State politics took the week off, but local politics picked up the slack. Here's this week's accounting of winners and losers in Vermont news and politics for the week ending Friday, March 8:

Winners:

Burlington Progressives —The Queen City’s favorite third- (or is it second-?) party expanded itspresence on the Burlington City Council Tuesday with wins by Prog Jane Knodelland Prog-leaning independent Sharon Bushor. 

Schoolbudgets — Enrollment’s down, budgets are up andVermont voters arejust lovin’ it!

TIF towns — Gov. Peter Shumlin says he wants to "wipe the slate clean" for four top towns that former state auditor Tom Salmon said owed the state $6 million in TIF cash. Runner-up loser: Salmon.

Tar Sand-ernistas — Twenty-eight towns say no to tar sand transpo' through Vermont. Now remind me who cares?

Losers after the break...

One-party rule in Burlington will have to wait.

One year after Mayor Miro Weinberger won a landslide election, ending Democrats' 30-year exile from Burlington City Hall, his party failed to win enough seats to claim a majority on the 14-member city council. Democrats picked up an open seat in the New North End, long a Republican stronghold, but Progressives recaptured a seat in the Old North End and an independent in Ward 1 hung onto her seat.

In the end, voters went for the better known candidates — and the result will be more divided government in the Queen City.

But the big story of the night was the drubbing of incumbent South Burlington city councilors Sandy Dooley and Paul Engels, who lost by two-to-one margins to challengers Chris Shaw and Patricia Nowak. The incumbents found themselves on the defensive about their vote against basing F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport, and about the firing and $140,000 severance paid out to city manager Sandy Miller.

Happy Town Meeting Day, everyone! Once again Seven Days is teaming up with Burlington's Channel 17 for coverage. We'll have a live blog and chat with writers and readers from around the state, plus live streaming video from Channel 17. We'll also aggregate Town Meeting Day reports from media outlets around the state and update results as we get them, including from the competitive city council races in Burlington. The fun starts at 6 p.m.

Click here to tune in.

Local opponents of the F-35 are throttling up their campaign by petitioning for a cutoff of construction funds for Burlington International Airport if it agrees to host the fighter jets.

Activists began gathering signatures during Town Meeting Day voting today in support of a 2014 ballot initiative stating that "no more than one dollar may be spent for construction, equipment and improvement" at the airport in the event F-35s are based there.

Bristol attorney Jim Dumont, speaking on behalf of the plane’s opponents, argues that Burlington voters have the power to slash the airport’s budget. He bases that claim on a section of state law that requires local voters to approve the budget of a municipally owned airport. Burlington has apparently flouted this law for decades by not making airport funding contingent on direct approval by city voters, Dumont said at a news conference Tuesday morning at the Mater Christi School polling place.

City attorney Eileen Blackwood says Dumont has it wrong.

In a statement emailed to reporters on the evening prior to the press event, Blackwood said, “Burlington’s city charter trumps the general state law on this issue.” Burlington’s charter vests budget-making authority solely with the city council, she notes. Airport spending therefore could not be directly blocked by the city’s voters, Blackwood says.

Dumont (pictured) responded on Tuesday that it’s Blackwood who’s got it wrong.

Happy Monday, politics geeks! Here's what's happening in Vermont news and politics this week — a slow one with the legislature on Town Meeting break.

Got a newsworthy event for next week's calendar? Email by Friday to submit.

Monday, March 4

• Gov. Peter Shumlin is in Rutland all morning, starting with a legislative breakfast with business leaders at 7:45, and ending with a tour of the Strafford Technical Center at 11:30.
• What could be more political than maple syrup? Not much — at least in Vermont. Today, Vermont Public Radio's "Vermont Edition" tackles the coming changes to the maple grading system Vermont uses in a segment called "Goodbye Fancy, Hello Golden Color." Listen live. 

Rest of the week after the break...

Unseating City Councilor Sharon Bushor would qualify as one of the biggest upsets in Burlington's recent political history. But some civic activists in Ward 1 insist that Democratic challenger Tom Derenthal just might be able to prevent Bushor, an independent, from winning an unprecedented 13th term on the council.

In her 26 years of service, Bushor has built a reputation for diligence, responsiveness to her constituents and long-windedness. Having acquired the status of an institution, she has faced only token or write-in opposition in recent re-election bids. But Bushor did have to battle an aggressive Democratic opponent in 2005 when the hard-charging Ed Adrian came within 41 votes of ending her tenure.

