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UPDATED below with comment from Councilor Max Tracy, who says Progressives will contest the seat.

Citing a new job and family obligations, Burlington City Councilor Bram Kranichfeld (D-Ward 2) said Wednesday he will not run for reelection in March.

Currently a deputy state's attorney in Chittenden County, Kranichfeld was hired last week to serve as executive director of the Department of State's Attorneys' and Sheriffs' Association. He and his wife, Erin, are expecting their first child in July. 

"It really has been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents of Ward 2 for years on the council," Kranichfeld said, during a brief break from meeting and greeting lawmakers Wednesday at the Statehouse. "I'm saddened to leave the council."

Kranichfeld said he spent the weekend agonizing over the decision, but ultimately decided he couldn't juggle all the responsibilities he was facing.

The new gig, he said, "is going to require a time commitment that I think is not going to be compatible with the time the council and Ward 2 demands."

With a child on the way, he said it would be "irresponsible" to re-up for another two-year term in March.

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Barely a week before, he and the Burlington City Council were reminded of the strength of Vermont's gun rights community when nearly 100 activists showed up at City Hall to oppose a proposed assault weapons ban.

Apparently, that wasn't enough to dissuade Weinberger from pushing the issue further.

"As the father of a first-grader and as a mayor who gets one of the first calls when someone is shot in this city, I feel a deep responsibility to join the loud call for action now to protect our children and communities from illegal guns," Weinberger said during a press conference Monday afternoon at the Burlington Police Department's North Avenue headquarters.

Standing beside the mayors of Montpelier and Barre, Weinberger announced that he'd joined a national gun control group founded by New York's Michael Bloomberg, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and embraced three of its legislative priorities: to improve the federal background check system, to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, and to crack down on gun trafficking.

While hardly breaking new ground in the national debate over gun laws, Weinberger's move was notable in this gun-loving state simply for the contrast it painted with other prominent Vermont politicians, who have mostly sought to avoid discussing gun laws in the wake of last month's deadly school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

By raising the issue himself, Burlington's mayor stood out from the crowd. And for a local politician who clearly harbors statewide political ambitions, that's a risky move.

UPDATED BELOW with comments from Burlington City Attorney Eileen Blackwood.

The Vermont National Guard announced last night that the Air Force will delay for several months its decision on basing F-35 fighter planes at Burlington International Airport so it can consider newer census data on the number of people that would be impacted by jet noise.

In a press release issued Wednesday evening, the Guard said the final decision on basing F-35s would be delayed until "spring 2013" so the Air Force can update the environmental impact statements (EIS) to include 2010 census data for all six locations under consideration to host the world's most expensive weapons system.

"At the time the Air Force began the EIS process, 2010 census data were not available for all six locations," read the Guard statement. "The Air Force is committed to producing the most accurate EIS possible, so decision makers have the best information available to make an informed decision."

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing F-35 opponents said he's preparing a petition to block the potential basing by forcing a voter referendum in Burlington that would effectively starve the airport of needed funding. Bristol attorney James DuMont said a rarely invoked section of the Burlington city charter requires voter approval for the airport's construction and maintenance budget. He wants to put a ballot question to voters some time this spring that says, "so long as F-35 jets are regularly based" at BTV, money for construction, equipment and improvement shall not exceed $1 — effectively depriving the airport, and the Guard, of the funds they need to operate.

Here's what's happening in Vermont news and politics this week — the first of the 2013-14 legislative session. Got something newsworthy for next week's calendar? Email by Friday to submit.

Monday, January 7

• At 7:30 a.m., the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce and Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation hold a joint 2013 legislative breakfast at the Sheraton in South Burlington. Gov. Peter Shumlin and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger will address the biz crowd.
• Gov. Shumlin holds a rare Monday morning press conference, 11 a.m. on the 5th floor of the Pavilion Building in Montpelier.
• At 1 p.m., Burlington Mayor Weinberger holds a press conference on an unannounced topic.
• The Burlington City Council meets at 7 p.m. On the agenda: a proposed city charter change banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like the ones used in the Newtown school massacre. Also, Mayor Weinberger will ask the council to approve extending Paul Sisson's appointment as interim chief administrative officer while hizzoner takes more time to search for a permanent CAO. 

Rest of the week after the break...

Burlington has cracked another "Best place to (insert whatever here)" list. But the Queen City's latest superlative is not as one of the top burghs to raise a family or for the highest rate of smug Prius drivers per capita. According to the folks over at the Daily Beast, BTV ranks as the 25th booziest city in the country. (Milwaukee, Boston was number one, FYI.) 

I was initially surprised, and a little offended, we only ranked 25 — behind the likes of Cleveland and Fargo, no less. That is until I remembered that Burlington is also routinely named among the healthiest cities in the country. So that either means the boozehound portion of the population seriously gets after it to make up for the teetotalers — a notion supported by the study's finding that 19.4 percent of the local populace are binge drinkers — or that Burlingtonians have an uncanny ability to snowshoe/ski/kayak/save the planet/raise kids with devastating hangovers. Either way, slaínte!

