Friday, November 8, 2019
The bridge in question crosses the Muddy Brook where Kimball Avenue becomes Marshall Avenue, a stretch that is home to several technology and industrial parks. The closure, though, has forced drivers to detour onto Route 2, an already heavily congested commuter thoroughfare.
“It’s a nightmare,” South Burlington City Councilor Meaghan Emery said of the traffic issues, noting that her husband works along Kimball Avenue. “I know firsthand that this is taking a toll.”
Tags: bridges , South Burlington , Williston , Kevin Dorn , Meaghan Emery , traffic , Web Only , Image
Monday, October 21, 2019
In 2016, the former Essex Selectboard member handed condoms to primary election voters outside of the polls — on the middle school campus — with the message, “Stop STDs (Special Tax Districts): Vote NO December 13!” And she’s vociferously voiced her displeasure with various plans to merge Essex Junction governmental departments with the greater town of Essex.
But Wrenner, who lost reelection in March after 12 years on the board, took it to another level earlier this month when she belted out an Essex-relevant rendition of Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” at a selectboard meeting. With an instrumental version of the song playing in the background, Wrenner, clad in a leather jacket and jeans, danced as she wailed her own lyrics into the microphone.
“Oh this merger train is speeding, towards Election Daaaaayyy,” she sang when it was her turn to speak during public comment. “Only voters can stop it, with a vote of nay! That’s the way to slow this merger train down.”
Tags: Essex , Irene Wrenner , merger , Essex Junction , Web Only , Image , Video
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Donovan's new policy came in response to the Vermont Supreme Court's ruling last month that, while government agencies can charge members of the public for copies of records, they cannot charge for merely viewing the records. According to Donovan, those who use their own personal devices, such as a smartphone, to take photos of the records while reviewing them are essentially requesting copies.
But Gov. Phil Scott and Secretary of State Jim Condos say they understand the Supreme Court's decision quite differently.
"I don't agree with the position that the Attorney General's Office has taken on this," said Condos, who, like Donovan, is a Democrat. "I don't think it's right to charge a member of the public for taking a picture of a public record with their device."
According to Rebecca Kelley, a spokesperson for the Republican governor, Scott believes the Supreme Court's ruling means "we cannot charge for inspections." She added, "If copies are obtained during that inspection without the use of staff resources and no actual expenses are incurred, we would not charge in that scenario either."
Kelley said the governor would work with Secretary of Administration Susanne Young to make clear to state agencies and departments within the executive branch that they should follow Scott's interpretation of the Supreme Court decision, not Donovan's. The governor issued a verbal directive to that effect Tuesday morning during a meeting with his cabinet, according to Kelley.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Phil Scott , Jim Condos , Reed Doyle , Mary Miles Teachout , Paul Reiber , public records , Vermont Supreme Court , Web Only , Image
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Mike Smith, a former secretary of Vermont's Agency of Human Services, will return to the role for a second stint.
Gov. Phil Scott announced Thursday that the veteran business and government leader will replace former secretary Al Gobeille later this month. Gobeille resigned in June and later took a top job at the University of Vermont Health Network. Deputy Secretary Martha Maksym has been leading AHS on an interim basis since his departure.
The agency is the largest in Vermont state government. It includes six departments, including those overseeing corrections, mental health, child protection, public health and publicly funded health insurance programs.
A fixture in the world of state government and policy, Smith was described in a 2015 Seven Days profile as the state's "interim fixer-in-chief." The 66-year-old has held key roles in recent years at a number of high-profile — and often struggling — organizations, including Vermont Information Technology Leaders, the Enhanced 9-1-1 Board, Burlington College and FairPoint Communications. He's also dipped his toe in the media world, penning a regular political column, serving as a WCAX-TV political analyst and hosting WDEV Radio's morning talk show.
Tags: Mike Smith , Phil Scott , Agency of Human Services , Image , Web Only , Web Only
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
The 24-page report updates legislators on the state's newly implemented Remote Worker Grant Program, which provides up to $10,000 worth of reimbursements to those who relocate to Vermont and retain their old jobs. A section of the report titled "Success Stories" lifts phrases, sentences and, in at least one instance, a whole paragraph from local and national news stories about the program — without permission, attribution or any indication that the work was not original.
Commissioner Joan Goldstein, whose Department of Economic Development issued the report, called the situation an "oversight" and "definitely an aberration." She said her department would reissue the report after removing the content in question or securing the rights to use it. Goldstein said use of the material met "the textbook definition" of plagiarism, even if it was unintentional.
