Thu 6 P.M. News Script

Thu 02-FEB-2012 6 P.M. News Script

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Starting tomorrow people will have a chance to give a chilled drink a whole new meaning. The Courtyard Marriot in Burlington and Hotel Vermont are opening an Ice bar. It takes 10-thousand pounds of ice to put it all together -- I got a sneak peak earlier today. ((TRT 4:32 thanks for your time))

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Tickets are twenty bucks -- and there are still some available Saturday. The bar will be open rain or shine.

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Should Fracking be Illegal? We'll hear both sides of the issue over the controversial method of extracting fuel from the ground.

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Good evening. I'm Darren Perron. And I'm Kristin Kelly. State police are confronting a prisoner prank tonight -- and investigating who's behind it. Inmates tasked with making decals -- of the official state seal -- for state police cruisers -- took some liberties with the design. And troopers are not happy about it. Kristin Carlson is here with the story. Police -- troopers -- cops -- the fuzz -- and PIGS. Police officers are called a lot of names. Inmates apparently decided to use their creative sides -- making sure that pigs made their way into the state seal -- for the first time since the seal was first designed -- more than three centuries ago .

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((nats)) Hundreds of cruisers patrol the state... with the state seal standing out on both front doors.... The seal was originally designed by Ira Allen in the 1770's -- there's a tree - mountains -- and a cow -- to honor dairy farming in Vermont. Four years ago the state wanted more decals for cruisers -- giving the job to the prison print shop in Windsor. Inmates were supposed to load the state crest image in -- as given to them... but someone decided to make a major change .... payback perhaps. This is what the cow is supposed to look like on the decal -- but notice the difference on the new decal.... one of the cows spots is actually a pig. Pig is a derogatory term for police. A state trooper in Southern Vermont just noticed the altered artwork. ((PALLITO)) Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito says the decals were recently put on cruisers.... as many as 30 have the prankster pigs. ((PALLITO)) State police aren't laughing either. In a statement Major Bill Sheets said "While some may find humor in the decal modifications the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the tax payers." Pallito expects the bill to replace the offending swine -- 800 dollars.

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The more you look at the decal the more you may see -- we've heard from people who say in addition to the pig -- there may also be a silhouette of a naked women underneath the cow. And as far as catching the inmate -- or person who did this -- Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito says it could be difficult -- there is a lot of turnover in jail.

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A man missing from Fort Covington, New York for a year and a half -- has been found dead -- and police say he was murdered. Matt Henson joins us LIVE from the state police barracks in Massena with the very latest. Kristin. There is some closure tonight for the family of 21 year old Jason Wing. He was last seen in August 2010. From the begiNning they suspected foul play - and that one of his friends was involved. Today their thoughts were confirmed. ((TRACKED BY MATT: This was the scene on Grantville Road in Norfolk. It's about 30 miles west of Jason Wing's home town of Fort Covington. The wooded area is owned by a friend of 37 year old Dustin Trimm. Police arrested Trimm last night and charged him with the murder of his friend Jason Wing. Wing was last scene alive in August 2010. Today - human remains were located on the property and police believe the bone fragments belong toWing. Investigators say they were very well concealed. And according to court papers - investigators believe Wing was shot to death either the last week of August 2010 - or the first week in September of that year. Since the beginning - police say Trimm has been the focus of their investigation. SOT FROM TROOPER)) Now tonight at 11 - we will hear from Jason Wing's mother.

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Federal agents busted a Montreal woman trying to smuggle bath salts into Vermont from Canada. Bath salts are a kind of designer drug -- that have become popular around the country. Vermont has not seen a lot of problems with the drugs -- but the state just moved to make them illegal to use and possess. U-S Customs and Border Protection agents say 23-year-old Ann Gagnon-Lucier -- had 45 grams of bath salts -- when she tried to cross into the US at the North Troy port of entry.

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A federal health care ruling has some members of Vermont's religious community up in arms. Starting this summer -- health care plans for most employers -- must cover birth control -- and some say that infringes on religious freedom. Keagan Harsha has the debate.

