Starting next week, the town
of Hartford will try something new, putting the fire chief in
charge of the police department. The plan has the support of the selectboard, but even the Town Manager admits
it’s an experiment.
Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca is asking all Vermont schools to
review their crisis safety plans and he also wants schools to explore ways to
control access to their buildings without turning the facility into a fortress.
More
than a year after Tropical Storm Irene, Randy and Lynda Hart still aren’t back
home. But they’re getting close, thanks to a steady stream of volunteers who’ve
been helping rebuild their house from the foundation up. The Hart’s home is among at least 140 still being
repaired after last fall’s floods.
The
state Supreme Court ruled Friday that the
town of Hartford must turn over records about a 2010 incident when a
man was beaten, pepper-sprayed and dragged from his own home by town police. The
court’s decision reverses a lower court ruling that restricted full access to
the records.
An unarmed Wilder man who was beaten and pepper-sprayed by Hartford
police inside his home filed a federal civil rights lawsuit yesterday
against the officers and town officials, alleging that they targeted him
with excessive force because he is African-American.
Police officers have always kept a
sharp eye out for vehicle license plates. But more and more of that looking
is being done by cameras hooked up to computers in their cruisers.
Finding
greater energy efficiency is a proposition facing many Vermont communities, and towns hoping to save on energy
costs are starting small – with their
streetlights.
With shrinking
tax revenue and less federal aid, many cash-strapped Vermont cities and towns are employing
a complicated financial tool designed to help them build public projects that
they can’t currently afford.