Friday, April 21, 2017
Police arrested 18-year-old Josiah Leach, a South Burlington High School student, on Friday in relation to death threats made against staff and other students in the district.
South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple announced the arrest on federal charges at a press conference from the police department shortly after 9 p.m. Authorities had made the arrest just half an hour earlier, he said.
School had been canceled Friday after threats were sent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The school day ended in lockdowns on Wednesday and Thursday.
Leach, according to police, will be held in custody over the weekend until he's arraigned Monday in federal court.
Read the original story below:
Someone threatened South Burlington students and school district staff in a video Friday that included the same "murder list" which prompted a lockdown and school evacuation Thursday.
Superintendent of Schools David Young — along with South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple — confirmed at a 3 p.m. news conference that officials are aware of the video, which had been circulating on social media.
The video threatens specific school staff and students as retribution for the school board's decision to drop the Rebels team nickname. The name change has riled up the community. Critics say the name is racist while its defenders consider it a harmless tradition.
Young explained that the latest threat came in around 4 a.m. Friday and "was a video and essentially repeated a lot of the same information that was shared within the text that was sent previously. The police are continuing very, very aggressive investigation at this time."
Tags: South Burlington murder list , South Burlington death threats , South Burlington High School Rebels , David Young , Trevor Whipple , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 20, 2017
The district announced the closure Thursday afternoon, hours after the school day ended in a lockdown — for the second day in a row. All students were sent home by bus, even those who normally walk or drive to school, after someone sent an email threatening to kill five teachers and 11 students, WCAX-TV reported.
The email allegedly made reference to the controversial decision to drop the high school's nickname, the Rebels, according to the Burlington Free Press.
"THIS COULD’VE BEEN PREVENTED FROM KEEPING THE REBEL NAME. NOW I’m gonna have to attack you all. I don’t care for my own life as long as you’re all dead!!!!!" the email reads, according to the Free Press.
The name change has stirred up community members. Critics say the Rebel name has racist overtones because it alludes to the Confederate South. Defenders believe the name is innocuous and want to keep it — even though the school board approved a change in February.
The school budget, which includes money to scrub the Rebel name from playing fields, banners and sports jerseys, has twice failed in a vote.
South Burlington schools also went into lockdown Wednesday after threats. Someone emailed threats to the high school and Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School on Tuesday, too, according to WCAX.
A community forum on heroin that was scheduled to be held at the South Burlington High School on Thursday evening was subsequently canceled, police said.
Schools in Essex were locked down and evacuated last week after a threat there. Police later said the incident appeared to be a case of "swatting" — a false report of a crime intended to trigger a massive police response.
Tags: South Burlington High School , rebels , south burlington rebels , school lockdown , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
The suit's plaintiff, Brady Toensing, appealed the decision Monday to the Vermont Supreme Court, arguing that the ruling creates a "gaping loophole" in the state's public records law.
It's the latest in a long-running battle that Toensing, a Charlotte attorney and the vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, has waged against former Democratic attorney general Bill Sorrell. Toensing sued the Vermont Attorney General's Office last year after it rejected his request to search "nongovernmental" email accounts and text messages for records. He was looking for communications Sorrell may have had with lobbyists.
Tags: Bill Sorrell , Vermont Supreme Court , Vermont Public Records Act , Brady Toensing , Image , Web Only
Friday, April 14, 2017
The DesLauriers family — including patriarch Ralph, who founded the ski area in 1966 — has bought back the resort.
The purchase ends 10 years of ownership under developers Doug Nedde and Larry Williams, who owns the commercial real estate company Redstone. Terms of the deal, announced Friday, were not disclosed.
“When I built Bolton Valley back in the ’60s, I made it my mission to give every Vermont child the opportunity to ski,” Ralph DesLauriers said in a news release. “We established after-school programs where kids could take the bus up after school and learn to ski — and tens of thousands of kids all over Chittenden and Washington counties have learned to love skiing at Bolton Valley. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of, and it’s that same family centered mission and love of Vermont that’s driving me and my kids back into this business.”
Tags: Bolton Valley Resort , Ralph DesLauriers , Doug Nedde , Larry Williams , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Dan Emmons denied stalking Isaiah Hines, 18, who is a senior at the school. Hines was at the forefront of the effort to drop the name from sports uniforms and scoreboards on the grounds that it harkens back to the racist history of the Confederacy.
Hines is a student representative to the school board and leader of the Student Diversity Union. Emmons, 43, is a South Burlington parent who opposed the school board vote in February to drop the name. He supports a public vote on the question, which has roiled the community.
According to a three-page police affidavit presented in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington, Emmons confronted Hines at the Goodwill Store & Donation Center in South Burlington, put his hand on his shoulder and told him, "You need to be careful." He also said, "You guys have made a lot of people mad," and "You're shitting in the wrong yard," the affidavit states.
Tags: Rebels , South Burlington , race , free speech , Dan Emmons , Isaiah Hines , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
The resort announced Tuesday a two-year agreement with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) to host women’s slalom and giant slalom races over Thanksgiving weekend in 2017 and 2018.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) is expected to approve the two-year deal at a meeting in late May.
An estimated 30,000 people attended the FIS World Cup at Killington last November, the first time the international ski race series stopped in Vermont since 1978.
The icing on the cake for many spectators was seeing Burke Mountain Academy graduate Mikaela Shiffrin grab first place in the slalom.
Tags: Killington Resort , Mikaela Shiffrin , FIS World Cup , Image , Web Only
Monday, April 3, 2017
A typical scam, Donovan said, involves a phone call, purportedly from the Internal Revenue Service or other federal authorities, telling victims they owe back taxes or outstanding payments.
In the event that back taxes are due, the IRS sends letters via the U.S. Postal Service and asks taxpayers to respond, according to Samsom. The IRS will not call or email a taxpayer without prior written communication, officials said.
Tags: taxes , TJ Donovan , Kaj Samsom , fraud , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 30, 2017
"We're going back to our roots," editor Steven Pappas said in an interview. "We're going back to where these papers built their cores initially. Some people are saying we're pulling up stakes, but we have a business decision to make."
The retrenchment comes nearly eight months after a Maine publisher and New Hampshire printing executive agreed to buy the financially struggling Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus from a local family. At least eight reporters, editors, photographers and paginators left the Herald newsroom last summer and fall. In recent months, just three full-time reporters have remained.
That, Pappas said, "left us feeling a little vulnerable" in the two counties where the Herald and Times Argus are based.
"We are really going to be making a concerted push in Washington and Rutland counties," he said.
Tags: Rutland Herald , Steven Pappas , Susan Smallheer , Patrick McArdle , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 27, 2017
Despite a tough prognosis, 30-year-old McLaren was upbeat Monday in a telephone interview from the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston where he is undergoing physical therapy.
“I am OK. I am as good as I possibly could be,” McLaren said in an interview with Seven Days.
He expressed gratitude for all the love and support he has received from family, friends and his fiancée, Burlington lawyer Adrienne Shea.
Tags: Ryan McLaren , Adrienne Shea , Kelly Brush Davisson , Burlington School Board , Image , Web Only
Unbeknownst to Zuckerman, the company quickly incorporated his television "interview" into Shen Yun's massive marketing machine.
"Lieutenant Governor of Vermont Says Shen Yun Is an 'Incredible Presentation,'" reads the Epoch Times, a New York City-based anti-Communist China newspaper founded in 2000 by members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Tags: Shen Yun , David Zuckerman , lieutenant governor , Epoch Times , Falun Gong , Image , Web Only