convention in July, the Times reported.
The Times said:
While Mr. Sanders says he does not want Mr. Trump to win in November, his advisers and allies say he is willing to do some harm to Mrs. Clinton in the shorter term if it means he can capture a majority of the 475 pledged delegates at stake in California and arrive at the Philadelphia convention with maximum political power.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , DNC , Hillary Clinton , convention , presidential campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Rep. Kesha Ram (D-Burlington) and Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden) said Wednesday they remain committed to their pursuit of the nomination in an August primary. Both said Smith gave them a heads-up Tuesday about his plans to join the race.
“I look forward to a robust debate on the issues,” Zuckerman said Wednesday morning, later issuing a press release that listed numerous issues on which he will challenge Smith.
“We have been out on the campaign trail for the last 24 weeks and we are feeling positively about the reaction we’re getting from Vermonters,” Ram said.
Some Vermont Democrats had encouraged the 29-year-old Ram, the least experienced of the candidates, to run instead for the state Senate. She declined.
Tags: cannabis related , David Zuckerman , Election 2016 , Kesha Ram , Phil Scott , Shap Smith , Image , Web Only
"I think that there is a real opportunity for someone who wants to work on many of the challenges that the state faces and is willing to use that office to convene people around issues like tax reform, higher education financing, health care and downtown redevelopment," he said.
After 14 years in the House — including eight as its speaker — the 50-year-old lawyer has been looking for an opportunity to trade his Lamoille County district for a statewide perch. Smith launched a campaign for governor last August but suspended it in November when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. After her health improved this spring, he considered reentering the gubernatorial race but determined he couldn't raise enough money.
Smith said the lieutenant governor gig appealed to him because its part-time nature would allow him to focus on complex policy issues without having to manage "the day-to-day issues of running either the Senate or the House."
"As I thought more about the office and how it can be used, I have gotten more excited by the possibilities," he said.
Tags: Shap Smith , lieutenant governor , Election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Hours after the polls closed Tuesday, nervous network execs still hadn't called Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary. By midnight, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was leading Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by fewer than 2,000 votes out of 455,000 cast, with all but four precincts reporting.
Across the country, the results were far clearer: Sanders won Oregon by roughly six percentage points. His wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, delivered the news to him as he addressed thousands of supporters at a rally in Carson, Calif.
Though Sanders likely netted several delegates to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Clinton crept ever closer to the majority she will need to seal the party's nomination. Including some but not all of those awarded Tuesday, Clinton was leading Sanders 1,767 to 1,488 among pledged delegates, according to the Associated Press. Counting superdelegates, Clinton had reached 2,291 — less than 100 shy of the 2,383 she needs.
But as he does nearly every election night, Sanders declared in Carson that he would remain in the race "'til the last ballot is cast."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , Kentucky , Oregon , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Two airport operations employees were on the otherwise-idle runway doing routine work when they saw the meteor. It looked so close that they worried it might have crashed at the Vermont Air Guard installation across the tarmac.
They made a quick call to the guard and were told there was no problem, according to Gene Richards, director of aviation.
The two employees checked to see if the airport security cameras had captured the show, and found they had. “We had a crew right out there and they came back in and they checked our cameras and it couldn’t have been more perfect,” said Richards, who was not at the airport when the fly-by took place.
“It’s really beautiful, and it’s a real rare occurrence,” Richards said.
Louis Meyers, a doctor who lives in Williston, has abandoned plans to run for lieutenant governor in favor of running for Senate in the Chittenden district in the Democratic primary.
Dawn Ellis, a Democrat who finished seventh in a race for six Chittenden Senate district seats in the general election in 2014, said she plans to make another run this year.
That makes at least 10 Democrats, including four incumbents, competing for six nominations to be determined in the August 9 primary.
Tags: Dawn Ellis , Louis Meyers , John Gifford , Vermont Senate , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 16, 2016
The Burlington City Council voted Tuesday night to grant Noelle MacKay a waiver to the city requirement that says key appointees, including the Community and Economic Development Office director, should be legal Burlington voters, meaning they must reside in the city.
Then all but one member of the 12-person council voted to approve MacKay's appointment as Burlington's new CEDO director, but not without some debate first.
Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) voted against the hardship exemption and against MacKay's appointment. Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1), Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) and Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) also voted against the hardship waiver, but subsequently voted to confirm MacKay.
Tags: Noelle MacKay , Selene Colburn , Dave Hartnett , Max Tracy , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Progressives are still regretting their support of Democrat Peter Shumlin in the gubernatorial race in 2010, when he first won the office.
The Progressive Party State Committee did agree to endorse Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden) in his bid for lieutenant governor and to back the reelection of State Auditor Doug Hoffer, also a Progressive/Democrat. Those endorsements come as no surprise.
But most of the committee voted not to support any of the three Democrats running for governor, Progressive Party chair Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said.
All three — former state senators Matt Dunne and Peter Galbraith and former state transportation secretary Sue Minter — sought the left-leaning party’s endorsement at the meeting Saturday in Randolph.
Tags: Vermont Progressive Party , Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Peter Galbraith , Election 2016 , Image , Web Only