Thursday, July 23, 2020
“Of course, it all blew up by the second day,” she recalled with a laugh.
By April break, her family had abandoned online learning in favor of a more relaxed routine.
Butler started seeing some of the positive aspects of having her kids at home. The stress of hustling to get three kids up and on the bus by 7 a.m. every morning disappeared. The “witching hour” — that time at the end of the day when everyone is tired and cranky — also vanished. Her kids began learning at their own pace and had time to explore their personal interests.
Those factors, as well as the uncertainty of what school will look and feel like in the fall, spurred Butler to make the decision to withdraw her children from St. Albans City School and homeschool them this coming school year. This week, she submitted the necessary paperwork to the Agency of Education.
“I’d rather create my own hoops to jump through than jump through other people’s hoops,” she explained, adding that she’s hopeful her kids will be able to go back to in-person school when there’s a coronavirus vaccine.
Tags: Education , Vermont , homeschooling , applications , Agency of Education , coronavirus , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
"It's pretty heartbreaking," said publisher Greg Popa. "We've invested a lot of money into content, and that's always sort of been our our mantra here: that you can't cut your way to excellence. So it's really hard on us to do this."
The move comes four months after the company shuttered a sixth weekly, the Waterbury Record. Since then, it has also laid off two members of its graphics department and eliminated through attrition two sales and one administrative position, Popa said.
The company's other papers include the News & Citizen of Morrisville, the Other Paper of South Burlington, the Citizen of Hinesburg and Charlotte, and the Shelburne News.
Tags: Greg Popa , Tom Kearney , Josh O'Gorman , Mike Verillo , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
"I'm one of the only backstops we have at this point in time," Scott said during a debate cohosted by Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS. He noted that no other Republican had won statewide office in Vermont in nearly a decade. "I'm, like, the last person standing at this point in time between common sense and some of what we're seeing in the legislative process," he said.
When he announced his reelection bid in May, Scott said he would avoid engaging in traditional campaign activities so long as Vermont's coronavirus-induced state of emergency remained in effect. He softened that stance last week and said he would participate in two to three GOP debates before the August 11 primary election.
During Wednesday's debate, several opponents criticized his handling of the pandemic, arguing that he had violated the constitutional rights of Vermonters.
"I see other places that have handled this COVID without trespassing on our rights, and I think it's important to note that those places are doing better than Vermont," said Emily Peyton of Putney. "I think the way that Scott has handled the COVID is absolutely concerning. He has brought the state to its knees."
Tags: Phil Scott , Emily Peyton , Bernard Peters , John Klar , Douglas Cavett , David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Web Only , Image
In a blistering report, a portion of which was released this week, the office accused Corrections of being "complicit in covering up its contractor's gross failure to provide live-saving medical care" in the December 2019 incident. The report alleges that nurses failed to check on the prisoner and that a staffer wrote in a medical log that he was awake when he had, in fact, already died.
"He died after hours of struggling to breathe while nearby nurses did nothing to help," the report reads.
In an interview, Defender General Matthew Valerio also alleged that the prisoner, Kenneth Johnson, may have received substandard care because he was Black. "You can never know what's in another man's heart or mind when they're making decisions, but this clearly calls into question whether or not there was a racial component to the lack of treatment that Mr. Johnson received," Valerio said.
Seven Days first reported last December that Johnson spent his final hours in the infirmary of Newport's Northern State Correctional Facility gasping for air and begging for help. The story quoted a fellow inmate, Raymond Gadreault, who said he witnessed the incident and alerted authorities to Johnson's death in the early morning hours of December 7.
"He kept banging on the window for the nurse to do something about it — and they didn't," Gadreault said at the time.
Tags: Kenneth Johnson , Matthew Valerio , Jim Baker , Ed Paquin , Web Only , Image
In announcing the news on Wednesday, Mayor Miro Weinberger told reporters that the city had sent Brookfield a notice of default outlining various breaches of an agreement to develop the site. He said he'll give Brookfield, the majority owner of the site, "a short window of time" to prove it's committed to the project before the city files suit.
"Brookfield should keep its commitment to the people of Burlington and see the project through to completion, as it has repeatedly promised," the mayor said during the Zoom press conference. "If not, the city will do everything in our power to see that Brookfield suffers consequences for this breach."
The city sent the default letter on Saturday after learning late last week that Brookfield, in an effort to settle a partnership dispute with project minority owner Don Sinex, would be walking away from the project. Brookfield indicated that Sinex's firm, Devonwood Investors, would take over.
