Wednesday, August 25, 2021
The moratorium is now good until 2026. State officials announced it during a public meeting in Newport on Tuesday evening.
The Coventry landfill has long been a contentious issue along the border, and residents from both countries made it clear during the event that they don’t want the treated liquid, often dubbed “garbage juice," released into the international lake ever again. The nasty brew often contains polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, referred to as PFAS, that leached out of garbage.
Vermont Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore chaired the meeting, which went more than an hour over its scheduled 7 p.m. finish due to intense public interest in the issue.
“She really got a flavor of just how pissed off people are and how the economic and environmental injustice up here has just gone on and on and on,” Pam Ladds, a member of the anti-landfill group DUMP, which stands for Don’t Undermine Memphremagog’s Purity, said in an interview Wednesday.
Tags: memphremagog , Casella , Department of environmental conservation , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Last year, masking, testing and social distancing dominated the beginning of the fall semester. In Burlington and elsewhere, residents worried about the return of college students, many from faraway states where the pandemic was surging. Vaccinations had not been approved for the public.
This year, in the second autumn of the pandemic, masks are still recommended indoors. But about 90 percent of the students are returning fully vaccinated to their campuses, said Financial Regulation Commissioner Mike Pieciak, who is handling COVID-19 modeling for the state.
With 13 of 16 institutions of higher ed reporting, said Pieciak, only 350 students have received exemptions from vaccination requirements.
Tags: College , COVID-19 , breakthrough cases , vaccination , Mike Pieciak , Web Only , Image
House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) pressed Gov. Phil Scott to take further steps to protect Vermonters, including raising the prospect of a temporary indoor mask mandate.
“Vermonters have consistently asked why we aren’t doing more to prevent the spread of the virus,” Krowinski said in a release. “We have the tools available to protect ourselves, and any step we can take to prevent someone from being hospitalized or succumbing to this virus is worth taking.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint (D-Windham) echoed her colleague’s remarks. As the mother of a child under 12 who is ineligible for vaccination, Balint said she understands the anxiety parents feel about sending their unvaccinated kids back to the classroom as the virus surges.
Tags: COVID-19 , Phil Scott , Jill Krowinski , Becca Balint , Web Only , Image
Richards, however, says he has no intention of stepping down before an ongoing human resources investigation into his conduct concludes.
A petition signed by 34 members of AFSCME Local 1343 states that they have "lost all trust, faith, and confidence" in Richards, who has been on paid leave since June 30 over unspecified allegations. Richards runs the airport, and his official title is director of aviation.
Tags: Burlington International Airport , Gene Richards , AFSCME Local 1343 , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 23, 2021
Das Nobel, whose company MTX Group has worked for several Vermont state agencies in the past few years, said he was drawn to the Green Mountain State because it’s close to Albany, N.Y., where he lived for many years, and it reminds him of Bangladesh, where he was born and raised until he was 15.
“The incentive is a secondary priority for us,” he said of the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, or VEGI, which provides newly arrived companies grants if they meet targets for job creation or other investment. MTX was approved for the VEGI grant in July, though the money won’t be available until the company’s Waterbury office has met employment targets outlined as part of the grant.
Asked if he would have opened the Vermont site without the grant, Nobel said he would have, based on his desire to bring good jobs to a state that needs them.
“Absolutely,” he said Monday. “I made up my mind before.”
Tags: Das Nobel , MTX Group , contact tracing , Vermont , Waterbury , VEGI , Vermont Economic Growth Incentive , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 20, 2021
Mayor Miro Weinberger said Friday that he will host a town hall meeting with local businesses next week to discuss whether his office should pursue a citywide mask mandate similar to the one that was in effect for most of the last year.
Tags: Mayor Miro Weinberger , COVID-19 , mask mandate , delta variant , Burlington , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Real estate advisers White + Burke presented 16 potential sites for a new Burlington High School to the school board Tuesday night, including the infamous downtown CityPlace pit, the South End farmers market location and what's known as the downtown Gateway Block.
The district is preparing to embark on a massive building project after the discovery of chemicals known as PCBs led officials to close the high school’s Institute Road campus last September. Students learned remotely until the school district signed a 3.5-year lease for the former Macy’s department store building on Cherry Street, for $1.2 million annually. Students started attending classes there in March.
White + Burke project manager Joe Weith described the first phase of the site evaluation as "a very broad search" whose results the board will whittle down in coming weeks.
“It’s a pretty long list that we considered,” Weith said. “We wanted to make sure that we cast a broad net and really took a good look at any sites out there that were large enough that we thought could potentially work.”
Tags: Burlington School District , Burlington School Board , Institute Road , Downtown Burlington High School , Superintendent Tom Flanagan , PCBs , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Paraeducators, also called paraprofessionals or instructional assistants, play an important role in providing academic, behavioral and social-emotional support to students.
“Many of the paraeducator positions that we have open are actually tied to individual education plans, so they’re in support of students with disabilities,"
said Lynn Cota, superintendent of Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union.
"The role that they play helps to provide greater access for those students in the classroom."
Last Friday, her district — which serves 1,950 students — was still looking to fill 18 paraeducator positions before the start of school on August 25.
Paraeducators also help monitor lunch and recess and often work in the district’s before- and afterschool programs, Cota said. When there is a staff shortage, scheduling and ensuring adequate student supervision “gets exponentially more complex.”
Tags: back to school , Barre Unified Union School District , Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union , Essex Westford School District , paraeducators , Web Only , Image
Ward 3 residents in Burlington have new representation in Joe Magee, the Progressive candidate who took Tuesday night's special election with 47.1 percent of the vote.
Magee won 475 votes to independent Owen Milne's 397, or 39.4 percent. Republican Christopher-Aaron Felker finished a distant third with 136 votes, or 13.5 percent. Just over 22 percent of the 4,546 registered Ward 3 voters cast ballots, according to unofficial city results.
"I'm feeling really good," Magee said shortly after his win. "I know we ran a strong campaign. I think the results are a testament to the fact that we were out there from day one, talking about issues facing working families."
Magee's victory maintains the Progs' six-person numerical plurality on the 12-person council. He replaces former Progressive councilor Brian Pine, who left in late May to join Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger's administration. Progressives have controlled Ward 3 — which comprises a section of the city's Old North End, downtown and waterfront — for decades.
Tags: Joe Magee , Owen Milne , Christopher-Aaron Felker , Burlington City Council , Ward 3 , special election , Burlington , Web Only , Image
“While cases have picked up, it's important for Vermonters to remember we're not Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or any other states with significantly lower vaccination rates, and significantly higher hospitalizations,” he said. In Vermont, he added, “the data shows vaccines are preventing cases.”
That means schools are not expected to return to a remote or hybrid model this fall as people move indoors and case numbers likely rise, said Education Secretary Dan French. French said there might be some cases where a child leaves school due to individual illness and can connect online, “but the emphasis this year is going to be on in-person [instruction], because we know that works far better than the remote."
Tags: covid-19 , restrictions , masks , vaccines , Web Only , Image