Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Under friendly questioning from Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Mueller said he shared the representative's concern that future political campaign operatives may not feel compelled to report to federal authorities efforts by a “hostile foreign power” to influence U.S. elections.
“I hope that is not the new normal, but I fear it is,” Mueller said, an answer among the most notable that he gave during the closely watched hearing.
In that exchange and others, Welch, a former personal injury attorney, succeeded where some of his colleagues failed in getting Mueller to engage with the committee instead of deflecting and deferring, as he did much of the day.
Tags: Robert Mueller , Peter Welch , Donald Trump , Web Only , Image , Video
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
But according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, very little of Sanders' campaign appears to be based in Vermont — and he hasn't spent much money in his home state.
A Seven Days analysis of the data found that just 17 of the 279 employees his campaign paid during the first half of the year lived in Vermont. Meanwhile, 101 lived in the Beltway region — including 74 people in D.C., 19 in Maryland and eight in Virginia.
Only $213,666 of the campaign's $3.1 million payroll, or 6.8 percent, went to Vermonters. Meanwhile, close to $1.4 million, or 43 percent of payroll, went to those in the Beltway.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Vermont , FEC , campaign finance , spending , election , president , Web Only , Image
Holding forth in a Statehouse filled with dozens of vociferous Trump foes, Vermont’s only voice in the U.S. House of Representatives outlined how his “enormous reservation” about impeachment had recently given way to his belief that lawmakers need to act.
“I’ve become increasingly alarmed that the guardrails of our democracy are under attack,” Welch said.
Welch cited Trump’s refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations into issues such as the crisis at the southern border as well as what he called the administration’s efforts to “derail” the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into election interference by Russia.
Tags: Peter Welch , Donald Trump , impeachment , Town Hall , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 22, 2019
The order by Washington Superior Court Judge Howard VanBenthuysen was issued in February of 2018 but had remained sealed until Friday, when a Vermont Supreme Court ruling made it public.
Tags: Vermont media shield law , WCAX , Howard VanBenthuysen , Web Only , Image
The $264 million acquisition of Peak Resorts would build on rapid growth for Colorado-based Vail and its Epic multi-mountain pass system. The company purchased Stowe Mountain Resort in 2017 and Okemo Mountain Resort in 2018.
Several new mountains in the Northeast would become Vail properties, including Hunter Mountain in New York, and Attitash, Wildcat, and Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire. Ski areas in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Indiana are also set to change hands in the deal.
The purchase would close this fall pending regulatory approval.
Tags: Vail Resorts , Peak Resorts , Mount Snow , Stowe , Okemo , skiing , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 19, 2019
The figures come from a database released this week by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration detailing itemized purchases of prescription opioids in the U.S. from 2006 through 2012. The dataset offers an unprecedented window into the pharmaceutical industry's business dealings as the opioid crisis grew.
Oxycodone and hydrocodone purchases peaked in 2011 at 18.2 million pills. That same year, Vermont medical providers wrote 502,566 prescriptions for opioids in a state with a population of just under 627,000.
Tags: opioids , Vermont Health Department , Washington Post , hydrocodone , oxycodone , Data Dive , Web Only , Image
A secret judicial order that upheld press freedom from prying state investigators must be made public, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The February 2018 order in question was the first test of a state media shield law enacted in 2017 after lobbying by Vermont journalists, who were worried that law enforcement could compel reporters to disclose their sources or notes.
But the landmark ruling has remained sealed for more than a year because it came as part of a closed-door inquest regarding a police shooting.
Police shot and killed Nathan Giffin, a suspected bank robber, in January 2018 after an hourlong standoff outside Montpelier High School. WCAX captured the shooting on video, which state prosecutors subpoenaed in the course of determining whether the shooting was criminal.
Tags: shield law , Vermont Supreme Court , WCAX , inquests , Rory Thibault , media , First Amendment , Web Only , Image
The developer of one of the most ambitious building plans in Burlington history confirmed Friday the project may be a bit too ambitious.
Brookfield Asset Management, majority owner of CityPlace Burlington, released a statement confirming the obvious, that the 14-story downtown project is on hold. Brookfield also said that the “scope, scale, and the timing” of construction may change.
The delay is the latest setback for a polarizing project to transform the ailing Burlington Town Center mall property downtown into a vibrant mixture of housing, office and retail space. First approved in 2016, the repeated delays have strained relations between the developers and city leaders and frayed nerves of downtown residents and business owners alike.
Tags: CityPlace , development , Burlington , Brookfield Asset Management , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 18, 2019
News of merger talks between the two companies first broke in late May, not long after Gannett's board rejected a takeover bid from hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Gannett and GateHouse are the two largest newspaper chains (by circulation) in the country. As industry analyst Ken Doctor of the Nieman Journalism Lab wrote in May, "Totaled up, 267 dailies would fall under a single ownership and management. That's an unprecedented concentration of control in the history of the American press." (The combined firm would also own more than 1,000 weekly papers. None of GateHouse's properties are in Vermont.)
Doctor wrote of a "megaclustering" trend in the journalism industry, as newspapers suffer continuing declines in advertising and circulation and seek ways to streamline operations through regional sales and reporting efforts.
That's "regional" as in "not local."
Tags: Ken Doctor , Dan Kennedy , Burlington Free Press , Gannett , GateHouse Media , Web Only , Image
Serving as senior adviser is Brian Lenzmeier, a political operative who appears to have run congressional campaigns in New Mexico in 2014 and in Michigan in 2016; in 2018, he seems to have run a secretive super PAC backing a Pennsylvania congressional candidate.
Lenzmeier did not respond to requests for information about his background, but he did provide the names of Holcombe's other consultants:
Tags: Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image