Monday, December 13, 2021
One year into their current terms, Reps. Brian Savage (R-Swanton), Lynn Batchelor (R-Derby Line) and Marybeth Redmond (D-Essex) have all called it quits in recent weeks. Local party officials will forward candidates for Scott to choose from as successors.
And last Thursday, Redmond said in a letter to House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) that she was resigning effective immediately to deal with "some health concerns that require my prompt and focused attention."
Tags: Marybeth Redmond , Hal Colston , Essex , Winooski , Vermont House , Gov. Phil Scott , retirement , resignation , legislature , Web Only , Image
Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint (D-Windham) on Monday announced her candidacy for U.S. House, joining Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
Balint’s decision ensures Vermonters will have at least two women to choose from — and maybe more — when they vote in 2022 for the next member of the state’s historically all-male congressional delegation.
Balint grew up in Peekskill, N.Y., and graduated from Smith College. She worked as a rock-climbing instructor at a Quaker-inspired summer camp in Plymouth, Vt., where in 2000 she met her future wife, Elizabeth Wohl. The couple settled in Brattleboro in 2007 and have two children.
A former middle school teacher, Balint was first elected to the state Senate in 2014. Last fall, her colleagues elected her to be the first woman president pro tem of the Democrat-dominated chamber, making her arguably the most powerful lawmaker in the state.
Tags: Becca Balint.Patrick Leahy. Peter Welch. Molly Gray. Kesha Ram Hinsdale. , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 10, 2021
Toof, who is listed as a middle school literacy teacher on the school's website, is facing two charges — repeated aggravated sexual assault of a child, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. After being arraigned on Thursday, he was being held without bail at Northwestern Correctional Center.
Another student saw Toof touch the girl's bottom and told his mother, a teacher at the school, who reported the incident to a guidance counselor. Other students and staff members also reported concerns, and the guidance counselor contacted the Department for Children & Families in June 2016.
On November 18, 2016 — just five months later — a social studies and language arts teacher at the school filed another report with DCF. She reported hearing the school administration expressing concern about Toof's behavior toward the student, who was no longer in his class.
Staff had been advised "to keep an eye" on the girl and not allow her to visit Toof's classroom because there had been "a previous incident of concern about his behavior with this child," court documents say. Earlier that month, Toof had been observed holding hands and hugging the student, the teacher reported. Again, DCF declined to investigate further.
DCF did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Seven Days.
Tags: Georgia Elementary School , Franklin County , sexual assault , Web Only , Image
What remained of the Sears Lane homeless encampment in Burlington's South End was completely dismantled Friday morning when city crews staged an early-morning cleanup and forced out the six remaining residents.
Loaders rolled in at about 7:30 a.m. and were still moving piles of debris into dumpsters more than three hours later. Trucks periodically hauled in empty trash receptacles as others were filled to the brim.
Former Sears Lane resident Grey Barreda watched the scene solemnly from outside the chain link fence that now surrounds the site. Barreda and another former camper, Alexys Grundy, sued the city over their forced removal last month. But a Superior Court judge has continually sided with city officials in the ongoing case.
“The people in power decide who’s a victim, and the city has decided they’re the victim,” Barreda said. “This is a temper tantrum.”
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Hernandez is dean of the UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and its vice provost of online learning, positions he has held since 2018. He earned an MBA and an MA in education from Stanford University and worked in the financial world before entering education with a job teaching math in Los Angeles, according to his biography.
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Thursday, December 9, 2021
Longtime Burlington City Councilor Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) won't seek reelection in March, creating an open seat in the city's traditionally Democratic South End.
Mason, 52, has served on the city council for a decade, and before that, on the city's Retirement Board and Board of Tax Appeals. He has chaired the council's Ordinance Committee, which vets policy on issues ranging from short-term rentals to zoning rules, since first being elected in 2012. Mason is a managing partner at Burlington law firm Gravel & Shea, a role that sometimes requires him to recuse himself from council business.
"During my time on the Council I have been proud to be a consistent advocate for policies that make our city more affordable, more livable, and more accessible," Mason said in a press release Thursday announcing his decision. "I have enjoyed collaborating with Mayor [Miro] Weinberger and my colleagues on shared priorities."
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Tuesday, December 7, 2021
A pair of city spending plans got mixed results during a special Burlington election on Tuesday.
Voters shot down a $40 million capital bond, which would have fixed up sidewalks and replaced aging fire trucks, 57.3 percent to 42.7 percent; it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The plan would have raised taxes for the average homeowner.
But voters approved a $20 million revenue bond for the Burlington Electric Department, which will get the city closer to its goal of eliminating its use of fossil fuels by 2030. That item passed 70 percent to 30 percent with a simple majority.
The capital bond's failure marks the first time in Mayor Miro Weinberger's nine-plus years in office that voters have said "no" to a bond vote. They previously approved a $27.5 million bond in 2016, the first part of Weinberger's 10-year capital spending plan that upgraded most of the city’s bike path and fixed 14 miles of sidewalks.
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"I still believe with the information that I have that that's the right decision for us," Flanagan said. "I understand it is a harder decision now after the new action levels ... but I think we are not in a significantly different place than we were five months ago as it relates to our need for a new building."
"One of my biggest concerns has been hurdles like the one we are facing now get in the way and delay the inevitable need for a new school building for Burlington High School and Burlington Technical Center," he added.
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Ray Small, the editor and owner, said Tuesday that the Gazette’s advertising revenues dropped by 90 percent after the pandemic hit, “and they really haven’t come back.”
There are no plans to stop publishing altogether, Small said, though the paper is losing money. In fact, he'd like to bring back the print version someday.
"We’re fine, all things considered," he said.
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The state reported the most cases in a single day with 641 on Sunday. Hospitals were treating 90 patients overall and 31 in intensive care units, both all-time highs. A few counties — Bennington, Rutland and Essex — have among the highest rates in the nation.
Vermont officials chose not to dwell on these dim data points during their weekly press briefing Tuesday. Instead, they spent most of their time highlighting more promising developments in the fight against the pandemic, from high uptake of boosters and the children's vaccine to a nation-leading testing rate.
Tags: COVID , hospitalizations , ICUs , Gov. Phil Scott , Web Only , Image