The unrest in Egypt had an impact on Vermonters, a dollar-a-pack cigarette tax increase was proposed, Governor Shumlin launched a new jobs bill, big snow focused our attention on plowing and lost skiers. And we looked at the many sides of the wind power debate.
These are some of the voices in the news this week:
Native Of Cairo Watches Events Unfold From Vermont (1/31)
(Febe Armanios, Middlebury College professor) "I have relatives in suburbs of Cairo who at night have had to join neighborhood watches and take any kind of blunt objects or kitchen knives they have to protect their buildings."
Cigarette Tax Advocates Face Uphill Battle (2/2)
(Jericho Rep. George Till) "You’ve heard the numbers:$ 233 million a year in this state is spent on medical care for smoking."
Shumlin Calls Jobs Bill ‘Most Comprehensive’ In Recent Memory (2/3)
(Governor Peter Shumlin) "The question for Vermont is, ‘are we going to be smart enough, nimble enough and fast enough to harvest some opportunity from economic recovery, or is it going to pass us by?’"
Despite New Technology, Plowing Still A Challenge (2/1)
(VTrans worker Dennis Whitehill) "You put sand out and it’s there, it kind of browns up the road. But I think a lot of times it gives traffic a false sense of security. Just because you got sand on it don’t mean it’s a lot safer to drive on it as if it’s white."
Snowstorms Bring Fresh Powder, More Ski Rescues (2/3)
(Stephanie Dasaro, Vermont State Police) "If you choose to go in the backcountry, we request that people are prepared for anything, prepared for the weather conditions. And always make sure somebody knows where you are."
Opinions Differ On Wind Power’s Pollution Reduction (2/2)
(Green Mountain Power vice president Robert Dostis) "Every kilowatt of electricity that’s produced from Lowell is power we don’t have to buy from some other resource."
Public Service Board To Open Hearings On Lowell Wind Project (2/1)
(Steve Wright, former state Fish and Wildlife Commissioner) "I read one segment in there that flipped me over completely and that was the segment on the amount of road building and alteration of the 450 million year old Cretaceous era ridgeline.