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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.
Attorney General Bill Sorrell has announced that he will not prosecute Entergy Corp. for misleading statements made by employees who were testifying to the state about underground pipes at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
At a July 6 press conference, Sorrell said the state lacks “the smoking gun evidence to prove to our satisfaction” that the misstatements constituted perjury.
“Perjury is a tough crime to prove,” Sorrell said.
Sorrell's office issued an eight-page report on the criminal investigation that outlined the dozens of interviews and email searches conducted.
Central Vermont Public Service has accepted Gaz Metro's purchase offer. On Monday night, CVPS board members voted to recommend the $472.4 million bid from the Montreal-based utility over the offer from Fortis, Inc., a large holding company headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland. The deal, if it is approved by...
In a surprise move, Gaz Metro is attempting to woo Central Vermont Public Service away from a deal with Fortis, Inc. Gaz Metro made a bid to buy Central Vermont Public Service on Thursday with a public offer of 15 cents more per share than the purchase price deal...
Challenges for Change may be a “dirty word,” as House Speaker Shap Smith put it, but “performance-based” budgeting, also known as “outcomes-based” budgeting, a concept derived from the C4C process, isn't dead yet, even though the Challenges approach to budgeting was effectively abandoned by lawmakers in the last legislative session. Only a handful of provisions passed in the budget bill specifically referenced performance measures. Nevertheless, Smith recently told members of the Government Accountability Committee that their charge – to ensure...
Last week, Green Mountain Power, one of Vermont's two biggest electric utilities, struck a deal with NextEra Energy Resources. The purchase power agreement, which must undergo a state rate review, would guarantee a price of 4.66 cents per kilowatt-hour to Green Mountain Power customers for 23 years. The electricity would come from the 1,245-megawatt Seabrook nuclear power plant in southern New Hampshire, owned by NextEra. Mary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain Power, lauded the deal, which was forged...
Health care activists won a victory on Tuesday when a House/Senate conference committee agreed to strip an amendment that would block undocumented residents from receiving coverage under the proposed Green Mountain Care health insurance program. The Senate had inserted the language into H.202, the universal health care reform bill, but House conferees resisted it. Late Monday night, the committee members decided to strike the amendment language and replace it with a study of coverage and services for undocumented residents. Eliminating...
The Shumlin administration wants Entergy Corp. to pay for any legal expenses the state may incur as it defends itself against a lawsuit Entergy initiated against the state in April. That counterintuitive payment approach is called a “billback,” according to a Department of Public Service official, who assured the Senate Finance Committee on Friday that such legal maneuvers are “an age-old tradition.” If the state, for example, were bringing a case in front of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), it...
Louisiana-based Entergy Corp. is suing the state of Vermont in order to continue operating the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after its state operating license expires in 2012. Richard Smith, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, made the announcement Monday morning, shortly after the corporation filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Vermont. Entergy sought a license to continue running the plant for an additional 20 years. Vermont Yankee provides about one-third of the state's electricity and employs 650 people (about...
