Is the end of the session coming into sight? Depends on how all the budget battles go, but in the meantime:

• Good news! S.117 – the bill to move the Primary election to the second Tuesday in August – should see Senate action on Tuesday. House Gov Ops Chair Sweaney is reportedly eager to move on it.
• Terrific stuff from Rep. Bob South of St. Johnsbury. He, “along with other Representatives and Senators from Caledonia County will hold a press conference Monday, April 20 at 12 noon at the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury.  Rep. South will discuss a bill he is introducing in the House of Representatives next week to protect the St. Johnsbury facility from closure.  He will be joined by workers at the facility, local law enforcement and members of the community.” (from a Press release). Regardless of the feelings of folks on this particular facility, I’d love to see more of this kind of local, aggressively district-focused legislating and media engagement/messaging. This is being a good representative and a smart politician. Hope to see other Reps following suit with this sort of thing.
• Take a listen. Anybody know this guy?:

*** Update by Christian***

• Activism gone bad. Not sure if you heard about this “up north” but Sally Shaw of the New England Coalition (a Brattleboro anti-nuke advocacy group) threw compost at Vermont Yankee VP Michael Colomb. Bob Audette of the Brattleboro Reformer.
  

  ” It wasn’t just invectives that flew from mouths of the anti-nuclear activists at Thursday’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting in Brattleboro.

  One activist also threw compost at Vermont Yankee’s site vice president Michael Colomb.

  “You folks have no idea what to do with spent fuel or radioactive waste,” said Sally Shaw, of Gill, Mass.

  Carrying a bag to the front of the conference room, she threw a handful of “spent food” at Colomb and other Entergy executives before depositing handfuls of compost on a table where NRC officials sat.

  “That’s really good quality compost,” she said.

  The NRC was in Brattleboro to discuss Yankee’s 2008 annual assessment, in which the agency stated the nuclear power plant was operated “in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives.”

  
  Shaw is the former executive director of the NEC. This was unprofessional and in poor taste. I heard some Windham County legislators are NOT happy about Shaw’s actions. To read more of the story click here.

• Big story that flew under the radar. Not sure if you heard but the Public Service Board approved the Deerfield Wind Project. Seventeen new windmills will be built in Searsburg and Readsboro and each of them will be 409 feet high and generate approximately 36 MW of electricity. The 17 new windmills will join the other 12 windmills on-site owned by Green Mountain Power. Once complete, it will be Vermont’s largest wind facility. To read more click here.

   

Suggestion by Julie

As much as I never expected myself to say this, we may be able to learn something from Texas (h/t Daily Kos):

House members virtually wiped out Gov. Rick Perry’s office budget Friday in order to help veterans and the mentally ill.

With little debate, the House on a voice vote approved erasing 96 percent of the nearly $24 million that budget writers had recommended for Perry’s office operation over the next two years.

Oh, and this is incredibly cool.