Friday, July 21, 2017
Library director Mary Danko and Mayor Miro Weinberger condemned the act as hate speech in a statement issued Friday.
The custodian took a photo of the graffiti and then painted over it, according to Katie Vane, the mayor's communications and projects coordinator. The library employee told Danko about the graffiti when he saw her on Tuesday, and the library director immediately notified the Burlington Police Department.
Tags: Fletcher Free Library , Miro Weinberger , Mary Danko , hate speech , Image , Web Only
In 2005 it was Jim Douglas. In 2011, Peter Shumlin gave it a shot. And now in 2017, Gov. Phil Scott has unveiled his very own Climate Action Commission. Every six years, like clockwork.
Scott even joked about the repeat performance. “I wanted to carry on the tradition,” he said at a Thursday press conference. The assembled dignitaries chuckled. He then proceeded to explain, with full seriousness, why Yet Another Panel was a good idea.
“I think it’s important to reestablish those commissions and look at what the objectives were of those commissions,” he said. “I think what we’re looking for is, they went a long ways, and we’re looking to move on from there forward.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Jim Douglas , Peter Shumlin , Johanna Miller , June Tierney , Paul Costello , Bill McKibben , Skip Vallee , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Development company Redstone bought the triangle-shaped lot and ramshackle, one-story building in the Old North End last year. The Burlington Development Review Board on July 5 green-lighted soundproofing, new siding and new storefront doors — among other changes — at the former convenience store and bottle-redemption facility once a popular spot for "canners" who would bring around carts full of returnables.
"Everything is looking good and we're hopeful that it's going to be a cool element of creativity in the Old North End where Burlington-based bands and bands from other parts of the country can lay down tracks and make great music," said Redstone managing partner Erik Hoekstra.
Tank's owners did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
According to Hoekstra, Tank is leasing the 3,200-square-foot space at 208-212 North Winooski and moving out of its space just down the road at 274 North Winooski.
The flies and sticky floors at the former redemption center will be a thing of the past.
"We are renovating and retrofitting the existing building. We are not tearing that building down, we are not starting all over," Hoekstra said. "We are working with what's there and trying to get rid of the sticky fly situation and breathe some new life into the building."
The Burlington Beverage Center closed last September after 38 years in operation. The closing forced many low-income neighborhood residents who collect returnables for income to find another redemption center — in some cases walking five miles to get there.
The zoning application indicated that up to six employees will work at the new studio, which anticipates maximum hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m, seven days a week.
The studio will help enliven an already vibrant corridor of shops, restaurants and residential buildings along the North Winooski corridor, according to the Redstone application to the DRB.
Tags: Tank Recording Studio , Burlington Beverage Center , Redstone , Image , Web Only
The University of Vermont slapped the frat, commonly known as Fiji, with a four-year suspension in March for alcohol and hazing violations.
The sanctions required that the chapter, at the corner of Main and South Willard streets, cease all activities for the duration of the suspension, thereby opening up a housing opportunity for Champlain.
The new beds mean the college can bring some students back to the heart of its Hill Section campus. These students were being housed several miles away at Bayberry Commons Apartments because there was no available dorm space, according to college spokesman Stephen Mease.
Tags: Champlain College , Fiji , Phi Gamma Delta , fraternity , University of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Mary Alice McKenzie will step down after 10 years at the helm of the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington.
The club’s director of development and communications, Tanya Benosky, will succeed McKenzie, according to a news release issued Wednesday. Benosky started with the organization in 2008 as finance director. The formal transition will take place on August 18.
“Tanya is the right person at the right time to take over leadership of the Club, allowing a seamless transition for the kids we serve and the community at large,” said Brian Waxler, who chairs the club’s board. Waxler also praised McKenzie’s work “changing so many lives in this community.”
The Boys & Girls Club currently operates out of three locations in Burlington’s Old North End, and serves 250 children daily. The club provides food, tutoring, mentoring and athletics.
Tags: Mary Alice McKenzie , Tanya Benosky , Boys & Girls Club of Burlington , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles' facial recognition program violates state law and should remain suspended, Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Tuesday.
Donovan said the program, which includes 2.7 million images of license applicants and has previously been shared with police, violates a 2004 law barring the DMV from using "biometric identifiers" in granting identification cards.
The DMV suspended use of facial recognition in May after Seven Days, using documents uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, published a story on the program.
The DMV should not restart the program unless it gets legislative approval, Donovan said.
"This is about balancing public safety with the privacy rights of Vermonters," Donovan said.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Vermont DMV , facial recognition database , facial recognition program , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 17, 2017
“We really didn’t believe it at first,” Mark Dubie said by phone Monday afternoon.
