Friday, August 23, 2019
The Vermont Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a police affidavit from the student's high-profile arrest is a public record even though a judge did not find probable cause for the misdemeanor charge against him.
Tags: Public records , University of Vermont , racism , free speech , Wesley Richter , Jacob Oblak , University of Vermont Police Services , Vermont Supreme Court , arrest records , probable cause , Web Only , Image
Thursday, August 22, 2019
The owners of Ridin' High Skate Shop, John Van Hazinga and Samantha Steady, face federal conspiracy charges for growing marijuana and selling it out of their eccentric Burlington storefront, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
It's the second downtown business to be raided this year for dealing pot.
The feds allege Van Hazinga, also known as "Big John," and Steady ran a grow operation at their Underhill home, then sold the drug and THC-infused edibles out of their skateboard shop at the corner of Pearl and Battery streets, within sight of the Burlington police headquarters.
Tags: Cannabeat , John Van Hazinga , Ridin' High , Burlington , DEA , cannabis , marijuana , Web Only , Image
“These sins of the past continue to haunt us,” Bishop Christopher Coyne told reporters during a press conference at the diocese headquarters on Joy Drive in South Burlington. “These shameful, sinful and criminal acts have been our family secret for generations.”
Last November, a committee of seven men and women began reviewing thousands of documents related to 52 clergy members who’d served in Vermont since 1950 and who had been accused of abuse.
The committee considered three criteria to determine whether a priest was credibly accused: whether the allegation was "natural, plausible and probable"; corroborated by other evidence; or admitted to by the accused.
Tags: Bishop , Christopher Coyne , Vermont , sex abuse claims , priests , John Mahoney , Mark Redmond , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
South Carolina firm Gotcha planned to roll out 200 e-bikes in Burlington, South Burlington and Winooski to replace the 105 pedal bikes in the Greenride bike-share program. The electric assist is intended to help cyclists navigate the hilly local landscape.
But the bikes will likely still be stuck overseas when college classes start here next week. Thousands of Chinese imports, including bike parts, are subject to 25 percent tariffs as part of President Donald Trump’s escalating trade dispute with China that began in 2017.
Gotcha public relations director Caroline Passe initially told Seven Days on Monday that there's no delay and that the company needed to “discuss the details of the program” with its partners. But by then, three of the seven partners had already told Seven Days that they were well aware Gotcha wouldn’t meet its delivery target.
“[Gotcha] told us they’re having challenges with getting the bikes from China to America in a sufficient manner,” said Nic Anderson, associate director of sustainable transportation at Champlain College, a Greenride partner.
Tags: Gotcha , bike share , Greenride , Burlington , South Burlington , Winooski , Web Only , Image
As he wages a race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is facing the familiar question of when to focus on the job he's seeking — and when to focus on the job he already has.
Though Sanders missed more votes in July than the six other U.S. senators seeking the presidency, his overall attendance rate this year is better than that of two rivals. According to a Seven Days analysis of the 262 roll-call votes the Senate has held since January 8, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has missed the most: 118, or 45 percent. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), meanwhile, has missed 116, or 44.3 percent.
Sanders and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) are tied for third in truancy, with 105 missed votes, or 40 percent. The remaining three senator-candidates have missed far fewer votes:
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): 74, or 28.2 percent
- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): 71, or 27.1 percent
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.): 60, or 22.9 percent.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , missed votes , Cory Booker , Kamala Harris , Kirsten Gillibrand , Elizabeth Warren , Michael Bennett , Amy Klobuchar , Web Only , Image , Video
Monday, August 19, 2019
A Vermont man who once left Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyers at the homes of two women of color is now wanted by Burlington police for a Monday morning assault at the downtown transit center.
William D. Schenk, 25, allegedly attacked a 33-year-old man at the bus station just before 11 a.m. Video of the incident shows the victim looking at his phone before a man starts talking to him. The man, allegedly Schenk, takes off his backpack and begins to physically fight the victim, throwing several punches as at least one bystander tries to break it up.
Burlington cops said the two men knew each other.
“The suspect also struck the victim with an object believed to be a small glass pipe, causing a laceration to the victim’s head,” cops wrote in a press release. “He then fled the scene.”
The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Tags: William Schenk , KKK , flyers , recruitment , assault , Burlington , bus station , Web Only , Image
Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced Monday that he had notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Vermont would stop using Title X dollars to fund Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s services at 10 clinics. Instead, the state will make up the $759,000 difference with general fund dollars set aside for just this purpose.
New rules by the Trump administration allow clinics accepting Title X funds to talk to patients about abortion, but not to give women information about or refer them to abortion providers.
“We refuse to let the Trump administration bully us into withholding abortion information from our patients in Vermont," said Lucy Leriche, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. "The gag rule is unethical and dangerous, and we will not subject our patients to it."
“These changes by HHS will disrupt one of our state’s most essential public health programs,” Levine said in a release. “For nearly 50 years, Title X has helped ensure that Vermonters have access to quality family planning and we want to make sure this continues.”
Tags: family planning , abortion , Title X , Trump administration , Web Only , Image
Sunday, August 18, 2019
On Sunday, the party disclosed that the sum wasn't so modest after all.
In a new statement, the Democrats alleged that former director of party operations Brandon Batham embezzled roughly $18,500 this year. The party also disclosed for the first time that it had filed a criminal complaint against Batham with the Montpelier Police Department.
Batham, who resigned under pressure on July 17, has not publicly addressed the allegations. The former Barre city councilor did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
In an email to party supporters, Anderson and other top officials called it a "difficult and painful time" for Vermont Democrats. "We will be doing everything possible to move beyond this very discouraging set of circumstances and to regain or retain your trust," Anderson, party vice chair Tess Taylor and treasurer Billi Gosh wrote in the email Sunday. "We will do so in a spirit of humility and honesty."
Tags: Vermont Democratic Party , Brandon Batham , Terje Anderson , Josh Massey , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Michael Ferguson was one of two St. Albans police officers seen on body camera video that captured their former supervisor Jason Lawton roughing up the woman in a holding cell last March. Ferguson resigned from the department in June, the day after the police chief ordered an internal investigation into the incident. Lawton, a sergeant, was later fired, and the third officer, Zachary Koch, was suspended without pay for an unspecified period because he failed to report Lawton's misconduct.
But the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, which hired Ferguson in July as a full-time deputy assigned to court security, was unaware of the excessive force probe, or that Ferguson had resigned amid it, until Seven Days and other news outlets published the body cam footage last week.
Ferguson's new employer placed him on administrative leave last week while it assessed his involvement in the case.
Tags: Franklin County Sheriff's Office , Michael Ferguson , St Albans police , Jason Lawton , Zachary Koch , excessive force , police misconduct , Web Only , Image , Video
The labor board found that the Burlington School Board was within its rights to decide to withhold teacher pay for days "when they did no work," according to a July 9 opinion dismissing an unfair labor charge.
The ruling noted that the employer, or school board, "made it clear both before the strike and following the strike that teachers would not receive pay for the time spent on strike."
Furthermore, the ruling pointed out, the Burlington Education Association signed a contract with no promise of reimbursement for the days.
Tags: Burlington , union , strike , Burlington Education Association , Burlington School Board , Vermont-National Education Association , back pay , Web Only , Image