A Year Later, Emotions Raw After Crash That Killed 5 Vt. Teens

Harwood, Vt. — The grief is still fresh for families and friends of five teenagers killed in a collision with a wrong-way driver in Vermont.

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, and high school soccer coach Dan Weintraub says “a year is not a long time.”

Four teens were juniors at Harwood Union High School, while the fifth attended Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, where Weintraub was her coach.

Harwood’s senior class dedicated a gazebo to the five victims on Thursday. School board member David Goodman said students are honoring the five by “moving forward” and “living fully.”

Law enforcement officials say Steven Bourgoin caused the fatal collision on I-89 in Williston before stealing a police cruiser and causing more crashes. He’s awaiting trial on five counts of second-degree murder.

Northern Vermont University Holds First Fall Open House

Northern Vermont University is holding its first fall open houses for prospective students.

Johnson State College and Lyndon State colleges will officially merge in July.

The merger was approved unanimously last year to offset losses in $1 million each due to declining student enrollment and increasing deficits.

The free open houses will be held October 20 and Nov. 10 at NVU-Johnson and Oct. 21 and Nov. 11 at NVU-Lyndon. They include a campus tour, lunch and a chance to talk with faculty, staff and students, as well as financial aid and admission representatives.

Officials: Granite State OK Despite Lapse in CHIP Funding

Concord — New Hampshire appears to be in a better position than other states to weather a lapse in federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

New Hampshire officials say they planned for a possible disruption in funding when crafting the current state budget. DHHS spokesman Jake Leon said that the budgeted extra money anticipating a 50/50 match, rather than the program’s enhanced matching funds.

Federal funding for the program expired last week.

U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster and Sen. Maggie Hassan said New Hampshire is in good shape but that kids are being forced off the program in other states.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program covers nearly nine million low-income children. That figure includes nearly 14,000 children in New Hampshire.

Rain Helping Firefighters in Battle In White Mountains

North Woodstock, n.h. — Fire officials say rain this weekend — and a forecast for more today — is keeping a 70-acre brush fire from growing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Spokesman Dee Hinds said there’s been rain on Saturday and Sunday, and that firefighters have been pulled from the location. The National Weather Service predicts up to an inch of additional rain Monday.

The fire that started Tuesday on a cliff in Kinsman Ridge over the Lost River Gorge continues to be closely monitored.

Hinds said the rain is helping, but he said there’s still plenty of smoke. He said it could be another month before firefighters are confident that the blaze is fully extinguished.

— Wire reports