Tuesday, August 30, 2016
The DMV allegedly violated Vermont’s Driver’s Privilege Card law, which allows undocumented immigrants living in Vermont to drive legally.
The DMV agreed to pay Abdel Razaq Rababah $40,000, change its driver’s license application, and provide training to prevent employees from engaging in discrimination. The DMV made other concessions as part of a deal with the Vermont Human Rights Commission and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
“Actions like those taken against Mr. Rababah, based on his national origin, have a chilling effect on others who may wish to take advantage of this important program,” Human Rights Commissioner Karen Richards said in a prepared statement. “The public-interest relief obtained through this settlement will help to ensure that this vital benefit is available to those it is intended to serve without risk of immigration consequences.”
Tags: Abdel Razaq Rababah , Vermont DMV , ACLU , Human Rights Commission , driver's license , immigration , migrant workers , driver's privilege card , Image , Web Only
Authorities charged Leroy Hughes, 32, and Mehmed Devac, 22, for the August 11 incident inside the Newport prison. They are scheduled to be arraigned in Orleans Superior Court in October. Kidnapping carries a maximum life sentence.
The standoff drew a horde of officers from state police, the Orleans County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Border Patrol to the prison. Every prison in the state was briefly locked down in response, WCAX-TV reported.
Tags: Vermont DOC , kidnapping , Mehmed Devac , Leroy Hughes , Northern State Correctional Facility , Newport , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 25, 2016
In that contest, former Statehouse sergeant-at-arms Francis Brooks led Montpelier attorney Ashley Hill in the Democratic primary by just one vote after a recount earlier this week: 3,709 to 3,708. Vermont Superior Court Judge Timothy Tomasi is set to rule on the status of four contested ballots at a Friday hearing. Whoever prevails will win one of three Democratic slots on the general-election ballot for three Senate seats.
At an unrelated press conference Thursday in Burlington, an unusually chatty Shumlin revealed who he had voted for in several primary races. He said he'd cast ballots for gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter, who prevailed in her bid for the Democratic nomination, and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Shap Smith, who did not. Asked about the hotly contested Senate race, Shumlin had to think for a second.
"I gotta go back and dig into my memory on that," he said. "I had three votes. And I know they were — I wanna say the one I knew the least was Ashley Hill. So I think I voted for the other three."
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Ashley Hill , Francis Brooks , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Speaking to some 200 supporters at Burlington's North End Studios, the former presidential candidate said he hoped that "hundreds of thousands of people" would join the new group, called Our Revolution. It would immediately get to work supporting more than 100 candidates and seven ballot initiatives this election cycle, he said.
"These are people who will be fighting at the grassroots level for changes in their local school boards, in their city councils, in their state legislatures and in their representation in Washington," Sanders said.
According to Our Revolution executive director Shannon Jackson, Wednesday's launch was webcast to 2,600 house parties and 40,000 viewers across the country. But the event was overshadowed by an unusually public staff revolt within the fledgling organization, as well as questions surrounding its legal status.
As Politico and BuzzFeed first reported Tuesday, at least eight employees quit Our Revolution over the weekend after Sanders' former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, was brought in to serve as the group's president. They complained that Weaver planned to raise money from wealthy donors and spend it on television advertisements, rather than organize a grassroots political movement.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
So said Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson on a campaign swing through South Burlington Wednesday night with running mate William Weld by his side.
The two former Republican governors, both converts to the Libertarian Party, wore blue jeans and relaxed expressions as they pledged to fight tax increases, simplify the tax codes and make government better by making large portions of it disappear.
"Count on us to reduce taxes every single time," Johnson said. "Count on us because we get to run the administration of the federal government, that rules and regulations are going to get better, not worse."
A few hundred people waved signs proclaiming, "Our Best America Yet. You In?" and cheered loudly at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center as Johnson essentially proposed to put government on a starvation diet in order to fatten the wallets of ordinary people.
Tags: cannabis related , election rally , elections 2016 , Gary Johnson , Libertarians , presidential campaign , William Weld , Image , Web Only
James H. Crook, the lead investor in the proposed new company, Burlington Labs Acquisition, told the Green Mountain Care Board that unless he received approval for the new, reconstituted company within 30 days he would "pull the plug" and walk away from the deal. Crook also told the board that without a rescue by his investor group, Burlington Labs as it is now structured would likely go bankrupt.
"This company is bleeding," Crook said.
The new company requires a certificate of need from the board to operate, and the normal review can take nine months. The board voted unanimously to grant Crook's request for a shortcut under the emergency review process after he and his lawyers made the case for a dire need for expediency.
Without intervention, they argued, employees could lose their jobs if the company goes bankrupt. Further, addicts and parolees who are required to submit to the drug screenings that Burlington Labs provides would lose access to a vital service.
Tags: Burlington Labs , James Crook , Green Mountain Care Board , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Updated on August 23, 2016 at 6:15 p.m. with comments from the Vermont Attorney General's Office.
The Green Mountain Care Board on Wednesday will consider an emergency plan by a group of investors to purchase and save a Burlington drug-testing company beset by financial difficulties.
The last-gasp emergency review effort is an attempt to save Burlington Labs, which faces closure in the next 30 days because of outstanding debts, including $6.5 million in potential damages owed to the state of Vermont to settle charges of Medicaid fraud.
That's the dire scenario spelled out in a letter to the regulatory board from lawyers representing Burlington Labs Acquisition, a limited liability company formed to take on the company’s outstanding debts and to continue running the lab without interruption. The University of Vermont Health Network would also provide some cash to the venture and its chief financial officer, Todd Keating, has been offered a seat on the newly formed group’s board of directors.
Tags: Burlington Labs , Green Mountain Care Board , Michael Casarico , Image , Web Only
Amid the differences, the candidates had similarities, too, including some that seemed to surprise the audience Monday night in Randolph at a forum sponsored by the Vermont-NEA teachers’ union and televised live by Vermont PBS.
Asked whether transgender students should be able to use the bathrooms of their choice in schools, both Democrat Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott said they should.
“Absolutely,” Minter answered.
“The answer is yes, I believe they should,” Scott said, followed by murmurs from the crowd — suggesting some hadn’t expected the Republican to agree.
Tags: Phil Scott , Sue Minter , Vermont governor , Peter Shumlin , wind power , Vermont Health Connect , gubernatorial campaign , Image , Web Only
Friday, August 19, 2016
Officials will soon expand a needle-disposal pilot program that began at Burlington City Hall last winter, officials said.
The Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Department will outfit several bathrooms at “high public use and waterfront locations” around the city by September 1, said Deryk Roach, the superintendent of parks maintenance and operations. Officials hope the Stericycle boxes will reduce the number of used needles found in parks and on city sidewalks.
“Even one receptacle can lower the risk for maintenance workers, employees and members of the public using those facilities,” Roach told Seven Days.
Tags: needle disposal , Deryk Roach , Burlington parks , Selene Colburn , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Hall, a wealthy engineer from Utah and a member of the LDS Church, says his futuristic proposal is inspired by a document drawn up by the religion's founder, Joseph Smith. But he has maintained — and church spokespeople have confirmed — that the church itself is not involved in the effort.
Hall's vision for mega-villages — or "NewVista communities" — has unnerved residents in the central Vermont communities where he has amassed more than 1,000 acres. He's also been buying property in Utah, alarming residents there as well.
Tags: David Hall , Mormon Church , Utah , central Vermont , LDS church , NewVistas , Image , Web Only