Pat Bradley

The Vermont town of Williston has a new police chief.

Chief Todd Shepard was sworn in Monday as the chief in the Chittenden County town of about 7,650 people. The police department has an authorized strength of 15 officers.

Williston is one of the commercial centers of northwestern Vermont.

The 48-year-old Shepard from Milton had been the deputy police chief in neighboring South Burlington.

Shepard succeeded interim police chief Douglas Hoyt, the retired chief of the Montpelier Police Department.

A panel of Vermont lawmakers is giving its blessing to a plan for a privately-owned rest area and visitors' center off Interstate-89 in Randolph.

Developer Sam Sammis detailed his proposal for the visitor's center and Vermont products showcase Tuesday to the legislature's Joint Transportation Oversight Committee.

Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding says the state closed the northbound rest area in Randolph several years ago and the southbound rest is likely to be closed within the next couple of years.

Authorities say a small plane that was forced to land on an Adirondack lake last week had lost its propeller in midair.

State police tell the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that the privately owned, single-engine Jabiru was flying at about 6,500 feet last Thursday when the propeller came off. The pilot managed to crash-land the plane in Gull Lake in northern Herkimer County.

He and his passenger were rescued soon after by New York Air National Guard helicopter crews flying to Fort Drum.

The Yellow Dot Program is a safety initiative being introduced across New York State.  Clinton, Franklin and Essex County sheriffs announced their participation in the program Tuesday morning.

Vermont residents will get a chance to weigh in a new proposed rule to regulate public activities on land owned by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

The proposal would allow hunting and fishing on more than 133,000 acres but prohibits snowmobiling, mountain biking and horseback riding except in designated corridors.

Officials say the proposal will give game wardens the authority to enforce the rule.

The Fish and Wildlife Board has given preliminary approval to the proposal in the first of three votes.

Crews are cleaning the Vermont Veterans Home after air samples showed mold in the heating and cooling units and on stored medical records.

Testing took place this month at the Bennington organization after a musty smell returned to a common room on the home's dementia wing following a cleaning. The room was closed off to residents.

Home administrator Melissa Jackson said a new kind of insulation should prevent the reoccurrence of mold.

The resort community of Stowe, Vt., will be getting a new multimillion-dollar ice rink.

Town officials say the current arena is suffering from some structural problems. They have been looking at replacing it for about a decade.

Residents narrowly voted down the proposal for the rink last year. But they voted in favor of it in March after a successful campaign.

Jerry Levine is now the oldest person to hike all of New York's 46 highest mountain peaks.

The membership organization that recognizes those who accomplish the feat says the 82-year-old from Cortlandt Manor in Westchester County became an Adirondack 46er after climbing Esther and Whiteface mountains Saturday.

Levine told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that it was tough to get up the peaks — Esther is 4,239-feet high while Whiteface, the Olympic ski mountain, is 4,867-feet high.

The head of FairPoint Communications says he expects the company's years-long decline in revenues to reverse itself in 2013.

CEO Paul Sunu says by the end of this year, the growth among business customers should begin exceeding the loss of residential landline customers.

As a result, revenues in 2013 are expected to grow for the first time since 2008, Sunu told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. It was Sunu's first face-to-face media interview in Maine since becoming CEO two years ago.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders says "smart grid" electrical technology offers real benefits for Vermont consumers and the environment.

Sanders and some Vermont environmental leaders said at a news conference on Monday that Vermont is a national leader in developing a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electrical system.

Sanders says Vermont received $69 million in federal stimulus funds to modernize its electric transmission system.