There was a lot of worrying economic news this week - house sales are down, gas prices are up, the problems in the national economy are being felt in the state. Vermont lawmakers looked at a bill that would protect the rights of landlords, while congress looked a bill to protect wetlands, an the Attorney General issued a report on how police use Tasers.

These are some of the voices in the news this week:

Sorrell: Brattleboro police "blew it" in use of Tasers
(Attorney General Bill Sorrell) "I'm sorry to report that the Brattleboro Police blew it in both cases in our view based on the evidence that we had to review. They should not have Tased the two protesters even one time, let alone multiple times for each of them."

Under new legislation, Vt would close one of its prisons
(Sen. Susan Bartlett) "We are doing something that nobody else in the country is doing, that we can find. We are closing a correctional facility. We are closing a wing of another correctional facility. We are saying substance abuse is at the base of so many of these offenders. And we have to save money, and we have to provide treatment.''

Senators push for bill to protect water quality
(Alexander Grannis, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) "Our greatest fear is that once wetlands and the biodiversity which they foster are lost it may be difficult, if not downright impossible, to reestablish them."

Report says real estate prices have declined
(Phil Dodd, Vermont Property Owners Report) "Median prices of single-family primary homes are not rising anymore. In fact for this one four-month period we looked at, they had dropped 2.6 compared to the same four-month period a year earlier.''

Legislation would make it easier to evict problem tenants
(Sen. Bill Carris) "We heard from a lot of lawyers that go through the process of evicting tenants. It's a nightmare of a system. We heard from some apartment owners that in fact try and do it themselves, it's an even bigger nightmare."

State revenue down for the month of March
(Administration Secretary Mike Smith) "Vermont is beginning to feel the impact of the national economic condition and I think for a short duration here we will be in for a rough period. Hopefully it will be a short duration. But, nonetheless, Vermont will be impacted by the national economy."

Energy plan faces uphill battle in Congress
(Congressman Peter Welch) "You lower that price by 25 cents and it has a real impact. You get ten gallons of gas, you save $2.50 - that's real money for folks these days. But it has a real impact on some of our small businesses that are getting clobbered by these rising energy prices."