Jan 13-19, 2010
Two Big Thinkers Debate the Budget Crisis; the Queen City’s Councilor Provocateur; 21st-Century Learning in VT Schools; The Off Center’s New Performance Space for Burlington
Vermont Responds to Disaster in Haiti
Earlier today, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss held a press conference at City Hall to address the earthquake in Haiti and to introduce Vermont organizations with ties to that country. Speaking at the event were representatives from Vermont’s Congressional delegation, Kimball Butler of the Vermont Haiti Project, Pat Burns from City Market, Dave Fisher from Rutland-based…
VPT Will Not Air Show from George W. Bush Institute
Anyone wondering whether Vermont Public Television will join other public television affiliates in airing a show produced by the George W. Bush Institute, wonder no more: It won’t. The roundtable show, “Ideas in Action,” caused something of a stir earlier this week when the Huffington Post reported that the Bush Institute would co-produce the show,…
Parents of Dead Essex Teen Ask Lawmakers For Gun Protection Bill
It takes real courage to go public with the kind of deep and personal pain that Ge Wu and Shuwan Xue are experiencing. But they did so this week in the Vermont Legislature in the hope of preventing other parents from experiencing the horror they’ve been through. Nine months ago, their son, Aaron Bing Xue…
For Cabin Fever, Take Avatar Debates and Dynasty Reruns
Here’s the local movie news, such as it is: A Single Man and Pedro Almodovar’s latest, Broken Embraces, hit the Roxy this Friday. If you’re enticed by Colin Firth and Julianne Moore in “Mad Man”-period gear or by Penelope Cruz in a Marilyn Monroe wig, this is your week. Also in theaters: The Lovely Bones…
Sizing Up Vermont: Unedited Audio
For this week’s cover story, writer Ken Picard spoke with Paul Cillo of the progressive-leaning Public Assets Institute and John McClaughry of the conservative Ethan Allen Institute about Vermont’s $150 million budget deficit. You can read our edited transcript of their conversation in “Sizing Up Vermont: Two big thinkers debate the budget crisis.” Or you…
Video: Sen. Bernie Sanders Speaks to VT Legislators in Favor of Statewide Universal Health Care
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who compromised on a federal public health insurance option for a bill that would dramatically expand community health centers in Vermont, told state lawmakers Tuesday evening that it’s the states — not Washington — that will lead the nation in real health care reform. Sanders addressed a joint meeting of the…
The 20/20 Challenge: Bromley Mountain (Week #5)
One Snowboarder’s Quest to Hit 20 Vermont Resorts in 20 Weeks
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Tita Nyambi, 25, tried to withdraw $700 from his mother’s bank account by dressing in the woman’s clothes and speaking in a high-pitched voice, according to authorities in Somerset County, N.J., who added that he also presented her driver’s license and forged her signature on a bank form at the bank’s drive-through…
Concierge in the Kitchen
A new Burlington entrepreneur will wait on you and make you sweat, too
No Computer Left Behind
For one Vermont superintendent, tech is the key to progressive education
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for January 13 – 20, 2010. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Earth’s north magnetic pole is not the same as the geographic North Pole. If you take out a compass to orient yourself toward due north, the compass arrow will actually point toward…
Game On
Art Review: “Game (Life): Video Games in Contemporary Art,” Firehouse Gallery, Burlington. Through February 13.
![Kent Cassella [SIV159]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/episode159.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Kent Cassella [SIV159]
1/11/10: Vermont actor Kent Cassella splits his time between his home in Vermont and the set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Kent has been an uncredited stand-in for lead actor Dann Florek for the past 11 seasons and occasionally has some credited roles with dialogue, but he is always on the look out…
Hundreds Attend Statehouse Health Care Hearing
Several hundred Vermonters from all corners of the state trekked to Montpelier Tuesday night for a three-hour legislative hearing on health care reform. The overwhelming majority of speakers donned red “Healthcare is a Human Right” T-shirts or sported “Single-Payer Now” placards in the well of the House. Not everyone who came had a chance to…
Letters to the Editor
Gospel Truth In reference to street “preacher” William Ray Costello, why is it that the dumbest people always seem to be the loudest [“A Sidewalk Preacher Battles Burlington for the Right to Shout the Gospel on Church Street,” December 16]? Zak Schafer Burlington People = CO2 In your December 16 issue you included an article…
Best Bites: White Rock Pizza & Pub
848 Route 14, Woodbury 225-5915 There are some tastes worth driving for: red hots in Plattsburgh, smoked meat and poutine in Montreal, and now, 200-year-old pizza in Woodbury. Okay, the pizza itself only dates back as far as your order, but the crisceto, or starter, first soured as Napoleon was touring Italy. And seriously, you can…
Tri Harder — USA Triathlon Championships Come to BTV*
On Monday, the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce and Vermont Convention Bureau announced that Burlington will play host to the 2011 and 2012 USA Triathlon Multisport Festivals. This means that a couple thousand people who like to suffer will descend on our fair city by the lake to get their swim, bike and run on.…
Sandra Wright, 1948-2010
According to a Twitter post by August First this morning and confirmed via a phone conversation with local vocalist Linda Bassick, local blues singer Sandra Wright passed away last night at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Wright was 61. According to Bassick, whose husband, Dave Nerbak, is the guitarist in the…
Another One Bites the Dust — Burlington’s ISIS Sold to St. Louis Firm
Fans of ISIS outdoor clothing for women, take heart — the Burlington-based company isn’t going anywhere, despite the fact that they were recently bought by the St. Louis firm Kellwood Company. Your puff coats, long underwear and raincoats will still be designed and marketed here in the Queen City. It’s just that it will no…
With “Colbert Nation” Behind Him, John McCardell Moves On
What do you do after 13 years at the helm of Middlebury College? Former prez John McCardell surprised everyone — including this alumna — when he dedicated himself to a controversial cause: convincing Americans we’d all be safer if the legal drinking age was lowered to 18. Eloquent and distinguished, the Southern-accented McCardell made his…
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Sends Off Vermont Troops
A reporter from Al Jazeera English asked America’s top military leader a question: Vermonters largely support the troops fighting in Afghanistan but many oppose the war itself. How long can wars be successfully conducted when so many people have such doubts about it? Navy Admiral Mike Mullen (pictured at right), chairman of the Joint Chiefs…
Vermont Artist Stephen Huneck, RIP
Vermont artist Stephen Huneck, renowned for his colorful dog art, has died. From an article posted today on the Burlington Free Press website: The 60-year-old St. Johnsbury artist died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Thursday, in Littleton, N.H. His wife says he’d been despondent after being forced to lay off employees at his Dog…
Sex Toy Emporium at Moran Center? One Could Hope.
