Friday, March 8, 2019
Digger is seeking a total of 1.5 million pages of relevant documents. The state has refused to release them, citing ongoing litigation.
At first glance, Friday's press release appeared to signal a major step in the legal battle — but in actual fact, according to Galloway, it only included 100 or so pages.
She called the document release "minuscule," and added that, "We worked really hard to get them. We had a team of lawyers at work for at least four months." Galloway called it an "outrage that it takes so much effort to get so little."
Tags: Phil Scott , T.J. Donovan , Anne Galloway , Rebecca Kelley , Ariel Quiros , Bill Stenger , Vermont , EB-5 , Web Only , Image
Friday, March 1, 2019
Belair and Mitiguy had been cohosts of a morning music show on WXXX-FM (95 Triple X) until late last year. They moved to WVMT at the beginning of January, taking the place of longtime morning hosts Charlie Papillo and Ernie Farrar, who both retired. Now, with their new show coming to an abrupt end and their Triple X time slot filled by a nationally syndicated show, Belair and Mitiguy are looking for work.
Tags: Pete Belair , Sarah Mitiguy , Charlie Papillo , Ernie Farrar , JoAnn Cyr , Ken Barlow , Paul Goldman , Kurt Wright , Marcus Certa , WVMT , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The Vermont Statehouse has tightened up its credentialing process for journalists ahead of Gov. Phil Scott’s budget address Thursday. The stricter requirements come after an activist posed as a reporter and disrupted the governor’s inaugural speech earlier this month.
Media members who wanted to cover Scott’s address from the press gallery were required to email the sergeant at arms by noon Wednesday. Previously, reporters could sign in on the day of the event.
The governor's communications office detailed the new process in an email sent Tuesday to members of the media.
Reporters and photographers must show photo ID to pick up their yellow press badges ahead of the speech. Only those who follow the new registration rules will get access to the House balcony for the event, Sergeant at Arms Janet Miller said.
Tags: Statehouse , media , Phil Scott , governor , legislature , inaugural address , protest , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 13, 2018
The buyer is Chicago-based publishing executive Jim O’Rourke, according to a story posted on the Messenger's website. The announcement did not disclose the terms of the sale.
Tags: media note , St. Albans Messenger , Champlain Valley News Group , Colchester Sun , Essex Reporter , Milton Independent , Emerson Lynn , Suzanne Lynn , Jim O'Rourke , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
"She's wise beyond her years, is very level-headed and has developed a great rapport with the people she works with," McClory said.
A resident of White River Junction and native of Framingham, Mass., Cassidy joined the Valley News in January 2012 and worked her way up the ranks from news assistant to web editor of the previously tech-averse paper. She'll succeed Martin Frank, who is retiring after more than three decades at the paper and five years as editor.
"I don't know how many times I'm going to be in the position I'm in right now, which is to have been working at a newspaper that I love for seven years and to have an editor position opening that I feel like I can do," Cassidy said.
Tags: Valley News , Maggie Cassidy , Martin Frank , Dan McClory , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
The Burlington Free Press reported in March that Catherine Iraheta, a former sales and marketing executive, had sued the stations’ owner, Nexstar Broadcasting, and its former general manager Craig Marrs. On Monday, the Free Press reported that a second former employee, Desiree Roberts, is seeking to join the suit. Both are represented by attorney John Stasny.
Iraheta's suit describes a “good old boys’ club” atmosphere and claims that Marrs complimented her legs and, while staring at her breasts, asked if she was wearing a bathing suit. After she complained to the human resources department, the suit claims that Iraheta experienced retaliation and was ultimately forced to resign.
Roberts, who worked as a photographer and backup director for the stations from November 2017 until this summer, claimed that Marrs berated her during a meeting after she made complaints about anchor Michael Hoey-Lukakis, who she said made derogatory comments about women and graphic sexual insults. She, too, said she was effectively forced to resign.
