Monday, December 30, 2019
"At this point, I see no reason he cannot continue campaigning without limitation and, should he be elected, I am confident he has the mental and physical stamina to fully undertake the rigors of the Presidency," wrote University of Vermont Medical Center cardiologist Martin LeWinter, who has treated the candidate.
Sanders' campaign released letters from LeWinter and two other doctors on Monday after promising for months to provide comprehensive medical information about the 78-year-old senator. The campaign was criticized for releasing limited information after he was hospitalized in Las Vegas on October 1 and for failing to disclose that he had suffered a heart attack for days.
LeWinter wrote that Sanders had made "an uneventful recovery" from his heart attack and that his heart function is "stable and well-preserved" and his blood pressure and heart rate is above average. "While he did suffer modest heart muscle damage, he has been doing very well since," LeWinter wrote.
Tags: Bernie Sanders , Election , Election 2020 , health , heart attack , presidency , Primary 2020 , Senator , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 27, 2019
Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith on Friday named former Vermont State Police director Jim Baker to serve as commissioner of the state Department of Corrections on an interim basis. Smith also hired Tristram Coffin, a former U.S. attorney for Vermont, to lead an investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the department.
The moves come more than three weeks after Seven Days published an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the state's sole prison for women. The story and subsequent coverage of the department prompted corrections commissioner Mike Touchette to resign last week.
Smith, whose Agency of Human Services oversees the department, conducted a short-term probe of the state's prison system and promised to hire an external law firm to lead a more intensive investigation. The secretary announced Friday that Coffin's firm, Downs Rachlin Martin, had been selected for the job. The firm will spend up to 120 days investigating Chittenden Regional and will also have access to other prisons in the state system.
A longtime Vermont attorney and former aide to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Coffin served as U.S. attorney from 2009 through 2014.
Baker, who spent three decades with the Vermont State Police, ran the agency from 2006 until 2009. He has also served as interim director of the Vermont Police Academy, chief of the Rutland Police Department and director of advocacy for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He will serve as interim commissioner until Coffin's investigation is completed, Smith said, at which point a more permanent commissioner will be named.
Tags: Jim Baker , Tristram Coffin , Mike Smith , Vermont Department of Corrections , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Web Only , Image
Provost was the interim director of the Burlington Technical Center when he resigned January 2, 2018, citing medical reasons.
The nature of the allegations against Provost and details of the investigation were not explained in the resignation agreement, which Seven Days obtained Friday after a lengthy public records legal battle that went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Tags: Burlington , Adam Provost , resignation agreement , Yaw Obeng , Clare Wool , Web Only , Image
Monday, December 23, 2019
The report, which was delivered to the governor on Friday and released to the public Monday, includes several other recommendations to reform Vermont's troubled prison system. Smith called on the legislature to require drug testing for all corrections officers, and he said the state must reform the way it investigates employees accused of misconduct.
The secretary took particular aim at the state's practice of reaching confidential agreements with those accused of wrongdoing and shuffling them to other positions with similar pay. "While a settlement may be more expedient or limit financial liability to the state, there are clearly deeper repercussions," Smith wrote. "This practice needs to stop."
Smith penned the report in response to a Seven Days investigation into sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, a South Burlington prison that houses the state's 135 female inmates. In that story and in subsequent reporting, Seven Days found that inmates and officers repeatedly reported wrongdoing, but state officials did not always take action.
"DOC has been working to develop a culture of continuous improvement," Smith wrote. "Clearly, these cases indicate the state must do more, faster and better, to support the work and hold people fully accountable. We cannot shirk our responsibility to address culture change."
Tags: Vermont Department of Corrections , Mike Smith , Phil Scott , Mike Touchette , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 20, 2019
In an afternoon press conference, Weinberger also said that Deputy Chief Jan Wright has been placed on paid administrative leave as the city's investigation into her social media use continues.
"We're trying to get it done as quickly as possible," Weinberger said. "We're close, but it's not complete."
The news is the latest on the social media scandal that has enveloped the department in recent days. On Monday, Chief Brandon del Pozo resigned after admitting to creating an anonymous Twitter account to troll Burlington resident Charles Winkleman in July. Weinberger named Wright acting chief but replaced her hours later after she admitted to creating an anonymous Facebook profile under the name "Lori Spicer" to engage department critics.
