Inaugural Address Governor Peter Shumlin January 8, 2015

by cgrotke | State News

Here is Governor Shumlin’s address, 2015:

….

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the General Assembly, distinguished guests, and fellow Vermonters:
Thank you for the tremendous honor and opportunity to serve again as Governor. As a Vermonter who grew up, raised my daughters, and built two businesses here, it is the greatest privilege of my life to give back to the state that has given me so much. I love serving as Governor because I love Vermont.

Road Map to Efficiency: A Regional Energy Roundtable

by Not Signed In | Home & Garden

Come to “Road Map to Efficiency”, a regional energy roundtable Wednesday, January 20, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Windham & Windsor Housing Trust’s community room located at 68 Birge Street, Brattleboro

The roundtable will offer tools, resources, and support to homeowners, energy committees, and interested community members.

Roundtable topics include community grant opportunities, programs for schools, cold-climate heat pumps, residential solar options, on-bill repayment for residential efficiency projects, NeighborWorks H.E.A.T. Squad program updates, advice for starting an energy committee and how to spur action in communities.

Announcement: Any Office Peter Runs for in 2016, I’m Running Against Him!

by CrisEricson2016 | Politics

With  Peter re-elected, how much more over-taxation  suffering can people take before they pack up and move away?

I will run for U.S. Senator or  Representative to Congress, and Governor of Vermont; at least one state and one federal office in 2016.

I will fight for our right to have peace and quiet, and that means telling the U.S. Air Force to base the  F-35 strike fighter jets somewhere else!  Can you imagine having to edit out the “peace and quiet” statement in most of the tourist brochures for Vermont?

Putney Family Healthcare Expanding Facility and Service

by BMH | Health

Putney Family Healthcare, a BMH Physician Group member, is undergoing renovations to expand its 79 Main Street facility. Practice officials state that this expansion is in response to a growing demand for medical care in the service area, which includes Putney, Dummerston, Westminster and Saxtons River.

GPI Construction began work on the expansion in November, which will create four additional exam rooms as well as increase office space for administrative staff. BMH Director of Plant Services Rob Prohaska is working with Joe Fortier of GPI to manage the project, which is expected to be completed March 1, 2015.

Kerry, Murderer of a Vietnamese Patriot, Comments on Terror in Co-Terrorist France

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Historical ID of now US Secretary of State John Kerry, who today quite rightly condemned the terror attack on the offices of a Paris newspaper plus a history of French colonial and neocolonial terror.

What first comes to mind is US Secretary of State John Kerry’s prestige for his heroic Swift Boat killing of a Vietnamese in his own beloved country during the holocaust the US committed in Vietnam.  A wounded Vietnamese freedom fighter, who had been aiming a rocket launcher at the Swift Boat Kerry commanded, was shot by Kerry as he was running away. Kerry by daringly running his boat right at the danger was decorated for having saved the boat and its crew. [“KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him”  from official Silver Star Citation “For the President, E.R. Zumwalt, Vice Admiral, Commander of US Forces in Vietnam”]

Sanders Welcomes Relief for New Homebuyers

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) welcomed President Barack Obama’s announcement today that the Federal Housing Administration will cut mortgage-insurance premiums as part of an effort to expand opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

Annual fees the agency charges to guarantee mortgages will be cut by 0.5 percentage points from the current rate of 1.35 percent.

Sanders and 17 other senators had signed a letter asking the Obama administration to take the action that the White House announced.

Public Invited to ‘Trail Talk’ To Be Held For I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Project

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

The PCL+FIGG Team will conduct the next on-site “trail talk” for the Public on Saturday, January 10, 2015. There has been a lot of progress at the I-91 Brattleboro Bridge project site, which will be shared with attendees. The talks will originate at the West River Trail near the marina. The trail talk will be led by Caleb Linn, Project Manager for PCL (lead contractor) and Garrett Hoffman, Design Manager for FIGG (bridge designer).

Interested participants should meet the PCL+FIGG Team at the West River Trail trailhead on Saturday, January 10, 2015, at 8 a.m. and the talk will begin at 8:15 a.m. Participants will walk the trail to the I-91 bridge site, so please wear appropriate clothing and footwear.

Brattleboro Committee and Board Vacancies

by Not Signed In | Town News

The Town of Brattleboro is looking for citizens to serve on the following committees and boards:

Agricultural Advisory Board
BASIC (Brattleboro Area Skatepark is Coming) – must be Brattleboro resident
Conservation Commission
Development Review Board
Development Review Board Alternate
Energy Committee

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of January 11

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

Night work on the new bridge will resume in the vicinity of Route 30. Night work will be conducted Monday night, January 12th thru Friday night, January 16th.

The next trail talk is scheduled for January 10th at 8:00 AM.

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

Selectboard Meeting Notes: Much Ado About Money

by cgrotke | Town News

Brattleboro’s municipal budget, and how to pay for it, was the focus of the first regular meeting of the selectboard in 2015. Very few decisions were made – that’s being saved for their next meeting – but issues were discussed in detail and a few Town Meeting Representatives even joined in the debate.

Property taxes appear to be going up, the 1% Local Option Sales tax may or may not be re-voted, a decision on the Futures Committee has been put off until the future, and the town has a long list of necessary improvements to do.

