Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Westford, made an emotionally-charged, first-person appeal to her House colleagues during a lengthy floor speech Wednesday afternoon in support of H.230, the suicide prevention/gun control bill.
On Wednesday, lawmakers of the House Energy Committee heard about compliance costs for out-of-state energy companies if Vermont were to pass S.5.
Native to the Baltic Sea in Europe, the round goby had made its way east after being introduced into the Great Lakes in 1990. Now, the fish has wiggled its way into a position to threaten Lake Champlain.
“With the current workforce I would say it’s impossible,” TJ Poor, director of planning for the Department of Public Service, said. “I don’t think 700 people could do this many weatherization union units.”
The Vermont House on Wednesday preliminarily approved H.230, a bill that would place restrictions on gun storage and require a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases. The House will vote for final approval on Thursday.
On Friday the House Committee on Education passed a bill by a 7-4-1 vote that could make it more challenging for independent schools to receive public support.
Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, said the legislation “ignores the largest obstacle” when it comes to housing creation, the state’s decades-old Act 250. The act is known as the state’s land and use act.
“So, it’s with mixed emotions that you think, ‘Well, am I taking land away that could be used to house somebody?’” Tony Hall asked rhetorically as he left the polls. “On the other hand, we need to have open spaces … for our life.”
The bill, introduced by Rep. Tiffany Bleumle, D-Chittenden, calls for the creation of a technical advisory committee that would be charged with updating the methodology the state uses in determining how much money families need to earn to live in the state.
Alarmingly high levels of E.coli were found in an early February sample from a small town wastewater facility outflow into the Missisquoi River, but local officials say the testing lab didn’t tell them until weeks later.
A Vermont state senator defended the ban of a Christian school that forfeited a state tournament game rather than play against a team with a transgender player during a CNN interview that aired Monday.
In the last five years, there have been 32 fatal crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists in Vermont, according to data from the state Agency of Transportation. All but one of those incidents occurred on a road that would be subject to the bill.