BURLINGTON (AP) -- Hoping to sway lawmakers, two of the state’s most famous residents and one of its former governors joined groups opposed to the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on Thursday in announcing a push for Town Meeting Day votes on whether the plant should keep operating past 2012.   Full Story

BRATTLEBORO -- Pamela Johnson, 45, of Brattleboro, who has robbed several Brattleboro businesses since late 2008, took a plea agreement in Windham District Court Tuesday and will spend 72 hours in prison and 59 days on a pre-approved work crew furlough. As part of the agreement, Johnson pleaded guilty to the following crimes: Johnson took a DVD player worth $80 and a Kitchen Aid worth $68   Full Story

BRATTLEBORO -- State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding is recommending several modifications to the state employee and teacher retirement expenses in order to ease the escalating budgetary issues in Montpelier, but not without a fight from Vermont’s largest unions. Spaulding, a Democrat, serves as chairman of the Commission on the Design and Funding of Retirement and Retiree Health Benefit Plans.   Full Story

LENOX -- The Lenox Police Department will be hosting a viewing Thursday of all of the evidence seized in the recent arrest of 28-year-old Stefan E. Veremko. The department has hundreds of pieces of evidence seized from Veremko’s apartment in Pittsfield and his vehicle. Each of these items is suspected to be stolen from residential breaks in the Berkshire County, Southern Vermont and   Full Story

HYDE PARK (AP) -- A Vermont jury has acquitted a police officer charged with animal cruelty for fatally shooting a neighbor’s dog. The jury in Vermont District Court in Hyde Park began deliberating Tuesday afternoon after Michael Wootton described the April 30 dog fight that preceded the shooting.   Full Story

MOIRA, N.Y. (AP) -- A northern New York man is recovering after being attacked by a 10-point buck while he was loading firewood. Authorities said Gerald Dabiew, 56, was cut and bruised from head to toe by the buck outside his house in Moira, 200 miles north of Albany. "He got me down on the ground, and it was then I knew that he really wanted to kill me," Dabiew told The Watertown Daily   Full Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- A visiting professor at Williams College was suspended last week after pleading guilty to charges of fraud in federal court. Ernest B. Moore, who taught political science under the name of Bernard Moore at the college, pleaded guilty to one count of studentaid fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of Social Security fraud in federal court in Washington, D.   Full Story

MONTPELIER (AP) -- The Ticonderoga Ferry across Lake Champlain will provide service through December, weather permitting, under an agreement reached with Vermont and New York transportation officials. The deal announced Saturday keeps the ferry open and running seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.   Full Story

Burlington telecom gets new financing BURLINGTON (AP) -- Top officials in Vermont’s largest city say they’ve found new financing for Burlington Telecom, possibly cooling heated debate over the way the city’s phone, cable and Internet service has been financed. Mayor Bob Kiss and the city’s chief administrative officer, Jonathan Leopold, announced Friday that a   Full Story

Cops find suspect’s gun in police shooting RUTLAND (AP) -- Police say they have found a handgun believed to have been carried by a man who shot at a Rutland police officer during a foot chase. The loaded .45 caliber handgun was found in a pool of water where 22-year-old Tyshawn Plowden fled Sunday after police say he fired a shot at Officer Frank Post, who then returned fire.   Full Story

RANDOLPH (AP) -- Vermont has paid a bigger price than any other state in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the families of military members killed in the conflicts are planning a memorial to them, to be built at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph. Fundraising is under way in hopes of collecting $350,000 to finance the memorial and start construction next summer,   Full Story

PINE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- A 42-year-old man upset by the treatment of U.S. military personnel sneaked a disassembled shotgun into a middle school just after classes began Tuesday, put it together in a bathroom, then held the principal hostage for more than two hours before surrendering without firing a shot, police said.   Full Story

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Harvard University’s reputation for academic excellence took a back seat to the battlefield bravery of its alumni as the Ivy League institution on Veterans Day honored 16 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the most from any university other than the military service academies.   Full Story

RUTLAND (AP) -- Vermont State Police detectives are investigating a shooting incident involving a Rutland City Police officer who says he fired at a fleeing suspect. No one was hurt in the Sunday night incident. It took place as Officer Frank Post and his police dog chased 22-year-old suspect Tyshawn Plowden of New York City.   Full Story

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York state Sen. Elizabeth Little said the sudden closure of an unstable, half-mile bridge spanning Lake Champlain in Essex County is isolating the communities that rely on it and harming nearby businesses. Little said the closing does not bode well for other communities that could suffer the same problem of failing roads and infrastructure.   Full Story