Senator Sanders

Schools Despite a "phenomenal' performance evaluation, Joyce Irvine was removed as principal of Wheeler School because the Burlington School District wanted to qualify for $3 million in federal stimulus money. Under Obama administration rules, the district had few other choices. Sen. Bernie Sanders said the principal and her staff should have been lauded for working at one of Vermont's most challenging schools. Instead, they have been stigmatized, according to a column in The New York Times. LINK

‘A Good Republican' "A century ago, President Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, called for a graduated inheritance tax on wealthy estates. In 1916, Congress passed that law...I agree with Teddy Roosevelt," Sen. Sanders wrote in an op-ed published Sunday by The Burlington Free Press. LINK  

Estate Tax Sens. Sanders, Tom Harkin and Sheldon Whitehouse "recently offered a bill that would drastically increase the death tax at the worst possible time. This would be a body blow to a weakly recovering economy," Curtis Dubay, a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, wrote in a Des Moines Register op-ed. LINK

Food Safety "A renaissance in sustainable food networks could be stopped in its tracks if one-size-fits-all food safety legislation is approved by Congress...People who support the sustainable food movement should write letters to Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders," the Brattleboro Reformer suggested in an editorial. LINK

International

Biden: Pullout in Afghanistan May Start Small Vice President Biden said Sunday that progress in Afghanistan has been "a tough slog," but he said U.S. troops will begin leaving in July 2011. "It could be as few as a couple thousand troops. It could be more. But there will be a transition," Biden said on ABC's This Week. LINK

Clinton Woos Pakistan on Security Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed new economic partnerships on Sunday to buttress a shaky alliance with Pakistan that U.S. officials say is vital to victory in the escalating war in neighboring Afghanistan, Reuters reported. LINK

National

BP Well Seeping After three days of encouraging pressure tests, a senior BP official said Sunday that the company's recently capped well in the Gulf of Mexico was holding up and that BP now hoped to keep the well closed until it could be permanently plugged. But government officials were more skeptical and cited a new potential problem, The New York Times reported. LINK

Obama to Launch Ocean Initiative President Obama on Monday is set to create a national stewardship policy for America's oceans and Great Lakes, including a type of zoning that could dramatically rebalance the way government regulates offshore drilling, fishing and other marine activities, the Los Angeles Times reported. LINK

Top Secret America The Washington Post details the huge national security buildup in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and concludes the top-secret world the government created has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. LINK

 
Vermont

Soldier Laid to Rest Spc. Ryan Grady, 25, was remembered in a patriotic hour-long service attended by about 300 at the gothic stone North Congregational Church. He was the second Vermont National Guard member to die in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class John Thomas Stone of Tunbridge was killed in 2006, in southern Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Veterans Outreach Veterans have been helping veterans at the Veterans Outreach and Family Resource Center since it opened about seven months ago. John Miner, president of the Vietnam Veterans of Vermont and a founder of the center, said the center had worked with about 75 veterans and their families since they opened in mid-December, the Rutland Herald reported. LINK

Internet Taxes A growing coalition of Vermonters says it's time online stores like Amazon.com had to charge their customers the state sales tax. Many local businesses argue it's a matter of fairness, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK

Energy A Vermonter is taking a leading role in shaping national energy policy. David Coen, a member of the state Public Service Board, also leads a national association of utility commissioners, an influential voice for the states as Congress and the White House shape climate change legislation, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK

Timber Vermont's largest private landowner, Plum Creek Timber Company, violated its forest management plan by cutting too many trees on 140 acres in Lemington. A state program offers tax breaks on managed forest and farmland. Without the exemption, Plum Creek will have to pay an additional $170,000 in annual taxes for five years, WCAX reported. LINK  

So Long Chittenden Bank Chittenden Bank, which opened in 1904, starting today will be known as People's United. The Connecticut-based bank bought out Chittenden about a year-and-a-half ago, WCAX reported. LINK