Wednesday, May 17, 2017
“We have reached an impasse,” Johnson said at a Statehouse press conference. “We’ve really worked to bring as many ideas and compromises to the table as possible, and we don’t have much of a negotiating partner, and that’s unfortunate.”
The announcement came less than two hours after Scott, Johnson and Ashe met privately in the speaker’s office.
After saying he was open to any proposal that would lead to health insurance savings, Scott has rejected several legislative plans that met that goal but didn’t do so through a statewide contract, as he originally proposed.
Tags: Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
The bill, which sailed through the legislature with very little opposition, will protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources or release unpublished material. Vermont becomes the 41st state to afford such protections to reporters.
"[The bill] creates a new statutory privilege protecting journalists from the compelled disclosure of confidential sources or other information received in confidence," Scott said. "This protection enables sources, from whistleblowers to victims of a crime, to feel confident in their ability to speak freely to the press."
Tags: Phil Scott , Paul Heintz , Vermont shield law , press protections , Norm McAllister , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
At least two of his Democratic colleagues in the U.S. House have called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump over his ties to Russia, but Welch declined to do the same Tuesday at a South Burlington press conference. In a written statement, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also fended off calls for impeachment, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did not immediately respond to a request for his position.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump shared highly classified intelligence with Russia's foreign minister and U.S. ambassador last week during a meeting in the Oval Office. The day before that meeting, the president fired FBI director James Comey, a decision he later said was influenced in part by the bureau's investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia. That prompted Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to accuse Trump of obstructing justice and join Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in calling for the president's impeachment.
Welch took a more cautious stance Tuesday morning during an unrelated press conference at Burlington International Airport. Vermont's sole U.S. House member called Trump's actions "pretty stupid." But when asked whether the president had committed an impeachable offense, Welch said, "He's got the legal authority. I think it's a judgment issue."
Tags: Peter Welch , Patrick Leahy , Donald Trump , impeachment , Image , Web Only
At issue is Scott's demand that negotiations for teacher health care benefits be done on a statewide basis — the best way, he says, to maximize taxpayer savings from pending changes in health insurance due to the federal Affordable Care Act. Democrats have pushed back on Scott's idea as an encroachment on the collective bargaining process between teachers and local school boards. House and Senate leaders have sought common ground with the governor, so far without success.
Johnson's plan has not been made public, but its outline has been widely circulated. It would leave negotiations at the local level while establishing statewide parameters for health care bargaining.
Tags: Mitzi Johnson , Phil Scott , Martha Allen , Rebecca Ramos , teacher health care , Vermont budget , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 15, 2017
This week, the city will paint new advisory bike lanes near the entrance to Oakledge Park in Burlington's South End. The city also announced plans last week for a bike-share program scheduled to begin later this summer.
The projects are included in the city's bike and pedestrian master plan, which the city council adopted last month.
Tags: Burlington , Burlington bike lanes , Burlington bike share , Oakledge Park , Image , Web Only
The mini-tour is designed to promote the British paperback release of Sanders’ book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. The dates coincide with a long weekend in the U.S. Senate’s calendar, so if his travel arrangements come off without a hitch, he won’t miss any days at work.
News of his tour was not easy to come by. We first caught wind of it via several reports in the British and Irish press, though there appeared to be no official tour announcement. The senator’s office, meanwhile, was no help whatsoever; we inquired after hearing of tour stops in Dublin and Oxford, and got the following terse emailed response from Sanders staffer Josh Miller-Lewis:
“It is a book event. You should contact the publisher.”
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Larry Sanders , Jeremy Corbyn , Josh Miller-Lewis , Tad Devine , Grady Kennison , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 12, 2017
But Scott, who has said he would not sign a budget that doesn't cut teacher health care costs, soon made clear he wasn't satisfied. “It doesn’t meet some of the standards that I had put in place,” the Republican governor told reporters several hours after the vote. By the end of the day, even a short-lived agreement between the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate had broken down.
The extended impasse led legislative leaders to abandon — for the second week in a row — their plan to adjourn for the year.
Asked late Friday whether they could still reach an agreement with Scott, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) said, "Of course we can." But by then, increasingly antsy rank-and-file members had already begun filtering out of the Statehouse — with plans to return next week on a to-be-determined day.
Tags: Vermont Senate , Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
Last week the Senate, with support from the state Agency of Agriculture, amended the miscellaneous agriculture bill to exempt the plans from the Public Records Act. Environmental groups, including the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Natural Resources Council, objected. They argued that residents have a right to know what measures farmers are taking to contain pollution given that those efforts rely on significant public funds.
Tags: Vermont legislature , Conservation Law Foundation , Vermont Natural Resources Council , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 11, 2017
In separate announcements Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) offered an alternative to Scott's proposal to mandate statewide negotiation of public school health insurance plans — a change the governor claims could save up to $26 million.
Johnson and Ashe characterized their plan, which would require the savings but allow school districts to determine how to achieve them, as a "compromise." But it was, in fact, a repurposed version of the same proposal Ashe had offered the governor a day earlier.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont Legislature , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
Four of five South Burlington School Board members said they would not support a vote on the controversial moniker despite a successful petition drive calling for one.
They said a public vote would represent an abdication of their responsibility as an elected board and that they stood by their decision to dump the name because it has racist connotations that divide the community.
Supporters of the petition drive decried the board's decision and said they might take legal action to pursue a vote.
"I think it was an extremely cowardly move," said Stacey Savage, a leader in the Rebel Alliance, which ran the petition drive, as she walked out of the meeting after the board's decision. "I think there is a tremendous division in the community that they have created."
Tags: Rebels , South Burlington School Board , Rebel Alliance , Image , Web Only