Marrs retired earlier this year and did not respond to a phone message seeking comment. Reached by email, Hoey-Lukakis, who is not named as a defendant in the suit but is accused of misconduct, said he could not comment.
Tags: Fox 44 , ABC 22 , Nexstar Broadcasting , Burlington Free Press , media , Craig Marrs , Michael Hoey-Lukakis , Image , Web Only
Thursday, October 25, 2018
The show profiled Vermont's Democratic gubernatorial candidate as one of hundreds of LGBT candidates running for office around the nation. But the comedy segment was as much about Vermont’s politics as it was about Hallquist. The six-minute dispatch shows correspondent Ashley Nicole Black searching for a classic good-versus-evil social justice narrative. But the Vermonters she speaks with focus on broadband access and socioeconomic diversity — not the candidates’ gender politics.
“I’m here to make, like, a beautiful Oscar-winning film about a woman who’s just become, like, a champion for the people,” Black tells Hallquist in a sit-down interview at the beginning of the segment.
“Okay, that’s ... Yeah, sure,” Hallquist responds.
Tags: Samantha Bee , Christine Hallquist. Ashley Nicole Black , transgender , diversity , Phil Scott , TBS , Full Frontal with Samantha Bee , Vermont , politics , Election 2018 , Governor's Race 2018 , Image , Web Only , Video
Friday, September 14, 2018
The policy, issued two days after Green censored a story on the website of the Register, the school's newspaper, says that it is intended “to affirm support for the school newspaper, but also outline guidelines around how it functions.”
Seven Days obtained a copy of the new policy from the student journalists. It refers to Act 49, the Vermont law passed last year that was intended to prevent school administrators from censoring student journalists. But Green notes that there are six instances, such as libelous or slanderous information, that would be precluded from protection under the law, which is commonly referred to as New Voices.
“The only way school administrators can ensure that distributed material passes this litmus test, they must have the ability to view all material before it is printed,” Green wrote. “Thus, moving forward the BHS Register will re-continue the policy from 2016/17 which required material to be submitted to the administration 48 hours prior to publication.”
Tags: Burlington , Burlington High School , newspaper , Yaw Obeng , Noel Green , Mario Macias , Register , Vermont Press Association , Image , Web Only
During a stinging public comment session, multiple speakers said district leadership ignored complaints about Macias for more than a year and should have placed him on leave Friday. That's when the Vermont Education Agency cited him for six alleged licensing violations, including fabricating a transcript so a student could graduate and behaving inappropriately with a substitute teacher who was a college student.
Numerous speakers also slammed BHS principal Noel Green for ordering the removal of an article from the website of the student newspaper, the Register, detailing the Macias allegations. The story was posted online Monday and removed Tuesday. After an outcry over censorship, Green and Obeng agreed to permit the article to be reposted.
The board went into executive session to discuss an unspecified personnel matter at 7:40 p.m. and concluded it more than an hour later. Asked if they had taken action to put Macias on leave, Obeng and board leaders would not comment. They said the administration and school board would issue statements Friday.
Tags: Yaw Obeng , Mario Macias , Burlington High School , the Register , Burlington school board , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Burlington High School principal Noel Green has reversed course and will allow student journalists to again publish a story online that he had ordered removed.
The article, first published Monday night by school newspaper the Register, detailed the results of a yearlong Vermont Agency of Education investigation into BHS guidance director Mario Macias, who’s been accused of unprofessional and incompetent behavior. Green asked students to pull the story down Tuesday morning, according to a statement from the school district, after he reviewed Act 49, a law passed in 2017 that’s meant to free student journalists from administrative censorship.
“While protecting student journalism, this law also allows administration to ask students to remove any story which is deemed to be ‘substantially disrupting the ability of the school to perform its educational mission,’” district spokesperson Russ Elek wrote in the statement. “In the opinion of Principal Green, this story very much fell under this stipulation at the time, and District leadership supported his decision to ask that the story be taken off the site.”
Tags: Burlington High School , the Register , Noel Green , principal , Act 49 , Image , Web Only