Friday, November 10, 2017
For once, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wasn’t the best speaker in the room.
Sanders took second billing Thursday night at a packed Democratic Party fundraiser in Burlington’s ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. The lead act was Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress and one of the most prominent supporters of Sanders’ 2016 presidential candidacy.
Ellison proved himself to be a masterful speaker. Without using any overt theatrics or speechifying gimmickry, he held the crowd’s attention through a 25-minute speech. Not bad, when you consider that everyone had been on their feet for at least two hours when Ellison walked to the podium.
He had been preceded by a host of others, including state Democratic party chair Faisal Gill, Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon, and — a bit oddly — Don Sinex, the man behind the redevelopment of the Burlington Town Center. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) appeared via video message; he had stayed in Washington, D.C. because his wife, Marcelle, had surgery earlier in the day.
Tags: Senator , Keith Ellison , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , Donald Trump , Peter Welch , Patrick Leahy , Miro Weinberger , Joan Shannon , Don Sinex , VT Democrats , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Agents took into custody 11 Guatemalan citizens, four Mexicans and their driver, Hector Ramon Perez-Alvarado, who is also undocumented and from Honduras, federal authorities said.
Perez-Alvarado was arrested, as were two Mexican men: Noe Perez-Ramirez and Alberto Alvarado-Castro, both of whom were charged with attempting to reenter the country after having been previously deported. Authorities said Alvarado-Castro had several prior felony burglary convictions in the U.S.
All three appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Tuesday and did not oppose prosecutors' requests to hold them in prison pending trial.
Tags: U.S. Border Patrol , Derby , undocumented immigration , crime , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 22, 2017
Nolan, a native Vermonter who graduated from the University of Vermont and Boston College Law School, would become the first woman to hold the top federal prosecutor's job in Vermont if the U.S. Senate confirms her.
Both U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Republican Gov. Phil Scott recommended Nolan in June, calling her a "fair and tough" prosecutor.
In a joint statement Friday, Leahy and Scott pledged to advocate for her confirmation.
"Christina is a tough and well-respected prosecutor who is uniquely familiar with the challenges of our state’s opioid crisis," they said. "We were both impressed by Christina’s passion for the state of Vermont and for the mission of a prosecutor — to seek justice and improve our communities — as well as her thoughtfulness and leadership."
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Christina Nolan , Phil Scott , Eric Miller , Eugenia Cowles , U.S. Attorney's Office , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Sanders, who studiously avoided discussing foreign policy during his presidential campaign, chose a high profile and historically significant venue to address the topic Thursday. He made his remarks during same event at which Winston Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain speech — at the John Findley Green Foundation lecture at Westminster College in Missouri.
Widely considered a potential presidential candidate in 2020, Sanders has cemented his role as a foil to Trump; last week, he grabbed headlines after unveiling his Medicare-for-all health care proposal.
“The goal is not for the United States to dominate the world. Nor, on the other hand, is our goal to withdraw from the international community and shirk our responsibilities under the banner of ‘America first,’” Sanders told an audience of students and faculty. “Our goal should be global engagement based on partnership, rather than dominance.”
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Donald Trump , foreign policy , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
The three-term Democratic former Vermont governor revisited his signature political failure during a live-streamed interview with Harvard public health professor John McDonough.
“Was that a policy decision or was that a political decision, do you think?” asked McDonough, referring to Shumlin’s decision to pull the plug on single-payer.
“They’re always both,” Shumlin responded. “There was no way I was gonna get the votes in either the House or the Senate to pass the single-payer plan that I wanted to pass ... I had Progressive senators coming to me saying, ‘What if we just slowed down?’”
Tags: Peter Shumlin , single-payer , Obamacare , Harvard University , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Welch attended a meeting on Wednesday that included Trump and 14 members of Congress, split equally between Republicans and Democrats. Welch describes "a quite surreal atmosphere" in which the president talked of bipartisan action while congressional Republicans continue to freeze out the Democrats.
"The president indicated support for the Dreamers [those early arrivals who face deportation unless DACA is extended], but also mentioned security issues," Welch says. "I urged the president to not link security issues with the treatment of the Dreamers, and said that this calls for a Lincolnesque moment in presidential leadership, where we do the right thing because it’s the right thing."
Tags: Peter Welch , Donald Trump , Charles Schumer , Nancy Pelosi , Michael McCaul , Bennie Thompson , DACA , Dreamers , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 8, 2017
As a consequence, Vermont legislative leaders plan to cancel an October special session that was scheduled in anticipation of significant federal budget cuts.
“As soon as the president signs [the bill], we will cancel the October session,” said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero). Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) will also hold off on officially canceling the session until the bill becomes law, although he said “it looks 99 percent certain.”
“This takes the immediate pressure off,” said Finance Commissioner Adam Greshin. “It means a continuation of the status quo. Under the circumstances, that’s good news.”
Tags: Senator , Donald Trump , Mitzi Johnson , Tim Ashe , Adam Greshin , Patrick Leahy , Peter Welch , Bernie Sanders , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Speaking at Burlington International Airport on Tuesday before he boarded a flight to Washington, D.C., Welch said he plans to urge his colleagues to restore the program. Vermont’s two senators said this week they agree that Congress should take action, as did Gov. Phil Scott.
DACA, enacted by president Barack Obama in 2012, has given legal protections to nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.
“This is the height of cruelty,” Welch said of Trump’s promise to phase out the program. “The only country they’ve ever known … is right here in the United States of America.”
Tags: Senator , Peter Welch , Donald Trump , Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , DACA , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 14, 2017
But the three locales share a dark designation: They’re among dozens on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map,” which tracks hate-group activity across the U.S.
Various places on the map are marked with insignias associated with racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups. The map drew renewed attention after the weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Va., during a rally of white supremacists.
Tags: Senator , The Daily Stormer , Burlington , Andrew Anglin , David Duke , Southern Poverty Law Center , Donald Trump , Bernie Sanders , Patrick Leahy , Image , Web Only
In the morning, Sanders toured the Northern Tier Center for Health clinic in Richford, where he peppered staff with questions about the opiate epidemic and access to dental care.
From there, he traveled to the Franklin County Senior Center in St. Albans and pitched his proposed legislation that would allow anyone to receive Medicare, the federal health insurance program currently available only to people over 65.
“We’re taking on the whole world to make this happen,” he told a crowd of more than 50.
Residents dined on strawberry shortcake and listened intently as Sanders decried the “outrageous” cost of prescription drugs. He compared the U.S. health care system unfavorably to Canada’s, which provides universal coverage.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Medicare , Franklin County , Donald Trump , Charlottesville , Image , Web Only