Current News

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Rick Bornemann is the new President and CEO of the Ethan Allen Institute.
Rick was born and raised in Connecticut and is an economics graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts. He returns to New England after a 25-year career in the nation s capital.
Beginning as a legislative aide to an Oregon Congressman, he served as a legislative affairs representative for what is now the Nuclear Energy Institute. He became a vice president of United Illuminating (a Connecticut public utility), and then of Kansas City Southern Industries (a Midwestern railway holding company). His most recent position was that of a strategist and lobbyist for Government Strategies Inc., a Washington government relations firm.
During his long career in Washington, Rick specialized in business, tax and regulatory issues, with a special competence in economic development, transportation and energy.

Vermont's unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in July from its June rate of 7.3 percent. Vermont's drop was the greatest of any state. This is also the lowest Vermont rate since January. In a cautious note of optimism, 17 states and the District of Columbia saw a drop in unemployment rates, continuing a trend of more states showing improvement in jobless rates. In June, only five states, including Vermont, saw a drop, and in May, only one state fell.
The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July 2009 was 6.8 percent, down 0.5 tenths of a point from the revised June rate and up 2.2 points from a year ago. The release of July unemployment numbers was delayed until today to ensure that Bureau of Labor Statistics correction of New England results did not affect Vermont.

Thomas S. Leavitt, Executive Vice President for Merchants Bank, announced the groundbreaking for the construction of a new office on Route 4 in Rutland. The bank currently has a small drive-up on the site at 92 Woodstock Avenue. The new full-service ADA-compliant branch at the same address will include: four lobby teller stations; two drive-up service lanes; an additional ATM drive-up lane; offices for branch management, commercial lending officers, and customer service. Completion is expected before year-end. As part of this expansion, Leavitt also announced the appointment of Deanna K. Wetherby to the position of Branch President for Woodstock Avenue.

The University of Vermont continued its steady rise in the just released US News & World Report rankings, claiming the 39th spot among the nation's top public universities, up from 40th last year and 47th in 2000. There are more than 500 public colleges and universities in the nation. UVM also rose in the magazine's national universities ranking, from 89th last year to 88th. UVM was ranked 96th in 2001. UVM was also named by Sierra Magazine as the number 4 "Coolest Schools" in the country based on its commitment to the environment.
For the US News ranking, UVM was 8th among national universities in a list of the magazine's "Top Up-and-Coming Schools," institutions that have "recently made striking improvements or innovations schools everyone should be watching," the magazine said.

As Hurricane Bill races up the east coast, bringing the threat of dangerous surf and potential flooding to coastal New England, Vermont Red Cross staff have been deployed to support any disaster relief needs that may arise. The storm is expected to glance off the coast, but could still threaten the region.
The Vermont team led by Timothy Stetson, Senior Director of Emergency Services for the Vermont, New Hampshire Valley region will coordinate paid and volunteer staff as they move to the Red Cross emergency response center in Bangor, Maine this morning to await calls for support over the next 48 72 hours. As the Vermont team swings into action, additional volunteer staff is on standby and ready to move into coastal response areas as needed.

The ability to get online for the first time may be getting closer for some northern New England residents as the region s leading telecommunications provider has submitted applications for $37.8 million under round one of three rounds of the $7.4 billion Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP), with Vermont to get about $7.3 million to reach 2,900 customers. If the funds are awarded, it means more broadband for more people, in more communities. If awarded, FairPoint Communications would use the federal grants to build its network to reach more unserved and underserved regions in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont which it otherwise would have been unable to serve within an identifiable timeframe.

Governor Jim Douglas was on hand as a local developer broke ground at the site of the first new neighborhood created under the housing bill passed last year. In a ceremony at the future site of Village Haven, a 24-unit housing development off West Street in Essex Junction being built by Dousevicz, Inc., the governor praised the project as leading the way in an effort to get more housing built that working Vermonters can afford under the Vermont Neighborhoods program.
This site is a great example of how we can work together to encourage housing that working families can afford. We can achieve this goal and at the same time uphold our strong environmental standards, Douglas said. And projects like are critical in this economy as they create jobs for Vermonters and stimulate our economy.

Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that Vermont partnerships across the state have been awarded more than $1.2 million in Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program Continuation Grants. The DFC grants are awarded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to local organizations in communities that are working to reduce youth alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use. Fourteen Vermont coalitions are among 565 communities nationwide to receive these grants for Fiscal Year 2009.

Scientific Games of New York (Nasdaq: SGMS) announced it has been selected as the primary vendor to supply instant tickets for the Vermont Lottery, upon completion of an open and competitive procurement process. The contract, which is expected to begin January 16, 2010, has an initial term of two years with two one-year extension options. Revenue to Scientific Games is based on a price per thousand and is estimated to total approximately $1 million per year.
"We have enjoyed working with the Vermont Lottery and we are glad to remain partners," said Joe Wright, CEO of Scientific Games. "The Vermont Lottery, which recently celebrated its 30(th) anniversary, has done a great job over the years growing its instant ticket sales and returning more to the State's education fund and we are gratified to continue to be a part of it."

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday that it has teamed up with the Vermont Tourism Network (VTN) to provide additional tourism resources and expand marketing efforts. This partnership will enable the Vermont Chamber of Commerce to offer additional marketing opportunities to its members who rely on the tourism industry.
VTN s primary purpose is to promote packaged group tour travel to the Green Mountain State, mainly through motorcoach tours to its member businesses.
Despite recent reports of declining state revenues, dollars generated by the tourism industry have remained steady in Vermont, suggesting marketing efforts drawing tourists to the Green Mountain State are working. The Vermont Chamber of Commerce and VTN have powered up their efforts to meet current marketing challenges to continue to support a successful tourism industry in Vermont.

With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding an additional $50 million for loans and $24 million for technical assistance, the U.S. Small Business Administration is expanding its Microloan program and increasing access to capital for small businesses across the country. The approved new microlenders are: Vermont Community Loan Fund, Inc. of Montpelier, Vt.; Neighborhood Development Center of Saint Paul, Minn.; Cen-Tex Certified Development Corp. of Austin, Texas; The Emperor Organization of Tallahassee, Fla.; Staunton Creative Community Fund, Inc. of Staunton, Va.; Lane MicroBusiness (d.b.a. Dev) of Eugene, Ohio; FINANTA (American Street Financial Ser.) of Philadelphia, Pa; and Accion USA, Inc. of New York, N.Y.
The program is shifting to funding provided under the Recovery Act now that it has exhausted the regular FY 2009 appropriations for $20 million in loans and $20 million in technical assistance.

For the Week of 08/015/2009. There were 854 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, an increase of 18 from the week before. Altogether 12,180 new and continuing claims were filed, 624 fewer than a week ago and 5,338 more than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4,206 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 206 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 804 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 9 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc