This week VPR News is bringing you a special series of
reports looking at the conditions of Vermont’s
roads. We continue the discussion with Transportation Secretary Neale
Lunderville and the director of the National
University Transportation
Center at UVM, Lisa
Aultman-Hall. We talk about everything
from the state’s deepest ruts and potholes, to the legislature’s attempt to
deal with a chronically under-funded transportation infrastructure. And,
we want to hear from you. You can email us with your road reports and
concerns ahead of time at vermontedition@vpr.net.
Also, retail sales have always been an important indicator
of our economy’s health. Figures
released by the U.S. Census Bureau in mid-March show that nationally, retail
sales are down .6%. That’s
the second big drop in retail sales in the past three months; a pattern some
economists fear indicates the onset of a recession. We talk with the Director of the Vermont
Retail Association, Tasha Wallis, to see whether Vermonters are opening or
closing their pocketbooks and how retailers are adapting.
And, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, commentator Peter Gilbert reflects on the
speech Robert Kennedy gave in Indianapolis
announcing King’s death.