Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Despite president-elect Donald Trump's victory after a campaign in which he vowed to bar Muslim immigrants from entering America, Louras said he and his allies are proceeding apace.
Louras is coordinating with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and a local volunteer group, Rutland Welcomes, to prepare for the initial wave of refugees from war-torn Syria. They are expected to arrive in mid-December or January. The bulk of the refugees are expected in the spring and summer, Louras said.
"All of us are continuing as if there's been no change," Louras, a Republican-turned-independent, said. "We've got no indications that the New Americans will not be arriving. We're absolutely cognizant of the fact that things could change, but it's not impacting things [now]."
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Tuesday, November 8, 2016
As they noshed on egg salad sandwiches and carrot ginger soup just a few blocks from Montpelier's polling place, many of the regulars said they didn't think the presidential election, despite all the attention it has received, mattered much.
To spend a couple hours in the church basement was to be reminded that despite the omnipresent election hullabaloo, not everyone votes. Nationally, less than 60 percent of eligible voters participated in 2012.
"I know foreign policy is important, but it's hard to hear and think about abstract [issues] when you're worried about freezing to death, or your friend's tent is leaking," said Dawn Little, when asked about voting. She's a regular attendee who has toggled between homelessness and living in an apartment.
Tags: Montpelier , election , homeless , mentally ill , Bethany United Church of Christ , Image , Web Only
"It was craze-balls," said Janet Stambolian, who was signing in voters at Edmunds Middle School as people flooded in after polls opened at 7 a.m. "You can quote me on that." Anecdotally, Stambolian noted high numbers of new voters and immigrants, she said.
Voters across the city described a sense of both impending relief and doom, a bewildering climax after 14 months of election fatigue and media barrage.
"I'm so frickin' nervous about this — on so many levels," said Dave Oppenheimer, campaign manager for Partnership for Burlington's Future. Oppenheimer stood outside the Ward 2 location, holding a "vote yes" sign for city ballot initiatives.
"No one standing at these polls has slept in like five days. I just want it to be over — but I want to win."
Tags: Election Day , Burlington , Edmunds Middle School , Lawrence Barnes Academy , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell said Tuesday that an email Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign sent to support Rep. Chris Pearson’s (P-Burlington) state Senate race did not violate state campaign finance laws.
In the May email to his supporters, Sanders urged recipients to contribute to eight like-minded state legislative candidates around the country, including Pearson, who worked for Sanders in the late 1990s.
Pearson is running as a Progressive/Democrat for one of Chittenden County’s six seats in the state Senate.
“Chris is a good friend of working people and of mine,” Sanders said in the email.
Tags: Bill Sorrell , Senator , Bernie Sanders , Brady Toensing , Chris Pearson , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
So said Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson on a campaign swing through South Burlington Wednesday night with running mate William Weld by his side.
The two former Republican governors, both converts to the Libertarian Party, wore blue jeans and relaxed expressions as they pledged to fight tax increases, simplify the tax codes and make government better by making large portions of it disappear.
"Count on us to reduce taxes every single time," Johnson said. "Count on us because we get to run the administration of the federal government, that rules and regulations are going to get better, not worse."
A few hundred people waved signs proclaiming, "Our Best America Yet. You In?" and cheered loudly at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center as Johnson essentially proposed to put government on a starvation diet in order to fatten the wallets of ordinary people.
Tags: cannabis related , election rally , elections 2016 , Gary Johnson , Libertarians , presidential campaign , William Weld , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Johnson secured 772 votes to Andrew Julow’s 560 and Ben Joseph’s 550 in the two-seat Grand Isle County district. Johnson had been criticized for failing to bring back enough state resources to Grand Isle during the campaign.
Tags: politics , election 2016 , Selene Colburn , Mitzi Johnson , Norm McAllister , Tim Ashe , Virginia Lyons , Phil Baruth , Michael Sirotkin , Brian Cina , Image , Slideshow , Web Only
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Sunderland explained the rare, intraparty intervention on Saturday morning. “You simply cannot accuse an opposing campaign of illegal activity without a drop of evidence,” he said. “We’re not picking sides here, but if there’s no evidence of the accusation, we can’t tolerate that.”
At issue are recent phone calls to Lisman supporters, who were allegedly reminded to vote on August 23 — two weeks after next Tuesday’s actual primary election date.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Vermont Republican Party , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Web Only
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Back home in South Hero, she’s in the middle of a competitive primary and the target of criticism that Grand Isle County doesn’t get its fair share of resources.
Johnson, 45, is one of four Democratic candidates seeking two seats in the August 9 primary. The winners face two Republicans in the November election.
Tags: Mitzi Johnson , Evan Hill , Ben Joseph , Andrew Julow , Vermont House , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Scott last week aired the same ad online, though he’s the last of the five candidates for governor to hit the TV airwaves. In the clip, he criticizes Republican opponent Bruce Lisman for his negative ad campaign.
“What passes for business as usual on Wall Street has never been in line with Vermont values, so although my opponent’s misleading ads are disappointing, Vermonters know the truth,” Scott says in the 30-second commercial.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Peter Galbraith , Sue Minter , Matt Dunne , Peter Shumlin , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Video , Web Only
Monday, July 11, 2016
The reason: gender imbalance.
The Democratic National Committee directed the Vermont Democratic Party to remove two men from the list of delegates and replace them with women, said Conor Casey, the state party’s executive director.
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