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((nats of hail mary)) Every Wednesday morning -- like clockwork -- these Catholics stand vigil outside Planned Parenthood in Burlington -- on a mission to help bring an end to abortion. ((sot)) Now -- they're taking up another fight. Starting next fall -- federal law will require all health insurance plans cover contraceptives for women -- without a co-pay. And catholic colleges and hospitals are not exempt -- even though the church considers it morally wrong to prevent conception by any means. ((Jamey Toner/CAtholic: In my opinion, it's unamerican.")) ((12:13-23 Agnes Clift: Catholic: "I believe as a Catholic the church needs to be firm in their teachings, and they have been and this seems like persecution to me.")) But others disagree. ((NATS: 20:42 "WE've definitely come a long way.")) Jill Krowinski is with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. She is lauding the human health services ruling -- calling it a win for public health. ((19:04-11 Jill Krowinski/Planned Parenthood of New England: "when you improve access to birth control it prevents unintended pregnancies, so you have less abortions.")) ((17:29-42 Keagan Harsha: "but some say this infringes upon their religious freedom...." Krowinski:"let's be clear, this doesn't require anyone to dispense it or use it. It simply ensures women have access to affordable health care.")) ((34:04-14 Keagan Harsha/Winooski: "vermont's Catholic bishop declined our request for an interview about the ruling, but he is urging Catholics to take a stand. This letter was sent to the state's 75 catholic parishes last week.")) In it -- Bishop Salvatore Matono urges Catholics work to reverse the law... saying quote... "even those who are not in agreement with the Church's teaching .... cannot be allowed to force religious institutions to sponsor and pay for procedures and rulings which are contrary to those teachings." **GFX** Ironically -- while most bishops oppose the law -- many catholics support it. According to a HART research Poll -- 77 percent of Catholic women support the benefit -- and 98 percent of all catholic women have used contraceptives. **END GFX** But this group says that doesn't make it right.... ((15:51-54 None of us are perfect, especially Catholics.")) And they vow to continue to their mission ((nats of singing ))-- hoping the law will ultimately be reversed. Keagan Harsha, Channel 3 news in burlington. ((bring music up after soc))

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The law goes into effect this August -- but Church affiliated organizations will be granted an extra year to comply with the law. St. Michael's college is the Vermont's largest catholic employer outside of the diocese. Unlike most catholic schools -- contraceptives are covered under the college's insurance plan.

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Burlington will be packed with people this weekend -- for the 20th annual Winter Festival. There will be live entertainment, games -- and the much anticipated -- snow sculpting competition. But what do you do when there's no snow? It will be trucked in from local hockey rinks.

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(30:20:12) ((Ron Redmond/Church St Market Place "they have some extra ice and snow that we're going to bring on the street and create a mountain of snow for kids to sled on and slide down all that stuff so we will have snow"))15 The U-S women's Hockey Team will also be at the Festival on Saturday -- with ice skating for kids.

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Sharon is here, ....And this is sad for the winter carnivals. .... It is. ....

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The end of life bill is on the docket once again. It would allow terminally ill patients to decide with their doctor -- how and when to die. The concept is controversial -- and lawmakers voted it down 5 years ago. Susie Steimle takes a look at the political struggle in her special report -- Right to Die. Susie. The end of life bill currently sits before the senate judiciary committee. The chair of that committee says it's not moving. But advocates argue the votes in the senate are nearly 50/50. It's a piece of legislation that knows no party, even for the politicians the decision is often highly personal.

