Thursday, December 8, 2016
But the last of the five names should not be overlooked: Tayt Brooks will take a newly fashioned position on the fifth floor of the Pavilion Building. The hire is notable both for the job itself and its future occupant.
His title will be “director of affordability and economic growth initiatives.” Those were the cornerstones of Scott’s gubernatorial campaign — and remain his oft-repeated top priorities.
Brooks will be Scott’s point man on both. In an interview Wednesday, Jason Gibbs, the governor-elect’s choice for chief of staff, tried to downplay Brooks’ role as “a nuts-and-bolts job.” But those are the very nuts and bolts that hold the entire vehicle together.
Tags: Tayt Brooks , Phil Scott , Jason Gibbs , Lenore Broughton , American Majority , Vermonters First , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Vermont Law School announced Wednesday that the 69-year-old Democrat, who chose not to run for a 10th full term, has been named an honorary visiting scholar at VLS and will join its U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law. The yearlong gig will involve a stint in February and March working with schools and legal advocates in China, according to VLS spokeswoman Maryellen Apelquist.
Founded in 2006, the partnership works to "promote environmental governance in Asia," according to Apelquist, and includes projects in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Attorney General Bill Sorrell is a familiar and respected face on the Vermont Law School campus, and we are honored that he has agreed to work with us to advance environmental issues and advocacy," VLS assistant professor and partnership director Siu Tip Lam said in a written statement.
Sorrell, who declined an interview request, said in his own statement Wednesday, "While I'm contemplating what to do longer term, I'm pleased to spend up to two months in a country I've never visited, sharing some of my knowledge and experiences relating to environmental, public health, prosecution and [genetically-modified organisms] issues at several different law schools and universities in five different cities and regions of China."
Replacing Sorrell as attorney general will be fellow Democrat T.J. Donovan, who plans to step down from his post as Chittenden County state's attorney. Sorrell's top deputy, Susanne Young, was named Tuesday as governor-elect Phil Scott's administration secretary.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont Law School , Bill Sorrell , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Even as governor-elect Phil Scott appears to lean right in his early choices for top administration posts, he hewed a cautious, centrist line Tuesday morning in an interview with Seven Days.
“I believe that there are many coalitions,” the Republican lieutenant governor said, referring specifically to the housing policy arena. “I seek to find areas where we can agree. And if we all have the goal of more housing — more affordable housing — then how we get there is going to be the challenge.”
Indeed. Scott brought up the issue of affordable housing unbidden, after discussing the overarching theme of his pending administration: affordability and economic opportunity. He was clear in making the issue a priority but noncommittal about how he would address it. Government grants, tax incentives, guided zoning, easing the permitting process?
“It’s probably a combination of all of the above,” he declared.
As Scott continued to speak, that issue of permit reform quickly returned to center stage. “Why is it that it takes so long to get a permit through the process, even for those who are trying to do good?” he asked, before descending into rhetorical swampland:
Tags: Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Scott, the Republican lieutenant governor, named Deputy Attorney General Susanne Young to serve as his secretary of administration — essentially his chief cabinet officer. Young spent a dozen years working for the last GOP governor, Jim Douglas, first as his deputy state treasurer and then as his legal counsel. The 60-year-old Northfield resident has spent the past five years as Attorney General Bill Sorrell's No. 2. Sorrell, a Democrat, is retiring.
Tags: Phil Scott , Susanne Young , Al Gobeille , Rebecca Kelley , John Quinn , Tayt Brooks , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 5, 2016
Despite that, more than 200 people marched in Montpelier Monday morning to show solidarity with DAPL opponents and to demand that TD Bank "withdraw its financial support from the DAPL." Organizers said that the action was a response to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's call for national and global shows of solidarity.
Tags: Standing Rock Sioux , Dakota Access Pipeline , Beverly Little Thunder , TD Bank , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Champlain Housing Trust, a nonprofit affordable housing organization that operates the facility, had been embroiled in a year-long dispute with Joe Colangelo, the town manager and zoning administrator. The spat began in October 2015 when Colangelo sent the organization a "notice of violation," claiming that Harbor Place was not a motel and therefore violated town zoning regulations. Residents living near the small complex on Shelburne Road had complained to the town.
On Wednesday, the town's development review board voted 4 to 2 in CHT's favor, concluding that Harbor Place is indeed a motel — though one that caters to homeless people.
Tags: Champlain Housing Trust , Shelburne , Harbor Place , Image , Web Only
Monday, November 21, 2016
The Onion City would put on paper its practice of not asking residents about immigration status while “providing municipal services or in the course of law enforcement,” according to a city council resolution. The resolution describes the city as Vermont’s “most diverse community.”
Councilors on Monday evening will discuss and possibly vote on the resolution, which would set in motion the research and development of specific policy, Mayor Seth Leonard said.
Tags: winooski , sanctuary city , seth leonard , refugees , immigration , Image , Web Only
Friday, November 18, 2016
When Scott Williams steps up to accept a Carnegie Hero Fund Commission medal on Monday morning at the Statehouse in Montpelier, he will appreciate the gesture and be grateful for the acknowledgement. But make no mistake, the 52-year-old Navy veteran will be incredibly uneasy.
“I didn’t save Lara,” he said.
The Carnegie medal will recognize Williams for what he did do on a Friday afternoon in August 2015.
Jody Herring, a 40-year-old Barre woman who’d lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter, allegedly laid in wait in the parking lot of a Barre state office building and gunned down state social worker Lara Sobel, 48. Earlier, Herring allegedly killed three family members in Berlin.
Tags: Scott Williams , Lara Sobel , Carnegie medal , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
He idled the plane at an altitude of 450 feet to “simulate an engine failure,” but then experienced aerodynamic stall about 15 to 20 feet above the ground before hitting the private island “nose low and left wing down,” the NTSB’s “factual report” recounts. The pilot reported “that he misjudged the wind speed and did not realize he was completing the simulated training maneuver with a tailwind.”
The pilot and a passenger in the back seat were uninjured. The report indicates neither occupant was administered a toxicology test. The Piper PA-11 plane, built in 1947, had substantial damage.
Tags: Savage Island , John Rahill , plane crash , Vermont National Guard , Image , Web Only
When president-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Vermont’s two U.S. senators will play new roles in the opposition.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Wednesday morning that he will vacate his position as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to serve as the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Hours later, the Senate Democratic caucus named Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to a party leadership post — chair of outreach — and reappointed him ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Both developments were striking, but for different reasons.
Leahy has served as the top Democrat on Judiciary since 1997, when then-senator Joe Biden relinquished the role. He turned down an opportunity to chair Appropriations in December 2012 when the late Hawaiian senator Daniel Inouye’s death made him the most senior member of the Senate. The position went, instead, to Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who is now retiring.
At the time, Leahy explained that with Democrats in the majority and President Barack Obama in the White House, he would be able to represent Vermonters best with the Judiciary gavel. In a statement Wednesday, the Vermont senator said that Trump’s election had changed that calculus.
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , senator , Image , Web Only