About 130 state
employees in Bennington have been working in prefab modular offices since 2007, when
a rash of asthma-related illnesses among workers forced the old
state building to shut down. On Wednesday, a host of state and local dignitaries gathered for a ribbon cutting at the new office complex.
Vermonters value debating local issues and
interacting with their local government on Town Meeting Day in person, but many voters
increasingly expect their towns to take advantage of the digital world as well.
Smart meter technology allows customers to save electricity, and gives utilities the ability to respond quickly to power outages. But the wireless meters have also raised health and privacy concerns, and now voters in several southern Vermont towns will get a chance to weigh in at next month’s town meetings.
About a hundred people turned
out at the Bennington Fire House Tuesday night to learn about opportunities for
training and jobs in the composites industry.
In Bennington, a Broadway set designer who became a practicing physician has produced a pilot television show that he hopes will get people more involved in their own good health.
Botanists say they’ve found a flower in southern Vermont that they didn’t expect to be there – an "arrow-leaved aster" was found in a conservation reserve in Bennington.
Vermont towns damaged by Tropical Storm Irene are still
waiting to learn how much financial help they’ll get from the federal
government for damaged roads, bridges and buildings. In
the meantime, the bills are coming in for the repair work. A number of towns are borrowing money to cover those
costs.
Teachers have been picketing with signs and pleading their case to the public, as their local union clashes with the
school board over stalemated contract negotiations.
Facing federal spending cuts, a program that provides representation for domestic violence
victims, Have Justice Will
Travel, has laid off staff in Bennington and
Randolph, but that hasn’t stopped lawyers from showing up in court.