Top stories developing across the region at the noon hour:
Governor Jim Douglas announces that the long-troubled Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury has lost both its federal certification and its federal funding after two patients escaped last week; Vermont’s new environmental court is officially open for business, replacing the Environmental Board that’s been in place ever since Act 250 was passed three decades ago; more than 9,300 corporations and trade names were registered with the state last year, a two percent increase over 2003.
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