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Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
About 31 municipalities were reporting damage to town-owned property last week as a result of the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene that scoured low-lying areas in central and southern Vermont.
Steve Jeffrey, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, said his office, which provides insurance, legal and logistical support for the state's municipalities, is “still counting,” but as of Sept. 6, the rough estimate of the total damage is $12.26 million – so far.
“We're still trying to reach out to some of these smaller communities,” Jeffrey said. “We started calling a week ago Monday, and we're finally getting through to the end of line.”
The tally of municipal structures ruined by Irene is staggering: Eleven town offices, six highway garages, seven covered bridges, seven fire stations and five libraries. In addition, damage has been reported to a number of police cruisers, pump stations for sewage treatment plants, dams, swimming pools and water treatment plants, Jeffrey said.
President Barack Obama has approved Gov. Peter Shumlin's major disaster declaration request. The governor thanked Obama for turning around the request he placed with the White House last Thursday morning in a matter of a few hours. “If anyone thinks government doesn't work for them, think again,” Shumlin said...
Just as residents in the Rawsonville section of Jamaica were beginning to get a handle on the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene, the sky opened again on Thursday night. A “biblical” rain traumatized this village when a flash flood closed Route 100 and a mudslide took out part...
State and federal officials have sharpened their pencils, and the tallies for the scale and cost of the damage from Tropical Storm Irene are starting to come in. The damage to state highways and bridges will be in the hundreds of millions, according to a Vermont Agency of Transportation official. Approximately 700 residential structures were severely damaged or destroyed, according to preliminary estimates from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A total of 423 owner-occupied dwellings were significantly damaged, said...
Parts of the Waterbury State Office Complex could be uninhabitable for at least four months, and perhaps significantly longer, state officials say, and the Shumlin administration is figuring out how to put the 1,586 state employees assigned to Waterbury back to work. Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on Aug. 28 caused extensive damage to the 500,000-plus square foot facility complex, which is comprised of separate brick structures. Gas-and-sewage-laced mud is everywhere. The tunnel system was filled with water and muck.
Vermont is in good shape financially for the time being. The state has socked away $60 million in the stabilization reserve fund and $30 million in the human services caseload reserve. We have $10 million set aside for federal cuts to the Low Income Heating Assistance Program. Revenues are back up 11 percent ahead of last year's tax receipts. And our credit rating is the second highest in the country. Gov. Peter Shumlin and the leadership in the House and...
While Gov. Peter Shumlin has told reporters it is too early to say whether he will run in 2012 for a second term, his most recent campaign finance report is an indication that he is well on his way to raising the money he'll need to fend off any contenders - from the right or the left. With no declared Progressive or Republican candidates in the race, Shumlin, as the incumbent, is miles ahead politically, and his July 15 filings...
Entergy Corporation's board of directors voted Monday to approve the refueling of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The refueling, which will cost $92 million, including labor, maintenance, and fuel, is set to begin in October. A third of the fuel rods, or about 116 assemblies, must be replaced every 18 months. Spent fuel rods are stored at the plant. The refueling this fall will be conducted during a planned outage, and about 1,000 additional workers will be brought in from...
