Who won and lost the week in Vermont news and politics?

Goat-killers, doppelgangers, loggers, Little Rockers, cops and... the economy.

Here's the Scoreboard for the week of Friday, July 26:

Winners:

The economy, stupid — State revenue forecasts are up, a bit. So that's good. But... Runner-up loser: Congress, whose federal budget sequestration is stalling Vermont's economic recovery.

Mark Mitchell — When the VSEA chief was fired last month by the union's board of trustees, ally and board president John Reese said Mitchell would be vindicated. Turns out Reese was right. Mitchell's back — and that brings us to our our Runner-up losers: Michael Casey and Abigail Winters, who staged the ultimately unsuccessful coup with the help of a few allies on the board. Now Casey and Winters are on their way out.

State auditor's office — Newbie State Auditor Doug Hoffer released the results of his first big audit this week: a sober, constructive look at how the state can do more to prevent workplace injuries. After years of politically motivated work by predecessor, Tom Salmon, isn't that refreshing?

Homeless advocates — They got their way on new motel rules this week, now that Gov. Peter Shumlin is playing nice with lefty lobbyists. Runner-up losers: Legislators who want to cut the program entirely. Oh, and the state budget, which'll be footing the bill for more stays at the Ho Hum Motel. 

Little Rock — For barely beating out Burlington as America's best small city in which to live.

Rutland Herald correspondent Eric Francis — For penning the following sentence in a story headlined, "Man Takes Stand in Goat-killing Case": "Parry said he had nothing personally against Majeski and had no reason to harm the goats beyond the fact that he had consumed more than a dozen beers and nearly as many Percocets that evening, and that Ashline offered to pay him what sounded like a couple of hundred dollars to do it." 'Nuff said.

Vermont's political doppelgangers — Especially Cousin Oliver. 

A tie score and losers after the break...

Tie Score: 

The Logger's political ambitions — The hopes and dreams of comedian, actor and wannabe-congressman Rusty DeWees got a thorough smackdown this week by our favorite Vermont political columnist, VTDigger's John Margolis (Hey, Margolis has slim competition!). On the upside for Rusty, he got a nice, long puff piece in last Saturday's Burlington Free Press — replete with a mention of his "washboard chest." Runner-up losers: Vermont political reporters — that is, if DeWees takes a pass and leaves us covering another boring election cycle.

Losers:

Springfield — The town was "deluged with telephone calls from out-of-state media Thursday," the Rutland Herald's Susan Smallheer reported, reacting to an Associated Press story about the pending release of convicted sex offender Timothy Szad, "portraying Springfield as a town 'on edge.'" On Friday, Shumlin announced that Szad is heading to California.

Chittenden County law enforcement — The Burlington Police Department's deputy chief got popped for a DUI. A Winooski cop was arraigned for aggravated assault and two other charges. BPD officers tried to kick a local DJ off Church Street, then apologized. And a local artist took a Shelburne Police Department officer to court for incorrectly busting him for running a red light.

Clean energy — When demand for electricity peaked in the region last week, ISO-New England ordered Green Mountain Power to crank down its Lowell Mountain wind project and crank up its diesel fuel generators, as reported by Vermont Public Radio's John Dillon. To that we say, what the shit?