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Former Vermont representative Peter Mallory inherited his political will from his Uncle, U.S. Congressman Richard Mallory. ((Peter Mallory: He was a model that I knew I would never match but it was worth trying (laughs) 10:53-11:05)) Congressman Mallory served sixty years in public office, most of that time was spent in Vermont as a selectman, speaker of the house, senator, commissioner and secretary. Mallory spent the last years of his life fighting to give Vermonters the right to die -- little did he know he'd want the right himself someday. ((Peter Mallory: He had metastasized prostate cancer it metastasized to his spine and he had a terminal diagnosis 02:30-02:39)) If the end of life bill had passed in 2007 Mallory could have elected to die at the hands of a physician -- instead, determined not to deteriorate before his family, he took death into his own hands and committed suicide in September of 2011. ((Peter Mallory: He made the choices he had always spoken of as being the choices he would prefer and that he would like other people to have the opportunity to make within the law 02:48-03:02)) ((Susie Steimle: At the start of the 2012 session the Senate Judiciary committee made this list of their top priorities for the session, the end of life bill wasn't on it)) ((Sen. Dick Sears: there is not enough support for the bill either in the senate or in my committee 01:02:01-01:02:06)) The bill sits before the senate judiciary committee, Sen. Sears says that's where it will stay, he's one of several powerful senators against the bill -- like President Pro Tem John Campbell. ((Sen John Campbell/President Pro Tem: We're dealing with giving somebody immunity to manslaughter which is huge its one of the major laws it's a major felony 06:36-06:46)) The bill would make physicians assisting terminally ill patients with ending their lives immune from any charges, Sen. Campbell says this is one of many issues he has with the legislation, other concerns are more personal. ((Sen. John Campbell: quite frankly the last couple of days my mom was in terrible pain it was incredibly hard to watch 27:15-27:21)) Campbell promised his mother on her deathbed that he wouldn't pass this bill, so he's staying out of the debate. He says he won't use his powers as the President Pro tem on either side of the debate. But he agrees with Sears that there's too much on the senate's plate to take on this controversial bill. ((Sen. John Campbell: It would absolutely take away from what we're trying to do, balance the budget, trying to figure out how to not raise taxes, how to get through irene, how to save kids from opiate addictions 30:46-30:58)) ((Sen. Richard McCormack: The Vermont senate is perfectly capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time we not only can do many jobs at once we do many jobs at once 45:41-45:51)) Sen. Richard McCormack says the excuse that there's too much before the senate is a cop-out. It's what many said during the session in which same-sex marriage passed -- ironically Senator Campbell sponsored that bill. ((Sen. Richard McCormack: the argument that we don't have the votes therefore we're not going to push the bill is really dodging our duty as a senate our job is to consider bills on their merits 45:01-45:14)) ((Sen. John Campbell: if it did come to the floor and if it lost they would be really hard pressed to bring it back up again so if i really wanted to block this knowing the way the votes aren't there thats the way to do it but I'm not going to do that. 31:42-31:56)) Campbell says not only are there legal concerns with this bill it invokes a gray area that would bring up lengthy debate and make the bill even more difficult to pass. One area of concern? A patient must make two oral requests and be deemed terminal and given six months or less to live to be administered lethal drugs from a physician. ((Sen. John Campbell: I look at people who suffer from alzheimers, they wouldn't be able to use this bill, people who couldn't vocally tell the doctor could not use this bill 19:02-19:14)) ((Sen. Richard Sears: requiring someone to determine that you're within six months to death, I'm not sure that we have that good of system that can determine taht, i've heard of a lot of people that were told they had 4-5 months to live and lived for years 01:03:51-01:04:04))

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Now advocates say even though patients unable to make oral requests would not benefit from this bill it has the potential to end suffering for others who are terminally ill. Supporters say at this point its up to the public, call your legislators and let them know where you want this bill to go. Lawmakers have until March to get bills out of the senate and over to this house.

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A massive cargo plane landed at the Burlington Airport. The C-5 will transport members of the Vermont Air National Guard to Hawaii for a 17-day mission. About 200 members -- as well as ten F-16 jets -- will support air defense training for the Hawaii Air National Guard. The Vermont Air Guard will act as aggressor aircraft -- challenging the Hawaii Air National Guard's F-22 jets.

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(lt. Col. Dan finnegan/vt. Air guard: "when we're out there we'll be providing training resources for them. But they also run a similar mission that we do back here which is homeland defense alert, so it'll be an opportunity for us to share training at the same facility." )) Guard members are flying to Arizona today -- and on to Hawaii on Friday.

