The owners of three central Vermont newspapers — the Stowe Reporter, Waterbury Record, and the News & Citizen of Morrisville — are expanding into Chittenden County with the purchase of the Shelburne News and the Citizen, which covers Charlotte and Hinesburg.

According to the Stowe Reporter, which announced the sale Wednesday in a story on its website, the deal took effect last week. The article quoted Stowe Reporter group publisher Greg Popa as saying that the company's move into Chittenden County was a “natural” one, since it already had advertising connections there through its membership in the Burlington Area Newspaper Group.

Holly Johnson, president of Wind Ridge Publishing and Wind Ridge Books, previously owned the Citizen and the News. Her buyers, not identified in the Reporter story, are Bob Miller and Norb Garrett, who own a trio of weekly newspapers in San Clemente, Dana Point and Capistrano, California. Miller and Garrett acquired the Stowe Reporter Group in 2014.

At his weekly press conference Wednesday, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott made it plainer than he ever has before: He wants uniformity in health care benefits for public school teachers throughout the state. He insisted such a standard is the only way to maximize savings for taxpayers, which he continues to identify as $26 million.

“I don’t know how you [ensure maximum] savings by ignoring the fact that everyone’s getting something different,” he said. “I just think that having all of the uniformity, of having the health care plans the same … that’s essential.”

Scott formally proposed centralizing negotiations for teacher health insurance in late April. The majority-Democrat legislature objected to removing health care from local bargaining between school boards and teachers, and proposed a number of mechanisms designed to save money without changing the collective bargaining process. The Vermont-National Education Association has lobbied strongly against any restrictions on bargaining.

Updated at 4:15 p.m.

Acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles announced Wednesday that her office had reached a $155 million settlement, the largest of its kind in state history, against an electronic health records company accused of widespread fraud.

The lawsuit alleged that eClinicalWorks, one of the country's largest vendors of electronic health record software, falsified its capabilities to pass tests required for government certification. The lawsuit also accused eClinicalWorks, based in Westborough, Mass., of failing to adequately test software before it was released, failing to quickly correct urgent problems and paying kickbacks to some customers in exchange for promoting its software.

"This resolution demonstrates the government's coordinated effort to protect programs like Medicare and Medicaid that millions of Americans rely on every day," Cowles said during a news conference touting the settlement.

Days after Gov. Phil Scott vetoed marijuana legalization legislation, the work of making adjustments to the bill is already under way.

Key legislators and marijuana legalization advocates met Thursday and Friday with Scott's staff to discuss changes he asked for when he vetoed the measure on Wednesday.

As now written, the bill would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older. It would also allow adults to grow at home two mature plants. The legislation, which would go into effect July 2018, would not legalize marijuana sales.

In announcing the veto, Scott said he's seeking a few revisions, like beefing up penalties for using marijuana around children and extending the deadline for a commission to study full pot legalization in Vermont. Those changes could be made in time for the legislature's planned June 21 veto session.

As reported by Seven Days this week, the program, which was launched in 2012, may run afoul of a 2004 law that forbids the DMV from implementing "processes for identifying applicants for licenses ... that involve the use of biometric identifiers."

Additionally, documents obtained by the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union suggest that the database of 2.7 million images has been widely shared with federal and local law enforcement — despite prior assurances from the DMV that it would not be.

"The ACLU raises good concerns," Donovan said in a brief interview Thursday. "The privacy concerns are, in addition to the legal question, the most pressing matter."

Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday appointed two new members to the Green Mountain Care Board, the body that oversees the health care industry in Vermont. The governor tapped Sen. Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland) to serve as the board’s chair and veteran financial executive Maureen Usifer to a second vacancy. Both appointments are effective immediately.

The GMCB had been struggling since early January to conduct its business with only three of five seats filled. The board could only hold meetings if all three were in attendance, and a unanimous vote was required to approve most items. Last week, the board put off action on a proposed surgical center in Colchester because it could not attain unanimity.

Scott noted during a Montpelier press conference Wednesday that he had heard “the cries for help from the board last week” and made his selections as quickly as possible.

Updated at 4:17 p.m.

Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday vetoed pending legislation that would legalize marijuana in Vermont. But he promised to work with lawmakers to fashion a new bill that might win his support next month.

“I am not philosophically opposed to ending the prohibition on marijuana,” Scott said at a highly anticipated press conference in his Montpelier office. “However … we must get this right.”