The local music scene was deeply saddened by the news that one of Burlington's preeminent turntablists, DJ A-Dog, was diagnosed with leukemia in mid-December. A-Dog, (a.k.a. Andy Williams), 37, is currently undergoing chemotherapy at the Fletcher Allen Health Center in Burlington. Fortunately, he was diagnosed in the early stages of the disease. Still, he'll be hospitalized for about a month, followed by outpatient treatment. And like most working musicians, he doesn't have health insurance.

To help foot what promises to be a hefty bill, the Burlington music community will come together tonight, Thursday, January 3, at Club Metronome in Burlington for "Friends For A-Dog," the first of what is likely to be several benefit shows in support of Williams. The showcase features a slew of local talent including DJs Craig Mitchell, Disco Phantom and Big Dog, EDM collective Bonjour Hi and punk rockers, Rough Francis, among many others.

If you can't make the show tonight, but still want to lend a hand, A-Dog is accepting donations here. Additionally, rumors are beginning to circulate regarding future benefit shows at various venues around town, and we'll have more details on those as they become available. 

The University of Vermont has removed kill traps set for a family of beavers living in Centennial Woods and will rethink how to deal with the animals in the coming weeks.

Last month Seven Days covered the story of a family of beavers that had taken up residence in a UVM stormwater retention pond. Field naturalist Teage O'Connor (pictured) and his students had been studying the animals for years. But UVM worried the dammed pond could flood and set traps.

Now the university has put the trapping on hold, according to Sharon MacNair, the president of Green Mountain Animal Defenders. MacNair learned about the beavers after several GMAD members forwarded her a link to the Seven Days story. She says she subsequently put out an alert to GMAD members, urging them to contact UVM, and penned her own letter to the director of UVM's physical plant department, Salvatore Chiarelli.

Within 24 hours UVM came back with this update: They were pulling the traps — at least for the time being. The university plans to reconsider the issue after classes reconvene on Jan. 14. 

Marc Nadel

• Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger wants to hold more festivals and events, year-round, at Waterfront Park. But some neighbors object to more noise and park closures.
• The quest to bring the F-35 to Vermont has drawn Frank Cioffi, the head of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, out of the shadows.That's him in Marc Nadel's illustration, right.
• The University of Vermont is facing criticism from its own students and faculty for using kill traps to catch beavers in Centennial Woods.
• This week's WTF tackles a pair of questions from commuters: What's up with the sheet-enshrouded bridge in Richmond and the big foam blocks on the Burlington Beltline?
• In Fair Game: Vermont's laws, and its politicians, have a history of being gun-friendly. Will that change in the wake of the Newtown shootings?

Also, one editor's note: the Seven Days office is closed through January 2 for our year-end break. We'll be putting out a double issue on December 26, with no paper on January 2. This blog will be updated less frequently than normal over the break, too. Happy holidays!

Frank Cioffi illustration by Marc Nadel

Vermonters opposed to basing the F-35 stealth fighter at the Burlington airport rallied outside and inside Senator Patrick Leahy's downtown office on Wednesday afternoon.

The 100-plus demonstrators who assembled near the Democracy sculpture on Main Street were asking to talk with the senator about his support for stationing up to 24 of the planes in Vermont. Opponents were also urging Leahy to convene a public hearing on the F-35's environmental impact, especially the effect of its engine noise on thousands of residents within earshot of the airport.

"No" and "no" was the response of John Tracy, Leahy's chief of staff (pictured below, after the jump). "He's in Washington and won't be speaking with you," Tracy told a a delegation of about a dozen F-35 opponents who crowded into a waiting area in the senator's fourth floor suite of offices at 199 Main Street. "We're not making a commitment to a public hearing at this time."

A few of the protestors peppered Tracy with questions and criticisms in an exchange that lasted about 20 minutes.

Here's the newsy stuff in this week's commemorative 12/12/12 edition of Seven Days...

• Librarians at Burlington's Fletcher Free Library are adapting to a changing job — which includes responding to the many homeless people that hang out in the library every day.
• With an app called SeeClickFix, the city of Burlington is taking a new approach to fighting curbside litter with the public's help.
• Meet Liz Miller, the former Department of Public Service head who now faces a tall task as Gov. Peter Shumlin's incoming chief of staff.
• In Fair Game: If Green Mountain Power execs didn't want journalists arrested on Lowell Mountain last year, what took so long to exonerate Barton Chronicle publisher Chris Braithwaite?
  
  And while the governor and two mayors visit a Florida air base to hear the F-35, learn about why a nearby, conservative-minded city is lukewarm towards the new jet.

Library photo by Matthew Thorsen