Friday, May 5, 2017
Federal authorities are continuing to investigate a land deal brokered by former Burlington College president Jane O'Meara Sanders, the wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). News of that investigation broke last week, and has led to renewed interest in the unsolved burglary.
Police responded to a break-in at the college that occurred on either July 24 or July 25. It was two months after the school had closed due to financial difficulties stemming in part from the purchase of its North Avenue campus.
There was no sign of forced entry and the door had likely been left unlocked, Burlington police officers said in an affidavit. Additionally, someone had disabled security cameras.
Several offices had been vandalized, and water had been poured on some computer servers. "In numerous offices, items were tipped over and damaged," police records say. "Computer monitors and computers were thrown about the rooms."
The college's main server, roughly 15-20 Macintosh computers and the school's Ford van were missing. Some records of students from Israel had been taken as well.
A college representative told police that "several things were odd about the burglary," the records say. "She stated she felt like an individual would have to know the keys to the van were kept in her office in order to locate the keys."
On July 26, police in Troy, N.Y. found the missing van after it crashed through a fence. They arrested Brett H. Seglem, who had allegedly been driving, according to police documents. Passengers in the van told police that they met Seglem in nearby Albany and he offered to drive them to Philadelphia. In the van, he bragged to them that he had stolen the vehicle and computers from Burlington College, according to police documents.
The computers were found inside the crashed van, along with some Burlington College banners. But the server was not recovered, according to police documents.
Police found a sign that read, "Traveling Broke & Hungry."
In an interview, del Pozo said that the Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office twice declined to prosecute Seglem for the alleged burglary, citing a lack of evidence.
Reached in New Jersey, Seglem's mother, Joanne Seglem, told Seven Days that her son is a drug addict who has struggled for years. She declined to discuss the case. Brett Seglem could not be located for comment.
An associate of Seglem's told police that he had been squatting last summer in an unused college building in the Burlington area, according to the affidavit.
VTDigger.org first reported details of the burglary in September.
Tags: Burlington College , Jane O'Meara Sanders , Brett Seglem , Brandon del Pozo , Burlington police , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Calling it a “dark day in the history of the United States Congress,” U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Thursday voted against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. But by a narrow vote of 217 to 213, Republicans prevailed in their months-long quest to pass the American Health Care Act, a top priority for President Donald Trump.
Speaking on the floor of the House earlier Thursday, Welch said, “President Trump was elected by rural America. This bill betrays rural America.” He said the legislation would cause more than 23 million Americans to lose their health insurance coverage, discriminate against those with preexisting conditions and serve as a tax cut for the wealthy.
On social media, Welch said he planned to vote “hell no” on the repeal. Following the vote, he said in a statement, “I am hopeful the Senate will scrap this trash and start from scratch.”
Tags: Senator , Peter Welch , Obamacare , Trump Care , Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , Image , Video , Web Only
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
That’s a jump from 11.8 percent of respondents who agreed with a similar proposal in a 2007 poll.*
The increase in secessionist sentiment — measured in surveys conducted by the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies — could reflect a Trump bump.
“Given the aggressive and destructive behavior of the United States of Empire this past decade, it is not surprising that more and more forward-thinking Vermonters support independence and a Second Vermont Republic,” Rob Williams, the leader of a Verexit campaign, said in a prepared statement.
Tags: Vermont secession , Thomas Naylor , Rob Williams , Image , Web Only
Friday, April 14, 2017
"This company has had an impact in getting the word out to other corporations in Vermont and America that the bottom line is not enough," Sanders told a crowd of 100 workers employed by a company known for its philanthropic and social justice efforts.
In a 40-minute speech and question-and-answer session, Sanders hammered home familiar campaign themes and went after President Donald Trump, saying the Republican has strayed from his campaign promise to look out for working-class Americans.
"If you follow everything he's been doing, it's exactly the opposite," Sanders said.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Ben & Jerrys , St. Albans , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Wow, I thought. Did Bernie make an announcement that I missed? Did VPR have some red-hot inside information?
