November 24, 2003 – News at a Glance

Print More

Interview: UVM poet wins emerging writer award
South Burlington poet and assistant professor of English at UVM Major Jackson has received a Whiting Writer’s Award, one of ten recipients selected as an emerging writer of exceptional talent and promise. Mitch Wertlieb spoke with the poet…

Guilford Central School reopens next week
Children in Guilford will soon be back under one roof. The town’s K-8 school has been closed since early October due to low levels of toxic chemicals.

Interview: Heart-Side Up by Barbara Dimmick
The new novel Heart-Side Up recounts a year in the life of Zoe Miller, a teacher who is attacked by a knife-wielding 18-year-old. Disfigured and anxiety-ridden, Zoe packs her Xanax and moves to Vermont, where she buys an isolated, half-finished house. Neal Charnoff talks with author Barbara Dimmick about her new novel.

VT delegation divided on Medicare drug plan
Vermont’s congressional delegation is divided on a new Medicare prescription drug plan: Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Bernie Sanders oppose it while Senator Jim Jeffords plans to vote for it.

Douglas supports Medicare drug bill
Governor Jim Douglas supports the Medicare drug bill now moving through Congress. His staff says the legislation will save Vermont $3 million in its first year alone.

Omya needs permit to dump in Pittsford
State environmental officials have ruled that the Omya Corporation needs a solid waste permit to dump waste material in abandoned quarries in Pittsford.

Vermonter killed in Iraq remembered in Springfield.
Vermont remembers another soldier killed in Iraq. The funeral for North Carolina solider Sergeant Scott Rose was held Saturday Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Springfield, the hometown of his wife Michelle. The 30-year-old Rose was killed two weeks ago near Tikrit, Iraq, when the helicopter he was in went down . (AP)

Brattleboro police looking for stolen snake
Police in Brattleboro are looking for a stolen corn snake. The albino corn snake was reported stolen from the One Stop Country Pet Store last week. (AP)

Poll: half Mass. residents support gay marriage ruling
About half of Massachusetts residents support the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision deeming a ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Two polls show that Massachusetts is more strongly in favor of gay marriage than the nation as a whole. Civil Unions, as adopted by Vermont, garnered much stronger support. (AP)

Rockingham to condemn hydro dam property
The town of Rockingham is taking another step toward seizing a Connecticut River hydroelectric dam owned by U-S Gen New England. On Friday the town put the utility on formal notice that it plans to condemn the property. The town values the dam at 72 million dollars. (AP)

Vermont Catholic Church settles second child sexual abuse lawsuit
The Diocese of Burlington will pay Ronald Ploof, a 44-year-old Colchester man, an undisclosed sum in return for his dropping a court case against it. Two more lawsuits are on the books in Chittenden Superior Court. (AP)

IBM won’t close Essex Junction Plant
IBM says it has no plans to close its chip-making plant in Essex Junction. I-B-M has no plans to close the computer maker’s Vermont plant. That’s the word from the plant’s top executive. John DiToro says that less than half the plant is dedicated to making computer chips. The plant does a lot of other things as well. (AP)

Kerry, Dean in dead heat in Mass.
Two new polls show Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and Howard Dean in a statistical dead heat in Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts. A Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll says that if the Democratic primary were held now, Dean would receive 27 percent while Kerry would receive 24 percent. (AP)

Vt. State Police investigate accident that killed Guilford man.
The Vermont State Police is continuing to investigate the crash that killed a 20-year-old Guilford man. Police say Lukas Lashway died yesterday after his car hit a tree in a high speed crash that involved alcohol. Lashway was not wearing a seat belt. (AP)

Dean blasts the Medicare plan
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean says the Medicare bill adopted by the U.S. House is an “unacceptable” piece of legislation. The former Vermont governor was in New York yesterday touring Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital. He says the bill, now before the Senate, cuts back on health care in many ways. (AP)

Charges won’t be filed in deer season shooting
It’s unlikely charges will be filed against the hunter who fired a shot last year that hit and later killed a Berlin man who was relaxing in his home. The prosecutor says fifty-nine-year-old Ed Carroll was the victim of an implausible gunshot. (AP)

Truck owner unaware he was under investigation for hazmat spill
Police report the owner of a truck from which five barrels of hazardous materials were accidentally dumped on Interstates 89 and 91 was unaware that the incident was under investigation as a hazardous waste spill. The Vermont State Police says the owner of those chemical drums discovered along Interstates 91 and 89 last week didn’t know they’d fallen out of his truck. And police say no hazardous materials were released into the environment. (AP)

Corps of Engineers white water release restrictions upset boaters
Some boating groups are upset with a decision by the U-S Army Corps of Engineers to restrict whitewater releases on the West River in Jamaica (Vermont). The Corps cut the fall release from the Ball Mountain Dam from two days to one in September and will restrict flow levels in April. (AP)

Windsor Select Board recall tomorrow
Windsor voters are headed to the polls tomorrow to decide whether to recall four of five select board members. If any members are recalled a special election will be held to fill the seats. Some townspeople are upset the board fired the former town manager. (AP)

St. Albans’ Hard’ack skiing and sledding hill to make own snow
Some good news for Saint Albans residents who like to ski and slide on the local hill known as Hard’ack. A plan to cover the 500-foot slope in man-made snow is set to go. The nonprofit association that runs Hard’ack has been lining up permits for a year. (AP)

Comments are closed.