Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The bill, H.162, stalled in the House Committee on Human Services last session, partly because of concerns about the amount people would be legally allowed to possess. An amendment would cap that at the equivalent of 30 days' worth. That seems to have assuaged concerns sufficiently for lawmakers to say they are committed to working on the bill ahead of the all-important crossover deadline, when the House and Senate trade bills.
"This is on our agenda to move," said Rep. Ann Pugh (D-South Burlington) the committee's chair, after the hearing.
Tags: opioids , bupe , Ann Pugh , Hooked , substance use disorder , treatment , Carl Rosenquist , Sandy Haas , Web Only , Image
Attorneys for two men who are suing Burlington asked Judge William K. Sessions III last month to slap the city with monetary penalties and decide the case in their clients' favor in light of revelations that del Pozo used an anonymous Twitter persona to harass Charles Winkleman, a citizen critic.
As part of discovery in the civil cases filed by Mabior Jok and a group of brothers, who claimed injuries from their separate downtown arrests in 2018, their attorneys asked del Pozo to provide information about his social media accounts. In responses dated October 30 and November 6, the chief did not disclose the @WinkleWatchers Twitter account he'd used. And the city's attorneys did not disclose information about the internal investigation that had followed del Pozo's private admission last July to Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Tags: City of Burlington , Brandon del Pozo , excessive force , social media , Robb Spensley , Evan Chadwick , Jeremie Meli , Mabior Jok , Pietro Lynn , William K. Sessions , discovery dispute , WinkleWatchers , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Vowing to focus on Vermont’s “fiscal fundamentals,” Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday proposed a $6.3 billion state budget that would represent a modest 2 percent increase over current spending levels.
In a joint address to the Vermont House and Senate, the second-term Republican said his budget proposal would help grow the state’s stagnant population and revitalize its rural communities.
“Our demographic crisis is — without question — the greatest challenge we face as a state,” Scott said, repeating his oft-stated warning. “Addressing this reality is crucial to Vermont’s future.”
The governor’s proposed budget would not raise any existing taxes or fees, but it would create two new ones: Scott pitched legalizing and taxing online sports betting, as neighboring New Hampshire recently did, and he called for the introduction of Keno lottery machines.
The two forms of gambling would generate at least $4 million in new revenue, according to Finance Commissioner Adam Greshin. Of that, $2 million would help boost childcare subsidies, rather than support the Education Fund, as lottery proceeds currently do.
Tags: Phil Scott , gambling , budget , Web Only , Image
“[Kurt] been very steady. He gets along with every member of the council,” said Alex Farrell, a leader of the "Write-in Wright" campaign and a former GOP city council and Vermont Senate candidate. “To lose him, I’m not really sure the city can afford that.”
Wright had intended to run, but his radio gig complicated matters. Federal broadcasting rules require that WVMT must offer equal time on-air to both Wright and any challenger during the campaign. That wasn’t feasible, so station ownership told Wright he’d have to take a 60-day hiatus from the show. Wright chose to stay on air.
This week, Wright said he supports the write-in campaign and would gladly serve if he wins. He said he told organizers that he can’t participate in any way.
Tags: Burlington City Council , Kurt Wright , Sarah Carpenter , politics , Web Only , Image
But events — some within his campaign's control and some outside of it — have conspired to change the conversation.
First, there was a dustup over a private conversation between Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a longtime friend and current opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then, there was an overreach by Sanders' campaign, when it took out of context a 2018 video of Biden discussing his views on Social Security.
Then, on Monday, Sanders found himself apologizing to Biden for an op-ed penned by Vermont native, Fordham Law School professor and Sanders surrogate Zephyr Teachout, in which she wrote that the former VP had "a big corruption problem" because he's gone to bat for major donors. "It is absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way," Sanders told CBS News. "And I'm sorry that that op-ed appeared."
Finally, on Tuesday, the senator from Vermont found himself on the receiving end of another round of fire from 2016 rival Hillary Clinton. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Clinton attacked Sanders' record in a documentary set to be released by Hulu.
