Woodstock Woman Pleads Not GuiltyTo Fraud, Forgery Charges

Burlington — A Woodstock woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars from former employers pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday.

Susan Blaue, 39, was indicted in March of forgery, mail fraud and credit card fraud. If she’s convicted in federal court in Burlington, Blaue faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000.

Blaue was released on conditions pending an upcoming trial, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors said Blaue stole about $130,000 from ABLE Waste Management and other Plymouth, Vt., companies where she was employed as a bookkeeper between 2012 and 2015.

Beginning in 2013, prosecutors said, Blaue made out checks to herself using the owner’s signature stamp to pay personal bills and rent on a company-owned house. She also used ABLE credit cards to make purchases for herself, prosecutors said.

Tri-County CAP CEO to Leave in 2018

Berlin, n.h. — The Tri-County Community Action Program soon will be searching for a new leader, after CEO Rob Boschen announced his plans to leave.

Boschen, who was appointed to the nonprofit’s top position in April 2016, said on Tuesday that his resignation will take effect on Jan. 5, 2018. In a letter to the group’s board of directors, he said Tri-County CAP continues to recover from financial hardship.

“I now believe the agency has obtained a point where it can take the next step in moving back to the goal of becoming a strong, stable human services agency that has learned from the past, but is no longer imprisoned by it,” Boschen wrote in his letter to the board.

Tri-County CAP administers heating assistance, food assistance, Meals on Wheels and other programs throughout Grafton, Coos and Carroll counties. The nonprofit also runs a homeless outreach program out of Lebanon.

It had offices in Lebanon and Woodsville where people could apply for assistance until 2015, when they were closed as part of cost-cutting measures associated with Tri-County CAP’s receivership and financial difficulties thee years earlier.

In his letter, Boschen said he intends to keep the agency on track until a successor is found and will offer help with the search.

Vermont City Now Expected to ReceiveSeven More Syrian Families

Rutland — Officials said up to seven more Syrian refugee families are expected to arrive in a Vermont city that is home to two families that arrived days before President Donald Trump took office in January.

Officials with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement program said the effort to resettle up to 100 Syrian refugees in Rutland was thrown into question after Trump changed U.S. refugee policy. But now resettlement program Executive Director Amila Merdzanovic said her organization was recently told seven additional families would be coming.

Merdzanovic told Vermont Public Radio that all seven families are two parent households with, on average, three children.

Hassan, Shaheen Offer Input to White House on Opioid Funding

Concord — New Hampshire’s Democratic U.S. Senators are urging President Donald Trump’s administration to provide more money for the state’s ongoing opioid crisis. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan wrote in a Wednesday letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price that a formula determining how much money states get should be re-tooled.

The letter said New Hampshire is getting just $3 million out of a total $500 million because the formula is based on total mortality rather than per capita deaths.

— Staff and wire reports