Category Archives: Vermont

Secretaries of state ask social media companies for moderation plans on election day

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Democratic top elections officials are concerned about inflammatory and AI-generated content

A group of Democratic secretaries of state are calling on social media companies to detail their plans to moderate inflammatory content and artificial intelligence on their platforms during and after election day.

Seven secretaries of state – representing Maine, Rhode Island, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and New Mexico – sent the letters to Google, X and Meta on Friday. Secretaries of state typically play some role in overseeing elections in their states.

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Woman pleads guilty over attempt to smuggle turtles by kayak into Canada

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Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June with a bag of 29 turtles as she prepared to paddle across Lake Wallace, affidavit says

A woman who wanted to smuggle turtles across a lake and into Canada by hiding the creatures using socks in a duffle bag has pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge.

Wan Yee Ng was arrested in June in Vermont as she was about to enter an inflatable kayak with the bag of 29 eastern box turtles and paddle across Lake Wallace to the border with Canada, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

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‘Apocalyptic’ floods in Vermont destroy homes as two dozen rescued by boat

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Storms result in caved-in roads and crushed cars nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl

Thunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in north-eastern Vermont, nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl.

Flash flood warnings remained in effect through Tuesday afternoon hours after some areas got 6 to more than 8in (15 to more than 20cm) starting late the night before.

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Super Tuesday 2024 live: millions of voters head to polls in the US as Haley suggests she could stay in the race

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Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting

Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:

[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.

But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.

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One of the three Palestinian-American students shot in Vermont is paralyzed

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Twenty-year-old Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, his family says

One of the three college students of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont last month is paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, the student’s family said.

Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old student at Brown University who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was walking with two friends near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on 25 November when, police say, 48-year-old Jason Eaton shot them with a handgun in a suspected hate crime. Eaton has pleaded not guilty.

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Biden condemns shooting of Palestinian students in Vermont

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President says ‘there is no place for violence or hate in America’ after suspect arrested on Sunday

Joe Biden has expressed horror at the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont and, amid heightened tensions with the crisis in Israel and Gaza reverberating in the US, reiterated on Monday that “there is no place for violence or hate in America”.

A suspect was arrested on Sunday after the shootings the night before that wounded the men, police said, adding that contrary to media reports the shooter did not speak before firing.

Edward Helmore and Chris Stein contributed reporting

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Three Palestinian students shot and wounded in Vermont, police say

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Victims reportedly were wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh and speaking in Arabic when they were attacked in Burlington

Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded on Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, on their way to a family dinner.

The head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid, undergraduate students at Brown, Haverford and Trinity. Zomlot said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that each of the victims was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh when they were attacked, though authorities have stopped short of publicly discussing a possible motive for the triple shooting.

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By hook or by bike, car, boat and kayak: elusive Vermont robbery suspect caught

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Eric Edson, 52, gave police the slip in multiple ways and was finally caught after he jumped into a river to evade capture

A Vermont armed robbery suspect who police say eluded capture in the past week in a vehicle, on a stolen bike, on foot and in a stolen sailboat was arrested on Thursday after he was spotted in a kayak on a river, authorities said.

Eric Edson, 52, was wanted on accusations of a robbery of a store in Burlington on 24 August, impeding and assaulting two police officers and the theft of a sailboat and vehicles, police said.

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Susan Sarandon sues over ‘extensive problems’ with $2m eco dream home

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Thelma & Louise star, 76, had planned ‘entirely off-the-grid’ home for her retirement but alleges faulty work by construction firm

The Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon has taken a construction firm to court over what she calls “extensive problems” at what she envisioned as a $2m eco-friendly dream home she had built in Vermont for her retirement.

Buckled siding, missing insulation, mold and an unfinished primary bedroom ceiling are among 47 issues found by engineers, contractors and Sarandon’s staff, according to a lawsuit filed against DeGrenier Contracting and Property Management in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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Severe US weather: California heat puts firefighters on high alert for wildfires; Canada wildfires cause air quality alerts in US midwest – as it happened

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Extreme dry conditions raising fire risk; air quality alert for Minnesota took effect at 8am on Friday

Vermont governor Phil Scott said his formal request to President Joe Biden for a major disaster declaration has been approved.

The major disaster declaration unlocks federal disaster funds to assist individuals and communities recover from the devastating floods earlier this week.

The disaster declaration provides federal support for recovery. It’s separate from, and in addition to, the federal emergency declaration the president already signed when he was overseas to help with the initial emergency phase.

