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Champlain College sent nearly 150 members of its staff and faculty out into the community on May 7 to participate in a range of community service projects as part of the College’s annual year-end retreat and awards day. After a morning of announcements and recognition of campus endeavors to encompass the strategic plan, Champlainers grabbed lunch, their gloves and went out to clean up beaches, prepare gardens and help organizations get ready for their summer programs.

Seven Days, the weekly newspaper based in Burlington, has announced that $13,178.64 — $6,578.64 more than last year — will be donated to the Vermont Foodbank as a result of its 5th annual Vermont Restaurant Week and a new partnership with the Vermont Community Foundation’s Food and Farm Initiative. This popular event was presented by the Vermont Federal Credit Union and organized by Seven Days, publisher of 7 Nights, the statewide guide to Vermont’s restaurants and bars.

by Governor Peter Shumlin (The Vermont Legislature completed its work and the session concluded at 7:20 pm Saturday night. Governor Shumlin issued the following commentary to wrap up the 2013-2014 biennium.) This legislative session has created greater economic security, more opportunity, and a better quality of life for all Vermonters. We came together to make progress for those who elected us to serve. And together we made this biennium one of the most productive and successful in recent memory.

All over Vermont we are seeing the results of the work we’ve done together.

Vermont now has the second lowest unemployment rate in America, and we’ve created nearly 11,000 jobs since 2011.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Vermont’s state revenue and spending plans were finalized late Friday night after days of wrangling over property tax rates, policy incentives, sales taxes and budget line items. The deal includes about $5.79 million in new taxes. That’s the amount final negotiations boiled down to after a day of closed-door meetings punctuated by public displays of agreement and optimism. The budget totals $5.5 billion — $1.4 billion from the state’s General Fund and $1.5 from the Education Fund. Almost $2 billion is expected in federal funding.

The extra money is needed to fund a gap created by a agreement between the Shumlin administration and the newly formed home health care union. Lawmakers scrambled to find a way to pay for a $2.2 million tentative contract with home health care workers two weeks ago.

Windham County resident Stephan Morse has agreed to serve as interim Executive Director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC). The interim position is the result of the announcement that current Executive Director Pat Moulton would be departing to serve as Secretary of Commerce for the Shumlin Administration. Morse, a lifelong resident and SeVEDS board member, is currently the Chair of the State Board of Education and is a former past Speaker of the Vermont House and President of the Windham Foundation.

Morse was a former Republican Speaker of the House and long-time president of the Windham Foundation in Grafton.

“We feel fortunate that someone with Stephan’s leadership experience was willing to step up and serve in this interim capacity,” note BDCC President Dan Normandeau. “Stephan will provide the type of support our talented staff needs to keep all of our projects moving forward.”

Norwich University will celebrate commencement and commissioning with ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday, May 10-11, in Shapiro Field House. Both events are free and open to the public. At 2 pm Saturday, former National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander will address roughly 500 students matriculating from 33 undergraduate programs and one master’s program. This is the largest graduating class since President Richard Schneider became Norwich’s 23rd president in July 1992.

The New England Association of Schools & Colleges gave the University of Vermont’s five-year interim report, a key touchpoint in the process of higher education accreditation, high marks on a wide range of fronts. Interim reports are meant to apprise accrediting bodies -- NEASC is one of six regional groups that accredit American colleges and universities -- of the progress an institution is making toward goals set forth during its formal reaccreditation, a process that takes place every 10 years. UVM was last reaccredited in 2009.

“This was a uniformly positive evaluation of the significant steps we’ve taken in a wide range of areas over the last five years,” said UVM president Tom Sullivan. “It’s a strong indication that we’re moving in the right direction and doing so vigorously. I’d like to thank members of the university community for their creativity, hard work and dedication, which laid the groundwork and provided the substance for this strong report.”

With a $1,473,017 grant from HUD, the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) will continue the statewide HIV/AIDS housing and supportive services program, HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS). VHCB provides HOPWA funding to Vermont's regional AIDS service organizations, collaborating with the Vermont Committee for AIDS Resources, Education and Service (VT Cares), the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, the Vermont State Housing Authority, and the HIV/HCV Resource Center to integrate housing, health care, and supportive services for Vermonters living with HIV/AIDs.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org House leadership made its final pitch to amass the votes to pass a minimum wage bill late Thursday evening, but the rally was stalled until Saturday when lawmakers discovered a technical error in the bill up for a vote. Democrats are torn between the Senate’s version of a bill to increase the state’s minimum wage more over a longer term and an amendment offered up Thursday to raise the wage sooner. The House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Thursday pitched a plan to increase the hourly wage to $9.25 on January 1, $9.75 in 2016 and $10.10 in 2017.

This latest leadership-backed proposal is similar to the Shumlin administration’s three-year phase-in to $10.10. Party leadership asked fellow Democrats to cast a “disciplined” vote and support the committee’s amendment.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org All signs point to Saturday adjournment for the Vermont Legislature — with or without the minimum wage and economic development bills. But a new employer tax assessment which would be used to help balance the budget may be the key to whether or not those bills end up passing. House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morrisville, and Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell, D-Windsor, said Friday morning they expect the tax and budget bills to be worked out today and make it through both chambers Saturday.

They say they are leaving it up to Republican leadership to decide whether to take up the minimum wage and economic development bills. The minority party would have to agree to suspend procedural rules in order to act on the legislation quickly enough to finish by Saturday night.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has announced $230,000 in Sea Grant funding to the University of Vermont for research and management of fisheries, water quality, invasive species control and other efforts for Lake Champlain and its surrounding watershed. The funding is the latest installment made possible because of the status Lake Champlain now has within the Sea Grant Program, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Leahy memorably fought and won his battle in 1998 to include Lake Champlain in the Sea Grant Program. In the process the lake briefly was deemed a "Great Lake" for the program's purposes. Since Leahy's win, the Sea Grant Program has included Lake Champlain grant funding to UVM and other institutions.

Leahy said, “As we've hoped and worked for, the Sea Grant Program has become an engine in the ongoing work to clean up our 'great' Lake Champlain."

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont fell considerably last week to their lowest levels since March. For the week of May 3, 2014, there were 568 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 418 from the previous week's total, and 354 fewer than they were a year ago.

Altogether 7,225 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 795 from a week ago and 883 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 35 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 11 fewer than the previous week.