Current News

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has formally adopted the regulations implementing Act 120, the law requiring the labeling of food produced with genetic engineering (aka, genetically modified or GMO). The new rule is Consumer Protection Rule CP 121. After months of public outreach and comments from producers, retailers and consumers, and after approval by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, the Attorney General formally filed the adopted rule with the Secretary of State’s Office on April 17, 2015. Act 120 and the rule take effect on July 1, 2016.

For the second year in a row, Efficiency Vermont is launching a grant program for non-profit organizations to help low-income Vermonters reduce their energy bills. The grant program was first launched in January 2014 with participation from the Committee on Temporary Shelter, Energy Coop of Vermont, Onion River Exchange, and Capstone Community Action.

The first year of the grant program resulted in a total of 35 megawatt hours of energy saved. In addition, the organizations conducted 185 home energy visits, which involved replacing inefficient light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, installing energy-saving low-flow water devices and advanced power strips, and identifying other opportunities to reduce energy use, such as replacing inefficient refrigerators and implementing weatherization projects.

Protesting a trade deal that he said would throw Americans out of work, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) today planned to march with leaders of the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to a rally outside the US trade representative’s office. Sanders’ leading role in opposing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership follows a long record of opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement, Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and other job-killing trade deals. Partly because of those and other agreements, nearly 60,000 factories in the US have been shuttered since 2001 and more than 4.7 million manufacturing jobs have vanished.

“One of the key reasons why the middle class in America continues to decline and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider is because of disastrous trade agreements which have sent millions of decent-paying jobs to China and other low-wage countries,” Sanders said.

Patients choosing prostate cancer treatment at the Southern Vermont Regional Cancer Center (SVRCC) have some additional options. Patients began enrolling on two new clinical trials for radiological treatment of prostate cancer last month. Both of the newly available trials are in phase III, which is the last phase before a course of treatment becomes standardized, after phases I and II have shown the treatment in question is safe and effective. SVRCC participates in mostly phase III clinical trials.

“We always offer the standard of care, the best proven treatment medicine can offer,” said Dr. Matthew Vernon, radiation oncologist at SVRCC. “However, we are excited to offer clinical trials when we have reason to believe we can do better than the current standard. Sometimes the hope is to show a new treatment offers higher cure rates, and sometimes the goal is to maintain high cure rates while decreasing side effects of treatment.”

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) has been recognized as a Platinum-Level Fit-Friendly Worksite by the American Heart Association for helping employees eat better and move more. The Fit-Friendly Worksites program is a catalyst for positive change in the American workforce by helping worksites make their employees’ health and well-being a priority.

“Physical activity and employee wellness are important priorities at BCBSVT. We are honored and excited to be recognized by the American Heart Association as a Platinum-Level Fit-Friendly Worksite,” said Don George, President and CEO. “We’re committed to providing the best workplace environment possible to our employees. Offering our employees a robust, comprehensive worksite health and wellness program benefits not only their health but also the good work they do every day.”

Norwich University has received a grant for $55,675 from the National Science Foundation, with support from the National Security Agency, to lead a weeklong summer camp on cybersecurity for rising high school juniors and seniors. Dubbed GenCyber@NU, the comprehensive program is free to all participants and will be taught by standout Norwich faculty and alumni.

Students will dive into the fields of cyber security and cyber defense while building their own computers, which are theirs to take home at the end of the week. The pre-college program will be held June 21-27 and is designed for students interested in information security, digital forensics, cyberattack defense, and personal online protection.

Spring weather is here and there will be an increase in recreational hikers using hiking access points throughout Vermont. Last year there were numerous car breaks at various hiking access locations in Vermont. This is in part due to the ongoing heroin and opiate challenges the state currently faces. Vermont State Police are warning citizens to not leave valuable items in their vehicles at the trailheads. Some examples would include: purses, ipads, ipods, cash, credit cards, debit cards, social security cards, wallets, and jewelry. These crimes occur each summer and into the fall months in Vermont. Troopers are sending out a pro-active message to citizens to take their valuables with them on their hike or to simply leave valuables at home.

The Vermont Lottery and Vermont Agency of Education announce Charleston Elementary School of Charleston, Vermont, as the first winner of the Educate/Innovate Grant Program. This is the first of what is expected to be a twice-annual award. The program, funded by the Vermont Lottery, will provide a cart of 20 iPad devices to the school in support of their proposal, which has eighth graders working with elders in their community to explore the differences in how communication has changed over time. The project proposed, entitled Elders Among Us: Building Bridges, Breathing History will commence in the coming school year and employs the iPads as an integral part of the process.

The winning proposal states:

Hunters are gearing up for Vermont’s spring youth turkey hunting weekend later this month and getting ready for the regular spring turkey hunting season that starts May 1. Vermont offers some of the best turkey hunting in New England according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. In 2014, Hunters took 5,160 turkeys in both the youth weekend and regular seasons, and 1,232 turkeys in the fall season.

Photo by John Hall, VT Fish & Wildlife: Vermont’s highly successful wild turkey management program resulted in hunters taking 6,392 turkeys in spring and fall seasons last year. This year’s youth spring turkey hunting weekend is April 25-26. The regular spring season is May 1-31.

by Public Assets Institute Thousands of Vermonters work at jobs that don’t pay enough to meet their families’ basic needs. That leaves Vermont taxpayers paying tens of millions of dollars to pick up the slack left by employers who pay so little that hard working men and women have to turn to public assistance. So, before the Legislature approves more tax breaks ostensibly designed to induce employers to create new jobs, it should require that those jobs pay at least enough to keep workers off public assistance.

Otherwise, state taxpayers will be paying twice: once for the tax credit to create the jobs, and again annually to help more low-wage working families make ends meet. Subsidizing the creation of more low-wage Vermont jobs drives up state spending, reduces state revenues, and only aggravates the structural budget problems Montpelier says it wants to solve.

People's United Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: PBCT) has reported net income of $59.2 million, or $0.20 per share, for the first quarter of 2015, compared to $53.1 million, or $0.18 per share, for the first quarter of 2014, and $64.7 million, or $0.22 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2014. Operating earnings were $63.2 million, or $0.21 per share, for the first quarter of 2015, compared to $56.5 million, or $0.19 per share, for the first quarter of 2014, and $65.1 million, or $0.22 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Company's Board of Directors voted to increase the common stock dividend to an annual rate of $0.67 per share. Based on the closing stock price on April 15, 2015, the dividend yield on People's United Financial common stock is 4.4 percent. The quarterly dividend of $0.1675 per share is payable May 15, 2015 to shareholders of record on May 1, 2015.

The University of Vermont officially broke ground on April 15 on a new instructional barn and milking parlor and a new research barn at the Paul R. Miller Agricultural Research Farm, Phase I of a two-phase, $10 million upgrade of the farm, located on Spear Street in Burlington. The $2.55 million, 13,176-square-foot teaching barn and milking parlor will accommodate an instructional herd of 50 cows and be completed in mid-September. For reasons of student safety, both facilities have safety and fire suppression systems not commonly found in barns.

The 8,764 square foot, $987,100 research barn will be used by CALS faculty and their graduate and undergraduate students to conduct short-term, intensive trials on dairy cows related to nutrition, reproduction and animal health. It will also be completed by mid-September.