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Vermont's two senators are fighting to keep the cost of college from soaring even higher. Many students already face big financial challenges before they take on college loans. Now -- the interest rate on federal Stafford loans is set to double. A 2007 law that slashed the rate from 6-point-8 percent to 3-point-4 percent will expire this summer -- unless Congress acts. Senator's Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders introduced legislation yesterday that will keep the lower rate in place.

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Congressman Peter Welch is leading an effort to keep Republicans from stopping cuts in defense spending. The Pentagon is slated to lose 500-billion dollars in funding. The automatic cuts are a result of the failure of Congress to negotiate a debt reduction package last Fall. Entitlement programs face equally large cuts. But now Republicans are looking to reduce the military cuts -- arguing they will put national security at risk. But Welch says "a deal is a deal." He and 126 other Democrats wrote to the president -- urging him to veto any bill that reduces the scheduled defense cuts.

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Tonight: Becoming partly cloudy. Lows: 5/15 Winds: N 5-10 mph Friday: Increasing clouds. Chance of late day snow showers. Highs: 28/35 Winds: Light Friday Night: Cloudy skies. Snow showers. Lows: 13/20 Winds: W 5-10 mph Saturday: Variable cloudiness. Chance of snow showers. Highs: 23/30 Winds: NW 5-10 mph Extended: Sunday through Thursday. Saturday Night: Lows 5/12 Sunday: Mostly cloudy. Highs 23/30 Lows 13/20 Monday: Mostly sunny. Highs 30/37 Lows 15/22 Tuesday: Chance of snow showers. Highs 23/30 Lows 5/12 Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Highs 20s Lows 10/17 Thursday: Chance of snow showers. Highs 20s

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Mike is in with our sports preview...a wild night at the Hub ... maybe a little too wild for the tastes of some UVM hoops fans... but things are always interesting whenever Vermont and Boston University meet on the hardcourt... (( TRT: 22 ... OC: "BEHIND THEM."))

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I'm Scott Fleishman at Agganis Arena in Boston and Cats and Terriers double header here last night. We have a complete recap, coming up later in sports. --- And the UVM Winter Carnival opens tomorrow at Stowe. The SkiCats are off to another great start this season as they look to put the disappointment of last year's NCAA championships behind them.

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28} SHOES5_VO

Veterans and the homeless at the Open Door Shelter in Rutland -- are getting a gift today. Balance Works, a local orthotic shop, teamed up with Aetrex Worldwide to offer custom orthotic insoles and custom shoes to those in need. Veterans and the homeless are measured for a proper shoe fitting -- and then a computer evaluates their stance to determine which orthotic would be right for them. The participants also received special low moisture socks which help prevent infection.

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((James Corliss/Veteran: found out that I've been wearing the wrong kind of shoes. The shoes are too small for my feet and that's why they hurt!)) ((Gretchen Lima/Balance Works: Most people are wearing the wrong size shoe, type shoe, shape shoe, and are suffering from knee hip and back issues and a lot of times that's related to your feet. So I feel like giving someone a pair of shoes is not enough, that we have to fit them so we can have a rippling effect on their whole life and a pair of shoes does that.)) In addition to the shoes -- participants also received foot health education.

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A well-known sister -- and popular educator -- has died. Sister Elizabeth Candon died yesterday at her home in South Burlington. Candon was a former president of Trinity College in Burlington, where she also taught English. She served as Vermont's secretary of human services in the 1970's -- under Governor Richard Snelling. She served on numerous boards throughout the state, including Middlebury College. Candon grew up on a dairy farm in Pittsford. She was one of 11 children. Sister Elizabeth Candon was 90 years old.

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Still ahead tonight - a Grammy winner takes the stage at a school assembly. Sharon finds out what you need to know in order to grow great basil. And next in our HealthWatch - help for stroke survivors.

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Doctors at the University of Vermont say results from a new stroke study out of Italy are promising. The research showed magnet therapy may help re-train the brain -- and improve recovery. Bridget Barry Caswell has more.