The legislation would have allowed adults over age 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow as many as two mature plants per household, starting in July 2018. It also would have created a commission to report back by November with a plan to tax and regulate marijuana sales, as other states have done.

The Republican governor said Wednesday that he would provide legislators with “explicit” recommendations to craft a bill that might meet his approval. He suggested that lawmakers tackle them when they reconvene July 21 for an expected two-day veto session.

Middlebury College has disciplined 67 students after its investigation into the disruption of a March 2 lecture by controversial author Charles Murray, the school announced Tuesday.

The sanctions range "from probation to official college discipline, which places a permanent record in the student's file," the school said in a statement.

Murray attempted to lecture in the McCullough Student Center about his 2012 book, Coming Apart. Murray is better known for his 1994 book, The Bell Curve, which sought to correlate social inequality to genetics. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled his work "racist pseudoscience."

Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo is praising an officer who drew his gun but didn't use it as a robbery suspect nearly ran him over on Saturday.

"Burlington is lucky to have cops who exhibit this level of restraint," del Pozo wrote about Burlington Police Cpl. Mike Hemond on Facebook Monday.

The post on the chief's page included a clip from Hemond's body cam of the dramatic chase at College and Lake Streets near the crowded Burlington waterfront. It shows Hemond raising his gun and shouting at suspect Andrew Lavallee to stop.

"The suspect was known to the pursuing officer because he'd previously gone through pains to take him to drug court in lieu of charges," del Pozo wrote on Facebook. "It didn't stop the suspect from nearly running the officer over this time around. Pistol drawn, legally allowed to shoot, the officer held his fire. "

Lavallee was apprehended nearby and charged with assault and robbery, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and eluding.

He pleaded not guilty and was being held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton. Lavallee has 15 prior convictions including possession of heroin, forgery and possession of stolen merchandise.

Many people chimed in with kudos for Hemond on Facebook. "Give him a medal!" one person posted. "Great job BPD," another wrote.

The chief's post raised an issue about use of deadly force and policy on officers firing at moving vehicles — a hot issue in the national policing debate.

Federal guidelines strongly discourage police from firing at moving vehicles because the tactic can kill passengers or bystanders. A suburban Dallas officer who was responding to a call in April about a house party is facing a murder charge for firing into a car while on duty and killing an innocent 15-year-old passenger.

In an interview with Seven Days Tuesday, del Pozo said the situation in Texas is nothing like the one in Burlington. He also emphasized that the officer in Burlington did not shoot.

The car in Texas was driving away from the officer and there was little indication of a crime, he said. The Burlington car was heading for the officer, and the suspect had at least 15 convictions and was accused of an assault and robbery nearby, the chief said.

Lavallee was not armed, but the car he drove posed a potential threat, the chief said.

"If the officer believed that the car could have caused him serious physical injury or death, then he would have been justified in shooting at it. The law's completely clear on that," del Pozo said.

The chief said he wanted to spotlight the officer's response because it was measured and in keeping with recent trainings to avoid excessive force.

"I want to reiterate he would have been justified in shooting at the car but I'm glad he didn't, because my policy says he ought not to if he can do something less dangerous," del Pozo said.

Burlington police policy says that officers can shoot at a moving vehicle only in "extreme circumstances" to protect their lives and the lives of others from what the officers reasonably believe to be "an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury."

The robbery was reported in a 911 call from 51-year-old Chris Khamnei of Burlington at 3:40 p.m Saturday. He said he had been robbed and assaulted at the corner of Bank and Pine Streets downtown, according to a press release.

Del Pozo told Seven Days that Khamnei had arranged to buy gift cards from the suspect downtown but things didn't go as planned. Lavallee robbed the victim of an undisclosed amount of cash, del Pozo said. The suspect got into a small silver car and headed toward the waterfront. Burlington Police attempted to pull the car over, and Lavallee jumped out and ran. He later got back into the car and was ultimately stopped on lower Main Street, according to the police.

Here's the officer's body cam video:

A judge from the environmental division of the Vermont Superior Court has cleared another obstacle in the effort to redevelop the Burlington Town Center. On Monday, Judge Thomas Walsh denied a request to delay construction by a group that opposes the project.

With the ruling, developer Don Sinex plans to move ahead with the project and begin construction in midsummer, according to spokesperson Liz Miller.

"I am pleased with this decision denying a stay; it is a good step forward for the Burlington Town Center redevelopment," Sinex said in a statement. "Rather than fight, we wish [the opponents] would join with us and the many Burlington residents who already support this project."