Thursday, February 22, 2018
Vermont’s gun politics experienced a historic shift Thursday morning.
“It’s a sea change,” said Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), who has served in Montpelier for a quarter-century. “This issue has roused the Vermont public in a way I haven’t seen since civil unions.”
During separate press conferences at the Vermont Statehouse, Republican Gov. Phil Scott and the state’s most powerful Democrats called for swift action on a series of gun-control measures. While differences remained between them, both camps appeared intent on passing significant new laws before the end of the legislative session.
Tags: Vermont , gun rights , gun control , universal background checks , Phil Scott , Mitzi Johnson , Tim Ashe , T.J. Donovan , David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Ed Cutler , Bill Moore , Dick Sears , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
A background check bill, S.6, is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of its five members are known to oppose the bill, including committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington), so he hasn't brought it to a vote. But Sears says he is open to a procedural move allowing the full Senate to vote on the idea as soon as next week.
"I want to stay true to what I believe, but I don't want to hold up something that may have majority support," Sears said Wednesday. He added that he believes a universal background check bill would gain majority support in the Senate. "I think everything changed in Fair Haven, to be honest."
Last Thursday, 18-year-old Jack Sawyer of Poultney was detained after two people informed police of disturbing behavior and text messages indicating he planned to carry out a mass shooting at Fair Haven Union High School. The police affidavit submitted in court was sobering in its detail.
Tags: Dick Sears , Becca Balint , Phil Scott , universal background checks , Jack Sawyer , David Zuckerman , gun laws , Image , Web Only
Lefebvre was one of three Vermont lawmakers attending an event sponsored by the American Suppressor Association at a shooting range in Barre. Hours earlier and just four miles away at the Vermont Statehouse, students and activists had rallied for new gun control legislation in the wake of last week's mass school shooting in Florida. But at the Barre Fish & Game Club, state legislators were focused on why suppressors, better known as "silencers," should be legal for hunting in Vermont.
Tags: guns , suppressors , hunting , American Suppressor Association , Paul Lefebvre , Patrick Brennan , Susan Buckholz , Louis Porter , Knox Williams , Image , Web Only , Video
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
The Senate Institutions Committee is expected to advance legislation later this week that would remove the time limit — currently set at 120 days — for how long inmates can receive treatment.
Last November, the Department of Corrections extended the limit from 30 days to 120 days shortly after Seven Days reported on the ramifications of terminating treatment for inmates. Now, legislators are pushing to remove time limits altogether.
The Senate committee, however, has stripped a provision from an earlier version of the bill that would have allowed inmates to get addiction medication — methadone or buprenorphine — regardless of whether they had a prescription before they were incarcerated. Currently, a prescription is a prerequisite. Staff from the Department of Health and the Department of Corrections have said they support this expansion but made the case that they aren't prepared to implement it right away.
The revised bill calls for a report on the topic and asks the DOC to develop a memorandum of understanding with local treatment providers by Dec. 31, 2018.
Tags: Department of Corrections , Department of Health , medication assisted treatment , Opioid Crisis , opioids , Vermont Senate , Image , Web Only
About 150 people, mostly University of Vermont students, gathered outside of the Waterman Building Tuesday afternoon to decry school administrators' response to campus racism.
The event kicked off with an address by John Mejia, a UVM staffer who has vowed to remain on a hunger strike until the university and the city of Burlington address a list of nine demands.
"As a non-black person of color, my place here is not to speak for my black family members," Mejia told the crowd. "My place here is as an accomplice, to throw my body into the twin, heartless gears of white supremacy and anti-black racism that run this city and university — to force them to grind to a halt."
Tags: John Mejia , Black Lives Matter , University of Vermont , Tom Sullivan , Ebony Nyoni , Infinite Culcleasure , mayor , Burlington , Annie Stevens , Image , Web Only
The demonstration came in reaction to a school shooting in Florida last week and an incident in Fair Haven in which authorities stopped a would-be school shooter before any violence took place.
“Fix this before my kid is texting me from under a desk,” read a sign held by a demonstrator standing in a light rain on the Statehouse steps.
Tags: gun control , firearms , guns , statehouse , GunSense , Miro Weinberger , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 19, 2018
"That is my intention," she told Seven Days Monday.
While Hallquist said she does not plan to make a formal campaign announcement for several more weeks, she has settled on a campaign manager and intends to negotiate a "permanent separation" from VEC on Tuesday at a meeting of its board of directors.
"I want to respect the company and not leave things in limbo," she said, adding that the exact timing of her departure remained up in the air.
Tags: Christine Hallquist , Phil Scott , Vermont gubernatorial race , Cameron Russell , Image , Web Only
Mayor Miro Weinberger on Monday trotted out a dozen supporters to sing his praises, including Burlington city councilors, legislators and union employees. The incumbent Democratic candidate also rehashed the list of endorsements he's tallied during his reelection campaign and announced another key backer: Republican Kurt Wright, a longtime city councilor, state representative and one of Weinberger's opponents in the 2012 mayoral race.
The laudatory press conference Monday appeared to be a direct response to independent candidate Carina Driscoll's announcement last week that the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees had voted to back her campaign. The union represents more than 200 city employees, some of whom later pushed back against Driscoll's assertion that the endorsement was unanimous.
"I was extremely concerned when I read Carina's announcement characterizing her union support as 'the unanimous endorsement of the city's workers,' a statement that, as you can see here, is patently untrue," said City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District), a Weinberger supporter. "If there's one position in this city that's more important than the mayor, it's the one of city workers, collectively."
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Carina Driscoll , Infinite Culcleasure , Burlington mayor , Joan Shannon , Kurt Wright , Dave Hartnett , union , endorsement , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 16, 2018
Eighteen-year-old Jack Sawyer of Poultney was arrested Thursday and, in an interview with police, outlined a detailed plan for shooting students — "as many as I can get," according to the arrest affidavit submitted in court — at Fair Haven Union High School. It seems clear from reading the affidavit that Sawyer would likely have carried out his plan, if not for private individuals alerting authorities on two separate occasions.
Scott appeared deeply shaken by this very close call as he addressed reporters Friday afternoon in his Montpelier office. "If we are at a point when we put our kids on a bus and send them to school without being able to guarantee their safety, who are we?" he asked.
"Just yesterday, I did an interview noting that we are the safest state in the nation," he continued, referring to remarks he made to Seven Days' Taylor Dobbs. "But the reality of how close we came to a devastating tragedy underscores the threat of violence that faces the entire country.
"As a result, I've been asking myself, 'Are we doing everything we can to protect our kids?'" Scott said. His change in heart, he added, means opening the discussion to such issues as mental health, school safety, gun safety and, potentially at least, some form of gun control legislation.
Tags: Phil Scott , Jack Sawyer , Todd Wilkins , Columbine , Taylor Dobbs , Fair Haven , William Humphries , Parkland , school shooting , Image , Web Only
If the House passes the proposal and Gov. Phil Scott signs it into law, employers would be required to increase hourly pay every year through 2024. The first increase would come January 1, 2019, when the minimum wage would rise from $10.50 to $11.50 an hour.
The legislation passed the Senate by voice vote Friday. It first cleared the body on a 20-10 procedural vote Thursday, indicating that supporters could override a gubernatorial veto — at least in the Senate.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Michael Sirotkin (D-Chittenden), said it would help reduce income inequality in Vermont.
“Despite whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, independent, I think everybody acknowledges and everybody agrees that we have great problems with income inequality in this state and in this country and in every corner of this state,” Sirotkin said.
Tags: minimum wage , legislature , Michael Sirotkin , Tim Ashe , Becca Balint , Richard Westman , Image , Web Only