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They are the number one cause of adult disability in the country -- and the third largest killer. Each year -- more than 800-thousand Americans suffer a stroke. And when they strike the right side of the brain, it's the left side of the body that's affected -- the side that controls a person's visual and spatial skills. Some people can't even find their own left land. (1:33) ((Dr. Mark Gorman/UVM-FAHC Neurologist: It also makes it difficult to come back from a stroke - to rehabilitate. If you can't recognize that you have a problem it's difficult to work towards a solution.)) Solutions have so far been limited, but now a new study shows magnets may help stimulate the brain to heal faster. (3:03) ((Gorman: This technique -- transcranial magnetic stimulation actually does not involve medication. What it is is taking a magnetic coil that's slightly larger than one's hand, placing it in the area over the scalp and turning it on. Basically it will introduce a magnetic field that creates electrical activity under the coil and so in that way it stimulates the brain externally.)) (graphic) It was a small study, but overall -- participants who received the magnet therapy improved about 16 percent immediately following treatment. Two weeks after treatment -- even better. Doctors saw a 22-percent improvement. They say the electricity helps balance out activity on both sides of the brain -- after one side gets overloaded following a stroke. (4:44) ((Gorman: Absolutely it's very exciting. You have to remember this was more or less a small exploratory study and so it involved 20 patients, 10 of whom actually received the TMS therapy, but it's very exciting and especially something that doesn't involve medications and can be done relatively easily. So I bet it will spur a lot of activity in the area.)) A dose of hope for those who suffer and survive the third largest killer in the country... A new therapy to treat stroke-related disability. BBC, Ch. 3 News, Btn

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Fletcher Allen Health Care is a nationally designated primary stroke center. The hospital sees approximately 5-hundred stroke victims every year.

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A new study shows snowboarders suffer more injuries on the slopes -- than skiers do. Burlington doctor Robert Johnson analyzed injury reports at Sugarbush Resort from 1988 through 2006. He found a slightly larger percentage of snowboarders were injured during that time period than skiers -- but skiers often suffered more serious injuries. 17 percent of all skiing injuries were ACL sprains. Wrist injuries accounted for 28 percent of all snowboarding injuries. The results of the study are published in the American Journal of Sports medicine. That's HealthWatch.

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Tonight at 11 - disagreement over a deer. A trophy deer head mounted to the wall in the Vermont Statehouse was taken down - and hunters are angry. Who took it down and why - tonight at 11.

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Vermont's state auditor is criticizing the city of Burlington. Tom Salmon sent questionairres to more than two dozen municipalities, schools and other organizations that receive state funding. Salmon says Burlington was the only one -- that failed to respond. Salmon says it's surprising that Burlington be aloof about financial accounting -- given its recent track record. Salmon was referring to the city's troubles with Burlington Telecom which include spending 17-million dollars of taxpayer money -- to prop-up the utility in violation of its license.

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Mount Snow in West Dover is suing NBC for two million dollars. The ski area says the network improperly cancelled the 2011 winter Dew Tour -- and moved it to Killington. According to the Rutland Herald -- Mount snow claims it had a contract to host the snowboarding and skiing competition through 2011. This is the second year the event was held in Killington.

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More concerns about the growing number of wild pigs on the loose in northern New York. Environmentalists say the feral pigs are damaging corn crops throughout the region. One farmer even reported damages of 20-thousand dollars. In some cases -- Hunters are taking matters into their own hands and shooting pigs. And wildlife officials have started trapping them. The department of Environmental Conservation is urging residents to report any pig sightings.

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The Community College of Vermont in Rutland has a new home. Located on West street -- the new 32-thousand-square foot building is double the size of the old one on Evelyn Street. CCV President Joyce Judy says the new space offers state of the art science and computer labs -- with a focus on the allied health profession. Judy says this allows the school offer more classes and better schedules for students.

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((Joyce Judy/CCV President: It allows us to enroll more students it also allows us to offer more classes at popular times. One of the things that we were really stretched with was if you wanted to take a course on a Thursday evening -- there was only so many rooms on Thursday evening -- this gives us the opportunity to offer more.)) CCV did not pay to construct the building, but is leasing it from a Williston based developer. That's News Around the Region.

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Starting to think about next summer's garden? How about planting some basil? This evening Garden Expert Charlie Nardozzi is going to show us there are more varieties than you may be aware of.

