The most interesting test for Burlington's three gun-related charter change proposals could come well after voters have their say next Tuesday.

That's because, like any change to the city's charter, all three measures would require affirmative votes by the legislature and the signature of Gov. Peter Shumlin. And while Vermont lawmakers have studiously avoided any debate of gun-related matters since a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school 14 months ago, Shumlin has made perfectly clear that he opposes new gun regulations of any kind.

So what would happen if Burlingtonians approve the measures, which would ban guns from bars, require them to be locked when stored and allow the police to confiscate them from those suspected of domestic abuse?

Republicans hold just seven of the Vermont Senate's 30 seats.

But in the past week, three GOP challengers have announced their intention to run for the Senate. And according to Vermont Republican Party political director Brent Burns, two more are soon to jump in. He says he hopes the early announcements will help the party reverse its dwindling political influence in the state.

"We're trying to make gains," he says. "Even a one-seat gain would be a different direction than we've been headed."

At a Montpelier fundraiser for the Senate Republicans' political action committee Wednesday night, two candidates announced their bids. Former party chairwoman, House member and longtime administration official Pat McDonald said she would seek one of three Washington County seats. And Williston attorney Joy Karnes Limoge said she would run for one of six Chittenden County seats.

Last Friday, former House member Dustin Degree said he would seek one of two Franklin County seats. And according to Burns, Bob Frenier of Chelsea plans to challenge Democratic Sen. Mark MacDonald for Orange County's sole Senate seat. Burns says the party has recruited a fifth, as-yet-unnamed candidate to run for one of three Rutland County seats.

The top Republicans in the Vermont House and Senate on Wednesday called for a federal investigation into anonymous allegations of fraud allegedly perpetrated by the state's health exchange vendor.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton) and Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) wrote that there was "sufficient legal and factual predicate to begin a federal investigation" into whether CGI Technologies and Solutions had defrauded the state.

The allegations relate to a demonstration CGI officials conducted for state workers last summer to showcase their progress building Vermont Health Connect, the state's version of a federally mandated, online insurance marketplace. While billed as a live demonstration of the site's connection to the Federal Data Services Hub, an anonymous source quoted in a recent Newsweek story alleged that "the system was in no way operable" at the time.

In their letter to Coffin, Turner and Benning cited as evidence the Newsweek story and an unsigned letter they attached from a person claiming to be a "Vermont Health Connect team member."

"As minority leaders of the Vermont House and Senate, we hereby formally request a federal investigation into whistleblower allegations alleging a fraudulent software demonstration on July 26, 2013, by [CGI] to Vermont officials charged with overseeing and monitoring the company's state contract," Turner and Benning wrote. 

Sick leave was the topic of the day in the Vermont Statehouse on Tuesday. Not long after a morning session in which the Senate passed a bill prohibiting companies from penalizing workers for taking sick days, the Vermont State Employees  Association kicked off an afternoon of campaigning for a separate bill that would extend sick leave to the 60,000 Vermont employees currently ineligible for it.

The bill that cleared the Senate in the morning, S.213, would ensure that no employer in the state of Vermont could punish employees for making use of their benefits. It first appeared in the Senate Economic Development Committee last month. Sen. Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden), the committee’s vice-chair, sponsored the legislation.

In the fall, Baruth was approached by food service workers at the University of Vermont, where he is an English professor. Those employees alleged that Sodexo — the company to which UVM, the Vermont State Colleges and other colleges in Vermont subcontract their dining services — was punishing them for taking sick days. (Getting more attention at the time, the company had also planned to reduce workers' eligibility for benefits to be in compliance with the Affordable Care Act; the company delayed implementation of the plan after school administrations objected.) 

The sick leave bill passed on its third reading almost unanimously, with just one dissenting voice vote. It now moves to the House.

Vermont has a tough row to hoe if it's going to make any meaningful difference in the state of an increasingly polluted Lake Champlain. 

That was the word at the Statehouse Wednesday when Stephen Perkins, with the office of ecosystem protection in the federal Environmental Protection Agency, testified before lawmakers from nine different legislative committees. The legislators had gathered in a packed meeting room to hear the latest developments in a years-long effort to rewrite regulations aimed at reducing phosphorous pollution in Lake Champlain. 

Perkins had good news and bad news to share. The bad? Even if the state went "full bore" on its plan to clean up Lake Champlain, there are two sections — the Missisquoi Bay, and a section of the south lake — which would still see phosphorous levels deemed too high for healthy water.

