Thursday, March 23, 2017
The decision, issued Thursday morning by Judge Martin Maley in St. Albans, means McAllister will stand trial on two misdemeanor counts of prohibited acts and one felony charge of sexual assault.
The former Franklin County legislator could face up to life in prison if convicted of the sexual assault charge.
Tags: Norm McAllister , sexual assault case , plea deal , Brooks McArthur , David Williams , Bob Katims , Judge Martin Maley , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
State's Attorney Sarah George, who created the study commission, urged skeptics to keep an open mind, and stressed that current, less controversial practices have left hundreds of Vermonters struggling with addiction.
"They don't want to be committing crimes; they want to be reliable and trustworthy," George said.
She hopes the commission makes a recommendation in the next few months on whether the county should open an injection site where street drug users would have medical supervision and be exempt from arrest, she said.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Burlington , heroin , opiates , Opioid Crisis , safe injection , Sarah George , Image , Web Only
Under the media shield bill, journalists could not be compelled to reveal confidential sources or the information that those sources provide.
S.96 also limits when a reporter can be forced to disclose information provided by a nonconfidential source to situations in which the material is highly relevant to a significant court case, unattainable by other means and when there's a "compelling need for disclosure."
"Lately, as we have seen, the press has come under assault like never before," said Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham), who cosponsored the bill. "It is therefore timely that we review their role and how to protect it."
Tags: Vermont Senate , shield law , Image , Web Only
The House Judiciary Committee voted out the bill, H.170, by an 8-3 vote on Wednesday.
The action was delayed because House leaders feared the bill lacked the votes to pass the full chamber. That appears to have changed in the past few days.
“It sounds like we do have the votes ,” said Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana legalization , Maxine Grad , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has performed this dance more than probably any other human being who’s ever walked the earth, as the Senate’s longest currently serving member and the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. On Tuesday, he took a new partner for a spin: Appellate Court Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee. It was the second day of Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings but the first time the nominee was questioned under oath.
As in a dance, each partner plays a well-rehearsed role and is fully aware of the other’s moves. The one big difference: Astaire tries to step on his partner’s toes and provoke a reaction, while Rogers’ face maintains a resolute smile.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Leahy sometimes provoked a visible clench from the witness and a response best described as obsequious condescension. Gorsuch isn’t quite a skilled enough Rogers to completely hide his political differences with Leahy and his impatience with the senator’s tactics.
Tags: Neil Gorsuch , Patrick Leahy , Donald Trump , Philip Anschutz , U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee , Antonin Scalia , Merrick Garland , Barack Obama , guy with a gravel pit , Image , Web Only
The appeal came as the House Appropriations Committee prepares to finish its budget bill by the end of the week. As the panel pared a $73 million budget gap down to $6.4 million, complaints about budget cuts began to mount this week.
The committee is building a budget based on $5 million in new revenue that would be generated by cracking down on tax-law compliance, but has otherwise avoided raising taxes or fees.
That’s not sitting well with some members of the legislature.
“We have said, ‘Don’t take the liberal wing for granted,’” Rep. Paul Poirier (I-Barre) said Tuesday, flanked by other members of the Legislative Working Vermonters’ Caucus during a Statehouse press conference. “The workers caucus is not interested in cutting the human services budget.”
Tags: 2018 state budget , appropriations , Vermont Legislature , emergency housing , Kitty Toll , Johannah Donovan , Paul Poirier , Chris Pearson , homeless , Image , Web Only
“We will vote to increase compensation for these positions this year,” Sen. President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) told reporters at a briefing in his Statehouse office.
It’s a surprising pledge, coming when the legislature is struggling to fill a budget gap while meeting the governor’s request that it not raise taxes or fees.
Sen. Claire Ayer (D-Addison), who chairs the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, told the assembled reporters that uncompetitive pay is the “single biggest issue” contributing to a strained mental health system, which has left patients languishing in emergency rooms. She noted that there are currently about 400 vacancies across the designated agencies that provide community-based care for people who are mentally ill.
Last week, Ayer’s committee passed a bill that, among other things, would allocate $30 million to increase designated agency employees’ pay to at least $15 an hour, and to pay professional staff at least 85 percent of the market rate.
Tags: Affordable Care Act , mental health , Tim Ashe , Jane Kitchel , Claire Ayer , Image , Web Only
Matt Cameron, a Boston-based immigration attorney, has agreed to represent Cesar Alex Carrillo, Enrique Balcazar and Zully Palacios pro bono. He called the arrests a "clear, simple case of retaliation" and painted a picture of a vindictive, overreaching Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Vermont.
"There's nowhere else where they would surveil people like [them]," Cameron said in a phone interview with Seven Days on Tuesday.
He called the Vermont office "over-resourced" and contended that the three most recent arrests, coupled with the arrests of Victor Diaz and Miguel Alcudia last year, point to a broader trend. "Why are we wasting resources on thoroughly decent people like Zully and Enrique who are doing really important work for their communities?" he said.
Tags: Matt Cameron , Migrant Justice , Enrique Balcazar , Alex Carrillo , Zully Palacios , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 20, 2017
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) questioned ICE's actions and the potential impact on a crucial state industry. Their statement says: "Instead of focusing on removing those people who pose a threat to public safety or national security, the Trump administration is targeting all undocumented persons, including the people that help keep our dairy farms and rural economy afloat."
It also says, "Instead of common sense reform, we now have a divisive and xenophobic executive order issued unilaterally by President Trump that is tearing families and communities apart, and endangering our dairy farms here in Vermont."
Activists took to Twitter and the streets Friday and Saturday to denounce the arrests of Enrique Balcazar, Zully Palacios and Cesar Alex Carrillo, who were all detained within a three-day period in Burlington.
Tags: Migrant Justice , Will Lambek , Zully Palacios , Cesar Alex Carrillo , Enrique Balcazar , T.J. Donovan , Bill McKibben , Tim Ashe , Image , Web Only
Saturday, March 18, 2017
The bill survived an onslaught of hypotheticals posed by lawmakers in the final hours before the deadline. Legislation had to be voted out of committee by the end of the week to make it to the other chamber this session — and therefore have a chance at making it into law.
The task put reporters in an awkward position as they had to lobby legislators to pass a bill prompted, in part, by the fallout from a criminal sexual assault case involving former state senator Norm McAllister.
Prosecutors in that case, which continues today, subpoenaed reporters from Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio who had interviewed McAllister. The situation drew attention to the lack of legal protection for journalists and their sources in Vermont, one of a handful of states that doesn’t have a shield law.
The argument goes that whistleblowers and others need to know their identities will be protected in order to feel comfortable confiding in reporters.
Tags: shield law , Vermont senate , Norm McAllister , Image , Web Only