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((Basil, is one of my favorite things to have in the garden! It smells so good for one thing! And it tastes so good for another thing! And there are all kinds of different basils now, we usually think of the Italian genevise basil, that you make pesto, you put it on your mozzarella with a little slice of tomato,..ooooh nice! But there are lime basils, there's cinnamon basils, there's licorice basils, and I"m going to give you a quiz! Wow! Uh oh! What does this one smell like? Lime? That's citrusey ... Yes, nice and citrusey, how about this one? Cookies! ha ha! It's Christmas! Yes, that's cinnamon basil! So when you are looking at planting basils in the spring, you want to start your seeds indoors, probably about 4 weeks before your last frost date. Get em up, because a lot of these varieties you may or may not find in your garden centers. So start them yourself. Start them yourself from seed, they're really easy to grow. But the key with basil is to put them out after the frost date and after things have really warmed up, even into June you can be planting your basil, out into the garden. You can group them in their own little place, or own little kitchen garden, or like this garden here at Ft ticonderoga, they mix them in with other vegetables too because they are a real beautiful thing to look at. And once they start growing up, you start giving them a little fertilizer, maybe a little fish emulsion, you want the leaves to be nice and rich and big like this. You want to pick the leaves in the morning, when most of the volatile oils are in there, that's when they have the most fragrance and the most taste to them. And then if they ever flower, snip off those flowers, and they'll continue to keep producing time and time again, and you'll have basil probably right up until frost. All through summer. All through summer, making great things for you and your family. Beautiful.))

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The UVM men's basketball team is breathing a sigh of relief, while the Vermont women are feeling hopeful about the future following an eventful doubleheader between the Cats and Boston University last night at Agganis. It was a second place showdown for the men as the Cats and Terriers both entered the night 7-2 in league play...a game back of first place Stony Brook... --- Vermont got off to a fast start with the outside shooting of Four McGlynn and Matt Glass leading the way ...and the Cats turned defense into offense as well...holding the Terriers to just 32% shooting in the first half, holding B-U to just 19 points and leading by 16 at the break... --- they would maintain that lead for most of the second half...Luke Apfeld leading a balanced Vermont attack with 16 points ...and with three and a half minutes to go, UVM was still up 16 and seemingly in control... --- but that's when B-U turns up the defensive intensity...going to a full court press...and it works wonders... Vermont turns the ball over and the Terriers take advantage, eventually cutting that lead all the way down to one point with twenty seconds to go ... --- fortunately for the Cats...they finally do break the press at that point...McGlynn scores and gets fouled ...he'd miss the free throw so the lead remains three... --- that means B-U has one more chance to tie ...and they actually get two three pointers off in the final ten seconds but neither falls and the UVM men hold on for a 68-67 win to improve to 14-10, 8-2 in conference play...

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as for the women... they were facing a Terriers team that is undefeated in league play...including their one point win at Patrick in early January. Of course, that was against a full strength Vermont team that had both Lauren Buschmann and Lauren Wheeler. The juniors are done for the year with knee injuries, but the Cats are starting to show signs that they can still be a competitive team without them. Coming off a blowout win at Stony Brook last weekend, Vermont never backed down from B-U. Shanai Heber had a monster game to lead the Catamounts...13 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks...and Vermont led by five at the break. And while being forced into bigger roles due to the injuries, the Cats' talented freshman continue to grow in front of our eyes...Shavonne White had 14 points...Kayla Burchill ten...Tierra Shumpert nine...Niki Taylor eight points, 12 rebounds. But B-U is the league leader for a reason and the Terriers battled back from an eight point deficit in the second half to win 72-64. Still the Cats came out encouraged from the effort. Scott Fleishman has more from Vermont's night out in Boston.

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(( TRT: 1:09 ... OC: "CHANNEL THREE SPORTS."))

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The Vermont men's BracketBuster game against Niagara has been set. The Cats will host the Purple Eagles on Saturday, February 18th at 2pm at Patrick Gym. This is the seventh time UVM has been part of the BracketBuster series, but this game will not be aired on any of ESPN's networks. As part of the agreement to be part of the series, Vermont will play a return game at Niagara early next season.

