Steve Dale named executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association
Dale has been the Commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families since 2005, and has worked as a leader and manager in the human services field for 37 years.
Vermont Board of Ed approves first school district merger
In a 5-0 vote held at its November 16th meeting, the Vermont State Board of Education granted a waiver to the towns of Fairfax and Fletcher, allowing them to proceed with the merger process. Both towns will now begin a formal merger study pursuant with Act 153, to consider forming a Regional Education District (R.E.D.). This is the first waiver granted by the State Board.
McClaughry: The New Governor’s Fiscal Challenge
In the past two years the legislature harvested the low-hanging budget fruit. Future savings will be increasingly harder to come by. The vaunted Challenge for Change process, adopted in 2010, promises to achieve $38 million in FY11 savings by improving the efficiency of government operations – without diminishing services.
Video + story: Shumlin taps Spaulding for Secretary of Administration
Susan Bartlett will be a special assistant to the governor; Beth Robinson will be special counsel; Alex MacLean will handle communications; and Bill Lofy will be chief of staff.
How a political smear went viral
Compiled by VTdigger.org, via Internet search-engine Google, here is a representative sample of the war of words that coursed through Vermont’s political bloodstream from early-March to the Nov. 2 election, in print, press releases, the Internet and over the airwaves.
Potok gives Montpelier talk: “The State of Hate in America”
Potok is director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project and editor of its award-winning Intelligence Report magazine. He leads the premier operation monitoring the extreme right in the world today. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.
Yankee reconnected to power grid
The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant reconnected to the New England power grid at 5:18 a.m., Thursday morning. Operators manually shut the plant down on Sunday night to repair a leak on a 24-inch feed water pipe located in the turbine building feed pump room.
Environmental Action Conference Saturday
Hundreds of environmental activists gathering Saturday for state’s largest grassroots conference What: The Vermont Environmental Action Conference is the largest grassroots activism conference in the state. Over 250 environmental activists will gather and discuss how to ensure Vermont Yankee is retired on schedule and replaced with clean, renewable energy and how to advance a slew [...]
Fungi to the rescue? Sterling grad wants to render asbestos nontoxic
McHardy: “When it comes to cleaning up toxic waste, scientists keep finding that nature knows best. By mimicking nature’s adaptive processes, the VAG mine site could be remediated.”
Sanders: Social Security is not in crisis
“Republicans have falsely claimed that Social Security is going bankrupt and is in crisis. This is a lie. As Vermont’s senator, I will do everything that I can to make sure that Social Security benefits are not cut, the retirement age is not raised to 70, and this life and death program is not privatized.
