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    The Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville is a modest operation by brewing standards. The company, what is known in the business as a craft brewery, does about 3,500 barrels (125,000 gallons) of beer annually. There are nine employees and a plant of 10,000 square feet. Owner Matt Nadeau has been brewing his ales and lagers for a dozen years. Last September, the company was forced into battle with giant beverage company Hansen Natural of California, valued at over a billion dollars in sales. The brouhaha was over the name of one of Rock Art’s products: The Vermonster.

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    Jim Rousseau is the business manager and co-founder with Bob DeSorbo of Nowirz, (www.nowirz.com), a wireless networking, service and consulting company with offices in Waitsfield. Rousseau graduated from Champlain College in 1994. He worked for Engelberth Construction in Colchester for seven years, then Shawmut Design and Construction in Boston, followed by a few years in California before retuning to Vermont to start Nowirz in 2003. He is married and has four children ranging in age from 5 to 13.

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    It was June of 2008 and Kelli Corbeil had it all going on. The bubbly, buoyant honey-blonde with the open manner and easy laugh had a successful career in banking, two young children and a loving husband who was living his dream in local radio.

    By July of 2008, it was all crashing down.

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    The most stunning news to come out of Lamoille County this winter has to do with AIG selling the Stowe Mountain Resort, but that is hardly the only news for this part of Vermont, known for recreation and innovative manufacturers. Having said that, any time it snows in Lamoille County a cheer goes up from business.

    This county relies on a snowy winter to attract tourists to its ski areas in Stowe and Smugglers’ Notch. The Vermont Ski Areas Association hailed the Martin Luther King weekend as a great success, as January saw record snowfall in some parts of Vermont.

No wires? No problem Jim Rousseau brings the World Wide Web to rural Vermont

Fri Feb 12 2010
Jim Rousseau is the business manager and co-founder with Bob DeSorbo of Nowirz, (www.nowirz.com), a wireless networking, service and consulting company with offices in Waitsfield. Rousseau graduated from Champlain College in 1994. He worked for Engelberth Construction in Colchester for seven years, then Shawmut Design and Construction in Boston, followed by a few years in California before retuning to Vermont to start Nowirz in 2003. He is married and has four children ranging in age from 5 to 13.

FairPoint bankruptcy could benefit Vermont

Fri Feb 12 2010
While FairPoint's bankruptcy declaration in October has clearly damaged the company's brand, the move to seek protection from creditors could ultimately prove beneficial for Vermont's largest provider of landline and DSL services.

City Council probes Burlington Telecom controversy

Fri Feb 12 2010
While Burlington Telecom remains embroiled in controversy, with its former director now charging that $14 million in BT funds cannot be accounted for, some of the antagonists are softening at least the tone of their positions.

AT&T brings 3g network to Vermont

Fri Feb 12 2010
The introduction of AT&T’s 3g network in Vermont brings the state closer into sync with many Americans’ expectations of how a mobile broadband network should work. “Everything now is about the speed at which you can move data,” said Vermont Public Service Commissioner David O’Brien. And AT&T bills the enhanced version of its data transmission system as “America’s fastest 3g network.” It’s “bigger, better, faster, stronger than what came before,” said AT&T spokeswoman Alexa Kaufman.

Local, local, and more local: Kelli Corbeil and Brattleboro radio station WTSA

Fri Feb 12 2010
It was June of 2008 and Kelli Corbeil had it all going on. The bubbly, buoyant honey-blonde with the open manner and easy laugh had a successful career in banking, two young children and a loving husband who was living his dream in local radio. By July of 2008, it was all crashing down.

Editorial: Yankee in Hot Water

Fri Feb 12 2010
This has been a difficult month for those of us who support extending the contract of Vermont Yankee. The nuclear power plant located in Vernon was in enough hot water before tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, was discovered in a monitoring well January 7. Things have only gotten worse since then as the level of tritium has gone from a trace to varying levels to above federal safety levels. An underground, concrete trench was subsequently found to contain higher levels of tritium plus two other isotopes that are of greater concern: cobolt-60 and zinc-65.

