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.

In this week's issue of Seven Days, starring local musician Jim Rooney on the cover...

• A loophole in Vermont law means downloading child porn is illegal, but merely viewing it is not. Lawmakers are looking to change that.
• Two contests for the South Burlington City Council could determine the future of a number of big issues there, from the F-35 to a development freeze.
• Some local students are attending high school in Québec, with tuition assistance from Vermont.
• Trouble sleeping? Maybe you need to have someone watching you sleep at the Sheraton Burlington.
• In Fair Game: Doug Racine made his career on fighting poverty, but now he's the unlikely lead pitchman selling Gov. Peter Shumlin's welfare cuts. Plus, how can you fight the influence of super PACs? Give more money to the parties themselves, of course. 

Find your copy on newsstands, at sevendaysvt.com or in the App Store.

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Opponents of basing the Air Force's next-generation fighter jet in Burlington have a new trick up their sleeves: They want the state to compensate homeowners whose property could be devalued if the F-35 comes to town.

"I mean, you can't have it both ways," Rep. George Cross (D-Winooski) said at a Statehouse press conference Thursday morning, arguing that the plane's proponents should be ready to dish out the cash to anyone harmed by the basing.

"The point is if you are a legislator — if you are a Vermonter who supports the F-35 — then you must also support the notion that if you're wrong and, in fact, it is harmful and it has grave adverse impacts on people who live in the impacted zone, then in fact they deserve to be compensated in some fashion," Cross (pictured above) said.

In a bill he plans to introduce in the House next week, Cross proposes to create an "F-35 Adverse Impacts Compensation Board" that would be charged with "awarding compensation to property owners, landowners and other persons harmed or damaged by the noise and other adverse impacts" of the planes.

This week's Seven Days is the annual love and marriage issue. (That's the Pinterest-inspired cover over on the right.) Rest assured that despite the wedding bells, this week's news and politics stories are as contentious as ever.

• The State Police Advisory Commission exists to hold state law enforcement accountable. Critics say it's failing in its mission.
• One gun control measure in the Statehouse already sputtered out this year, but here comes a new one, tackling high-capacity ammo clips, background checks and more. Does it stand a chance of passing?
• New details have been revealed in the 2011 case of a prostitution ring for migrant farmworkers — including new customers and co-conspirators.
• In Fair Game: Gov. Peter Shumlin stands by his much-maligned plan for new childcare subsidies. Plus, more global trips for the governor, the Legislature takes on the F-35 and a former Massachusetts governor settles down in Vermont (not the one that just ran for president).

Lastly, one more reminder that if you've got an iPad or iPhone, you can get all the page-flipping satisfaction and pretty layouts of the print edition with our new app. Click here to download it.

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.