Friday, January 20, 2017
Reaction was swift as the post went viral. The 44-year-old Burlington woman says she has been deluged with death threats, upward of 300 per hour.
The phone calls come from across the country, originating in states such as Texas, Illinois, Indiana, New York and South Carolina. She doesn’t answer the phone, which rings incessantly, but the callers leave voicemails saying some of the most nasty things imaginable.
“Go to hell, you’re a nasty woman,” one man hissed. “Oh haha, get a sense of humor! No shut the fuck up with your racist fucking jokes, bitch. Fuck you! I can’t wait for you to fucking die and go to hell. But I’m not going to do that; you’re just going to do that on your own you fucking son of a bitch, kill yourself.”
Tags: Heather Wick , Burlington , racism , Shawn Burke , FBI , Burlington police , Image
A tofu-tinged meeting of Onion River Co-op members it was not. The proudly carnivorous venue and the sentiments expressed at it set this group of Vermonters well apart, culturally and politically, from many of their neighbors back home.
“These are good people,” Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said as he surveyed the scene at the Ruth’s Chris Steak House located less than a mile from the White House. Welch, who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential bid, had handed out tickets for inaugural festivities to several of the Republicans on hand.
“I prefer any of these Vermonters to Trump himself,” the state’s sole U.S. House member added. “If your car went into a ditch, they’d definitely pull you out.”
Tags: Donald Trump , inauguration , Vermont Republicans , Peter Welch , Darcie Johnston , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Seven Days obtained the agreement under a public records request earlier this month. The authority initially denied access to the pact. Seven Days was successful in appealing to BHA board chair Mike Knauer, citing state law that says compensation to public employees is a matter of public record.
Zumbrun’s rocky tenure at the public housing agency began April 1, 2016. He was placed on paid leave October 20 and resigned in December.
“BHA does acknowledge that it would have terminated Mr. Zumbrun for cause if he had not resigned and that he did not engage in misconduct or gross misconduct,” the signed agreement reads.
Zumbrun will be paid $100 an hour for any additional work he performs for the authority, the largest provider of subsidized rental housing in the region.
Zumbrun declined to comment Wednesday.
Tags: Burlington Housing Authority , Craig Zumbrun , Allyson Laackman , Christopher Barrett , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
The unusually convoluted process to appoint a new justice to the Vermont Supreme Court is provoking some existential angst on the Judicial Nominating Board, an 11-member body tasked with submitting candidates to the governor.
In response to an eleventh-hour legal challenge, the Vermont Supreme Court stopped Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin from choosing Justice John Dooley’s replacement on his final day in office. That left the decision to incoming Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who inherited the same list of six candidates the JNB offered to Shumlin.
Last week, Scott asked the board to give him more names. According to his lawyer, Jaye Pershing Johnson, the governor has not even looked at the names on the original list. But he’s concerned that the legal challenge dissuaded potential candidates from applying the first time around, she added.
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Judicial Nominating Board , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 13, 2017
The Norwich University Regimental Band and Drill Team will perform at president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, January 20, in Washington, D.C.
The university, home to the oldest collegiate band in the country, has been invited to perform at seven other inaugurations, most recently President Barack Obama’s in 2013.
“The Norwich University Regimental Band and Drill Team is proud to represent the university and the State of Vermont,” assistant commandant and director of bands Todd P. Edwards said in a statement announcing the news.
Tags: Norwich University Regimental Band and Drill Team , Donald Trump , presidential inauguration , Image , Video , Web Only
Friday, January 6, 2017
The New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier will likely change hands in three to four weeks, said Francis Voigt, the cofounder and former president of the school, on Friday morning.
He would not disclose the buyer or further details.
“We’re in process but it’s not finished yet,” Voigt said about the sale. “It’s a complicated arrangement and I’m just not free to disclose all of that right now,” he added by phone from his home in Cabot.
The school, founded in 1980, helped foster a taste for haute cuisine and the farm-to-table movement in Vermont.
