A pro-Palestinian student encampment remained in place Thursday at
the University of Vermont for a fifth straight day with no signs it is
going anywhere. Roughly two dozen student workers walked off the
job Thursday in support of the nearly 100 UVM students gathered on
the green. They are calling on the administration to meet a list of five
demands, including divesting from weapons manufacturers and Israeli
companies and canceling this year’s commencement speaker, U.N.
Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield. UVM officials would not
comment about protests at other colleges and universities but
maintain that students have been notified about the violation of
campus policies and UVM’s code of student conduct.
Vermonters across the state on Saturday will take to their
communities to clean up and green up. Green Up Day is a long-
standing tradition held on the first Saturday of May, when folks take
to roads and parks in their communities to pick up trash. The event
has been going on for over 50 years and has evolved to include an app
and designated trash bags. Kate Alberghini of Green Up Vermont says
they’ve ordered more trash bags than ever before, starting with
70,000. After those bags ran out, they ordered 5,000 more. She says
the organization’s biggest goal this year is to achieve a Guinness
World Record — 5,000 pledges for trash pickups in 24 hours. Green Up
Vermont must receive pledges between 4 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m.
on Saturday.
Lawmakers are weighing a bill to punish repeat shoplifters who
otherwise would only face a string of misdemeanors — a move to discourage rising retail theft and clear court backlogs the state has been facing since the Covid-19 pandemic. The bill, H.534, passed the House last month and is now being discussed in the Senate — one step closer to becoming law, though senators are looking at an alternative way to curb the same problem.
State and federal officials will conduct rabies bait drops for the
second year in a row. About 264,000 oral rabies vaccine baits will be
dropped in parts of Chittenden, Lamoille, Franklin, and Grand Isle
Counties. USDA and Vermont Department of Health officials say it is
important because of an ongoing rabies outbreak. The vaccine bait
packs are not poisonous and are not harmful to people, pets, or
wildlife. The first bait drop will be on Saturday, and another will take
place in August.
A Burlington man faces charges after police say he drove the wrong
way on I-89 Thursday night. It happened just before midnight on I-89
in Waterbury. The Vermont State Police say Carter Maxfield, 28, was
driving south in the northbound lane. After initially being spotted in
Waterbury, they say troopers with the help of the Montpelier Police,
were able to pull him over near South Barre, a nearly 14-mile stretch
of highway. There were no reports of injuries. Maxfield was charged
with DUI and gross negligent operation and is due in court on May
23rd.
A Brandon woman is joining the likes of Robert Frost as Vermont’s next poet laureate. Gov. Phil Scott announced award-winning poet and teacher Bianca Stone will be Vermont’s poetry ambassador for the next four years. “The Poet Laureate has a storied history in Vermont, beginning with Robert Frost, and I want to congratulate Bianca Stone on receiving this important recognition,” Scott, R-Vermont, said in a statement. Stone is the author of five books, garnering a 2022 Vermont Book Award win, and she has appeared in publications like the New Yorker and the Atlantic.
The Vermont House of Representatives advanced the Climate Superfund Act, S.259, yesterday on a
preliminary vote of 100-33. Members of the Democratic, Republican and Progressive caucuses,
as well as Independents, voted in favor of the legislation. It now goes to a third reading in the
House. The Senate voted April 2 to pass it 26-3. S.259 holds the largest fossil fuel corporations
responsible for a fair share of the damages Vermonters have suffered due to climate change
resulting from greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the massive amount of fossil fuels
extracted and refined by those corporations.
In other legislative news, the Vermont House voted to pass S.213, the Flood Safety Act yesterday. This bill takes important steps to reduce flood risk across Vermont, at a critical time when flood-related disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe. The bill will now head back to the Senate for their consideration of the House amendments. Following the devastating floods of 2023, and in recognition that Vermont averages nearly 2 major flooding disasters annually, Vermont lawmakers took important steps to advance policies to improve our collective flood preparedness. These policies will improve public safety, reduce damages and the mounting costs associated with flood recovery, better support our municipalities and our residents, improve water quality, support biodiversity, and protect recreational opportunities.
A New Hampshire jury awarded $38 million to the man who blew the lid off
abuse allegations at the state’s youth detention center Friday, in a landmark
case finding the state’s negligence allowed him to be beaten, raped and held in
solitary confinement as a teen. David Meehan went to police in 2017
and sued the state three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers have been arrested and more than 1,100 other former residents of the Youth
Development Center in Manchester have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse spanning six decades. Meehan’s case was the first to go to trial, and the outcome could affect the criminal cases, the remaining lawsuits, and a separate settlement fund the state created as an
alternative to litigation.
A 19-year-old man has pleaded guilty to burglary in connection to a deadly April 2023 shooting where he and another man broke into an apartment on Main St. Tyrin Smith is sentenced to 2-5 years, with credit for time served since his arrest in May 2023. Smith was originally facing charges of first-degree attempted murder of Aquill Nickson, who was later arrested for felony
drug possession. Police said Smith wore a mask, ski goggles, and gloves and, along with Fortune Smith, went to an apartment at 165 Main Street, looking for someone with whom they had exchanged “threatening electronic messages.”