Interview: Report on childhood poverty in Vermont
A report on children and poverty in Vermont will be released Wednesday morning, and the news is not expected to be very good – with warning signs that child poverty may be on the rise in Vermont due to a variety of complex conditions. The report is being issued by the non-partisan research policy organization Vermont Children’s Forum. Micth Wertlieb talks with Beth Burgess, the forum’s research coordinator, about the report. (VPR)
Bennington caps square footage of new retail stores
Selectmen in Bennington have set a temporary cap on the size of retail businesses in town. A new interim zoning bylaw provision limits the size of retail construction to 75,000 square feet in the Northside Drive area. (VPR)
Control of state’s deer herd
The Vermont House has approved legislation that transfers control of the state’s deer herd from the Legislature to the Fish and Wildlife Board. The bill also expands the size of the board so that all counties in the state have representation on the panel. (VPR)
Nobel laureate urges student activism
Nobel Laureate and Poultney native Jody Williams returned to Vermont Tuesday. Speaking at Saint Michael’s College, Williams described the 12-year effort to ban land mines that made her a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. And she encouraged students to devote themselves to a cause. (VPR)
Jane Sanders joins Burlington College
Vermont Representative Bernard Sanders has lost his campaign manager, but Burlington College has gained a new president. The college announced on Tuesday that it has hired Jane O’Meara Sanders – Bernie Sanders’ wife – as its new leader. (AP)
Dartmouth-Hitchcock grant
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is getting a $60,000 federal grant to help the hospital cut down on pharmaceutical waste and dispose of it more safely. (AP)
Capital construction bill
The Vermont Senate has given preliminary approval to a spending plan that would help build a new courthouse in Rutland. The $40 million capital construction bill calls for issuing bonds to pay for state construction projects and other capital investments. (AP)
Dubie in Cuba
Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie joined U.S. farm representatives in Cuba hoping to build long-term trade relationships with the communist nation. Cuban officials say the talks could lead to as much as $100 million in new sales. (AP)
Health care proposal
The Vermont House is likely to debate the governor’s health care package Wednesday or Thursday. A centerpiece of the proposal is a new tax credit for small businesses designed to encourage them to sign up for health savings accounts. (AP)
Siss resigns post in administration
The person picked by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas to promote the state as a leader in high technology is resigning after less than a year on the job. Robin Siss, Vermont’s first commissioner of the Department of Information and Innovation, says she’s leaving to deal with a “personal, family issue.” (AP)
NEK wind farm
Developers of a proposed Northeast Kingdom wind farm say the cost of studying how the turbines might affect the migration and breeding of birds and bats will doom their project. The Douglas administration wants the study, which executives of the East Haven Windfarm say will cost $850,000. (AP)
East Montpelier propane leak
U.S. Route 2 and Vermont Route 14 have reopened in East Montpelier. Fire crews have cleaned up a propane leak from a house that closed the roads for several hours Tuesday night. About a dozen homes were evacuated because of the fumes. (AP)
Rutland water
Rutland’s water supply contains a possible carcinogen slightly higher than federal standards, but city and state officials say residents shouldn’t have to change their drinking habits. City water exceeds the federal standard for haloacetic acids by a small margin of one-millionth of a gram per liter. (AP)
911 addresses
Hundreds of homes and businesses in Claremont, New Hampshire are getting new addresses in the largest street re-naming project in the state. It’s all part of the statewide 911 system and it’s designed to make it easier for emergency crews to find homes and businesses when people call for help. (AP)