Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Students and teachers across the country are planning a 17-minute walkout on March 14 to honor the 17 victims of a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and to call for new gun laws.
Holcombe opened her memo by declaring support for students’ right to free speech, but she went on to caution that it "does not extend to disrupting classes (which prevents others from learning), nor to leaving school without permission (which potentially creates a safety threat)."
Tags: Rebecca Holcombe , student walkout , Parkland , Image , Web Only
Just before the vote on S.221, its sponsor, Senate Judiciary chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) said that he hadn't initially expected the proposal to make it to the floor. A narrowly avoided school shooting in Fair Haven, he said, brought a sense of urgency to the Senate’s work.
“The one thing I’m sure of is, Vermont’s not immune [to gun violence],” Sears said. “And I think we knew that before Fair Haven, but I think Fair Haven jolted us all.”
Tags: guns , Phil Scott , Dick Sears , Tim Ashe , Becca Balint , Mitzi Johnson , Maxine Grad , Image , Web Only
Rep. Barbara Rachelson (D-Burlington) believes the bill infringes on Constitutional rights. "If we're going to do that, we'd better have darn good evidence that it's justified," she said. "I'm having a hard time getting why most of my colleagues don't see that."
The saliva test would detect the presence of various drugs in a person's system, but would not establish whether a driver is impaired and could not be used as evidence in court. Still, supporters see H.237 as another means to improve traffic safety.
Tags: Cannabeat , Chip Conquest , Barbara Rachelson , Janssen Willhoit , Chloé White , marijuana , saliva test , Image , Web Only
The bill states that only individuals, parties and political action committees can contribute money to state candidates.
After giving preliminary approval to similar legislation in 2013, the Senate did an about-face. Wednesday's debate was less eventful, but still included complaints from lawmakers worried about losing some of their funding streams.
Sen. Ann Cummings (D-Washington) expressed concern that the bill would discourage contributions from "my very warm, friendly, voting elderly constituents who frequently have their money in a revocable trust."
Tags: Vermont Senate , corporate campaign contributions , campaign finance , Image , Web Only
Laura and David Stiller, son of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters founder Robert Stiller, are offering to help kickstart the renewed effort. They've pledged a dollar-to-dollar match for the first $100,000 in new gifts to the campaign, which YMCA officials hope to wrap up this summer.
The Y needs everyone's help to get to the final goal, the organization's president and CEO, Kyle Dodson, said at a press conference Wednesday in one of the preschool classrooms of the current building at 266 College Street.
Tags: YMCA , Kyle Dodson , David Stiller , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The flurry of last-minute campaigning includes debates for Democratic incumbent Miro Weinberger and his independent challengers, Carina Driscoll and Infinite Culcleasure.
Seven Days checked in to see how the Queen City mayoral hopefuls are spending their final seven days as candidates.
Weinberger found himself leaps and bounds ahead of his competitors in fundraising after Sunday's campaign finance filing deadline; he had raised $107,000, compared to $47, 000 for Driscoll and $10,500 for Culcleasure. But the six-year incumbent said he's not taking any chances.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Carina Driscoll , Infinite Culcleasure , Town Meeting Day , mayoral race , Image , Web Only
Moats had worked for the papers since 1982 and helmed their editorial pages since 1992. He won the Pulitzer in 2001 for a series of editorials about the debate over civil unions, during which Vermont came to grips with a state Supreme Court decision mandating official recognition of same-sex relationships. He remains the only Vermonter to win a Pulitzer for journalism, according to Sean Murphy, digital content manager for the Pulitzer Prizes organization.
"This is a business decision that has more to do with the future of the organization than the present," the papers' general manager, Rob Mitchell, wrote in an internal email obtained by Seven Days. "As we constantly re-evaluate legacy positions, we must make decisions on which ones to keep over the next several years as we transition to a new model for local newspapers."
Tags: David Moats , Rutland Herald , Barre-Montpelier Times Argus , Rob Mitchell , Steve Pappas , Sean Murphy , Pulitzer Prize , Image , Web Only
Members of Save Our Skies gathered 3,000 signatures on a petition to get a measure about the jets on the ballot and have since spent an estimated $15,000 advocating for a "yes" vote, according to lead organizer Jimmy Leas.
The question asks whether voters will "advise the City Council to: 1) request the cancellation of the planned basing of the F-35 at Burlington International Airport, and 2) request instead low-noise-level equipment with a proven high safety record appropriate for a densely populated area."
Tags: Charles Simpson , Jimmy Leas , Ernie Pomerleau , Miro Weinberger , Carina Driscoll , Infinite Culcleasure , Town Meeting Day , Burlington , Image , Web Only
The report says Vermont corrections staff were there on November 14 when a corrections officer called the Vermont inmates “fucking pussies” as he ordered them into their cells. Vermont staff then watched the guard “pacing along the upper tier taunting inmates to come out of their cells and settle any issues with him.”
While the report didn’t document any physical abuse, it caught the attention of Vermont corrections officials. The guard has been removed from the unit housing Vermonters and placed under investigation in Pennsylvania, according to documents sent to Seven Days.
Tags: prison , corrections , Camp Hill , Vermont , Mike Touchette , Amy Worden , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 26, 2018
Their vote was the latest call for new restrictions in the wake of the February 14 school shooting that killed 17 people in Florida and the recent arrest of a Vermont teen after an alleged foiled school shooting plot in Fair Haven.
The resolution urges legislators to "swiftly act to keep our children alive" and ban the manufacture, sale and possession of military-style assault weapons.
Most of the board members voted by phone in the special session, which fell during a school vacation week. Only two board members were present for the short session at the Ira Allen central office building on Colchester Avenue, as was superintendent of schools Yaw Obeng.
Tags: Burlington School Board , guns , Image , Web Only