Jun 2-8, 2010
Jazz Pianist Toussaint as a New Orleans Icon; E-Cigs Light Up VT Company; Garret Keizer’s Case Against Noise
Middlebury’s Sabra Field Mural Project Up for Grant
If your primary association with college kids has to do with loud parties at night and beer cans found in your yard the morning after, heads up: Some college students sometimes do pretty cool things. One of them is Kate Lupo of Middlebury College, who initiated the commission of a mural, to be created by…
Vermont Catholic Cover Blunder
This is sort of the most amazing photo I’ve ever seen…this week. The accompanying blog post from the Plaid Crew (which I found on Gawker) sums up the issue pretty well, so no need for me to add my two cents. I will pose this question: Why does Bishop Sal look so grim? I thought…
Racine to Wear the Union Label
Two of the state’s largest labor unions have joined forces to endorse a single candidate in the Democratic primary: State Senator, and former Lieutenant Governor, Doug Racine. The endorsements have been in the works for more than a month with candidates meeting with union leaders one-on-one. On Sunday, the 10,000-member Vermont AFL-CIO endorsed Racine, along…
City Council to Review 50 Percent Threshold in Mayoral Elections
When voters rejected instant runoff voting in March, they decided to return to the previous method of electing mayors— whoever receives 40 percent of the vote, or more, wins. The City Council tonight will take up a measure to increase that threshold to 50 percent. Councilors Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5) and Mary Kehoe (D-Ward 6)…
Gov. Jim Douglas Signs His Last Bill into Law
At a noontime ceremony in the State House, Gov. Jim Douglas signed his last bill into law as governor. During his nearly eight-year tenure, Gov. Douglas said he has signed more than 750 bills into law. In addition, he’s signed into law 62 municipal charter changes, let at least 14 bills become law without his…
Bushway Owner Charged with Animal Cruelty
**UPDATE: ARREST WARRANTS DETAIL CRUELTY CHARGES**Bushway slaughterhouse owner Frank Perretta, the co-owner of Bushway Packing slaughterhouse in Grand Isle, and a plant worker have been charged with animal cruelty, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell announced Friday. Perretta, who is 51 and lives in St. Albans, has been charged with one count of cruelty to animals.…
Lighters Up: The Lil’ Kim Experience
Here’s one important thing you need to know about hip-hop queen Lil’ Kim: she loves Vermont. Like, a lot. She told us so about 350 times at Wednesday night’s show at Higher Ground. But she doesn’t love us in the same way that your grandma loves you. She doesn’t want to bake you cookies or…
Top Lawmakers Want Vermont Yankee Shut Down, Pipes Replaced
The Vermont legislature’s top two Democrats — House Speaker Shap Smith and President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin — are asking the state Department of Public Service and Entergy to shut down Vermont Yankee for up to three months in order to replace all underground and buried pipes that have been the source of ongoing leaks…
Middlebury Opera Company Dives Into Obscure Drama
The first time the Opera Company of Middlebury performed — Carmen, in 2004 — the singers shared the newly gutted Town Hall Theater with a colony of bats. “The interior demolition had already been done, so it was just a big brick oven,” recalls artistic director Doug Anderson. “I mean, the bats were flying around,…
Grace Potter’s New Chocolate Bar
I got a hug from Grace Potter today! This afternoon, I headed over to the Lake Champlain Chocolates factory on Pine Street, where Grace and The Nocturnal’s drummer, Matt Burr, were putting the finishing touches on a special, limited-edition chocolate bar. After the band pitched the idea of a collaboration, says Product Development Specialist Eric…
Blue Cross Blue Shield Ordered to Repay $3 Million from Executive Payout
* * updated with comments from Blue Cross Blue Shield * * Health care regulators have ordered the state’s largest health care insurer — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont — to repay consumers nearly half of the $6.3 million retirement package it doled out its former chief executive officer. The order was handed down…
Two to Tango
Art Review: “Panda’s Exercise,” prints by Jennifer Koch and Gregg Blasdel. 215 College Gallery, Burlington. Through June 16.
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Minutes after receiving a report that a convenience store had been robbed, police in Suffolk, Va., found suspect Sean Almond, 43, behind the store, having interrupted his getaway to urinate. He had the stolen cash on him. (The Virginian-Pilot) When Clair Arthur Smith, 42, received a $10 check from Florida Gulf Bank…
Ifs, Ands and Butts
Ex-smokers rave about e-cigarettes, but the FDA and antismoking groups want them snuffed out
Letters to the Editor
Water Rights As a small-business owner and native citizen of Vermont, I find this situation inconceivable [“A Barre Renter Is Fighting City Hall for Shutting Off Her Water,” May 26]. Whether this tenant failed to pay her rent on time or not should have no bearing if the landlord has never decided to take further…
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for June 2 – 9, 2010. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you’d like to be in supreme alignment with cosmic rhythms this week, I suggest that you completely avoid using the f-word. Likewise, you’ll maximize your chances for taking advantage of fate’s currents…
Vermont Yankee Plugs Leak, NRC Wants Answers
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dispatched a special inspector to Vermont Yankee in the wake of yet another radioactive leak. On Friday, a new leaking pipe was found near the same spot where Entergy Vermont Yankee found two pipes leaking thousands of gallons of radioactive water into the ground a few months ago. In a…
A Rainy Day for Gross National Happiness
The Bhutanese refugees arrived in Burlington this morning at 8:20 a.m. after driving all night — 22 hours straight — from Atlanta, Ga., just to stand silently in the rain in order to make their outrage felt. Their handmade protest signs of brown cardboard boxes quickly wilted in the downpour, as the ink ran on…