He then named Deputy Chief Jon Murad as acting chief. Murad will continue to serve in the role until January 6, when the city council will be asked to confirm Morrison's post, Weinberger said.
Morrison was the Burlington department's first female deputy chief and retired from the agency after 23 years of service in 2013, and she became chief of the Colchester Police Department. Morrison retired from that post in 2018 and does not intend to apply for the permanent chief position, she said.
Weinberger also announced that the city has retained "workplace expert" Anita Tinney of the Philadelphia area-based Employee and Labor Relations Academy to review the police department's overall social media practices. Her work will begin January 3, the mayor said.
The city council's Human Resources Committee will convene in January to review a draft social media policy, which is in effect until the document is formally approved, Weinberger said.
"I'm fully confident in the department’s ability to make it through this rough patch," he said, "and I hope the people of the department and the public sees the announcements today as important steps towards completing that transition."
Morrison echoed the mayor's optimistic tone, saying that this scandal doesn't define the department.
“This is a world-class police agency," she said. "Do not lose sight of that."
Tags: Burlington Police Department , Burlington , city council , Jennifer Morrison , Twitter , social media , fake account , Jan Wright , Brandon del Pozo , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
In a historic moment Wednesday night, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
Vermont's sole delegate to the U.S. House joined a majority of his colleagues in seeking removal of the president. It marked the third time that an American president has been impeached.
Welch supported both articles up for a vote on Wednesday. The first accused Trump of abusing the powers of the presidency by seeking Ukrainian interference in the 2020 election. The second alleged that the president obstructed Congress' investigation of the matter.
“It’s the most significant vote I have taken in Congress,” Welch told Seven Days earlier Wednesday. “It’s not difficult because the evidence is overwhelming.”
Tags: Peter Welch , Donald Trump , impeachment , Web Only , Image , Video
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George said that a Seven Days investigation into alleged abuses at Chittenden Regional had prompted her to review the sentences of the roughly 22 women currently incarcerated at the prison whose cases originated in Chittenden County.
"Your story has been an eye-opener for a lot of us to really figure out whether we have people in this jail that don't need to be," she said. "So it's my way of trying to do my part to make this situation safer for some of these women — and make the community safer."Among the women who reached change-of-plea agreements with George's office was Penny Powers, a key figure in Seven Days' investigation. Powers told prison officials in October that a longtime officer at Chittenden Regional, Daniel Zorzi, had taken her and another woman to a Colchester cabin in July for a night of drug use and sex. Both women were out of prison at the time but still under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. Zorzi, who has declined to comment to Seven Days, is under investigation by the Vermont State Police.
Tags: Sarah George , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Web Only , Image
Sample News Group announced on Wednesday that Steve Pappas, 51, has been selected to lead the papers ahead of the impending departure of general manager Rob Mitchell, whose family previously owned and operated the papers for nearly 80 years.
Pappas will keep his executive editor title and oversee the daily operations of both newspapers as part of a four-person leadership team, he said. As publisher, Pappas plans to focus on both improving the papers' news content and “aggressively” building its sales force.
Tags: Steven Pappas , Times Argus , Rutland Herald , Barre , Sample News Group , Publisher , Web Only , Image
That’s the conclusion of a report released Tuesday by the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a group of Northeast and mid-Atlantic states working to create a “cap-and-invest” program for gasoline and diesel fuel suppliers.
“This program would lead to significant progress in meeting Vermont’s emission-reduction commitments,” said Peter Walke, deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
There are 52 million registered vehicles in the District of Columbia and the 12 states exploring such a program. Transportation accounts for 44 percent of the region's carbon dioxide emissions, according to the group.
Tags: climate , fuel , Transportation Climate Initiative , Peter Walke , Web Only , Image
To make way for the project, the developers have proposed demolishing two residential structures, including one at 41 East Allen that is listed on the Vermont State Register of Historic Places as a locally significant structure. The home was built in 1872 and is known for the two lions that sit on either side of its front steps.
Tear-downs are an increasingly familiar scenario in the city, where an uptick in development on major streets has come with multiple demolitions.
Tags: Winooski , hotel , development , historic preservation , Mansion House , lions , Web Only , Image