Midday Report: June 28, 2007

FairPoint Communications, which is trying to replace Verizon as the phone company for northern New England, promises new jobs if the company gets its regulatory permits; the Vermont Electric Power Company is being ordered to change some of its plans for a new transmission line in parts of Addison and Chittenden counties; the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington has decided to keep its obstetrics unit open, even when it doesn’t have a pediatrician on call; VPR’s Bob Kinzel is in Washington DC, where he’s been looking at the leadership skills that Leahy brings to the chairmanship of the Senate’s powerful Judiciary Committee; the Marble Bridge on U.S. Route 4 reopens to traffic, however construction will go on nearby for another eight weeks; Vermont’s prison population had the second largest growth rate in the country last year, but Vermont Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann says the state’s low population means relatively small changes can make big statistical fluctuations; yesterday’s heat across Vermont is one for the record books.