Interview: Four-year terms
The question of whether Vermont should adopt a four-year term for the governor and other lawmakers gets another public hearing Wednesday night in Rutland. The proposal, known as Prop 4, would end the current two-year term for lawmakers and would require an amendment to the state constitution to do so. Mitch Wertlieb talks with state archivist Gregory Sanford about the issue and the history of amending Vermont’s Constitution. (Listen to the interview online.) (VPR)
Dean presidential campaign
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean will face enormous pressure from national Democratic leaders to withdraw from the race – if Dean loses next week’s primary in Wisconsin. That’s the viewpoint of Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Welch, who has campaigned for Dean. (VPR)
Mental health funding
Hundreds of mental health care recipients, workers and advocates rallied at the Statehouse on Tuesday. They warned that the state’s system of community mental health centers is on the verge of an unprecedented breakdown unless there’s an increase in state funding. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Capital gains tax reform
The Douglas administration is proposing some changes to its tax reform plan. The changes are designed to benefit farmers and small business owners. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Improper car seat use
A new Vermont law that went into effect January first says children up to the age of eight must now be in a booster seat when traveling by car. But as VPR’s Nina Keck reports, many parents are unaware of that new law and – even more startling – the majority of parents who do use a child seat in the car don’t use it correctly. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Dean ignores Tuesday primaries
Howard Dean ignored a pair of presidential primaries in the South on Tuesday and stayed focused on winning Wisconsin. Dean, who is running for president, played Ping-Pong at an inner city youth center on Tuesday in Milwaukee. He didn’t seriously compete in Virginia and Tennessee and finished in single digits in both states. (AP)
Jeffords call for Lejune hearings
Vermont Senator James Jeffords is calling for congressional hearings on water problems at Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine base on the East Coast. Marine engineers discovered in 1980 that drinking water at Lejeune was highly contaminated with solvents and other organic compounds and pollutants. The contaminated wells were not closed until 1985. (AP)
Fiscal concerns about state budget
Vermont may be in good fiscal shape, but experts are still raising concerns about the state’s proposed 2005 budget. In a recent report, the state’s Joint Fiscal Office says the costs of health care, transportation and projected cuts in federal spending are matters of pressing concern. (AP)
All-day kindergarten
A Barre educator believes the city’s youngsters could benefit from a few more hours in school. Curriculum Coordinator John Tapper says the city should start offering all-day kindergarten. He says doing so would ensure all students get off to a solid start in their school careers. (AP)
Civil War memorial proposed
Historian Howard Coffin calls a Civil War battle that took the lives of more than 1,000 Vermonters “the deadliest day in the history of the state of Vermont.” Coffin wants the Legislature to spend $20,000 for a monument to Vermonters who died in 1864’s Battle of the Wilderness. (AP)
Mercury law would impact battery plant
Officials at the Energizer factory in Bennington are worried about a proposed law that would force battery makers to label the amount of mercury in their products. Energizer employs 350 people at its plants in Bennington and St. Albans. Ronald Taylor, the manager of Energizer’s Bennington plant, says a provision of the law would hurt sales. (AP)
Kimmick in Taiwanese custody
Police in Taiwan say a man who is wanted in Vermont for killing his wife has turned himself in to authorities. Thirty-six-year-old William Kimmick turned himself in on Tuesday in southern Taiwan. (AP)
Truck driver in teen’s death
A Cornwall truck driver will be charged with careless and negligent driving in connection with a crash that injured a teenager from Benson several months ago. Police say 62-year-old Joel King was carrying 7,000 gallons of milk to Franklin, Massachusetts, when his truck hit a Ford pickup (AP)
Three charged in high-speed chase
Three central Vermont men are being charged after a harrowing high-speed car chase with police. Police say 21-year-old Nicholas Mears of Marshfield took them on a 100 mile-per-hour car chase through the back roads of Barre, East Montpelier and East Calais early Tuesday morning. Police say the two other passengers will also be charged. (AP)