"It appears to the City that Brookfield has been contemplating this action
for some time, and that its earlier assurances and reassurances were knowingly false when made and designed to induce the City's continued support of the Project," the city's default letter reads.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , CityPlace Burlington , Don Sinex , Brookfield Asset Management , Burlington , downtown , Web Only , Image
When not in school, students would learn remotely. Wednesdays would be reserved for interventions for students who needed extra support, as well as for teacher planning and professional development.
Tags: education , Vermont , hybrid model , remote learning , school , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Holcombe, a former state education secretary, has been hammering Zuckerman since March over his past skepticism of vaccine science and his efforts to derail legislation that eliminated the state's philosophical exemption to vaccine mandates. Zuckerman, a two-term lieutenant governor, has claimed without evidence that Holcombe is misrepresenting his record.
In a new television advertisement released Tuesday morning, Holcombe argues that Vermont's next governor will need to ensure that a potential coronavirus vaccine is distributed properly — and she suggests the LG isn't the one to do it.
"My opponent, David Zuckerman, is a nice man, but he's questioned the science behind vaccines," she says. "The anti-vaxxers call him their hero. As governor, I'll always follow the science, and that's the difference between us."
Holcombe went even further during Tuesday's debate on Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS, which also featured Democratic candidates Pat Winburn and Ralph Corbo. Given the opportunity to question a rival of her choosing, Holcombe said that Zuckerman had "cast doubt and fed fears about the safety of long-proven vaccines," and she asked him whether he took responsibility for "actually undermin[ing] the public health of Vermonters."
Tags: David Zuckerman , Rebecca Holcombe , Pat Winburn , Ralph Corbo , Web Only , Image
While he stressed he won’t make an official decision until he sees the latest data, the governor said that national trends are troubling and could force him to impose the restriction he’s so far resisted in favor of education and encouragement.
“Looking across the country, we continue to see a forest fire spreading across the South and West, and things could shift back toward us,” Scott said. “We have to keep our guard up.”
Tags: Phil Scott , mask mandate , Vermont , COVID-19 , coronavirus , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 20, 2020
That’s the assessment from an admittedly biased source: Paul Richardson, a Montpelier-based photographer. And while he usually charges for that great advice — and the pictures he takes — Richardson is offering free headshots at an event Wednesday in Burlington. For eight hours, he’ll set up inside the CityPlace Burlington mall and take photos of up to 50 people who are unemployed (or underemployed).
The event is part of a nationwide effort by photographers in all 50 states to take 10,000 headshots on July 22, spurred in part by the millions who have become unemployed in the months since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. So much of the job search takes place online, from using a LinkedIn profile to recruitment to emailing résumés, that having a decent picture of oneself can act like a “digital handshake” and show a potential employer you care, Richardson said.
“If you’ve got a selfie taken from the end of your arm, it looks like a selfie taken from the end of your arm,” Richardson said. “This is a skill we have, this is something we can offer, and we can help people get a leg up.”
The group of photogs partnered with malls owned by Brookfield Properties — owners of the notorious stalled CityPlace project in Burlington — to host the event. Each person will get a 10-minute slot to take a headshot at the former LeZot Camera shop in the mall. Richardson will be wearing a mask and taking other health precautions. He won’t edit the images and instead will instantly send them to each participant using software called SpotMyPhotos.
As of Monday afternoon, Richardson had just 15 or 16 people signed up and was hoping to fill more time slots. He sees donating his time and skills as a way to give back and help those who could use it.
“If you want to make a powerful first impression, you gotta focus on the visual,” Richardson said. “A headshot is really important.”
Click here to register and reserve a spot for a headshot photo session.
Tags: Paul Richardson , photos , headshots , jobs , coronavirus , Web Only , Image
According to the Secretary of State's Office, 113,735 residents requested absentee ballots by Monday afternoon. That exceeds the 107,637 who voted by any means in the 2018 primary and is nearing the 120,132 who voted in the 2016 primary.
It's also more than 22 times the number of people who requested an absentee ballot at an equivalent period before the 2018 primary. That year, just 5,051 residents had done so within 22 days of the election.
"We are very hopeful that we will continue to see this increase," said Secretary of State Jim Condos. "As I've always said, the more people that vote the better our democracy is."
Many of those who requested ballots are still contemplating their options. According to the Secretary of State's Office, town clerks have received 19,237 completed ballots.
Tags: Jim Condos , Will Senning , elections , Vermont , mail-in voting , absentee ballots , primary election , general election , absentee voting , Web Only , Image