Tags: Bernie Sanders , Election , Election 2020 , Elizabeth Warren , Hillary Clinton , Joe Biden , Primary 2020 , Senator , Web Only , Image
Monday, January 20, 2020
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group announced Saturday that it would form a separate nonprofit entity called VPIRG Votes to back candidates who share its members' concerns about the climate crisis.
“We’re getting off the sidelines,” VPIRG executive director Paul Burns said Monday in an interview with Seven Days. “The board just felt that we were no longer doing the best service for our members by voluntarily sitting out the [electoral] process.”
That’s a departure for a nonprofit organization founded in 1972 that has limited itself to lobbying lawmakers on consumer and environmental issues important to its 50,000 members, such as reducing water pollution, shifting to renewable energy and encouraging open government.
Tags: climate , elections , VPIRG , Paul Burns , PAC , Web Only , Image
May, who owns a private practice in Montpelier, previously served on the Richmond selectboard and ran for Senate in 2018. He said in a press release that he believes Vermont needs to create a "network of policy" that puts the needs of families first.
"Affordability has become a buzzword somehow," he wrote. "We need more than empty platitudes."
May's campaign announcement outlines a handful of campaign issues, starting with changes to Vermont's health care system that he believes would increase access to addiction treatment.
Tags: Steve May , election , affordability , UBI , Chittenden Senate district , Vermont Senate , Web Only , Image
Advocacy group Migrant Justice had accused Deputy Jeffry Turner of violating the department's policies on fair and impartial policing during a November 22 traffic stop, arguing that he had no reason to inquire about Luis Ulloa’s immigration status or prolong the stop until federal authorities arrived.
But Sheriff Kevin McLaughlin said Friday that Turner's actions were justified because he was concerned that he was dealing with a potential human trafficking situation.
“There is no evidence that supports the contention that Deputy Sheriff Turner’s purpose in dealing with the individuals in the vehicle (that he had lawfully stopped) was to enforce federal immigration law,” McLaughlin wrote in a six-page report released Friday afternoon.
Tags: Chittenden County Sheriff's Office , Kevin McLaughlin , Luis Ulloa , ICE , immigration , Migrant Justice , Web Only , Image
As the Senate prepared to vote on the rules of the trial, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of bending to the wishes of the White House.
“He’s treating the Senate as though it is a branch of the executive, which of course it’s not,” Leahy told Seven Days. “I think no matter what comes of this, if there’s not some significant changes in the procedure, history books are always going to [say] the whole thing was a farce.”
Vermont’s two U.S. senators are likely to play notable, if different, roles in the trial, which is expected to begin in earnest on Wednesday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, will have to divide his time between the Senate proceedings and the campaign trail. He held events in New Hampshire over the weekend and was scheduled to appear in South Carolina and Iowa on Monday — then in Iowa again on Wednesday night.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Patrick Leahy , Mitch McConnell , Donald Trump , impeachment , Web Only , Image
Friday, January 17, 2020
In an opinion issued Friday, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled against a group of citizens who challenged the sale of Burlington Telecom. The decision effectively ends the years-long litigation in the case.
The state's highest court unanimously affirmed the Vermont Public Utility Commission's February 2019 decision to approve the $30.8 million sale of the city-owned telecom to Indiana-based Schurz Communications, which does business locally as Champlain Broadband.
Six citizen intervenors — Sandra Baird, Jared Carter, Dean Corren, Steven Goodkind, Solveig Overby and Shay Totten — had argued that the deal failed to recoup the $16.9 million in taxpayer funds that city officials improperly spent to keep the telecom afloat. The group appealed the PUC's ruling last October, asking the Supreme Court to either undo the sale or to require Champlain Broadband to reimburse the city the lost $16.9 million.
The court's 13-page ruling said either of those options "would be tantamount to rewriting and effectively unwinding the sale agreement that the PUC determined would promote public good." If the court forced Champlain Broadband to pay up, that would significantly reduce the "city's portion of the net proceeds of any future sale," according to the order.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Schurz Communications , Champlain Broadband , Vermont Supreme Court , lawsuit , Burlington , Web Only , Image