Current News

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and the University of Vermont held a Youth Climate Summit today. More than 150 Vermont high school students and dozens of teachers from 26 high schools throughout the state worked in small teams to create climate action plans for their high schools.

“Global warming is the planetary crisis of our time,” Sanders told the students. “The scientific community is telling us that we have a narrow window of opportunity to address the crisis of climate change and to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy,” added the senator, a member of both the Senate energy and environment committees.

The high school students took part in workshops organized by 65 UVM undergraduates who had studied ecological economics. Organizing the climate summit for young Vermonters was one of the goals of the college course that also focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy development and greenhouse gas auditing.

Vermont Business Magazine New weekly unemployment claims in Vermont edged above 1,400 last week. Claims had been very low during the summer, trending under 500, but have been high since early October. After five weeks of increases, claims were down for two weeks before again increasing the last two. Levels this year had been running consistently lower than those of last year, but are now nearly the same. For the week of November 29, 2014, there were 1,428 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 422 from the previous week's total, and 37 fewer than they were a year ago.

According to Mathew Barewicz, Economic & Labor Market Information Chief at the Vermont Department of Labor, the cause of the increase was predominately the result of "a seasonal transition. This past week was much higher than the previous week but slightly lower than this time last year."

Skiers and riders who hit the slopes at Bolton Valley this winter can expect to find reduced lift ticket prices compared to last season and a new outlet to purchase them. The resort has lowered its window prices on lift tickets by as much as $10 and will offer online purchasing for daily lift tickets for even more savings.

Daily ticket rates have been dropped by as much as $10 per day over last season. This winter, adults will pay just $49 for midweek days, $59 on weekend days and $69 during peak holiday periods at the ticket window. The reduced window prices will make skiing and riding more affordable for everyone with no need to find a coupon to save on lift tickets.

On September 22, 2014, the Holiday Motel in St Johnsbury learned of potential unauthorized access to its computer systems. Upon discovering this issue, the Holiday Motel immediately launched an investigation into this matter and took steps to prevent any further unauthorized access. To assist with this investigation, independent computer forensic experts have been retained to review the Holiday Motel systems and to determine what information may have been accessed without authorization. Additionally, the Holiday Motel has been working with law enforcement to investigate this matter. Although the investigation is ongoing, it has been determined that malware was placed on the Holiday Motel system leading to the unauthorized access of certain pieces of guests' personal information, including the guest's name, address, phone number, email address (if provided), credit card number and credit card expiration date. This incident affects guests who used their credit card at the Holiday Mot

The Burlington College Board of Trustees announced Dr Carol Moore as Interim President this morning. The Board and Dr Moore met with faculty, staff, and students in a town hall meeting. Moore has spent over 40 years advancing the educational experience — as a professor, an academic dean and most recently, as the former president of Lyndon State College. During her tenure, she successfully led the college through a revision of the mission through strategic planning, increased enrollment and retention, grew academic programs, and completed the college's first major capital campaign, raising $10 million.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Thursday announced $250,000 in awards to four organizations across Vermont to improve housing conditions for low-income rural residents. Two of the grants were given preference because of the Leahy-led Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) Zone in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom -- a USDA Rural Development Designation recognizing the unique rural nature of a region that prioritizes the region’s grant applications. Thanks in part to Vermont’s REAP Zone status, Vermont received more than nearly every other state in this round of awards, second only to California.

Leahy said: “These are community-strengthening investments that will make a real difference to families in Vermont. The NEK’s REAP Zone continues to be a catalyst for investment in housing, infrastructure and economic growth in the region.”

Vermont will receive $200,000 of a settlement reached between 45 state Attorneys General and Sirius XM Radio Inc. Sirius XM will pay $3.8 million total and provide restitution to eligible consumers. The settlement resolves claims that the satellite radio company engaged in misleading advertising and billing practices.

“We are pleased to have resolved this situation in a way that will make Vermonters whole and stop Sirius XM from engaging in these bad practices in the future,” Attorney General Bill Sorrell said.

Nine nonprofits, including two churches, a volunteer fire department and Rutland’s Paramount Theatre, will soon begin to generate some of their energy with help from the sun, thanks to grants from Green Mountain Power. GMP, which last week became the first utility in the world to earn B Corporation status - certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous social, environmental, accountability and transparency standards - announced the $155,500 in grants today.

Paramount Theatre during the record-breaking Rutland blood drive.

Vermont Health Connect today released data on enrollment and renewal data for the state's health care exchange. The exchange covers individuals and company's with 50 or fewer employees. The following numbers are up-to-date as of 11:59 pm Wednesday, December 3, 2014.

Renewals: 15,595 individuals have been checked out into 2015 health plans (out of 38,704 in the renewal pool).

New to Vermont Health Connect: 2,140 individuals have been checked out into 2015 health plans.

Additional Notes:

1) Since the start of open enrollment, the Customer Support Center has answered over 16,000 calls and the average wait time has been less than 10 seconds.

2) Our partners at Optum expect to complete no-change renewals today, ahead of schedule.

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and brewing technology, announced Thursday (the second major acquistion announced on December 4) that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the outstanding equity of MDS Global Holding p.l.c. (Bevyz) that it does not already own. The transaction is valued at approximately €178 million euros, in cash, or approximately $220 million based on exchange rates as of the close of business on December 3, 2014. Keurig currently owns approximately 15 percent of Bevyz on a fully diluted basis and will fund the acquisition with cash on hand. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the next month.

A-1 Premium Budget, Inc (also known as “Cash in a Wink”), a Delaware company that provides short-term, high-interest internet loans, will pay over $6,600 to twelve Vermont consumers and pay the State of Vermont $10,000 to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection and lending laws. Attorney General William H. Sorrell noted that this is the fifth settlement in a recent effort to protect Vermonters from predatory lending: “Any lender, large or small, that ignores our state lending and consumer protection laws runs the risk of enforcement by my Office.” More information on the Attorney General’s crackdown on illegal lending can be found here.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin intends to propose a combination of an employer payroll tax and an income-based contribution to finance single payer health care, according to sources with knowledge of the plan. In the latest version of the proposal presented November 19 to the governor and members of his Business Advisory Council on Health Care, the employer-funded payroll tax was pegged at 8 percent, according to multiple sources who asked to remain anonymous because council members had mutually agreed to keep their deliberations under wraps. The Shumlin administration declined to comment for this report.