The good news? "In those remaining segments there's a prayer of getting there," Perkins said — but only if Vermont is aggressive in its approach to improving water quality in the years ahead.

The EPA says Vermont needs to cut the amount of phosphorous it is dumping into Lake Champlain by 36 percent. 
It's been three years since the EPA revoked Vermont's former "TMDL" — or Total Maximum Daily Load — a technical standard for how much phosphorous the lake can safely absorb. The EPA stepped in to rewrite the TMDL and officials from the Agency of Natural Resources and the Agency of Agriculture collaborated with EPA on a plan to meet those goals.  But now the EPA is pressing Vermont — hard — for more specifics on how it will meet the new target. 

Seat number nine in the Vermont Senate has been vacant for the last month, a visible reminder of the absence of the late senator Sally Fox. On Tuesday morning, her husband of 35 years, Michael Sirotkin, was sworn in, filling the seat in her stead.

The ceremony was poignant but efficient, and moments later, Sirotkin was voting “aye” on the first bill to come before him. The legislation — on the regulation of malt beverages — had been introduced by his wife.

Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed Sirotkin to the position shortly after Fox died of cancer in January, but encouraged him to take several weeks before reporting for duty at the bustling Statehouse. Sirotkin is one of six senators representing Chittenden County.

Find these news and politics stories in this week's Seven Days...

• In Burlington, one resident has kept up her fight against a neighbor's backyard guitar-building shop for a year and a half. The case could reach the Vermont Supreme Court.
• The Department of Homeland Security has dropped plans to run an "internal checkpoint" 100 miles from the Vermont/Quebec border — though it's too late for one man who faces deportation. 
• University of Vermont researchers are working on technology to allow maple farmers to harvest sap from young saplings rather than the less-plentiful mature trees.
• As part of the love and marriage issue, here's a look back at the path to marriage equality for same-sex couples.
• In Fair Game: How one soldier's allegations of sexual assault changed the Vermont National Guard. Plus, find out who's giving big bucks to Gov. Peter Shumlin's Democratic Governors Association, and why the Committee on Committees isn't a committee — at least when it comes to letting the public and press inside. 

As some farmers push for more freedom to sell raw milk, an  advocacy group reports that nearly 2,000 customers bought more than 53,000 gallons of the unpasteurized product in a recent 12-month period. 

For those of you interested in following the raw milk debate, head over to the website of Rural Vermont, which  released its annual raw milk report Wednesday morning. Because Vermont doesn't require farmers selling raw milk to register with the state, the Rural Vermont report is the best snapshot we have of what raw milk sales look like on the ground.

To recap, raw milk is unpasteurized. In Vermont, it's sold directly by farmers to consumers, and in almost all cases consumers have to travel to the farm to purchase this milk. Vermont passed regulations in 2009 covering the sale of raw milk, setting out guidelines for farmers intended to protect public health. People who love raw milk really love raw milk — but conversely, public health officials stand firm in their conviction that consuming unpasteurized milk (which hasn't been treated to kill off pathogens and bacteria) could make people sick.

A group founded and funded by retired Wall Street banker Bruce Lisman has accused a St. Albans Democrat of violating House rules by voting for legislation that would help his employer.

In a letter (see below) to House Speaker Shap Smith, Campaign for Vermont lobbyist Shawn Shouldice took Rep. Mike McCarthy (D-St. Albans) to task Thursday for supporting legislation that would expand Vermont's net-metering program.

Net metering encourages Vermonters to produce electricity at home and work, in exchange for a break on their power bills. Shouldice said that the bill would benefit SunCommon, the Waterbury-based solar leasing company for which McCarthy works as a community organizer.

The legislation increases the amount of renewable energy utilities can buy from customers from 4 percent of the companies' peak demand to 15 percent. The bill won preliminary approval Wednesday by a 136-8 margin and final passage Thursday by voice vote.

In her letter, Shouldice said the episode demonstrates the need for ethics reform, a cause Lisman and Campaign for Vermont have been trumpeting lately.

John Dubie, owner of Burlington's Pearl Street Beverage, testified against paid sick leave legislation Thursday at the Statehouse.

With a reference to the world of Don Draper, President Obama renewed his call for mandatory paid sick leave Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. 

"A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship," he said. "And you know what, a father does, too. It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode."

But the president's full-throated support for the idea isn't exactly echoed by Vermont's Democratic leaders. As a committee in the Vermont House takes up legislation that would require businesses to provide employees up to seven days per year in accrued, paid sick leave, top Dems have been hesitant to take a side.