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The UVM ski team gets set to host its carnival tomorrow morning. The Alpine events are on Friday and Saturday in Stowe while the Nordic events take place at the Trapp Family Lodge on Saturday and Sunday. The Cats are 2 for 2 in Carnival wins this season. Of course, this will be the first time Vermont has skied in a home meet since last year's NCAA Championships. UVM entered those championships ranked first, but had a disappointing sixth place overall finish. Seniors like Caitlin Patterson have already put that result in the rear view mirror. Patterson with 2 second place finishes last weekend at UNH. Meanwhile, newcomers like Stowe's Bobby Farrell on the alpine side are fitting right in. He's already got a win in the slalom this season and is looking for bigger and better things this weekend.

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(((QUITE STRONG... :26)))

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Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski says he and team trainers will make the final decision on if he will play in the Super Bowl Sunday. Media reports said Gronkowski planned to practice today, the first time he would be on the field since suffering a high ankle sprain in the AFC Championship game. For their part, the Giants continue to talk with confidence leading up to the game. One day after Jason Pierre-Paul said that Tom Brady was not God, the young Giants pass rusher said today that New York had Brady so rattled in their regular season win at Foxboro that the Pats QB reacting to pressure even when their wasn't any. Said Pierre-Paul... "just imagine us getting there even faster and actually doing our jobs and getting hits on him."

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in this season's NBA ...with it's condensed 66 game schedule, you need a couple of nights when things go your way and you can give your stars a rest. Especially for an older team like the Celtics and that's what happened last night as Boston hammered Toronto at the Garden. No starter played more than 26 minutes... Kevin Garnett played just 17... Paul Pierce led five scorers in double figures with 17 as the C's rolled 100-64 to improve to 11-10...a game above .500 for the first time this season. Boston hosts the Knicks tomorrow night.

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54} CORRECTION

Earlier we showed a video in remembrance of Sister Elizabeth Candon. That video did not feature her and we apologize for the error.

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Kids at Williston Central School got a treat today. After practicing courtesy and respect -- they were rewarded with a special Creole concert. Gina Bullard has more.

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The music... ((nat)) The Mardi Gras beads ... And we can't forget the accents... ((nat Terrance Simien)) Its feels more like the deep south than Vermont. (51:02:20) ((Sierra Polley/Student "it was awesome")) Grammy Award winners Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience Band helped the Williston Central School find their inner Zydeco Thursday. ((nat)) It a unique form of folk music using both French and English. It evolved from Creole music from Louisiana in the 19th century. (16:43:15) ((Terrance Simien "lead instrument number one is what i have around my neck -- this is an accordion")) ((nat frotwa)) (17:07:14) ((Terrance Simien "frotwa is french it means rub board. this was created for this style music")) And this party has a purpose -- it was earned. Students here participate in a program called Be Smart -- positive behavior like being respectful earns students a bead -- those beads get collected - and counted. Once the kids have 10-thousand beads -- they get to celebrate. (52:06:17) ((Jackie Parks/Prinicpal WCS "this whole program started as the school coming together and wanting to acknowledge students for their positive behaviors")) (50:00:20) ((Noah Lemieux/Student "i thought it was great. it was really fun - he was throwing all the things out")) This time it's concert -- other times it's dance party -- or extra time at recess. This is their 4th Be Smart celebration -- but we were told -- the best yet. (53:24:18) ((Jackie Parks/Prinicpal WCS "this was a gift from the sky to be honest.")) (51:23:08) ((Sierra Polley/Student " gb-so was it a celebration or what? SP-yes i was awesome")) And by all the smiles, dancing and singing -- it's easy to see why. (51:05:17) ((Sierra Polley/Student "i thought it was really cool how they got everyone so excited and i really liked the music it was really fun")) A big reward -- and a history lesson on Creole that's hard to forget. ((nat crazy kids)) Gina Bullard Channel 3 News Williston.

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If you want to catch Terrance Simmien and the Zydeko Band Experience -- they will be playing at the Spruce Peaks Performing Arts Center at Stowe this Saturday.

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