New England News

The merger of Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service has become controversial due to how the merged company plans to refund $21 million owed to CVPS ratepayers.  The companies want to repay ratepayers through energy efficiency measures, but AARP-Vermont and others have been pushing for direct cash refunds. An amendment was presented in the Vermont House that would force the direct payments to customers.  The House Natural Resources and Energy and the Commerce and Economic Development committees took testimony Tuesday on the appropriateness of Legislative intervention.

Helping people help themselves to someday leave public housing was the goal of a conference Wednesday sponsored by the public housing authority in Springfield Massachusetts.  WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

    Every parent seeks a better life for their children was the motivational message aimed at more than 100 mostly young parents who attended today’s conference, some with their children in tow.

The Joint Committee on Public Health heard from advocates and opponents for the legalizing marijuana for medical use. S 1161 and H 625, the two bills before the Committee have been sent to further study.

H 3885, the medical marijuana ballot initiative, if passed by the legislature, would go to voters in November.

The Committee for Compassionate Medicine testified in favor of legalizing pot for individuals suffering from debilitating disease.

Supporters of Physician assisted suicide, or death with dignity,  used a  procedural move to attach the proposal onto a bill banning tanning salons from offering their services to minors.  The entire measure passed the Health and Welfare Committee on a 3 to 2 vote, moving it to the full Senate. A previous effort to move the legislation as its own bill was blocked in committee. Patient Choices Vermont President Dick Walters, who has been working for ten years to get a death with dignity law in Vermont, says there was no other way to move the measure forward.

Massachusetts House leaders are preparing to unveil their version of the state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. 

Federal prosecutors are recommending a 25-year prison sentence for a Massachusetts man convicted of conspiring to help al-Qaida.

The five member Massachusetts Gaming Commission held its first public meeting Tuesday as it set about to bring casino gambling to the state.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

     Declaring  the decades long debate over whether to bring casinos to Massachusetts is over, Stephen Crosby, the chairman of the powerful gaming commission, said he and the other four appointees were ready to get to work to implement the public policy in the best way they can.  He pledged that much of that work would take place in full public view.

The Vermont Clean Energy Investment Summit was hosted by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Governor Peter Shumlin and the state Department of Public Service.   Senator Sanders says it’s part of continuing efforts to make Vermont a leader in sustainable and renewable energy.

  Faced with a major decrease in property tax collections and no
expected increase in state aid, budget writers in Springfield
Massachusetts are proposing scores of fee hikes. But the city's top
finance officer says it still won't be  enough to avoid budget cuts.
WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..