Eight years later, there's talk of "Sharon fatigue" on the part of some voters. Bushor, 65, hears that herself as she makes the campaign rounds. "People say you've been around a while, but that doesn't mean you're devoid of new ideas," she said in an interview five days prior to the March 5 council election.

Peg Boyle Single, a Democrat and member of the Ward 1 Neighborhood Planning Assembly steering committee, expresses the time-for-a-change sentiment. "Sharon has been on the council quite a while and some of the issues facing the ward have persisted during that time," Single says. Derenthal, she adds, "is bringing a new perspective on those issues."

It's the event you've all been waiting for! No, not Burlington's Mardi Gras parade. That's tomorrow. (Look for a passed-out Andy Bromage atop the Seven Days float.)

It's this week's Scoreboard! Our regular accounting of the winners and losers in this week's news cycle. Did you make the list? Keep reading...

Winners:

Castleton Polling Institute — Vermont's fledgling polling outfit dominated Vermont political news for a week as it dribbled out results on hot-button topics from guns to wind to end-of-life choice. Finally, Vermont reporters and lawmakers alike have some data to work with as they consider a slew of tough issues.

Miro Weinberger — As Green Mountain Daily's Jack McCullough pointed out this week, both Progs and Dems are claiming in campaign messages that their respective candidates in a hotly-contested Burlington City Council race would help Mayor Miro Weinberger advance his agenda. Dude must be popular. (For the record, the Democratic mayor backs the Democratic candidate. Big surprise.)

Reporters — The fourth estate may finally get its hands on criminal investigative records, thanks to the Senate Judiciary Committee's move this week to adopt federal disclosure standards. Watch out, cops. The Burlington Free Press' Mike Donoghue's gonna getcha!

Losers after the break...

Voters and politicians alike sometimes claim that party labels don't matter much. But party affiliation is one of the only things distinguishing the two candidates, Tom Ayres (D) and Jim Robert (R), in Burlington's Ward 7 city council race.

Both men say they're emphasizing fiscal responsibility — as opposed, presumably, to boasting of their fiscal irresponsibility. The two also describe themselves as socially moderate rather than, say, socially extreme.

Robert: "I want to make sure we're spending our money wisely. I see tax increases as a last resort."

Ayers: "I'm talking a lot about responsible management of taxpayers' money."

The pair also share an unenthusiastic response to the 25-unit condo complex being developed in the ward by a partnership that includes Mayor Miro Weinberger.

Here's what's happening in Vermont news and politics this week. Got a newsworthy event for next weeks' calendar? Email us by Friday to submit.

Monday, February 25

• At 10:20 a.m., Gov. Peter Shumlin and other governors will be meeting with President Obama at the White House, part of the National Governors Association Winter Meeting 2013.
• At 11 a.m., Rep. George Cross (D-Winooski) and Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden) are the guests on Channel 17's "Conversations With Your Legislators." Watch it live.
• A coalition of groups backing GMO labeling bills are holding a series of public forums this week, starting at 6:30 p.m. today in White River Junction. Click here for a full schedule.

Rest of the week after the break...

The Vermont Guard has a new leader — Brig. Gen. Steven Cray, who was overwhelmingly elected adjutant general by a vote of the Legislature on Thursday.

Congrats, dude! Now about that whole F-35 thing...

After winning with 140 votes, Cray faced a scrum of reporters outside the House chamber eager to learn more about the guy succeeding Michael Dubie as head of the 2600-4000-member Vermont National Guard.

Cray is a fighter pilot and 30-year Guard veteran who reportedly commanded a squadron of F-18s over Ground Zero on 9/11. He's also an American Airlines pilot and served in Iraq.

Cray easily beat three other contenders, including anti-F-35 candidate, Jimmy Leas, a South Burlington lawyer who is not a Guard member. Another candidate dropped out last month after an anonymous letter accused him of failing to adequately address allegations of sexual harassment in the Guard.

During Cray's first impromptu press conference, it didn't take long for the subject to turn to the potential basing of F-35 fighter jets on the Air Guard base at Burlington International Airport. Asked if he thinks the Air Guard will have a future if the F-35 doesn't come, Cray said, "I do. It will be different."

Cray said the Guard could find nonflying missions to sustain it, should the Air Force base the F-35s elsewhere, but he's not sure what they would be. That's a slightly more optimistic picture than former adjutant general Michael Dubie painted last June, when he told reporters "there is no plan B" for the Vermont Air Guard base if the F-35s aren't based at BTV.