Thursday, November 30, 2017
About 40 people gathered in a small event room at the Courtyard Marriott to hear O'Keefe, whose Project Veritas has been in the national news this week for a botched sting that targeted the Washington Post.
He declined to answer questions about why Veritas apparently attempted to plant a fake story in the Post, saying the group does not discuss its "motives or methods." But O'Keefe vowed to keep doing undercover work and video exposés. "I don't consider anything off limits," he told the audience.
Tags: James O'Keefe , Project Veritas , Middlebury College , Image , Web Only
Jim Lockridge, who runs local music incubator Big Heavy World, declared in September that he would run for the seat, which represents downtown Burlington and part of the Old North End.
Moore announced on Facebook Wednesday night that she would not seek a second three-year term, citing the time commitment and career changes. She's currently pursuing her master's degree in social work at the University of Vermont.
Tags: Brian Pine , Sara Moore , James Lockridge , Ward 3 , Image , Web Only
The city has refused to turn over records that concern Councilor Karen Paul's decision to recuse herself last month from voting on a buyer. Paul provided few details about her conflict beyond saying it "has nothing whatsoever to do with the parties interested in purchasing Burlington Telecom."
Seven Days filed a public records request November 1. The paper requested communications between Paul, Mayor Miro Weinberger, City Council President Jane Knodell and city attorney Eileen Blackwood. That same day, Paul announced that she had quit her job as an accountant with the firm McSoley McCoy & Co. to eliminate her conflict of interest.
On November 3, the city provided the paper with a few "heavily redacted" documents, according to Seven Days' lawsuit, but refused to turn over an email between Paul and Weinberger. The city claimed that the record fell under an exemption in the public records act for "interdepartmental communications."
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Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Vermont is expected to receive $18.7 million over the next three years from the national fund. The money is supposed to help reduce nitrous oxide emissions from diesel-powered vehicles. Within that broad mission, it can be spent in a number of ways.
On Wednesday, the administration announced three broad principles for spending the money, and a general outline of which transportation sectors would be eligible to apply for VW settlement funding. The full proposal is available on the Agency of Natural Resources website.
Some background: The $18.7 million cannot be spent on personal or private vehicles — it's devoted to industrial and commercial vehicles such as trucks, buses, construction equipment, ferries, tugboats, and service vehicles used at airports and rail yards. The money can be spent on replacing diesel vehicles with electric ones, or replacing older diesel vehicles with modern, cleaner diesel engines. And up to 15 percent of the fund can be spent on electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.
Tags: Phil Scott , Peter Walke , Sarah Wolfe , Brian Shupe , Volkswagen settlement , Image , Web Only
Residents of Rochester and neighboring Stockbridge voted Tuesday in favor of a school district merger. The vote was 291-11 in Rochester and 96-49 in Stockbridge.
Both communities needed to approve the plan in order for it to move forward within the Thursday deadline set by Act 46, a state law that offers incentives for school governance consolidation. Rochester voters faced stiff tax increases if they failed to act.
The vote means that Rochester's middle-high school will close and students in those grades will be tuitioned to the school of their choice.
Rochester will keep its elementary school open and share teachers and programming with the elementary school in Stockbridge. Stockbridge already tuitions students in grades seven to twelve.
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Conservative political activist and mainstream media antagonist James O'Keefe will give a talk about campus free speech in Middlebury Thursday night.
The talk comes the same week that the Washington Post reported that his organization, Project Veritas, apparently tried to plant fake news in the paper.
The title of the talk is "Middlebury's Problem With Free Speech." That's a reference to controversy around the visit by Bell Curve author Charles Murray to the private college last spring that ended in a near-riot.
The visit comes as the college deals with continuing fallout around race relations and free speech from the Murray visit.
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“I am confident this will save people's lives,” George said, during an interview Monday ahead of a public announcement Wednesday morning. “That’s good enough for me.”
These facilities, George suggested, will help Vermont address its opioid epidemic, which caused an unprecedented number of overdose fatalities in the state last year.
Safe injection facilities provide users with clean needles and medical supervision. Users arrive with their own drugs, without risking arrest.
The endorsement from Chittenden County's top prosecutor could help galvanize a legislative effort to establish such facilities in Vermont. Lawmakers introduced bills in both the House and Senate last January, but the legislation languished.
George said she was initially skeptical when a deputy told her about the concept last February. “I had never heard of them before, [and] frankly, I was pretty turned off by the idea,” George recalled.
Despite her qualms, the new state’s attorney assembled a commission of medical professionals, law enforcement and other stakeholders to study the idea. Following the commission's recommendation, George said she believes the state should legalize safe injection sites.
Tags: safe injection facility , Sarah George , Chittenden County , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
No individuals appear to have been exposed to the poison, and the potentially contaminated areas have been evacuated, according to a joint press release issued Wednesday morning by the FBI and the Vermont departments of Public Safety and Health.
"At this time no one from the public is in danger," the press release noted, describing the incident as "isolated."
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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
The Burlington City Council voted 8-2 early Tuesday to select Schurz Communications and ZRF Partners' bid to buy Burlington Telecom — picking an option that was not on the table at the start of a lengthy and at times testy meeting.
The winning bidders negotiated their last-minute offer in a hallway in city hall. Around 11 p.m. Monday, they put forward a Schurz bid of $30.8 million — the company's original offer before it was eliminated as a finalist on October 16.
Eight councilors voted in favor of the Schurz-ZRF proposal. Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) and Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) voted for the co-op Keep BT Local. Councilors Richard Deane (D-East District) and Joan Shannon (D-South District) declined to support either of those bids after their choice, Toronto-based Tucows, was eliminated.
"I have never seen a less transparent offer than bringing in a completely new offer when everybody's asleep," Shannon said, as the session continued past midnight.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Schurz Communications , ZRF Partners , Image , Web Only
Monday, November 27, 2017
In a press release, spokesman Nick Charyk, a former Vermont Democratic Party operative, said that “the project currently faces a hostile environment from an administration opposed to wind energy, regulators and monopoly utilities who import a majority of Vermont’s power while opposing many independent local power projects.”
Although Swanton Wind's application has been withdrawn from the Vermont Public Utility Commission, Charyk said the project will resume at “a more predictable time.”
Tags: Swanton Wind , Phil Scott , Vermont Public Utility Commission , Image , Web Only