Nov 3-9, 2010
The Radio Bean Turns 10; A Cleanup Solution for Belvedere Mountain; Pechakucha Comes to VT; Rating Local Banh Mi
Vermont Yankee Shuts Down to Fix (Another) Leak
* updated below * The Vermont Yankee nuclear power station began an unscheduled shutdown Sunday night after engineers found a new leak in a key system pipe at the Vernon reactor. The plant shutdown began at roughly 7 p.m., said Entergy Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith, after plant operators has earlier identified leakage of approximately…
Sanders Blasts NBC over Olbermann Suspension
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders issued a strong rebuke last night of NBC’s decision to suspend MSNBC commentator and anchor Keith Olbermann, after it was revealed that the host had contributed several thousand dollars to Democratic candidates this year. News of Olbermann’s contribution were revealed this week by Politico, which has since found other major cable…
VT Constitutional Amendment: Is a “Quiet and Peaceable” Teenager an Oxymoron?
Earlier this week, Vermonters gave an overwhelming thumbs-up to an amendment to the Vermont Constitution that will allow 17 year olds who turn 18 by the date of the general election to vote in the primary election. Windham County Senator Jeanette White, who introduced the bill that put the measure on the November 2 ballot,…
Dancer Finds Legs in ‘Diagnosis of a Faun’
I left the performance of Diagnosis of a Faun at Middlebury College last weekend exhilarated, but with lots of questions: what did it all add up to? Could it stand alone as a work of art without its inspiring back story? How much faun sex is too much faun sex? I was sure about one…
Dean Denies Rumor He’ll Challenge Obama in 2012
Former Gov. Howard Dean is denying rumors that he’s gearing up to challenge Pres. Barack Obama in the 2012 Democratic primary. A widely-read political column posted on Politico today (“In 2010, could Dean beat Obama?” by Roger Simon) is raising new speculation that Dean, still a powerful voice among progressive Democrats, is laying the groundwork…
Entergy Makes it Official: Vermont Yankee is For Sale
Entergy made it official this morning: They are exploring the sale of Vermont Yankee. In an announcement posted to Entergy’s website this morning, the company said, “The sale process is being conducted on a confidential basis and no additional details will be released at this time. While no decision has been made to sell the…
Election Analysis: Don’t Play with Fire
If there is any takeaway from Tuesday’s elections in Vermont it’s this: Don’t play with fire. The governor’s race was always Republican Brian Dubie’s to lose. Why? He was essentially running as the incumbent — a well-liked lieutenant governor who was the heir apparent to a popular chief executive, Gov. Jim Douglas. In recent polls,…
Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Photo Slideshow
Photos from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s satirical rally in DC
Word Cloud from the Election Night Live Blog
Last night’s live blog generated 2830 comments from our readers. This morning, I plugged the text from all of those comments into Wordle.net, and came up with some neat word visualizations. You can try it, too, if you want. Click here for Wordle.net, click here to download viewer comments. Another of my Wordles.
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Sheriff’s Deputy Venita Edge reported she was fueling her marked patrol car at a station in Fultondale, Ala., when Matthew Kinard, 27, pulled up alongside her and asked her to check to see if there were any outstanding warrants on him. When a search turned up one outstanding warrant for unlawful possession…
The Morning After: An Early Recap of Election Eve Results
*** UPDATE: Brian Dubie has conceded. Peter Shumlin will be the next governor of Vermont. Click here for archived video of Dubie’s concession speech, and scroll down for more from the Dubie campaign.*** **UPDATE #2: Peter Shumlin declared victory before a raucous crowd of supporters at the Hilton in Burlington. He thanked Dubie for his…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time, one of the characters makes a vulgar observation about the odd attractions that sometimes come over us human beings: “Anyone who falls in love with a dog’s behind will mistake it for a rose.” It’s my duty to point out that the…
Tickets, Please
Chittenden County traffic court is the cheapest, and most entertaining, theater in the region
Letters to the Editor
Mortgage Is Gamble Wow, this article is one sided [“Obama Program Meant to Help Homeowners Actually Sends Many Into Foreclosure,” October 20]! You honestly couldn’t find two families that this program has helped? Your two examples were not very good ones for the argument. The woman in the first example seems to have gone into…
Election Night 2010 Live Blog
***UPDATE: 10/3, 1:10 a.m.*** We shut down the live blog at 1:00 a.m. Thanks to our panelists, the many sources who gave us results, and especially to everyone who stopped by to chat with us, many of whom stuck it out until the bitter end. The governor’s race is too close to call right now,…
F-35 Opposition Rallies Outside Leahy’s Office
*** UPDATED BELOW, with comments from Leahy’s spokesman *** Photos and text by Seven Days contributing writer Kevin J. Kelley. An angry crowd assembled outside Senator Patrick Leahy’s Burlington office yesterday on the eve of the election. No, it wasn’t a Tea Party contingent protesting the “socialist” voting record of one of the more progressive…
Dubie, Shumlin Make Last Ditch Efforts to Boost Turnout
It all began in January 2009 when the first Democrat announced he was running for governor, just days before Gov. Jim Douglas was sworn into office for the fourth time. The Democrat was Sen. Doug Racine, the man Douglas defated in 2002. Now here we are — 22 months later — and it’s come down…
BT Misses Loan Payment, Says Talks with CitiCapital Remain Ongoing
Burlington Telecom failed to make a nearly $500,000 lease payment to CitiCapital by the end of October, yet city officials say talks with the financier remain ongoing with another meeting potentally scheduled this week. That’s according to a letter filed today with the Vermont Public Service Board by BT’s attorney William Ellis. In the two-page…
