A regional environmental group says New England’s governors are plotting the region’s energy future behind closed doors. And the advocates worry that Vermonters will end up footing the bill for natural gas pipelines that could widen the Northeast’s carbon footprint.

The New England States Committee on Electricity has been around since 2006, when the governors of six states created the nonprofit to oversee regional electricity planning. The group made big news earlier this year when it announced plans for a controversial expansion of energy infrastructure.

A union representing FairPoint Communications workers in Vermont says it will be another week until the results of a strike authorization vote are known.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents about 1800 FairPoint employees in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 

The vote results were initially expected as early as today, but because of storms earlier in the week, union officials have spent the past several days juggling the voting schedule.  

The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled the state can't collect DNA evidence from suspects in criminal cases unless they've been convicted of a felony.

In a 3-2 decision issued Friday, the court ruled a state law that allowed for the collection of DNA from people charged with felonies after a court decided there was probable cause violated the Vermont constitution.

  Three years ago, Vermont's DNA database law was expanded to include people charged with felonies. Five Vermont trial courts have ruled the law unconstitutional.

Listen for Outdoor Radio Thursday morning at 8:50 a.m.

This month on Outdoor Radio, we’ll venture out into a meadow of wild flowers that is literally singing with bumble bees. Biologists Kent McFarland and Sara Zahendra talk about the species we find in Vermont, the different ways they pollinate our flowers and crops, and the environmental factors that are threatening their population.

The Southwestern corner of Vermont is geographically closer to Albany, Concord, Hartford than it is to Montpelier, but many of the challenges facing Bennington are familiar to the rest of the state. We’ll talk with community leaders about Bennington's challenges and opportunities in front of a live audience at Madison Brewing Company on Main Street.

Tickets for the Vermont Brewers Festival in Burlington this weekend sold out in eleven minutes. Sally Pollak, who writes for the Savorvore Section of the Burlington Free Press, talks about the popularity of Vermont grown beer and the proliferation of Vermont breweries. We'll also learn why and how canned beer has made a comeback.

The VPR Cafe is produced in partnership with the Burlington Free Press.

People in southeastern Vermont are bracing for an economic fallout once the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant closes later this year.

But Entergy, the corporation that owns Yankee, will  provide a $10 million payment to the state of Vermont to help deal with the loss of hundreds of jobs when the plant shuts down.

The question is how will the state spend the money? Howard Weiss-Tisman has been following the story for the Brattleboro Reformer and he spoke with VPR's Mitch Wertlieb for our Friday Regional Report

Two-thousand unionized FairPoint employees across New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine will vote this weekend on whether they are willing to strike. The vote comes after two months of unsuccessful contract negotiations.

The electrical and communication workers’ contracts end August 2. Don Trementozzi, president of CWA local 1400, says FairPoint is demanding a lot of concessions, including the ability to outsource jobs that are currently union-only.

"The company wants to be able to contract any and all work and all job titles whenever they want," Trementozzi said.

The Department for Children and Families is charged with protecting the state’s most vulnerable population – abused and neglected children.

Yet the department has seen intense scrutiny in recent months because two toddlers that had been in state custody died after alleged physical abuse.

Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan asked the Vermont state police to investigate the latest case: the death of 15-month old Peighton Geraw of Winooski who died hours after being seen by a DCF caseworker.

When you think of the Mafia and organized crime, your mind might drift to New York, Chicago or even Sicily. Montreal, not so much.
 

But the Mafia and organized crime presence in Quebec’s largest city has been leaving a mark since as far back as the 1950s. And the role of organized crime in the awarding of provincial transportation and construction contracts prompted a recent and ongoing government inquiry.

Paul Cherry is the crime reporter for the Montreal Gazette. He provided Vermont Edition with background on the Mafia presence in Quebec.