Current News

Vermont State Police Giancarlo DiGenova, 45, of Essex, a former trooper with the Vermont State Police, has been cited on an additional charge related to the theft of personal property from a secure storage room at the Williston Barracks. The state police investigation into this additional incident began in late January as troopers were moving into the new VSP Barracks in Williston. As part of the move, troopers were transferring items of personal property that had been taken from individuals upon their arrest and were being kept in secure storage at the barracks. Troopers discovered that a gold necklace with a diamond-dust pendant was missing. The estimated value of the necklace was $375.

Vermont Business Magazine Former Saint Michael's College President Paul J. Reiss died on February 28 in his hometown of Lake Placid, NY. Reiss served as president of the Colchester Catholic liberal arts college from 1985 to 1996. He oversaw a dramatic construction phase and a re-emphasis on the college's Christian mission. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, March 16th at 10:00 AM at Saint Agnes Church, Hillcrest Ave., Lake Placid, NY. He was 93. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.24/g, up 2.2 cents per gallon from last week's $3.22/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $3.05/g while the highest was $3.44/g, a difference of 39.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has risen 6.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.40/g today. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections today announced the death of Sean Osterhout, an incarcerated individual at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (TCCF). Sean Osterhout, 43, of Barre, Vermont, was found unresponsive in his cell at 2:06am (CT) on March 9. TCCF staff immediately began life-saving measures and called for emergency medical services (EMS). Life-saving efforts, including CPR, were unsuccessful. EMS pronounced Mr. Osterhout deceased at 2:38am.

Northeastern Vermont Development Association Join NVDA, Northern Counties Health Care and NEK Collaborative for an online Health Equity in Municipal Planning listening and sharing zoom event March 12. This is part of a series of focus groups being planned throughout the Kingdom to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. A grant from the Vermont Department of Health enabled the Regional Planning Commissions, including NVDA, working together in collaboration with health partners, to draft a Health Equity Toolkit. Health Equity is achieved when everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. This Toolkit serves as a guide for communities to introduce the concept of health equity and incorporate it into municipal planning documents and bylaws.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets In 2012, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 142, creating the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Initiative and the structure for investment of state dollars into agricultural and forestry-based businesses. Over the ensuing eleven years, the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative (WLEI) has invested $15.6 million in 446 farm, food, and forestry projects and leveraged an additional $24.6M in matching funds. These projects have created 540 new jobs, impacted 24,985 acres, and generated $92M in sales. To celebrate these investments and the resulting impacts, the WLEI Board has released the latest Impact Report detailing the significant outcomes from the 11 years of the program.  The report contains specific results of the funding in fiscal year 2023, including special funds allocated to the program from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Vermont State Police On Saturday afternoon, Vermont State Police were dispatched to a single motor vehicle crash on I-91 South near mile marker 118 in the Town of Barnet. State Police Dispatch reported the vehicle left the roadway, hit a tree and rolled over. Preliminary investigation revealed the vehicle for unknown reasons left the west side of the roadway struck a large tree and overturned. Two people were found deceased in the vehicle and two others made it out of the vehicle. One was transported by ambulance to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital and the other was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock. Occupants of the vehicle were not wearing seatbelts and it is still under investigation as to who was operating the vehicle at the time of the crash.

by Holly Sullivan, Community News Service The Senate Committee on Education is revising a bill that aims to improve Vermont’s literacy rate — a number that’s been steadily declining for years. The changes address problems prompted by education officials who said the bill’s language is too limiting and would present problems for schools required to implement them. If screenings revealed a potential reading deficiency in a student, S.204 would require all public and approved independent schools to provide literacy screenings and interventions approved by the Agency of Education. The bill is an attempt to support struggling readers early in their education.

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A young New York man, who became a paraplegic after crashing into a snowmaking gun while skiing at Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow four years ago, should not be given two bites at the apple to try to have the sports resort pay for his injuries, according to resort lawyers. Novice skier Richard Grajeda III, 24, of Westbury, N.Y. had asked federal court jurors in Burlington last month to award him up to almost $97 million, but when they rejected the claim with a defendant's verdict, his lawyers demanded a judge force the resort to pay its last best settlement offer. "Having gambled and lost his recovery on the prospect of the jury returning a $97 million verdict, plaintiff now makes a frivolous attempt to enforce a 'settlement' that he admitted to this Court never existed," the defense said in response to the request filed by Grajeda's lawyers.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Independent Media/The Commons invites the public to join us for a conversation on housing with Rep. Becca Balint on March 18 at 7pm on Zoom. Balint will be interviewed by award-winning reporter, Joyce Marcel kicking off a revived year-long series of Voices Live interviews, in person events and special focus sections. The discussion with Rep. Balint will focus on roadblocks and new opportunities to address Windham County’s housing needs and what’s being done currently to make a difference. Just weeks ago, Balint introduced sweeping new housing legislation, the Community Housing Act, a plan that invests over $500 billion in federal programs that fund construction of affordable and deeply affordable housing. The bill includes a suite of creative policy solutions to address root causes of the housing crisis and alleviate long term affordability challenges.

by Dan Smith, President & CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation What if young men in America and Vermont attended college or continued their training at the same rate as the state’s young women? What if boys and men did not commit suicide or die from overdose at rates that are significantly higher than girls and women? And what if, by fostering more public discussion about systemic trends in Vermont and the US, solutions emerged that benefitted everyone, including women and girls? Solutions that continued to acknowledge and embrace action on the corrosive gender discrimination that women and girls continue to face. The Vermont Community Foundation is co-hosting an event at the UVM Davis Center that will explore these issues and feature Richard Reeves, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

The Vermont State Police is identifying the trooper involved in this morning’s car crash on Interstate 89 in Bethel as Cpl. Eric Vitali, a 19-year veteran of the state police. Cpl. Vitali is receiving treatment at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for serious injuries. Initial investigative work by the Vermont State Police indicates Cpl. Vitali, a trooper assigned to the Royalton Barracks, was traveling Friday morning to a first-aid training at VSP Headquarters in Waterbury. He was driving in the left-hand, passing lane of I-89 beyond the Bethel exit at about 8:30 a.m. when his cruiser struck the back of a Bethel Volunteer Fire Department tanker truck that was parked in the passing lane to provide scene protection for a crash that had occurred at about 7:40 a.m. The force of the impact between the cruiser and the fire truck was significant and indicates the cruiser was traveling at highway speeds when the crash occurred. Cpl. Vitali was wearing his seat belt. The fire truck was unoccupied, and no one else was injured.