Interview: socially responsible businesses
Steve Delaney talks with Spencer Putnam. Putnam is the new president of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. (Listen to the interview online.) (VPR)
Sheep test results disputed
A Warren family whose sheep were seized by the federal government last year is raising money for a documentary film about their ordeal. The U.S. Department of Agriculture destroyed 125 sheep belonging to Linda and Larry Faillace. The government says two of the animals were infected with a version of mad cow disease. But the Faillaces say the government’s tests were flawed. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
UVM faculty contract
The University of Vermont and the Union that represents roughly 600 faculty members have declared an impasse in contract talks. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Student attends World Summit
The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development wrapped up Wednesday in South Africa. For one young Vermonter, the opportunity to participate in this gathering of world leaders proved to be an experience of a lifetime. (Listen to the story online or read the transcript.) (VPR)
Sanders returns from Saudi Arabia
Congressman Bernie Sanders is calling on the Bush administration to make some major changes in its foreign policy with Saudi Arabia. (VPR)
Hospital spending cuts
A state panel that reviews health care costs has recommended spending cuts for two Vermont hospitals. (VPR)
Dean in Iowa
Governor Howard Dean says President Bush still hasn’t justified a U.S. invasion of Iraq and Dean says the president still has not readied the American people for the cost of that attack. Dean made the remarks while in Iowa where he is still drumming up support for his presidential bid. On Wedensday he hosted a private fund raiser for Governor Tom Vilsack. Dean is participating in 11 political events over three days. (AP)
Search for Abenaki remains Some landowners in Swanton and Highgate are getting some high-tech help in finding out if there are Abenaki Indian remains buried on their property. An archaeologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week used ground-penetrating radar to look below the surface of six properties. (AP)
EHV Weidmann layoffs
The economic news in Vermont keeps getting tougher. The latest layoffs are at EHV Weidmann Industries in Saint Johnsbury. The company that produces insulator boards for power transformers paid off 24 workers from its 320-member staff. (AP)
Bus driver praised
The Vermont State Police are praising the driver of a school bus that was involved in a fatal collision yesterday in Danby. Police say driver Karen Snizek evacuated 27 Mill River Union High School students from the bus. The crash killed Robert Lewis of Brandon. (AP)
Democratic treasurer’s race
Big spending in the primary race to be the Democratic nominee for Vermont state treasurer. Edward Flanagan has spent more than $100,000 of his own money. Flanagan could end up spending $200,000 in his bid to defeat Jeb Spaulding next week. (AP)
Property tax ruling
State officials are trying to evaluate a court decision that says the state’s method of calculating property values is flawed. A judge says the state must recalculate the value of property in the town of Killington – and it must do so using statistically valid methods. (AP)
Hospital budgets pass
State regulators have approved a record one billion dollars in spending for the state’s hospitals. The Public Oversight Commission yesterday unanimously passed budgets for eleven of the state’s fourteen hospitals. (AP)
Bennington school expansion
A private school in Bennington may have to lay off as many as 40 employees if the town sticks to its tentative decision to deny the school permission to expand. Bennington’s Development Review Board says the school’s satellite facilities adversely affected the character of the rural neighborhoods in which they are located. (AP)
Rutland fire horn
A Superior Court judge must decide whether a fire horn in Rutland can be sounded at 8:50 p.m. every night. Four neighbors of the Rutland Fire Department want the city to stop sounding the horn at night. They say the whistle is disturbing the peace, is a public nuisance and violates their First Amendment rights to privacy. (AP)
NH Senate race
A new poll gives Congressman John Sununu a wide lead over Senator Bob Smith in New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate primary. The University of new Hampshire Survey Center poll for WMUR gives Sununu 56% support to Smith’s 34%. The primary election is next week. (AP)
NH arrested for threatening Bush
A Newport, New Hampshire man will be in a Washington, D.C. court on Thursday after being arrested two miles from the White House. Jeffrey Cloutier was arrested Wednesday after authorities found more than a dozen weapons in his rented car. He is accused of making threats against President Bush. (AP)