Monday, June 18, 2018
A Burlington restaurant owner has come under fire after he posted on Facebook that "junkies should detox or die," leading to a flurry of calls to boycott his business.
Magnolia Bistro owner Shannon Reilly wrote the inflammatory comment on Friday in response to a post by Mayor Miro Weinberger, who shared a Seven Days article about the city's efforts to more quickly provide buprenorphine to drug users seeking treatment. Buprenorphine, also referred to as bupe or its commercial name, Suboxone, is an opioid that mitigates heroin withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
"The junkies should detox or die," Reilly wrote. "Sorry. So fuckin pathetic employing people spaced out on bupe. Fuckin useless. Let them die."
Reilly also took a shot at Weinberger: "F U Wondeboy. Stop trying to act like you are doing anything good for this town! You deserved to be buried under that mall you douchbag," he wrote, apparently referring to the redevelopment of the Burlington Town Center, which has been rechristened CityPlace Burlington.
Tags: Magnolia Bistro , Miro Weinberger , Shannon Reilly , Keep the Park Green , Image
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo could remain hospitalized "for a sustained period" after a serious bicycle crash Saturday in the Adirondacks, the city said in a press release.
The chief suffered a concussion, a broken collarbone, a broken right shoulder and road rash when he crashed on "a hill he has ridden many times" on Route 73 in Keene, N.Y., according to Katie Vane, a spokesperson for Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Del Pozo was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Saranac Lake, N.Y., before he was airlifted to the University of Vermont Medical Center. He remained in the intensive care unit, and doctors were "optimistic about a full recovery," the release said. Deputy Police Chief Jan Wright will serve as acting chief while del Pozo is sidelined.
Weinberger has twice visited del Pozo in the hospital and has been in touch with his wife, Vane said on Monday.
"The mayor reported that he had a great conversation with the chief in his visit Sunday night, and left very optimistic that the chief was on the mend," Vane said in a written message. "The chief is still in the ICU, although he is expected to be moved to a different section of the hospital relatively soon. We are not sure yet when he will be released from the hospital."
Tags: Burlington , police , Brandon del Pozo , chief , bicycle , Adirondacks , Image , Web Only
Friday, June 15, 2018
Local investors will help pay for and design one of 12 buildings that will make up the development. The "innovation hub" will allow entrepreneurs to work and learn together, get access to startup funds for business, and live in a place that facilitates "the intense collision of ideas and mentoring," according to a description of the project provided by its creators.
The project, called the Vermont Innovation Commons, will "bring talent and capital and business growth and, ultimately, jobs to a place that really needs it," said Mark Naud, who's heading up the effort. "There's ... nothing like that in the state of Vermont or in Burlington, certainly."
Tags: Eric Farrell , Vermont Works , Mark Naud , Robert Zulkowski , Vermont Innovation Commons , Image , Web Only
The governor's veto came as no surprise. He had warned legislators that he would oppose any tax increase. The bill, H.13, would have resulted in an automatic 5.5 cent property tax increase on nonresidential landowners. Earlier Thursday, both Scott and legislative leaders appeared to dig in at separate press conferences about the spending bill stalemate, which has lasted more than a month.
Scott had until midnight Thursday to sign or veto the legislation. He announced his decision around 8 p.m.
Tags: Vermont , Phil Scott , budget , governor , veto , bill , spending , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
Thursday, June 14, 2018
The pot law, known as Act 86, “did not change Vermont’s existing laws strictly regulating when and how employers may drug test,” the guidance reads.
The 17-page document spells out the rights of employers and employees once weed is legalized. The general takeaway? Not much has changed. Donovan’s office said in a press release that it created the guide in response to queries from the business community.
Tags: Cannabeat , cannabis , employment , drug tests , Vermont , legalization , T.J. Donovan , Image , Web Only
The deadline to get onto the ballot was May 31, but Angelo Napolitano, a self-described right-leaning Libertarian from Waitsfield, is launching a campaign to get voters to write in Rodgers during the Democratic primary.
Rodgers, a fierce gun rights supporter, toyed with the idea of running in April after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed sweeping gun regulations into law. The state senator decided against it last month, citing the demands of running his construction business.
Rodgers acquiesced when Napolitano and others approached him about running as a write-in candidate, but he said his construction work would prevent him from campaigning for the primary.
"It's sort of grassroots effort, and they certainly seem to be doing some work," Rodgers noted in an interview Thursday.
Tags: John Rodgers , Phil Scott , Democratic primary , Vermont , governor , Senate , Angelo Napolitano , Image , Web Only
No one knows for sure what a shutdown would mean because there's no precedent in Vermont history. "The [Vermont] constitution is clear," Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) said at a Statehouse press conference. "We cannot spend money we haven't appropriated."
The governor, speaking at a press conference at Elmore State Park, refused to discuss whether his administration has prepared contingency plans, even as state employees and recipients of state funds grow increasingly anxious. "I'm confident we'll come to an agreement," Scott said. When another reporter raised the contingency question, he said again, "I'm confident we'll come to an agreement."
Tags: Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , Jane Kitchel , Ann Cummings , budget , Image , Web Only
Burlington Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert Plante said a construction crew working on the street struck a natural gas main outside the apartment building, allowing pressurized gas to escape. The fire department received a call at 11:34 a.m. and quickly responded to the scene.
The smell of gas lingered over neighboring blocks.
Firefighters used hoses to dissipate the gas vapor, but the surge in water tripped the Wharf Lane apartment fire alarm and caused the sprinkler system to activate. Residents were subsequently evacuated but allowed to return around noon when firefighters declared the scene safe.
Tags: Vermont Gas , Burlington Fire Department , Image , Web Only
Shelburne police and rescue responded to the high-end inn around 10:20 a.m. after someone reported that an ill employee “was lying in the parking lot.” The unidentified employees were taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center for evaluation, Shelburne police said in a press release.
Cops said the edibles looked like Whoppers malted milk balls.
“If a person does possess marijuana edibles,” police warned, “please make sure the edibles are kept secure and out of reach of children and unwilling participants.”
Tags: Cannabeat , Inn at Shelburne Farms , marijuana , edibles , cannabis , Whoppers , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
in South Burlington, the NBC affiliate announced Tuesday.
The station's Plattsburgh bureau will stay open, but the technical hub located there now will move to the new location in the Technology Park at 30 Community Drive in South Burlington. The move will happen by next spring.
The station, known as NBC5, also announced that it will open a new bureau in Lebanon, N.H., and close the one it currently runs on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River in White River Junction.
The station's workforce of roughly 90 employees in New York and Vermont won't change in size. But some jobs will move from New York to Vermont, said Justin Antoniotti, president and general manager of WPTZ and WNNE, which serves the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.
Tags: WPTZ , WNNE , NBC , South Burlington , Colchester , media , Image , Web Only