New England News

This week the Massachusetts Senate passed a transportation bond bill designed to fund a slew of long-term , major transportation projects but time is running out before it can be approved by the Governor. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

The bill titled An Act Financing Improvements to the Commonwealth’s Transportation System  was approved by the Senate this week to provide nearly 1.4 billion in state and federal aid to infrastructure projects across Massachusetts.

There's a new wrinkle in the case of a man trying to use DNA evidence to reverse his 1994 Vermont murder conviction.

Lawyers for 50-year-old John Grega of Lake Grove, N.Y., say DNA evidence taken from the body of his dead wife Christine did not come from Grega, but from another, unknown male who was likely the real killer.

A prosecutor, however, says it may have come from skin particles left by someone else on an object Grega allegedly used in the attack at the condo they were renting in West Dover.

New Hampshire's Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has become the latest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, which will allow its patients to get consultations from doctors at the renowned Minnesota hospital.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock announced the affiliation today. The hospital will remain independent while having access to Mayo Clinic resources. In return for its expertise and prestige, Mayo is spreading its model of care.

The Board of the Chittenden Solid Waste District has voted to compensate gardeners whose plants were damaged by contaminated compost made and sold at the district’s facilities this spring.

In late June, the Chittenden Solid Waste District, which services the Burlington, Vermont region, began to get calls from customers that bought compost that something was wrong with their plants. The district halted sales and sent samples of the compost for testing. UVM Extension Plant Pathologist Ann Hazelrigg explains that two different pesticides were found in the compost.

Governor Peter Shumlin is announcing nearly $2 million in Vermont Community Development Program grants.

Of the total, $600,000 will go toward renovation of a landmark building in the center of Morristown, the former Arthur's department store. Shumlin says that project will also create 18 units of affordable housing.

Other grants announced Friday include $325,000 to the Town of Brattleboro for a loan to Carbon Harvest, $500,000 to the Town of Ludlow and Housing Trust of Rutland County for infrastructure improvements to the Tuckerville Mobile Home Park.