Current News

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is reminding anglers that some of the best walleye fishing in New England is approaching with the start of the Vermont walleye fishing season on Saturday, May 2. A range of rivers and lakes offer quality walleye fishing opportunities across the state of Vermont, though anglers should be aware that regulations may vary depending on the waterbody they are fishing.

In all waters of Vermont except Lake Carmi, Chittenden Reservoir and the Connecticut River, walleye and sauger have an 18” minimum length requirement and three-fish daily limit. The open season is from Saturday, May 2 to March 15, 2016.

‘I’m Running,’ US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said Wednesday. Promising to fight "obscene levels" of income disparity and a campaign finance system that is a "real disgrace," Sanders said. He will run for president as a Democrat, which was first reported by The Associated Press. Sanders on Thursday announced he would seek the 2016 nomination “in a bid likely to pressure Hillary Clinton from the left and challenge her on financial issues,” Reuters reported. "I've been traveling around the country for the last year trying to ascertain whether there really is grassroots support in terms of people standing up and being prepared to take on the billionaire class," Sanders said in an interview Wednesday with USA Today and the Burlington Free Press. "I believe that there is." On “Good Morning America,” ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said Sanders is “a long shot to be sure with a fiery message about taking on big money interests.”

As Vermont Gas Systems has expanded service to Jericho and Richmond, almost 950 new business and residential customers saved nearly $1.9 million in 2014 alone by converting from heating oil and propane. About 75 percent of the two towns’ potential customers have converted to natural gas. In the last year, these new Vermont Gas customers also prevented carbon emissions equivalent to the emissions from more than 4.4 million miles of driving.

“Jericho and Richmond are the latest examples of how energy choice can help Vermonters reduce costs and emissions,” said Don Rendall, President and CEO of Vermont Gas. “Our residential rates have gone down 15% in the past three years, sustaining natural gas as an affordable energy option for businesses and families. We are committed to providing more Vermonters access to natural gas through innovation, efficiency, and expansion.”

Governor Peter Shumlin, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott, and Green Up Day sponsors Green Mountain Power and Subaru of New England today joined to remind Vermonters to participate in the 45^th Annual Green Up Day this Saturday and to highlight a unique, Green Up Day-inspired art project being constructed on the State House lawn.

Green Up Day was first launched in 1970 by Gov. Dean Davis and has grown into a unique Vermont tradition. Every year, thousands of Vermonters come together in their communities throughout the state to clean up roadside litter and tidy up public spaces to refresh Vermont’s naturally beautiful landscape. Green Up Day 2015 will be held Saturday May 2.

Green Up Day at Smugglers' Notch resort. Courtesy photo.

The Northeastern Vermont Development Association has officially been granted approval to expand its Foreign Trade Zone service area to include all of Lamoille County.NVDA first received its FTZ designation from the US Department of Commerce in March, 2013. NVDA has since worked with the Lamoille Economic Development Corporation to make the FTZ program available to a greater number of Vermont businesses.

Businesses and industries within Lamoille, Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties that import foreign goods or components into the region are now eligible to apply for reductions or eliminations in tariffs, duties and custom fees.

by Public Assets Institute The Vermont Legislature is pushing ahead with school consolidation on the promise that it will produce better educational opportunities for Vermont children and lower costs for taxpayers. But if consolidation is such a good idea, why won’t lawmakers—to borrow a well-worn phrase—put a little skin in the game and invest General Fund dollars in the reform effort?

The education reform bill approved by the Senate Education Committee offers inducements—either tax breaks or direct payments—to get school districts to consolidate. The cost of these inducements, however, won’t come out of the General Fund. They will come from the Education Fund, which means school districts that don’t consolidate, including those that aren’t required to merge, will pay higher property taxes for the Legislature’s sweeteners.

Consolidation will become another cost shift, not unlike the cost shifts the Legislature says it wants to eliminate.

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) joined with a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday to introduce legislation to protect Vermont businesses and innovators who too often become the victims of so-called “patent trolls.” The introduction comes after 18 months of negotiations led by Leahy and other Senate members to craft a comprehensive bill that deters abusive conduct while preserving the strength of America’s patent system.

Patent trolls misuse the patent system for their own financial gain by sending vague demand letters and threatening to sue unknowing customers. The PATENT Act introduced by Leahy, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and other leading members of the Judiciary Committee aims to cut down on this abuse and bring needed transparency to the patent system.

Satellite television providers are urging the Vermont Senate to reject a recently resurfaced proposal by some senators to impose an additional 5 percent excise tax on satellite television subscribers. This tax would be an addition to the 6 percent tax already paid by Vermonters making the total tax 11 percent - among the highest in the nation, according to a national trade group. The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association said in a statement that this tax hike would hit nearly 100,000 Vermonters who depend on satellite television for news, emergency information and entertainment, costing them millions of dollars.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Money bills were greenlighted by Senate panels late Tuesday night, and now lawmakers are buckled into the end of session roller coaster ride. The tax and budget bills will be on the Senate floor on Thursday and Friday and conference committees will be held next week, ensuring a mid-May adjournment.

Senate Appropriations unanimously approved a $1.5 billion general fund budget that represents a 4.8 percent increase over the fiscal year 2015 budget. The Big Bill is a mirror image of the House Appropriations legislation with a few exceptions, namely: The Senate restores funding for the judiciary, Windsor prison and an inmate education program. The Judicial Branch will increase fees to cover the cost of filling judge vacancies.

A silent, forty-second video message began airing recently on Vermont PBS, informing viewers of budget cuts being considered by the Vermont legislature and what could be at risk for the station as a result. Vermont PBS is the state’s only public television station and serves nearly every Vermonter with free, non-partisan, non-commercial programming. The station offers highly rated educational children’s programming viewed each day by approximately 18,000 Vermont children ages 2-11. The station also supports more than 2,000 teachers, homeschoolers and day care providers who rely on educational programs and online resources to ensure that Vermont’s children enter school ready to learn.

The Vermont Housing Finance Agency Board of Commissioners committed $2.55 million in federal low-income housing tax credits and $432,500 in state housing tax credits to expand Vermont’s stock of affordable, energy-efficient housing. The tax credits will generate approximately $23.5 million in upfront equity for the construction and rehabilitation of 452 primarily rental homes across the state, guaranteed to remain affordable for at least 30 years.

by John McClaughry On April 15 the Democratic/Progressive chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Tim Ashe, lamented the difficult time the legislature is having trying to fill a $113 million General Fund budget gap. Some believe that the state is spending beyond its taxpayers’ means, but Ashe sees it differently. There’s not enough revenue! And there won’t be enough revenue for the next two fiscal years either!

But wait! There’s a nifty solution! Just extend the retail sales and use tax to services!

RELATED: Budget, sales and income tax proposals pass committees