Exports of manufacturers soared 15 percent in November

Fri Feb 12 2010
After an increase of 1.6 percent in October, sales abroad from Vermont's exporting companies soared 5.2 percent in November. The $14.3 million monthly leap in foreign sales from the previous month brought exports to $288.4 million in November, adjusted for seasonal variation. On an annual basis, the latest trade numbers show that state exporters posted gains in foreign demand for goods made in the Green Mountain State. In November of 2009, foreign consumers and businesses bought $10 million, or 3.6 percent, more goods made in Vermont than in November of 2008.

Vermont’s Most Successful TV Ad Campaign

Fri Feb 12 2010
John Becker died over the Christmas holidays. Most Vermonters today probably don’t recognize Becker’s name, but he had his finger on the pulse of Vermont for more than 20 years. From the 1960s through the 1980s the Boston-based Becker Research was the dominant polling firm in Vermont. He worked for a number of candidates, did polling for WCAX-TV and for a number of business groups. Becker himself was responsible for one of the first major political television ads in a Vermont campaign, one that is now a legend in the national political world.

Don’t text, just drive!

Fri Feb 12 2010
Technology happens and cottage industries are spawned. It happens all the time. Take radar guns for instance. Those are the devices that are used to measure motor vehicle speed.

Residents of two states await the Champlain Bridge’s successor

Fri Feb 12 2010
On B-Day, December 28, 2009, it took longer for the clouds of smoke, rust and paint to settle than for the 500-plus shaped charges of MRX high explosive to cut enough weakened steel beams to bring down the Champlain Bridge. In its place, work on a new bridge is expected to start this spring. In the meantime, a new ferry located at the same spot was expected to begin operations by the end of January.

The Vermonster wins in battle with Monster

Fri Feb 12 2010
The Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville is a modest operation by brewing standards. The company, what is known in the business as a craft brewery, does about 3,500 barrels (125,000 gallons) of beer annually. There are nine employees and a plant of 10,000 square feet. Owner Matt Nadeau has been brewing his ales and lagers for a dozen years. Last September, the company was forced into battle with giant beverage company Hansen Natural of California, valued at over a billion dollars in sales. The brouhaha was over the name of one of Rock Art’s products: The Vermonster.

Sterling Technologies specializes in high tech products

Fri Feb 12 2010
Sterling Technologies in Morrisville is a machine shop that specializes in custom parts, using titanium in many products. The company, while small, is successful and growing. Owners Mike Boudreau, who formerly worked as a manufacturing engineer, and Jeff Walker, a tool and dye maker who worked for IBM, started their business in 2004.

Stowe firm saves damage to power lines, millions for utilities

Fri Feb 12 2010
If a tree falls in a forest, perhaps no one knows it. If that same tree falls on a power line, it could mean big trouble for customers and a big expense for the power company. Utility Risk Management Corporation in Stowe has developed software to help power companies avoid outages due to falling trees. In one year, the company has grown from five employees to 42, with very promising sales estimates for the future.

Manufacturing Solutions growing as a contract assembler

Fri Feb 12 2010
If you are a manufacturer with a need for an assembly plant, then Manufacturing Solutions of Morrisville could be the solution. The company, which assembles products for clients including local rowing machine company Concept 2 and Blodgett Ovens, is growing. It recently acquired the former Lamoille County Railroad engine house and the adjacent Manosh Sawmill, where it will consolidate its workforce.

Lamoille County counts on snow and niche businesses

Fri Feb 12 2010
The most stunning news to come out of Lamoille County this winter has to do with AIG selling the Stowe Mountain Resort, but that is hardly the only news for this part of Vermont, known for recreation and innovative manufacturers. Having said that, any time it snows in Lamoille County a cheer goes up from business. This county relies on a snowy winter to attract tourists to its ski areas in Stowe and Smugglers’ Notch. The Vermont Ski Areas Association hailed the Martin Luther King weekend as a great success, as January saw record snowfall in some parts of Vermont.