Interview: Dean comes second in Maine Caucuses
Hoping to grab some momentum away from frontrunner Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Howard Dean campaigned in Maine on Saturday – but results of Sunday’s caucus voting show that Kerry won that contest with nearly 50 percent of the vote. Dean picked up about 26 percent and Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich came in third. (Listen to the interview online.) (VPR)
Filmmaker captures teens’ thoughts
Any parent who’s tried to communicate with a teenager can appreciate the daunting task facing Vermont filmmaker Bess O’Brien. O’Brien is trying to find out what Vermont’s teenagers are thinking. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript. (VPR)
Clavelle announces candidacy
Vermont Democrats were energized this weekend when Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle officially announced his candidacy for governor. (VPR)
Dean campaigns in Wisconsin
Howard Dean is back in Wisconsin and plans to stay in the state through the primary there on February 17. Dean says it is too early to declare Senator John Kerry the winner of the Democratic presidential nomination. He is hoping that a strong showing in Wisconsin will restart his own campaign – and help give him momentum for the March 2 primaries. (AP)
Media coverage of Dean
First there was the coverage of Howard Dean’s famous Iowa scream. Now there’s the coverage of the coverage. Media executives from CNN, CBS and other networks are now talking about having played up Dean’s Iowa concession speech too much. (AP)
Legislature works toward Meeting Day
Vermont lawmakers say they’ll be redoubling their efforts this week to get some of their top agenda items moving. Town Meeting Day is less than a month away, and that’s traditionally the time when bills are expected to move from one of the two legislative chambers to the other. (AP)
Budget adjustment bill
A House-Senate conference committee will gather this week to try to work out differences between the two chambers’ versions of a mid-year budget adjustment bill. A key difference is that the House identified uses for money that may or may not come into the state’s coffers, while the Senate declined to do that. (AP)
Permit reform
The on-again, off-again chances that the Legislature might reform Vermont’s environmental permit process this year appear to be on again. A key sticking point now is that the House wants all permit appeals to be heard in Environmental Court, while the Senate favors a citizen board. (AP)
Early education red tape
There’s a new plan afoot to cut down on the confusion, paperwork, and duplication of services that plague Vermont’s system of early childhood care and education. Governor Jim Douglas is expected to detail the plan on Monday; it was drafted by a panel of educators and policy-makers. (AP)
No Child Left Behind
Vermont educators and some political leaders are continuing to criticize the federal No Child Left Behind education law. The measure – passed by Congress in 2002 – was the subject of a weekend conference in South Burlington, where participants criticized it as inflexible and a bad fit for Vermont. (AP)
Child advocacy center may close
A Rutland home used by police and social workers to interview child sex abuse victims may close due to a loss of funding. Child First Advocacy Center provides a comfortable home-like atmosphere where discreetly placed video cameras allow police to record interviews with young victims of sexual and other forms of abuse. (AP)
Childhood depression
Some Vermont psychiatrists say they’ve had good results treating children with anti-depressants. But there appears to be consensus that more research is needed on the question of whether the drugs can increase the risk of suicide in some young people. (AP)
Prison health care survey
Vermont prison inmates often wait weeks to see a doctor, have trouble following rehabilitation programs and rarely get dental care. That’s according to the responses of nearly 200 inmates to an advocacy group’s survey about the health care they get. (AP)