Democratic Gubernatorial Forum: Follow Along!

Around 6:30 p.m., the five Democratic candidates for governor will take the stage in Burlington for an hourlong forum where each will answer four questions about Vermont's environment.

This is the second time the candidates will meet to talk about how they, as governor, would tackle various environmental challenges. The last time, however, Sen. Doug Racine (D-Chittenden), was out of the country at the time.

Tonight's forum is being hosted by the Vermont League of Conservation Voters, and will be streamed live on WPTZ. It's being held inside the Main Street Performing Arts Center in Burlington.

Town Meeting Day Campaign to Shut Down VT Yankee Launches Today

A group of prominent Vermonters today will call on fellow residents to vote on Town Meeting Day whether to relicense Vermont Yankee for another 20 years.

In March 2009, 36 Vermont towns voted to ask the legislature not to approve Vermont Yankee operation for another 20 years and to require the plant's owner, Entergy, to pay the full cost of decommissioning the plant, which could near $1 billion. The resolutions also called on the legislature to focus on finding non-nuclear sources of energy to replace Vermont Yankee, which supplies about one-third of the state's power needs.

As of now, 18 Vermont towns are organized to get this resolution on their Town Meeting Day warnings.

The group hopes today's announcement and release of the letter signed by prominent Vermonters will  inspire residents of more towns to participate, and adopt their own version of the resolution.

"Entergy is doing intensive lobbying and is expected to increase its efforts to get the legislature to pass the required resolution as we approach decision time. The only way we can counter their efforts to get the 20-year extension is if citizens in the towns are actively involved, and town meeting resolutions facilitate that," said James Marc Leas, an attorney, and one of the campaign organizers.

General Dynamics to Leave Burlington

Updated at 4:45 p.m. with quote from city officials in Burlington

General Dynamics, which employs 450 people in Burlington, is moving its Technology Center from Lakeside Avenue to buildings formerly owned by IBM in Williston.

The move is expected to be complete by the end of 2010, company officials said in a release.

“Our business is changing, and we need to take steps to ensure we are as efficient and effective as we can be,” said Bill Gural, vice president and general manager of the Burlington operation, in a statement. “By moving, we’ll be adopting a new environment for our employees that will improve their ability to collaborate, make them more efficient and help them remain focused on accomplishing our customers’ missions.”

Stand By Your Van (Jones)

Over the weekend, presidential adviser Van Jones resigned after a smear campaign by FOX News patron patriot of the week Glenn Beck.

So, why should Vermont care?

For starters, Sen. Bernie Sanders chairs the Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy, which is part of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Sanders has worked some with Jones — but also with the White House Council on Environmental Quality—  on ways to spur the "green" economy by creating manufacturing jobs in the United States to build solar panels, wind turbines and other environmentally-friendly energy technology.

On Friday, the ranking Republican — Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO) issued a letter to Sanders, asking him to hold hearings on Jones' "behavior and comments to reassure the American people that their government is safe from his divisive, incendiary and ultimately counterproductive sentiments."

Sanders now doesn't have to worry about responding to Bond's letter, but he is disappointed in Jones' resignation.

Equally, Sanders is bothered by the lack of counterattack by Democratic leaders and the Obama administration on the "right-wing echo chamber."

"To surrender to them is ridiculous, because they're not going to stop. They're just going to go after the next guy," said Sanders. "We need to be standing up to them more vigorously and exposing their lies."

Vermont's Flu Pandemic Preparedness

Last fall, Seven Days ran a cover story evaluating Vermont's level of preparedness for the next flu pandemic. As I discovered at the time, there was a wide spectrum of awareness in Vermont on this issue, from the "Yes, we're on top of it," to "the pan-what now?" Some organizations and businesses, such as public utilities, banks and major corporations, have spent considerable time and money on their planning, in large part because the feds require them to. Meanwhile, others in Vermont, such as many small businesses and, shockingly, Vermont's funeral industry, seemed woefully ill-prepared for it.

Unfortunately, the story was poorly timed, as it hit the streets on November 5, just as another pandemic was sweeping the globe: Obama-mania. Sadly, the story didn't make much of a splash at the time. In fact, several loyal 7D readers wrote to bitch us out for dropping a monstrous turd in Obama's inaugural punchbowl. "How could you run such a bummer of a story," they wailed, "on the day after the most jubilant and historic election of our lives?"

Sorry to bust your bubble, readers, but sometimes the truth hurts. As Dr. Christopher Grace, director of infectious disease at Fletcher Allen Health Care, pointed out, "The longest time period in the last 300 years between pandemics was 42 years. Our last pandemic was 40 years ago. You do the math."

It's worth checking out the article again — or for the first time, if you missed it. And, FYI, if you're interested in tracking the coming plague in real time, here are a few interesting links for bypassing the mainstream media's coverage and getting your info straight from the swine's mouth. 

Now cover that mouth when you sneeze, and for God's sake, wash those hands!

