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Mercury Emissons Bill
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy wants to impose new restrictions on mercury emissions from utility power plants and other sources. Leahy, a Democrat, is going to introduce the Omnibus Mercury Emissions Act along with Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine.

The act would require power plants and commercial boilers to reduce mercury emissions by 95 percent in five years. Snowe says the EPA’s new rule on mercury emissions is inadequate and does not reduce mercury emissions to acceptable levels until 2018.

Ferry Search Ruling Contested
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) The American Civil Liberties Union wants a federal appeals court to reinstate its lawsuit seeking to block random searches of ferryboat passengers. The ACLU says its appeal to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals will argue a federal judge was wrong to rule the searches constitutional just because the government says they’re needed.

Vermont ACLU Executive Director Allen Gilbert says courts shouldn’t step aside and let the government decide what’s constitutional. In October, the ACLU sued the federal government on behalf of two men who commute across Lake Champlain. Last month District Court Judge Garvan Murtha dismissed the suit. He ruled the searches were unintrusive and reasonable.

Newspaper Man, Don Hovey Dies
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) Don Hovey, the longtime editor of the Caledonian-Record newspaper in Saint Johnsbury, has died. Hovey died on Sunday in Holiday, Florida, where he moved after his retirement 12 years ago.

Hovey began his career at the Caledonian-Record in 1966 after working 15 years as a pricing clerk at Fairbanks Scales in Saint Johnsbury. He started as sports editor and a few years later moved up to become the newspaper’s managing editor. He held that post until his March, 1993 retirement.

Although Hovey moved to Florida, he returned to the Northeast Kingdom during the summers and was still considered a Lyndon resident. Caledonian-Record Publisher Mark Smith describes him as an old-fashioned newspaperman who was always ready to rush to a breaking story. Don Hovey was 77.

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