November 18, 2004 – News at a glance

Print More

Agreement reached on Coventry landfill expansion
A plan to expand Vermont’s largest landfill has won state Act 250 approval. A Canadian group concerned about the expansion says it’s happy with the outcome. The approval also paves the way for construction of a facility to generate electricity from gases produced by the landfill. (VPR)

Interview: Great American Smoke-Out
How would you like a free dinner and a movie every week? Well, that’s what ex-smoker Anthony Bingham says he’s getting now that he’s dropped the expensive habit of smoking. The Brattleboro resident used Vermont’s Quit Line to help strike tobacco. Mitch Wertlieb talks with Bingham about today’s Great American Smoke Out. (VPR)

Sanders calls on FDA to speed flu vaccine imports
Congressman Bernie Sanders is calling on the Bush administration to immediately take steps to import millions of doses of flu vaccine from Canada and Europe. The federal Food and Drug Administration has indicated that it may take several months to bring some of the vaccine into the United States. (VPR)

Health Department runs flu clinics on Thursday
Twelve-thousand people at highest risk for the flu will be able to receive a flu shot on Thursday. The Visiting Nurses Association and Vermont’s Health Department will be operating one-day clinics at 17 locations across the state. (VPR)

Douglas to appoint Public Service Board chair
Governor Jim Douglas will get a chance this winter to appoint a new chairman of the Public Service Board, the state panel that regulates utilities. The six-year term of current chairman Michael Dworkin expires in February. Douglas says he wants to examine the field of applicants and find the best-qualified person for the job. (VPR)

Leahy meets with attorney general nominee Gonzales
Vermont’s Democratic senator met with President Bush’s nominee for attorney general on Wednesday. Senator Patrick Leahy and Alberto Gonzales discussed the upcoming confirmation hearings. Jill Morrison reports from our Capitol Hill Bureau in Washington. (CHB)

Three Vermont border crossings to be expanded
U.S. border crossings in three Vermont towns are slated to be expanded under a funding bill that has won preliminary approval. Senator Jim Jeffords says money was included in an appropriations bill that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. (AP)

Tax refunds go unclaimed
Hundreds of Vermonters have not yet claimed their income tax refunds from last year. The state and federal tax services are looking for more than 100 taxpayers who have a combined total of $54,000 coming to them. (AP)

Clavelle’s political plans
Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle says it’s too early to say whether he will run again to be governor of Vermont. Clavelle says he had a hard time during his campaign building a coalition between the Progressive Party and the Democrats. Clavelle lost to Governor Jim Douglas on November 2. (AP)

CVMC expansion
The Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin has state permission for an $18.5 million expansion. The project will add almost 30,000 square feet to the 295,000 square foot hospital. A similar proposal was rejected three years ago as too expensive. (AP)

Anti-smoking campaign
The Health Department is aiming its latest anti-smoking campaign at 18- to 25-year-old Vermonters. About 30 percent of the people in that age group smoke. The three ads running now focus on the high costs of smoking. A heavy smoker can spend $150 a month in cigarettes. (AP)

Mall pathway opens for holidays
The city of South Burlington is opening an unpaved short-cut to the University Mall and Dorset Street during the holiday shopping season. The unpaved Market Street connects Dorset Street with Hinesburg Road. The street will close again after the holidays. (AP)

Exotic fish smuggling
A Massachusetts resident was given probation and fined $1,000 in federal court in Vermont for illegally smuggling exotic Asian fish into the United States. The U.S. attorney’s office says 45-year-old Anh Huynh will spend a year on probation for transporting live Asian Bonytongue fish into the United States from Canada. (AP)

Priest charged with abuse
A former Catholic priest at Christ the King Church in Burlington is being sued on claims he sexually molested an altar boy in the 1970s. Edward Paquette, who is now retired and living in Westfield, Massachusetts, denies the charges (AP)

Drug case settled with deceased’s family
A settlement has been reached in the federal government’s efforts to force a South Burlington couple to forfeit their home because their son used it for drug crimes. Prosecutors dropped the forfeiture action because the couple, Ruby and Wayne Gibson, sold the house. The proceeds from the sale were given to the family of Jill McCarthy, who died in the home after the Gibsons’ son provided her heroin. (AP)

Comments are closed.