vermont

The Vermont Department of Education says 73 percent of Vermont schools have not met increased targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The 2012 results were released Monday.

Officials say the increase was caused by a rise in standards, which go up every three years with the goal of 100 percent of students being proficient in math, reading and science by 2014. The final target increase was in 2011.

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.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected a request from Bennington, Vermont for reimbursement to cover the costs of repairs to damages associated with last year’s Tropical Storm Irene. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard has more…

An invasive insect has been discovered moving further into the forests of Southern Vermont. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard brings us a report about a migrating pest.

According to the State of Vermont, the hemlock wooly adelgid – a tiny invasive insect – has been found for the first time in Bennington County in the town of Pownal. The insect, which feeds on the sap from hemlock trees, was first brought to the US from Japan in the 1950s. In Vermont, the animal was first found in neighboring Windham county five years ago.

The attorneys for a man charged with helping a former Vermont woman flee the country rather than turn custody of her child over to her former lesbian partner say he's eager to go to trial and his client hopes to be acquitted.

Defense attorney Joshua Autry made the comments Tuesday during a pretrial hearing for his client, Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Va.

A federal judge has ruled that Vermont can try to assert it is immune from a lawsuit brought by more than 700 state employees.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports…

The employees, ranging from social workers to foresters, sued in 2010, saying the state was paying their regular hourly rate when they worked more than 40 hours a week, when it should have been paying time-and-a-half.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is producing electricity at full power again after technicians completed repairs to one of two motor generators that vary the flow of cooling water to the reactor.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports…

Plant spokesman Rob Williams says the problem, discovered was caused by faulty electrical connections in the unit, which is about half the size of a bus.

On June 18, the plant's output was reduced to 38 percent after smoke was detected in the reactor building. The smoke was traced to the motor generator, which was shut down.

Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is asking if northwestern Vermont residents are getting ripped off at the gas pump.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports… 

The left-leaning independent is calling for a federal investigation of the fact that gas prices are higher in Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties than elsewhere in Vermont or New England.

Sanders says Vermont's gas prices tend to run higher than New Hampshire's. On Monday, regular unleaded averaged $3.55 a gallon in Vermont, versus $3.36 in New Hampshire.

Vermont's congressional delegation says the farm bill passed by the U.S. Senate that includes a program aimed at stabilizing milk prices is a good step forward.  WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports…

A provision of the voluntary program is designed to stop the dramatic swings in prices, by discouraging the oversupply of milk and allowing farmers to buy insurance that pays out when prices plummet.

A U.S. appeals court has rejected an argument by the state of Vermont that the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant should not have been given a new operating license because its federal water quality permit was out of date.  WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports…

In a ruling issued Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the state had multiple opportunities to argue the Vernon plant lacked a valid permit under the Clean Water Act during the proceedings that led up to the plant's relicensing last year.