This Week's Issue: Seven Days Writers Finally Go Outside

Today's Seven Days is worth picking up just to see our writers in adorable little cartoon form on the cover, as illustrated by Rob Donnelly (right). But if you're looking for actual news, here's what we've got this week:

• Jasper Hill Farm isn't named for a place, but for a guy who was actually named Jasper Hill. But Hill's son calls the farm owners "grave robbers" and says they've cut off his access to water.
• Al Gobeille owns four restaurants. What makes him the right choice to be head of the Green Mountain Care Board?
• In Fair Game: One week after laying off 13 at the Burlington Free Press, is Gannett slowly killing its newspapers? Plus, Sen. Patrick Leahy rolls in the dough from special interests.
• And finally... Seven Days writers have been called many things, but "outdoorsy" is rare. We sent the team outside of their comfort zones. Worth a click to see Ken Picard riding a kiteboard.

Pick up your copy in print, online or on our app. And BTW, Northeast Kingdom-ites, did you know we now distribute more papers than ever in your neck of the woods?

Media Note: Layoffs at the Burlington Free Press [UPDATED]

UPDATED THROUGHOUT AT 5:52 P.M.

The Burlington Free Press laid off 13 employees Thursday, including at least five newsroom staffers. 

Among them is longtime staff writer Matt Sutkoski, a general assignment reporter who wrote the popular Weather Rapport blog. Sutkoski joined the paper full-time in 1992.

"It's the way the business is. It kind of feels like it was inevitable," Sutkoski said. "Things happen. I'll just redirect myself and I'll be fine."

The layoffs also included reporter Elizabeth Murray, editor Emilie Stigliani, copy editor Jordan Kilty and photographer Maddie McGarvey, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

Burlingtonians Urge City to Give Livable-Wage Ordinance a Makeover

Melissa Gelinas of the Peace & Justice Center calls for changes to Burlington's livable-wage ordinance Thursday night. Photo by Taylor Dobbs.

 

A handful of speakers urged a Burlington City Council committee Thursday evening to put some teeth into the city's livable-wage ordinance.

Adopted 12 years ago but largely unenforced, the ordinance became the subject of a heated debate last November after the Skinny Pancake was granted an exemption to the rule when it opened a new restaurant at the city-owned Burlington International Airport.

The ordinance requires companies receiving $15,000 in city contracts to pay their employees a livable wage — $13.94 an hour for employees provided health insurance or $15.83 for employees without. A 55-page report issued in April by City Attorney Eileen Blackwood found that only 23 of 160 companies with contracts subject to the ordinance were in compliance.

Thursday night, at the Burlington Police Department's community room, the council's three-member ordinance committee continued its review of the rule, with an eye toward improving its enforcement. But at least one speaker was displeased with the committee's progress.

F-35 Defenders Aim to Move Off the Defensive in Debate on Local Basing

Debate over the F-35 has been dominated in recent weeks by the plane's opponents. But supporters of basing the fighter jets at Burlington International Airport went on the offensive Wednesday.

Their tactics did not prove as creative or as colorful as the opposition's deafening F-35 noise simulation and the fudge-gifting event staged at Sen. Patrick Leahy's downtown office. The organizer and two prominent backers of the Green Ribbons for the F-35 campaign held a traditional press conference at the Main Street headquarters of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The pro-F-35 speakers nevertheless made controversial claims that were met with skepticism from some of the reporters in attendance.

Chamber president Tom Torti argued, for example, that there's no validity to the case against the plane on the basis of the noise it makes. "We believe that's a red herring," he declared.