The report lifts material published by Seven Days, CNBC and CNN. One section focuses on Miguel Turner, a cyber-security expert who tapped the grant program to move with his family from Miami to Vermont. The passages about Turner consist entirely of information and quotations pulled from a March 2019 story written by Seven Days' Kevin McCallum.
Tags: Agency of Commerce , Department of Economic Development , Joan Goldstein , Jeb Wallace-Brodeur , Remote Worker Grant Program , Web Only , Image
Friday, October 4, 2019
The physicians who treated Sanders, Arturo E. Marchand Jr. and Arjun Gururaj, said that he had been diagnosed with a myocardial infarction — a heart attack — before he was transferred to the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, where they tended to him.
“The Senator was stable upon arrival and taken immediately to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, at which time two stents were placed in a blocked coronary artery in a timely fashion," says their statement, released by his campaign.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Web Only , Image
As of October 1, the previously 24-7 hotline has pared back its hours to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. Advocates fear the cut will leave people with few options at times they need help the most.
"This is another example of the state deciding to stop providing services to some of the most vulnerable Vermonters,” said Karen Tronsgard-Scott, executive director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
The move follows similar cutbacks to court programs for domestic violence victims in Lamoille and Washington counties, which Tronsgard-Scott said have been discussed for years but occurred recently with little warning.
Tags: 2-1-1 , housing , homelessness , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) presidential campaign announced Tuesday that it raised $25.3 million from July through September — more than any of the candidate's Democratic rivals have collected in a single quarter. The money came in the form of 1.4 million donations averaging $18.07 a pop, the campaign said.
Sanders' third-quarter haul exceeded the roughly $18 million he raised in the first and second quarters of this year — and it nearly matched the $26.2 million he took in exactly four years ago, when he was emerging as the chief alternative to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Later Tuesday, the Sanders campaign made clear how it will spend some of its newly raised cash: on its first television advertisement of the 2020 election. The spot, called “Fights for Us,” will debut in Iowa on Thursday as part of a $1.3 million ad buy.
It features Sanders describing his working class upbringing — a topic he typically avoids — and contrasts his record with that of President Donald Trump, who a narrator describes as a “dangerous demagogue tearing our nation apart.”
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , third-quarter fundraising , president , campaign , Web Only , Image , Video
Thursday, September 26, 2019
A fourth man has been charged in connection with the alleged harassment of Addison County farmworkers. Unlike the first three men, Chase Atkins, 24, of Addison, faces a hate-crime offense.
Vermont State Police said Thursday that Atkins deflated the tires on the vehicle of a Migrant Justice employee who was visiting a farm and later left a threatening voicemail for the immigrant-advocacy organization.
State prosecutors in Addison County charged Atkins with disturbing the peace by phone, a misdemeanor, with a hate-crime enhancement for the voicemail. Atkins was not charged for the flat tires because they were undamaged and could be reinflated, VSP spokesperson Adam Silverman said, summarizing the state's attorney's reasoning.
Tags: Farm feuds , migrant justice , hate crime , vandalism , bridport , vermont state police , Web Only , Image
Friday, September 20, 2019
The first and only executive director of Preservation Trust of Vermont, Bruhn, who was 72, had battled poor health in recent years. “It was his heart that finally couldn’t keep up with him,” his obituary reports.
Bruhn lived in South Burlington. Among his many survivors is his partner, Colleen O’Neill, of Cornish, N.H.
“I can’t think of anybody who’s been more important to the fabric of life in Vermont over the last 40 years than Paul,” said Candace Page, a veteran journalist and a consulting editor at Seven Days who attended Burlington High School with Bruhn in the 1960s. The two remained close friends until Bruhn’s death.
With his well-reasoned, matter-of-fact manner and professorial, friendly countenance, Bruhn was beloved by those fighting to maintain Vermont’s small-town charm. He was also respected — and feared — by the developers who sought to alter it.
A fount of information about Vermont history and a range of other topics, Bruhn was also articulate and eminently quotable, qualities that made him a sought-after source for reporters.
He was known to crisscross the state, helping communities and village centers maintain their historic features. Bruhn saved general stores, churches and grange halls, and did his best to fight suburban sprawl.
Tags: Paul Bruhn , Preservation Trust of Vermont , Neale Lunderville , Patrick Leahy , Web Only , Image