• The World Health Organization's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Travel Notices
• Vermont Department of Health's swine influenza info page
• Google flu trends (including a flu shot locator function)
• Twitter's CDC Emergency

And, for the truly obsessed...

• Google Map's H1N1 Swine Flu locator
• Geek.com's swine flu map and real-time tracking
• Flu wiki
• H1N1 Timeline
• Healthmap Global Disease Alert Map

Please feel free to send us some of your own.

[Ed. note: The video shows Ken discussing the story on Inside Seven Days.]

Swine Flu News

No, I don't have any original reporting to offer. Just wanted to share a tip — if you're looking for the latest breaking news on the flu, check twitter.com. Twitter users are aggregating info on the outbreak using the hashtag #swineflu. Tons of activity there tonight. Not surprisingly, it's one of the top trending topics on the site.

If you've ever wondered how people use Twitter to spread breaking news, click the links above. This is a great case study.

I'm trying to think of a joke about how Twitter itself is an epidemic, but it's not happening. Sorry to disappoint. It's past my bedtime.

UPDATE, 4/27: Several people I know have posted this link — "Swine Flu: Twitter's power to misinform". Definitely an interesting read.

The question of whether we need to somehow alter our global information flows during global pandemics is not a trivial one. A recent New York Times piece highlighted how a growing number of corporations like Starbucks, Dell, and Whole Foods are turning to Twitter to monitor and partially shape conversation about particular brands or products. What the piece failed to mention was that conversations about more serious topics (like pandemics- and their tragic consequences) could be shaped as well. 

I think it's only a matter of time before that the next generation of cyber-terrorists – those who are smart about social media, are familiar with modern information flows, and are knowledgeable about human networks – take advantage of the escalating fears over the next epidemic and pollute the networked public sphere with scares that would essentially paralyze the global economy. Often, such tactics would bring much more destruction than the much-feared cyberwar and attacks on physical – rather than human – networks.

Ok, sure, the Twitter #swineflu tag delivers a lot of useless and unnecessarily alarming information, but if you can sort the signal from the noise, you'll find some things you can use. Two I found yesterday:

A guide to some other online flu-tracking tools, from Mashable.

And a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's emergency Twitter feed. And yes, it's the official CDC Twitter feed. They link to it from their site It'll be interesting to see how they use it.

Incidentally, blogger/homeless activist Morgan Brown is already calling on the Vermont Department of Health, urging them to set up a Twitter account — he sent his request in an email last night to a list of health dept. officials and media types (myself included).

From Morgan's email:

"...if the Vermont Lottery and the Vermont Department of Tourism can have Twitter accounts for what they use them for in order to inform the members of public they are attempting to reach, why not an agency and some of its key departments who handle matters of even graver concern and of a higher priority to all of its citizens, particularly among those who may be most vulnerable to whatever may be the particular case or circumstances at a given time?"

You can follow Morgan's prolific Twitterings here.

UPDATE 4/28:

Ben Truman, the health dept.'s Health Policy and Web Program Coordinator, chimed in with a comment:

Thanks Morgan and Cathy for the attention to the Swine Flu outbreak!

The Health Department does now have a Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/healthvermont

While no cases have been identified yet in Vermont, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has to date reported 40 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States, including in New York City. In the U.S., illness has been relatively mild so far compared to the severe illness reported in Mexico.

In addition to our tweets, you can keep up on the latest news, fact sheets, and health advisories by visiting the Vermont Department of Health web site, and with the CDC at its web site.

Vermont Senate Considers "E-Waste" Legislation

It's been a trashy month for the news media. First the New York Times reported on March 11 that China, the "world's largest" garbage importer, is refusing trash from American and European "waste dealers." Then the New Yorker magazine published "Trash Queen," about a Chinese paper-making tycoon whose fortunes have fallen in recent months because of the global recession.

Vermont newspapers are also weighing in on waste trends. Louis Porter wrote in the March 14 Times Argus that "Vermont is a long way from China, but the economic slide hitting that country's manufacturers is having an impact on Vermont's recycling programs." The Burlington Free Press reported on March 30 that the Chittenden Solid Waste District will soon raise its per-ton solid waste management free from $17.61 to $22.06.

Against this backdrop, the Vermont Senate is considering S.77, a bill that would require manufacturers to "implement and fund a system for the collection and recycling of electronic devices." S.77 is a legislative priority for the newly formed Vermont Product Stewardship Council. The council's coordinator, Jen Holliday, tells me in an email that she hopes the bill will pass on the Senate floor tomorrow.

One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (D-Chittenden), sponsored an "e-waste" bill last year that drew criticism from Chinese officials. WWBSTT? (What will Beijing say this time?)

Incidentally, if you'd like to dispose of your own e-waste, take it to South Burlington High School's parking lot on Saturday, April 18. Small Dog Electronics is sponsoring their 3rd annual e-waste recycling drive. They're accepting old electronics equipment from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. They'll take everything but household appliances. But don't try to bring them your business computers — it's a residential-only collection.