New England News

Campaign finance reports by Vermont candidates were due Wednesday. While the incumbent Governor is easily outpacing his challenger, the current Attorney General is falling behind his primary challenger.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin has raised nearly $840,000 so far his campaign, with about $769,000 cash in the bank.  His challenger, Republican state Senator Randy Brock reported about $585,000 in contributions so far, including $300,000 from himself, with about $234,000 cash on hand. Middlebury College Professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis.

Secretary of State William Galvin has taken over the East Longmeadow town clerk's office, saying a preliminary investigation has confirmed claims of potential voting fraud.

Galvin said Wednesday his office will directly supervise the 2012 elections and voter registration practices in the western Massachusetts town. He said an investigation found an influx of forged absentee ballot requests and hundreds of individuals whose voter affiliation was changed from Democrat to Republican in town voting rolls without their permission.

   The first new high school built in Springfield Massachusetts in more than 25 years  will open for the new school year later this month.  WAMC’s Paul Tuthill reports.

   State and local officials , Wednesday, dedicated the new Putnam Vocational Technical High School. The 315 thousand square foot building includes state of the art facilities for 14 hundred students. Massachusetts Treasurer, Steven Grossman, who chairs the state’s school building authority, said the school opens a new chapter in the history of vocational education in Massachusetts.

Police in the Vermont town of Barton say burglars didn't steal any books when they broke into the town library, but they rearranged the furniture.

Vermont State Police say the furniture was stacked in the center of the library floor in a pyramid about 20 feet high. Other furniture was stacked on top of bookshelves sometime between Monday night and Tuesday midmorning.

The only thing missing was a date stamp used to check out books.

Police say nothing appeared to have been broken or vandalized and there was no sign of a forced entry.

Six hundred cyclists are heading to New Hampshire to compete in the annual Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb.

Saturday's race is a grueling 7.6 mile climb up the highest mountain in the northeastern United States. The men's record stands at 49 minutes, 24 seconds. The women's is 58 minutes, 14 seconds.

The race is so popular with hardcore cyclists that registration was filled within four days of opening in February. Riders pay a $350 entry fee and raise donations for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, N.H.

Vermont general fund state revenues for July came in at a more than 6 percent better clip this year than in July of 2011, but fell slightly short of the forecast.

The general fund took in more than $92 million for the month, which lagged behind the forecast issued by two economists working for the state by a bit less than 1 percent.