Pat Bradley

The president of Bennington College will retire at the end of the academic year after 25 years as head of the private, liberal arts college in Vermont.

During her tenure, Elizabeth Coleman has overseen the college's greatest growth period in its 80-year-history.

The institution has raised more than $175 million and constructed six buildings in her 25 years and had an all-time high enrollment of nearly 700 undergraduates and 136 graduate students in the last academic year.

The Vermont Health Department will be checking in monthly with an elementary school dealing with a rat infestation.

WPTZ-TV reports that a state health inspector visited Sudbury Country School on Wednesday. State sanitation chief Al Burns says the inspector found rat droppings in the school's boiler room and other evidence of an infestation.

He said the situation is under control and students are safe. The school has brought in an exterminator, put out bait boxes along the building's exterior and put all food in containers.

The kayaker who died on a dangerous stretch of New Hampshire's West Pemigewasset River has been identified as a Vermont man who worked as a reporter and for a river conservation group.

Lincoln police say the victim of Wednesday's accident was 29-year-old Alan Panebaker of Montpelier, Vt. An experienced kayaker, he was with two others when his kayak overturned south of the Flume Gorge and he became trapped under water.

Heavy rains the previous night created dangerous conditions on many of the state's rivers.

New Hampshire's Dartmouth-Hitchcock medical center is joining a national initiative to encourage its employees to vote in the November elections.

The American Hospital Association created its "We Care, We Vote" program this summer to encourage hospital executives, medical staff, employees and board members to question candidates about health care issues, including cuts to hospitals' Medicare and Medicaid payments.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is drawing new competition in the single-serve coffee market.

Starbucks will start selling its new single-serve Verismo brewer online this week for $199. The Verismo uses a high-pressure system to make lattes and other espresso-based drinks, along with brewed coffee.

Starbucks' move comes roughly a year after it struck a deal with Waterbury, Vt.-based Green Mountain to make coffee pods for Keurig machines. Starbucks says it will continue to sell its pods for Keurig machines.

Vermont State Police have released the name of the trooper who shot and wounded a man accused of making threats over a school bus radio in Danville.

Sgt. Brian May, a patrol commander at the St. Johnsbury barracks, remains on administrative leave, which is customary.

Suspect William Mahoney remains in stable condition at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., following the Tuesday night shooting in the Danville school parking lot.

Vermont officials are reviewing the state mosquito monitoring program following two deaths from a rare disease carried by the insects.

The Vermont attorney general's office is suing a dairy farm in Coventry accusing it of violating the state's water pollution laws.

The lawsuit filed in Vermont Superior Court in Orleans County says Richard Nelson's farm is discharging agricultural runoff from its bunker silos into a stream.

The lawsuit is seeking an injunction against Nelson and civil penalties.

The attorney general's office says Nelson has not responded to the allegations. Nelson says he is no longer operating the dairy farm.

Medical malpractice reforms and rewarding healthy behaviors with lower insurance rates are among the ideas being promoted by Vermont Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock to curb the rising cost of health care.

Brock held a news conference Wednesday outside the Central Vermont Medical Center where he outlined a 25-point plan for cutting health care costs and criticized the administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin for its move toward a government-backed, single-payer health care system.

Vermont State Police say a trooper shot a man in Danville after the man said he had a bomb and threatened to kill people.

Police say 36-year-old William J. Mahoney of St. Johnsbury is in stable condition at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., following the incident Tuesday night.

Police say they believe Mahoney was intoxicated when he took a friend's car without permission, got into an accident, broke into a home and later a Danville school bus, from which he allegedly radioed threatening messages to town employees.