Current News

Donald J Laackman officially begins his tenure today as the eighth president of Champlain College, succeeding David F. Finney, who retired June 30 after nine years. Laackman was appointed president-elect in December 2013 by the Champlain College Board of Trustees and has been working with the transition team meeting faculty, staff and students throughout the spring. In a brief, informal ceremony in the President’s office, outgoing President Finney handed over the keys to the College to Laackman on June 30, officially marking the start of the new leadership era.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems is taking issue with State Auditor Doug Hoffer’s comments to the media following the release of a report (link is external) on the availability of consumer information on health care services.

A solar orchard powering Middlebury, Vermont’s Woodchuck Hard Cider (link is external) won two honors at a national solar show in Boston last week. The 150kW Bridport project utilizing Vermont-made AllSun Trackers was a “Project of Distinction” finalist and won “Project of Distinction 2014 Fan Favorite” at the PV America event. The 1.5 acre solar orchard (link sends e-mail) consists of 26 pole-mounted dual-axis AllSun Trackers, which use GPS and wireless technology to follow the sun throughout the day.

Faced with a mounting array of crises, Doug Racine, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, says the six departments that fall under his purview are on track. The agency confronts intractable problems that affect Vermonters: drug addiction, homelessness, mental illness, imprisonment, old age and sickness. But of late the agency has also had to handle multiple public relations crises. Fires burn in several departments, and critics say Racine has not been an effective leader. The Department of Vermont Health Access has spent $72 million to implement the Affordable Care Act, but Vermont Health Connect, the state’s online health care exchange, is plagued by problems. The Department for Children and Families is under scrutiny in the aftermath of the deaths of three toddlers who had been in the state’s care. Two of the deaths were ruled homicides.

The Boys & Girls Club of Burlington on Monday received a $1 million gift from Tony Pomerleau and his family, the largest gift in the organization's history. The unrestricted gift will support the club’s mission and educational programs along with scholarships for youth who are participants in the Club’s Early Promise Program. Club officials said the gift will transform the mission and educational programs at the club and allow it to serve more Burlington children.

Ernie, left, and Tony Pomerleau. VBM file photo

Vermont’s recently created Shoreland Protection Act goes into effect beginning July 1. In May, the Vermont General Assembly passed shoreland protection legislation that applies to activities within 250 feet of a lake or pond’s mean water level for all lakes and ponds greater than 10 acres in surface area. The Act establishes a new state regulation for guiding shoreland development. The intent of the Shoreland Protection Act is to prevent degradation of water quality in lakes, preserve habitat and natural stability of shorelines, and maintain the economic benefits of lakes and their shorelands by defining standards in creation of buildings, driveways, and cleared areas in shorelands.

Georgia Mountain Community Wind farm (GMCW) welcomed over 560 community members atop Georgia Mountain at their Open House and Wind Turbine Tours on June 8. The four 2.5 MW turbines were steadily generating power as guests toured the project and enjoyed views of Lake Champlain and the surrounding region. Over 10 school bus loads of visitors took a guided tour to the top of Georgia Mountain to see the wind turbines operating up close and learn more about the project.

“I live right here — and I love it! Love wind, and am grateful to see it every day,” said a community member from Westford, Vermont.

The weather cooperated for the second year in a row, and visitors enjoyed hot, 80-degree temperatures and a light wind out of the West, with wind speeds averaging 5-10 miles per hour.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock will celebrate 20 years of service by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART) with a special celebration Tuesday, July 1, including an employee celebration from 3-5 pm and a public open house from 5-7 pm. Both events will take place at the DHART hangar on the campus of DHMC in Lebanon. The celebrations will feature tours of the DHART facility and helicopters, and presentations by DHART crew members. Light refreshments will be served.

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc, (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee, coffee makers, teas and other beverages with its innovative brewing technology, and Nestlé USA, a division of Nestlé, the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company, announce a multiyear agreement to bring NESTLÉ COFFEE-MATE branded coffee with creamer to K-Cup packs for the Keurig brewing system. Nestle Coffee-mate is the first brand to offer a 2 in 1 K-Cup pack for hot coffee - combining roast and ground coffee with branded creamer. The companies plan to launch the new Nestlé Coffee-mate 2 in 1 K-Cup packs in Original and French Vanilla flavors on Keurig.com (link is external) in fall 2014 and in stores in spring 2015. A reinvention of the coffee routine, Nestlé Coffee-mate 2 in 1 K-Cup packs contain a special combination of coffee and creamer for an even more convenient way to create a rich, creamy, delicious cup of coffee.

Next Stage Arts Project in Putney has been awarded a $370,000 grant from the national organization, ArtPlace America. Selected as one of 55 recipients out of nearly 1300 applicants, Next Stage was recognized as fulfilling ArtPlace’s mission “to advance the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture play an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical and economic futures." Next Stage was noted in ArtPlace’s award announcement for it’s role in helping the community emerge from “two major fires in the village center...

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Business development is all in the family for Patricia Moulton, the state’s new secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Moulton’s resume is studded with key leadership positions in both regional and statewide economic development efforts:

• executive director and director of workforce development at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.,
• deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development,
• vice-president of government affairs for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce,
• state labor commissioner, and, before that,
• chair of the state’s Natural Resources Board, which administers the land use law Act 250.

Moulton also helped her ex-husband run his jewelry business for more than two decades. And she and her father, Elbert “Al” Moulton, ran a consulting business for six years.