Despite logistical challenges, the husband-and-wife team accepted the invite and scurried off to Staples in Phoenix to create poster boards championing Vermont’s sweet stuff.
They were met Monday in Washington, D.C., by Dubie’s brother, Brian, who flew in with two suitcases carrying 70 pounds of maple syrup and maple candies.
Later in the day, the three Dubies welcomed President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and several hundred other visitors to their exhibit in the White House Blue Room.
“It was really cool,” Mark told Seven Days after leaving the White House. “The president spent five minutes with us.”
Tags: Brian Dubie , Mark Dubie , Marianne Dubie , Dubie Family Maple , Donald Trump , Mike Pence , White House , Made in America , Image , Web Only
The school district on Monday sought the dismissal of a lawsuit brought in June by supporters of the controversial Rebels moniker who want a public vote on the name change. In the filing, school district attorney Pietro Lynn argued that the school board had every right to make its decision, despite a successful petition drive by Rebel Alliance members who demanded the name change be decided by residents.
The "elected school board, not the electorate, has the authority to make operations and budgetary decisions and properly exercised its discretion in declining to put the Rebel name articles before the voters," reads the motion filed in Vermont Superior Court.
The school board voted unanimously to drop the name on February 1 after critics called it divisive and tainted by racist associations with the Confederacy. Supporters saw it as a harmless and unifying tradition.
That group founded an advocacy group — the Rebel Alliance — and launched the petition drive as part of their bid to retain the name.
One petition asked for a vote on the name itself, while a second called for a prohibition on spending public funds to change the name. Students, and later the school board, voted on and approved the new mascot: the Wolves.
The board announced at a May meeting it would not put the questions to a vote, which triggered outrage. Rebel Alliance leaders called the decision cowardly and argued that it violated due process.
Four Rebels supporters filed the June lawsuit: Robert A. Skiff Jr., Benjamin E. Nye, Stacey Savage and Marcy Brigham.
"South Burlington Rebels were taught to fight for what they believed was right and to never give up, and we are continuing that proud tradition," Savage, who serves as the Rebel Alliance spokeswoman, wrote in a press release shortly after filing the suit.
Savage on Monday did not immediately return a request for comment.
The district's motion argued that the lawsuit asks the school district to hold a vote about a symbol that "many consider racist." To retain such a symbol could alienate students and families, and put the district in violation of state and federal laws designed to prevent racism, the motion said.
On Monday, South Burlington High School principal Patrick Burke unveiled images of new sports jerseys, bearing the Wolves name, on Twitter.
They're here! First @SBHSWolves uniforms (volleyball) arrived today! SB AD Mr. Jabour proudly showing them off! #GoWolvesGo pic.twitter.com/CUwtFK9qqK
— Patrick Burke (@pburkevt) July 17, 2017
Tags: Rebels , South Burlington , race , Rebel Alliance , Image , Web Only
What changed? Scott has become one of a handful of Republican governors to oppose congressional efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“You’re not getting compliments from all your colleagues for doing this,” Welch told Scott, who flashed a sheepish grin. “But you’re getting a lot of compliments from the Vermonters you represent.”
Added Vermont House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero), whose budget Scott vetoed last month, “I want to thank the governor, as well, for speaking up, because it’s not an easy thing to speak up and go against the prevailing will of your party.”
Scott did, indeed, voice forceful opposition to repeal legislation U.S. Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote in the coming weeks, arguing that it would “leave our state with a budget deficit we could not absorb” without cutting services or raising taxes.
“The consequences for Vermonters would be severe,” the governor said of the bill.
Scott called it “imperative” that Republicans and Democrats work together to improve the ACA, but he was hazy on the details of what he sought. Asked whether there was an approach that might satisfy him and Vermont’s left-leaning congressional delegation, the governor retreated to his talking points.
Tags: Senator , Phil Scott , Bernie Sanders , Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , Mitzi Johnson , Affordable Care Act , Obamacare , repeal , Image , Web Only
Sunday, July 16, 2017
That's your quick summary of the Vermont congressional delegation's latest quarterly fundraising reports, which were due Saturday to the Federal Election Commission. (See fundraising totals from state candidates here.)
From April through June, Sanders' Senate reelection campaign raised nearly $1.3 million — almost entirely in donations of less than $100. It spent a little over $200,000, so the Sanders war chest continued to grow.
In fact, Sanders' cash-on-hand totaled nearly $4.9 million as of June 30.
That's got to be a chilling number for any Republican considering a run for U.S. Senate. Sanders, who faces reelection to a third six-year term in 2018, already has an insurmountable lead in fundraising — and he can seemingly produce millions more with a snap of his fingers.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , campaign finance , FEC , Image , Web Only