Midday Report: June 13, 2007

Vermont Congressman Peter Welch is newly back from the Middle East with a new perspective on the priorities there, and said that while Washington is consumed by Iraq, neighboring countries are not; the town of Isle La Motte has a new town clerk and treasurer, interim town clerk Betsy Howland; Vermont game wardens are shipping two monkeys to an out-of-state animal rescue organization, animals that were seized from a man in Eden who was charged with possession of an exotic animal without a permit; the tiny, family run Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond has been given an Act 250 land-use permit that allows it to withdraw water from the Winooski River to make snow; Democratic Representatives Peter Welch of Vermont and Paul Hodes of New Hampshire are trying to get one million dollars in federal funding every year, to promote conservation in the Connecticut River Valley, while Senators from both Vermont and New Hampshire have introduced a matching bill in the U.S. Senate.