(Host) A shortage of large animal veterinarians and the re-licensing of Vermont Yankee were only some of the stories that caught our attention this week.
Governor Douglas considered a lawsuit to block the Bush administration from cutting funds for children’s health care programs; the State Police discussed their future mission; the public weighed in on the Circumferential Highway, and rural areas heard some good news for small business development….
Vermont faces large animal vet shortage
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77572/
(Major) “We certainly are understaffed if we were to have something like the recent foot and mouth outbreak in Britain. We just don’t have enough veterinarians here to deal with that sort of situation.”
Vermont Yankee says cooling towers safety shouldn’t be reviewed for re-licensing
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77587/
(Williams) “So in response to a NRC question, we said that there’s no reason to include the cooling tower cell event in the scope of the NRC re-licensing.”
Sanders: Public lacks confidence in NRC oversight
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77616/
(Sanders) "Fortunately, no one was hurt in either of these accidents. If you were living in southern Vermont, or New Hampshire, or northern Massachusetts, would you have confidence in the NRC after this series of events?
Klein:, I would hope people in Vermont have confidence in the NRC. Sanders: They don’t."
Douglas considers joining lawsuit against Bush administration
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77598/
(Douglas) "The governors across the country want to expand the program. I certainly do. It’s a cost effective way to insure that we intervene early in a person’s life and to prevent the chronic disease that can be more expensive later on."
Vt State Police discuss their future mission
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77615/
(Baker)" There’s expectations in communities that we respond to vandalized mailboxes or shop lifting complaints at strip malls and at the same time be the agency that’s responsible for coordinating complicated criminal investigations and that’s very difficult to meet all those demands."
Public weighs in on Circumferential Highway
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77645/
(Davis) “It seems to me we’re well over the hump in studies. To me it’s time to build the Circ and not do anything with 2A.’’
(Senville) “Do we realize that building new highways is not a long-term solution to congestion? Don’t we realize our existing transportation infrastructure is crumbling? Don’t we care about building up our public transit system?’’
Rural areas to receive millions for small business development
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/77636/
(Welch) "This bill is going to give us an opportunity to have access to money to invest in infrastructure broadband improving transportation and basically give a real shot in the arm to the local economy by leveraging the local economic development organization’s that are there and giving them some funds to work with."