In November, the Green Mountain Children’s Museum pulled out of the Moran Plant redevelopment project due to financing issues. Too bad, because I was really looking forward to being barfed on by a hysterical child who can’t find his mommy after falling into a pit of plastic balls. Anyway, the vacancy created by the museum’s…
City Seeks Input on Possible New Moran Tenants
Burlington officials are asking residents to help them pick from among four potential new tenants for the Moran Redevelopment Project. The city’s Community and Economic Development Office will host a series of public meetings this month to solicit feedback and questions about the potential tenants, one of which will be selected to join Ice Factor…
Gov. Jim Douglas Offers Somber, Final Speech
In a subdued, if not somber, 40-minute speech Gov. Jim Douglas delivered his final state of the state address to the Vermont General Assembly Thursday, calling on lawmakers to once again work hand-in-hand with his administration to “write the next chapter in the proud history of the state of Vermont.” Democratic leaders — including those…
Text of Gov. Jim Douglas’ final State of the State speech
Below is the prepared text of Gov. Jim Douglas’ final State of the State address delivered to the Vermont General Assembly yesterday. Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the General Assembly, distinguished guests, my fellow Vermonters: Before I begin today, I want to acknowledge the loss of two dedicated public servants, Representative Ira Trombley and…
Smiling Happy People of Vermont Yankee…and Their Snarky Cousin, Rob
The campaign to win over the hearts and minds of Vermonters about nuclear energy has officially begun, and from the look of things, it’s shaping up to be a nuclear winter for the record books. This week, reps from 15 labor unions converged on the Statehouse to plead their cases to lawmakers for relicensing Vermont’s…
Don’t Shoot the Messenger
According to my contact at the production company, New York Times-touted film The Messenger will finally hit Burlington on January 22, not January 8 as I was originally told. It’ll actually be in South Burlington at the Palace 9. Let’s hope we can see it — and other potential nominees — before the Oscar telecast.…
Blast From the Past: News Organizations and Online Plagiarism
I got an email yesterday from a woman writing a textbook about the principles of journalism. She wanted to interview me about an incident back in the spring of 2006, when I caught a blogger who worked for the Boston Globe’s “Explore New England” website plagiarizing content from Seven Days. I talked with her this…
Adopt a Fire Hydrant? I’d Prefer a Kitten
There are many things I could see myself adopting in the near future: a kitten named Steven, a tiny Djiboutian child, a new hairdo. But never in my life have I entertained the idea of adopting a fire hydrant. I mean, what would I get from that? It can’t sit on my lap and purr.…
![EatingWell in 2010 [SIV158]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/episode158.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
EatingWell in 2010 [SIV158]
12/11/09: EatingWell Media Group are a national magazine, website, and cookbook publisher in Charlotte Vermont. This year they are releasing a new cookbook called EatingWell 500 Calorie Dinners which is soon to be featured on QVC. Make good on your New Year’s Resolutions and eat healthy and local in 2010! Music: The Smittens, The Coolest…
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for January 7 – 13, 2010. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to my reading of the astrological omens, it’ll be a hair-on-fire kind of week for you – and yet also a heart-in-repose kind of week. In other words, you have the potential…
Elephants, Moose and Pot — The 2010 Legislative Session Begins
Senate President Peter Shumlin (pictured) wants to set up pot dispensaries where patients on Vermont’s medical marijuana registry could obtain their cannabis. Another state senator wants to study legalizing small amounts of pot outright — and taxing it. House Speaker Shap Smith told me today he’s not inclined to pursue taxing marijuana — medical or…
Should Big Air Snowboarding Be “Reined In”?
By now, those who follow snowboarding in Vermont know that on New Year’s Eve, Kevin Pearce, a Burton Global Team rider from Norwich, Vt., was critically injured on a training run out in Utah. If you don’t follow snowboarding, well, now you know. As would be expected, Pearce’s crash has ignited a blaze of commentary…
Best Bites: Norm’s Grill
1127 North Avenue, Burlington 862-4300 It’s a pet-peeve of mine that most spots don’t allow customers to try more than one flavor of wings in a moderately sized order. Norm’s Triple Crown ($8.99) gave me the opportunity to taste three of the five varieties of chubby chicken parts on the menu. The best of the bunch…
