Putney to charge for emergency services
The high cost of responding to traffic accidents on Interstate 91 has prompted the town of Putney to adopt an ordinance that passes those costs on to motorists. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Interview: Billings Museum anniversary
Steve Delaney talks with director of the Billings Farm and Museum about Sunday’s 20th anniversary celebration. (Listen to the interview online.) (VPR)
Vermont political Web site
Politics in Vermont and four other states are the subject of chatty political Web sites. The Vermont version is known as politicsVT.com. It’s the sister site to political Web pages that focus on state and local politics in New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. (AP)
Military medals
Vermont veterans will get the service medals they were promised by the state. That’s because now the state has enough money to fulfill its promise. Governor Jim Douglas will collect some more on the Statehouse steps today. WOKO radio will be presenting a check for nearly $6,700 to supplement the state’s contribution. (AP)
Golf course foreclosure
Marble Island Community and Resort in Colchester looks like anything but a resort these days. The golf course looks like a hayfield, full of tall grass waving in the breeze off nearby Lake Champlain. KeyBank filed foreclosure documents against the group that owns the 60-acre development on Malletts Bay. (AP)
Dean says Tenet should resign
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean is chastising both President Bush and his Democratic presidential rivals over the latest flap involving the war in Iraq. Dean says his opposition to the war is being reaffirmed now that the Bush administration has admitted that evidence cited as a reason for the war has been shown to be false. Dean says people responsible for misleading the American public about going to war in Iraq should leave the government. CIA Director George Tenet said over the weekend that he should have removed a reference in President Bush’s state of the union speech. (AP)
Kayak and canoe licensing
Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Department is suggesting it might be time to require paddlers in canoes, kayaks and motorboats to be licensed. Commissioner Wayne LaRoche says non-motorized craft use the state’s boat launches but don’t pay for them. He says his department is strapped for cash and requiring registration tags on canoes and kayaks might help. (AP)
Teens dies at swimming hole
A 16-year-old star athlete from Keene, New Hampshire, drowned over the weekend at a swimming hole in Vermont. State police say the boy and a friend decided to dive from a rock outcropping 30 to 40 feet above a pool of water. The pool is fed by the Twin Falls in Westminster and the water was swirling rapidly. The boy never resurfaced. Friends identify the boy as Davis Hemingway, a student at Keene High School. Authorities won’t confirm the identity. (AP)
Bear encounters
More and more reports are rolling in to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department about encounters between humans and bears. And it’s leading to more and more people killing bears to protect their property. The state’s chief game warden says 14 bears have been killed by property owners this year. That compares to just two all of last year. (AP)
Vermont ACLU interim leader
The former director of Vermont’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is coming out of retirement. Leslie Williams will be the interim executive director until a permanent replacement is found. She’s filling in form Benson Scotch, who recently announced his retirement as executive director. (AP)
New legislative districts
Redistricting of the Vermont Legislature has turned out pretty well for many towns. There were concerns last year that juggling towns into new districts would lead to less representation. But the initial reports from some of the towns are that they’ve gotten sometimes even better service from their new legislators. (AP)
Union contract agreement
A new union has reached a tentative two-year contract with management at Montpelier’s Hunger Mountain Cooperative. The agreement includes wage increases and it protects the workers’ health benefits. A union representative says the store management also agreed to increase the discount that employees get for items on the shelves. (AP)