Board members held differing views on when the public and representatives should be consulted via votes or discussions, and which issues should be reconsidered. 

The Small, Small Post-Snowden World

by Lise | Op/Ed

After seeing the Edward Snowden movie Citizen Four at the Latchis recently, I was left with an impression that was not what I had expected. I had expected to be buried in acronyms – I was. I expected moments of understated drama – they were there. But what I didn’t expect was this lingering feeling of claustrophobia which comes of spending two hours watching a man whose physical existence is now confined, 24 hours a day, to a single beige hotel room which could have been anywhere but happened to be in Hong Kong. What struck me more disturbingly was that you don’t have to be an NSA whistle-blower to feel a hint of that claustrophobia in your own life. Many of us, I suspect, feel confined to a smaller space these days, especially in the time since Snowden’s revelations.

BMH’s Richardson Elected Chair of VT Hospital Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Committee

by BMH | Health

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced that its Director of Emergency Services, Brian Richardson, has been elected Co-Chair of the Vermont Hospital Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (VTHEPC) Committee.

Richardson joins Co-Chair Chris Lackney of in Townshend and Secretary John Berino from in Burlington as leaders of the VTHEPC committee, which is comprised of emergency preparedness coordinators from 14 participating Vermont hospitals and the state department of health.

Great Board Training Opportunities in Brattleboro

by Not Signed In | Education

T​his spring, ​Marlboro ​College ​will offer its first Board Leadership Institute​. ​The Board Leadership Institute is a series of skill-building workshops in March and April that, taken together, introduce board members to the most important knowledge and skills for successful board service. Board Teams and Individual Trustees should register here to reserve their place in the Board Leadership Institute.

Brattleboro Department of Public Works Tree Trimming

by Not Signed In | Town News

Weather permitting; the Department of Public Works crews will be working with a contractor to remove low hanging branches that pose a danger to vehicular traffic on several streets around town on January 12th and 13th. DPW personnel will continue trimming throughout the rest of the week as needed.

If you have any questions, please contact Hannah O’Connell, Town of Brattleboro Highway / Utility Superintendent at (802) 254 – 4255.

…
Town of Brattleboro
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
211 Fairground Road, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
Tel: 802-254-4255 • Fax: 802-257-2316 • E-mail: brattdpw@sover.net

Open Letter To Vermont Voters Regarding Legislative Vote For Governor January 8, 2015

by CrisEricson2016 | Op/Ed

Open Letter To Vermonter Voters,

I have complained here at ibrattleboro.com during the fall of 2014 that my vote count was lowered from the “unofficial” vote count to the “official” vote count four days later.   This never happens to major party candidates.  It happened to me in 2010, and it happened to me in 2014.  I want some positive, constructive changes made!  Because this never happens to major party candidates, I am now complaining that I believe the Constitution of the State of Vermont is being violated.

Antje Duvekot, Hayley Reardon and Hannah Hoffman at Next Stage on Saturday, January 10

by Not Signed In | Music

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present a triple bill of contemporary folk singer/songwriters featuring Antje Duvekot, Hayley Reardon and Hannah Hoffman at Next Stage on Saturday, January 10 at 7:30 pm.

Antje Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer/songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism and street-smart romanticism. Her bicultural upbringing and relative newness to English have helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette. They are the keys to the powerful, even revolutionary, empathy that informs everything she writes. She has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award and the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act.

Quintessential Brit {VictoriaRegina}

by Vidda | Entertainment

I say, old chaps, I wonder if you mightn’t enjoy this 52 minute Sherlock Holmes episode with the irrepressible Jeremy Brett.

It has all the elements of what any decent Anglophile who appreciates the late-Victorian period would enjoy.Should you accept this most sensitive assignment of the highest order of the Empire, this message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

The Second Stain by Arthur Conan Doyle

Marijuana Regulation Effort Launches

by Maus Anon E | State News

With Legislative Session Approaching, Broad Statewide Coalition Forms to Support Regulating Marijuana Like Alcohol in Vermont

Local advocates and organization leaders will hold a news conference in the Vermont State House at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday — the day before the general assembly convenes — to launch the Vermont Coalition to Regulate Marijuana

 MONTPELIER — With the Vermont General Assembly set to convene this week, a group of citizens, organizations, and businesses from around the state is officially launching a coalition to support legislation that would end marijuana prohibition in Vermont and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.

Brattleboro Fire Department Cold Weather Advice

by BrattFireDept | Police & Fire

The National Weather Service is warning of cold temperatures for much of this week. Wind chills will be below-zero at times and could be colder than 20-degrees below zero Wednesday night into Thursday. Those temperatures have the potential to pose a danger to health and property.

Some steps to take to keep yourself, your family, your pets, and any elderly or homebound neighbors safe during cold weather:

Monitor weather reports and plan ahead.

Be a good neighbor. Check with elderly or disabled relatives, neighbors, and friends to ensure their safety.

Sanders: Trade Pact Terms Must be Disclosed

by Not Signed In | Politics

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 5 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today asked the chief trade representative for the United States to turn over the full text of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

The 12-nation pact, which could soon come before Congress, has been negotiated in secret but with input from corporations that stand to profit on the deal.

In , Sanders called it “troubling” and “unacceptable” that the only sources for Congress to assess what would be the largest global trade deal in history are a few leaked documents.