It’s incredibly important to get flooded homes, businesses and public buildings as dry as possible to prevent other outcomes like mould. We’re working on resources to help with that.

I’m very grateful for the speed of Fema in the White House. It will open up significant federal resources for communities, individuals, businesses [...] In anticipation of these funds, we are working to develop a concrete list of resources to help impacted Vermonters and making sure it’s as easy as possible for Vermonters to access those.

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Floods, tornadoes, heat: more extreme weather predicted across US

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Over a third of Americans under extreme heat warnings as Vermont, still recovering from historic flooding, prepares for more storms

The US is bracing for more extreme weather from coast to coast, with a heatwave hitting California, tornados in the midwest and the east expecting more rain as it continues to reel from historic flooding.

Residents of Vermont, still suffering from an onslaught of dangerous weather in recent days, are preparing for another round of severe storms in the area beginning as early as Thursday night.

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Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Vermont, New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley – live

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Latest storm warning comes just days after areas of Vermont and New York were hit with flash flooding, raising concerns over more damage

Meterologist Ben Frechette from NBC5 reported that a tornado risk is going up slightly in north-eastern NewYork state:

As some parts of the US are sweltering, Vermont was bracing for more rain on Thursday.

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US faces week of dangerous weather with flooding and heatwave alerts

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While the north-east was inundated by heavy rains, southern states are gripped by record heat levels predicted to intensify

Deadly flooding in the north-east on Monday coupled with alerts over longer, hotter heatwaves set to boil much of the southern and western US kicked off a week of dangerous weather, as July warnings about the climate crisis intensify.

Rescue teams raced into Vermont after relentless, torrential rain drenched parts of New England and north-east overnight, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and halting some airline travel.

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At a glance: what you need to know about Canada wildfires and smoky US skies

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Hazy skies hung over north-eastern US a day after the midwest received a similar alert from the Environmental Protection Agency

Canada is dealing with a series of intense wildfires that have spread from the western provinces to Quebec, with hundreds of forest fires burning. Wind has carried smoke from the fires southward, triggering air-quality alerts throughout the United States.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday issued a poor air-quality alert for New England, a day after parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota received a similar advisory. Last week, US officials as far south as Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania reported being affected by the wildfires.

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‘They can survive just fine’: Bernie Sanders says income over $1bn should be taxed at 100%

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The independent Vermont senator argued against unfettered capitalism in an interview with journalist Chris Wallace

The US government should confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, the leftwing independent senator Bernie Sanders said late last week.

Sanders expressed that belief in an exchange on Friday evening with the host of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on HBO Max.

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Vermont school that boycotted game with trans player banned from tournaments

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  • Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited game on 21 February
  • Many conservatives have opposed trans athletes

A Vermont school that refused to play against an opposing basketball team with a trans player won’t be able to participate in future tournaments, the Vermont Principals’ Association announced on Monday.

Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited a game on 21 February in an out-of-state tournament against Long Trail school.

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Man dies after fans brawl at Vermont middle-school basketball game

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  • State troopers called after fight reported between spectators
  • 60-year-old man dies after seeking medical attention

A man died after a brawl broke out among spectators at a middle school basketball game in northern Vermont, local police have said.

Vermont state troopers were called to the Alburgh Community Education Center just before 7pm on Tuesday after a report of a large fight involving spectators during a seventh- and eighth-grade boys basketball game between Alburgh and St Albans.

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Progressive Ilhan Omar wins closer-than-expected House primary in Minnesota

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Democrats select progressive Becca Balint for Vermont House seat while Trump-backed candidate nominated for Wisconsin governor

Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a member of the select progressive group in the House of Representative dubbed the Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory on Tuesday night against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent’s support for the “defund the police” movement.

The evening went far smoother for another progressive, Becca Balint, who won the Democratic House primary in Vermont – positioning her to become the first woman representing the state in Congress.

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Police investigate hazing allegations of women’s rugby team at Vermont college

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Team at Norwich University accused of branding and waterboarding other team members

Vermont police have launched an investigation into hazing allegations surrounding the women’s rugby team at Norwich University in the state, including allegations of branding and waterboarding.

Police have executed search warrants and went to a residence hall at the private military academy in Northfield to collect evidence, the Barre Montpelier Times Argus reported.

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‘Everybody will get their mittens’: maker of Bernie Sanders’ mittens forges business partnership

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Jen Ellis, a Vermont elementary school teacher, joins forces with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet demand

The teacher who created the recycled wool mittens that Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration and which triggered endless social media memes is now partnering with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet soaring demand.

Some of the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Vermont charity.

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