Well, no. Sanders has not, in fact, declared his intentions for 2018 or any other year, for that matter.
VPR's report, a condensed version of a piece by veteran journalist Bob Kinzel, was based entirely on the text of an email sent Tuesday by the Sanders campaign. The email announced a multistate tour by Sanders during the current Congressional recess. It wrapped up with a fundraising pitch: "Please make a $27 contribution to my reelection campaign to help fund this national tour."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Bob Kinzel , VPR , Daniel McLean , Annie Russell , Image , Web Only
Monday, April 3, 2017
Leahy had been clear that he opposes Gorsuch’s ascendancy to the court. What’s new is his support for the parliamentary move to try to stop the Senate from voting on President Donald Trump’s nominee.
“I am not inclined to filibuster,” Leahy told VTDigger.org last week, “even though I’m not inclined to vote for him.”
He said otherwise during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday. “I will not support advancing this nomination,” Leahy declared — which is to say he now is inclined to filibuster.
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Neil Gorsuch , Donald Trump , U.S. Senate , filibuster , U.S. Supreme Court , Image , Web Only
Sunday, March 26, 2017
“I am not going to vote for $25 billion for a dumb-ass wall!” he thundered, referring to President Donald Trump’s proposed barrier along the United States’ southern border. The crowd leaped to its feet and roared.
It was that kind of an afternoon in the gymnasium at Hardwick’s Hazen Union High School, an unlikely venue for a gathering of Vermont’s entire congressional delegation. After all, we’re talking about a town of 3,000 that’s, honestly, kind of hard to get to. Worth the effort, but an unlikely gathering place for top-shelf national politicos.
The Saturday event was an all-out pep rally for the progressive cause, headlined by Leahy, Sanders and Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.). If there were any Republicans in the audience, they kept it on the down low.
Tags: Senator , Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , Peter Welch , Hazen Union High School , Hardwick , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has performed this dance more than probably any other human being who’s ever walked the earth, as the Senate’s longest currently serving member and the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. On Tuesday, he took a new partner for a spin: Appellate Court Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee. It was the second day of Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings but the first time the nominee was questioned under oath.
As in a dance, each partner plays a well-rehearsed role and is fully aware of the other’s moves. The one big difference: Astaire tries to step on his partner’s toes and provoke a reaction, while Rogers’ face maintains a resolute smile.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Leahy sometimes provoked a visible clench from the witness and a response best described as obsequious condescension. Gorsuch isn’t quite a skilled enough Rogers to completely hide his political differences with Leahy and his impatience with the senator’s tactics.
Tags: Neil Gorsuch , Patrick Leahy , Donald Trump , Philip Anschutz , U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee , Antonin Scalia , Merrick Garland , Barack Obama , guy with a gravel pit , Image , Web Only
Friday, March 10, 2017
“We think Vermonters should know this,” Al Gobeille, secretary of the Agency of Human Services, said at a media briefing in Montpelier. “You cannot tell from the coverage of these bills what impact this will have on Vermonters and we think that’s important.”
The Republican House majority’s proposal passed two key committees in Washington on Thursday and could reach the House floor by the end of March, according to news reports. The plan would replace federal insurance subsidies with individual tax credits and grants. President Donald Trump has endorsed the plan.
Tags: Vermont , Al Gobeille , Donald Trump , Affordable Care Act , Congress , Medicaid , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Johnston, it appears, got her wish. Records obtained by ProPublica show that she was hired January 24 — just a few days after the inauguration — as a special assistant in the Department of Health and Human Services, a job listed at a starting salary of $88,136.
Johnston is one of 400 “beachhead team” hires the president has dispatched to various agencies of federal government to “serve as his eyes and ears,” the nonprofit news outlet said. Such positions are temporary and do not require the confirmation hearings appointees must undergo.
Tags: Darcie Johnston , Donald Trump , ProPublica , Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom , Image , Web Only