Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton), the minority leader of the Vermont House, is circulating petitions to run for lieutenant governor, according to several friends and associates.
If he gathers and submits 500 signatures by Thursday's filing deadline, the Milton Republican would face off against first-term Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive and Democrat from Hinesburg.
Turner has not formally announced a run and could still back out. He declined an interview request, writing in a text message, "I prefer not to comment until which time I make my final decision."
Ron Hubert, Turner's former district-mate in the House, has been collecting signatures for his friend at Milton's Middle Road Market, which Hubert owns. He said Tuesday that he had gathered 50 signatures.
Milton Selectboard member Brenda Steady, Turner's cousin, said she has also been on the hunt for signatures. "I've got a page here," she said. "I haven't got them all filled out yet."
Tags: Don Turner , David Zuckerman , Vermont , lieutenant governor , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 25, 2018
The Chittenden Solid Waste District increased the tipping fee — the charge for haulers who bring recycling to its Williston facility — on May 1. Another increase is likely soon, possibly in the next few months. Some haulers have already decided to pass the increase on to consumers.
The hikes come in response to the plummeting value of paper recyclables as China, which had been the world's largest consumer of recycling, ushers in strict new environmental regulations and stops accepting most mixed paper. The shift has put recycling programs around Europe and the U.S. into disarray. Vermont is also feeling the pinch.
Tags: Recycling , Burlington , environment , Chittenden Solid Waste District , mixed paper , Chapin Spencer , Sarah Reeves , China , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 21, 2018
About 25 residents turned out. Many voiced frustration that there will be no pool for the third summer in a row. The aging Myers Memorial Pool closed in 2015.
Several people suggested that the bond for a new pool should have taken priority over the $23 million Main Street reconstruction project that voters approved earlier this month.
"I personally feel that this bond issue should have gone before," said resident Pat Everts.
"People are incredibly frustrated," added Sarah McGowan-Freije.
Tags: Winooski , Winooski City Council , Myers Memorial Pool , Seth Leonard , Image , Web Only
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has formally announced that he is running for reelection this fall.
In a press release announcing the decision Monday, the two-term U.S. senator said he would seek another six years in Congress to continue fighting wealth inequality in the country.
“Our struggle to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent — a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice — must continue,” Sanders said. “And that is why I’m running for reelection.”
The candidate said he would formally launch his campaign in June with rallies across Vermont.
According to campaign spokesperson Arianna Jones, Sanders plans to seek the Democratic nomination in Vermont’s August primary. If he wins, she said, he would “respectfully” decline the nomination and run as an independent in the general election. Sanders would, however, accept the endorsement of the Vermont Democratic Party.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Jane Sanders , Jane O'Meara Sanders , Jasdeep Pannu , Vermont , Burlington College , Brad Peacock , Jon Svitavsky , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
The school's 88 students would transfer to Jericho Elementary or Underhill Central under a plan proposed Monday night by Chittenden East Supervisory Union superintendent John Alberghini.
The final decision would be up to the board of the Mount Mansfield Modified Union School District, which operates schools in Bolton, Jericho, Richmond and Underhill. No date has been set for a vote.
The proposed closure of the prekindergarten-through-fourth-grade school comes as Gov. Phil Scott and other leaders pressure school boards to deal with steadily declining enrollment statewide, and the growing cost of maintaining small schools.
Tags: Public schools , enrollment , Chittenden County , Underhill , Jericho , Image , Web Only
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Well, one anyway: Maple, a Spinone Italiano, sat quietly with her owner, Rachael Henne, at the table for RopaNa LLC, a CBD company from White River Junction. When Henne retrieved a vial of CBD, which is heralded for its supposed anti-anxiety and anti-inflammatory properties, Maple licked voraciously from the dropper.
The pooch has anxiety, said Henne, and needed the stuff to cope with the buzzing crowd inside the DoubleTree by Hilton in South Burlington. A vet recommended Maple take Xanax, but Henne said she knew the healing power of CBD — and it's worked.
"Every time we take the bottle out, even for ourselves, she gets really excited and runs over," said Henne, whose company name means "heal oneself" in Sanskrit. And, at least to this observer, Maple was certainly chill.
Tags: Cannabeat , Vermont Cannabis & Hemp Convention , Burlington , cannabis , hemp , Heady Vermont , Image , Slideshow , Web Only
Friday, May 11, 2018
Jared Carpenter, a water policy advocate for the Lake Champlain Committee, said the legislation will not put the state on a path to pay for clean water in the long term.
“S.260 was a funding bill,” he said. “S.260 is dead. That’s not a funding bill.”
Tags: water quality , Lake Champlain , Lake Carmi , funding , environmental protection agency , Agency of Natural Resources , Julie Moore , Image , Web Only
Chittenden and Windsor counties will both hold expungement clinics next month to help wipe clean the records of people who have been convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession.
The events — June 9 in South Royalton and June 12 in Burlington — come weeks before possessing and growing small amounts of marijuana becomes legal in Vermont. Volunteers with the Center for Justice Reform at the Vermont Law School will help attendees fill out an expungement petition, which both Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George and Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill have vowed to support.
“This does not apply to felony-level offenses, convictions for sale of marijuana, or any offenses that took place outside of Windsor or Chittenden County,” Vermont Law School spokesperson Ben Jervey said in a press release.
Tags: Cannabeat , expungements , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
The 77-69 vote came after a daylong debate that hinged on whether the minimum wage increase would help or hurt Vermont's lowest-paid workers.
“We must have the courage to tilt the playing field, the smallest amount, as slowly as possible” in favor of low-income workers, said Rep. Tom Stevens (D-Waterbury).
Tags: minimum wage , labor , poverty , Robin Chesnut-Tangerman , Cynthia Browning , Heidi Scheuermann , Tom Stevens , Valerie Stuart , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 7, 2018
Vermont's Emergency Board, which is made up of Gov. Phil Scott and budget-writing state legislators from both chambers, voted unanimously on Monday to accept the report, which increases the annual revenue forecast.
Now, the legislature must decide whether to follow Scott’s demand that they use the money to prevent a property tax increase, or budget it elsewhere.
Tags: Phil Scott , Janet Ancel , Tom Kavet , Jeffrey Carr , economy , revenue , education , tax , Image , Web Only