Tags: New England Culinary Institute , NECI , food , Vermont , Montpelier , Francis Voigt , Milan Milasinovic , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
In an editor’s note appended to the story a day after publication, the Post retracted its most explosive assertion, which had been sourced to anonymous federal officials:
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.The original story continued to assert that malware discovered on a BED laptop last Friday was “associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration.” But in a follow-up story published Monday night, the Post called into question even that suggestion.
Tags: Burlington Electric , Washington Post , Grizzly Steppe , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 2, 2017
That person is Supreme Court Justice John Dooley. In September, he declined to seek reappointment to the bench, and his term ends in March. After he announced his pending retirement, outgoing Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin declared his intention to appoint Dooley’s successor.
Since then, House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) challenged Shumlin’s authority to fill a vacancy that won’t actually exist until after Shumlin leaves office. Turner’s argument rests on the Vermont Constitution’s employment of the word “vacancy,” which would be a dangerous trigger word for a drinking game during Tuesday’s hearing. Appealing to common sense, he asserts that there can’t be a vacancy until the seat is actually, you know, vacant.
For his part, the governor appeals to state law, which seems to grant him authority to replace a member of the judiciary as soon as the vacancy is inevitable. He argues that this is already the case, since the statutory deadline for Dooley to seek reappointment has come and gone.
On December 23 the court ordered Shumlin not to act, pending a hearing on Tuesday — less than two days before Shumlin leaves office. If the court rules in his favor, he is ready to choose one of the six nominees approved by the Judicial Nominating Board. “He’s interviewed all the candidates,” the governor’s spokesman, Scott Coriell, says, “and is prepared to make an appointment.”
When you read the arguments on one side, they seem to make sense. As do the arguments on the other side. At the same time, thinking too closely about this case runs the risk of opening a linguistic black hole beneath your feet.
Tom Little, a former Republican state representative and respected Vermont attorney, notes with tongue slightly in cheek that “Justice Dooley is sitting on the matter. That would seem to be tangible proof that the seat isn’t vacant.”
Well, yes. And then again, no.
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , John Dooley , Peter Shumlin , Don Turner , Joe Benning , Phil Scott , Dick Sears , Scott Coriell , Judicial Nominating Board , Tom Little , Image , Web Only
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Gov. Peter Shumlin released on Saturday a list of 10 year-end gubernatorial pardons that include a pair of notable political names: John Zaccaro Jr. and Richard Mallary Jr.
Zaccaro is the son of the late Geraldine Ferraro, a former Democratic congresswoman from New York and candidate for vice president in 1984. Mallary is the son of the late congressman Richard Mallary, a Vermont Republican.
Saturday’s pardons are separate from Shumlin’s offer of clemency for those convicted of minor marijuana offenses, although five of the 10 were convicted of marijuana charges. The number of pardons is also notable: Before Saturday, according to a press release from Shumlin, the governor had issued a mere six pardons in his six years in office.
“I believe in second chances, and I believe we as a society will continue to move towards a more sensible approach to drug addiction and criminal justice,” Shumlin said in a statement. He added that the pardons would “help relieve what can essentially amount a life sentence of burden and stigma.”
Tags: cannabis related , John Zaccaro Jr. , Peter Shumlin , Richard Mallary Jr. , Image , Web Only
The Burlington Electric Department discovered suspected Russian malware code on one of its laptops Friday, the municipal utility confirmed late that night.
According to BED spokesman Mike Kanarick, the code is associated with a Russian hacking campaign known by the federal government as Grizzly Steppe. Kanarick said in a written statement Friday that the laptop was “not connected to our organization’s grid systems.”
“We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding,” he said. “Our team is working with federal officials to trace this malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems.”
BED issued a second statement Saturday afternoon saying that there was “no indication that either our electric grid or customer information has been compromised.” It said that similar malware had been discovered elsewhere in the country and was “not unique to Burlington Electric.”
“Media reports stating that Burlington Electric was hacked or that the electric grid was breached are false,” the utility said in the second statement.
Tags: Burlington Electric Department , Russia , Grizzly Steppe , malware , Mike Kanarick , Image , Web Only