All Things Considered on WAMC

The West Nile virus is back, and it's looking like it could be particularly bad this year. As as result, federal health officials are warning people to protect themselves against the mosquito-borne infection.

The West Nile virus first showed up in the U.S. in 1999 and quickly spread from coast to coast, raising widespread alarm. Some have argued that red-breasted robins play a key role in the spread of the virus.

Vermont authorities say a man was arrested after driving a large farm tractor over several sheriffs' cruisers, crushing them.

Television station WCAX reports that a man was arrested shortly after the midday incident, in which no one was injured but several cruisers were apparently destroyed.

Scott Wheeler, publisher of the Northland Journal, says the incident occurred outside the headquarters of the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in Newport.

Several sheriffs' cruisers and a Newport City Police car were crushed by the tractor.

Vermont is roughly doubling — to about 170 — the number of chemicals it is banning as ingredients in so-called designer drugs.

That word came Thursday as dozens of state and federal law enforcement officials gathered at the Statehouse to strategize in a war on drugs that has expanded to substances called bath salts and spice.

Governor Peter Shumlin addressed the group and vowed the full support of his office as police around Vermont visit head shops and convenience stores where a wide range of the products are sold.

Vermont lawmakers are coming to the defense of Governor Peter Shumlin's administration following criticisms by a candidate to unseat him that he misled the Legislature and the public about the amount of post-Irene disaster relief Vermont was likely to get.

Representative Alice Emmons, a Springfield Democrat and chairwoman of the House Institutions and Corrections Committee, says her panel purposely built a good deal of flexibility into this year's state construction budget because of uncertainty about funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Both Democrats running for Vermont attorney general say they oppose capital punishment. But neither is objecting to handing a notorious Vermont case over for federal prosecution, where the defendant could face death.

Attorney General William Sorrell and Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan both said in a debate taped for a WCAX-TV weekend broadcast that they oppose the death penalty.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has started a petition drive in support of bringing F-35 fighter jets to the state.

The Vermont Air Guard in Burlington was named as a preferred site for one of the first deployments of the stealth fighters.

Some neighbors of the Burlington International Airport are concerned about noise from the jets, and anti-military activists are lobbying against the planes.

As Lena Henderson says, she hadn't been expecting to remarry Roland Davis some 48 years after their divorce, but "you never know what tomorrow is going to bring."

All Things Considered today tells the touching story of how the two 85-year-olds are set to tie the knot again on Saturday in Buffalo, N.Y.

A top foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended statements the Republican presidential candidate made in Israel about the cultural differences between Israelis and Palestinians.