Interview: Johannesburg earth summit
Steve Delaney talks with Randy Kritkausky, president of the Vermont-based NGO Ecologia. Kritkausky is attending the world earth summit in South Africa.
Superintendents get support
This year nine of Vermont’s 64 school superintendents are new to their jobs. That turnover is expected to increase over the next five years as 40% of the state’s school superintendents reach retirement age. Now there’s a new initiative to head off a shortage of school leaders in Vermont. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Homeland security funds
According to the Dean administration, the state of Vermont is set to receive at least $20 million in Homeland Security Funds in the next few weeks. Most of the money will be administered by two state agencies – the Health Department and Emergency Management Department. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
LaBarge announces for treasurer
Republican John LaBarge says his three goals as treasurer are to maintain Vermont’s bond rating, to protect the state employees’ pension fund and to keep the treasurer’s office efficient. (VPR)
Sturnick retires
The president of Vermont College in Montpelier has unexpectedly announced her retirement. (VPR)
FAHC budget
Vermont’s largest hospital is going before regulators for the first time since controversy broke over its expansion project. Officials from Fletcher Allen Health Care are apologizing to state regulators for the controversy surrounding a construction project at the Burlington hospital. They’re also asking state regulators for permission to increase rates by 3.5%.
GMP investors’ rating
Some good news for Vermont’s second largest electric utility. The Wall Street rating agency Moody’s Investors Service says Green Mountain Power’s debt is now rated as B-double-A-One. That put Green Mountain Power at the eighth highest rating by Moody’s, which has 21 different ratings. (AP)
Fifteen Mile Falls
The relicensing of a hydroelectric project on the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont also calls for establishing an environmental fund for the river. Governors Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Howard Dean of Vermont were part of yesterday’s signing of a settlement between environmentalists and the owners of the Fifteen Mile Falls project. (AP)
Bennington water lines extended
Homeowners in Bennington with wells contaminated with a toxic chemical are to be hooked up to a newly extended town sewer line. The federal Environmental Protection Agency will pay for work, amid hopes it will be a solution to a problem that’s continued for about a decade. (AP)
Ryegate mill
The new owner of the closed paper mill in Ryegate plans to offer 60 to 75jobs. Ronald Morgan of Evergreen Paper says the number of jobs could double depending on the market for the tissue products he plans to produce in Ryegate. (AP)
Waitsfield murder case
A judge is considering whether to release on bail 18-year old Isaac Turnbaugh, suspected in the April death of a restaurant worker in Waitsfield. Turnabugh faces a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of co-worker Declan Lyons at the American Flatbread restaurant in Waitsfield. (AP)
Wrong-way driver
That’s what Vermont state police say it’s lucky no one was killed when a Colchester man drove thirteen miles in the wrong direction yesterday on Interstate 89. Police say a medical condition may have contributed to errant driving by Rodney Mayo. The incident triggered three crashes, but no one was severely injured. (AP)
Escapee recaptured
State police have recaptured the man who authorities say escaped from sheriff’s custody while en route to court to face his fourth escape charge. State police took Kevin Donaldson into custody after allegedly finding him in a stolen car in Jericho. (AP)
Champlain Fair noise violation
Rocker David Lee Roth cranked it up at the Champlain Valley Fair on Sunday night. Too much, say village officials in Essex Junction. The fair has been fined $5,000 for violating the village noise ordinance. (AP)