Current News

The Connecticut River Watershed Council has filed a petition asking the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to either grant or deny Entergy’s application for a renewed Clean Water Act permit for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The petition seeks to ensure adequate protection for the fish populations of the Connecticut River. The Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School filed the petition on behalf of the Watershed Council.
Vermont Yankee is operating under an expired, administratively-extended permit that allows it to discharge heated water into the Connecticut River and to draw river water into its cooling water intake structure to cool the plant. Both activities can harm many life stages of fish, particularly American shad and Atlantic salmon.

Champlain College has consolidated eight of its administrative departments under one roof at a new building located at 175 Lakeside Ave. Departments began moving into the new open office space in early February.
The new three-story facility, built by REM Development of Williston, offers 36,000 square-feet of office, meeting and classroom space bringing together employees from the College's Continuing Professional Studies, Human Resources, Campus Planning, Finance, Marketing, CRM and Graduate Admissions, Information Systems and a new Digital Forensics student lab. The Emergent Media Center, currently located at the Champlain Mill in Winooski, is slated to move to Lakeside later this year.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org
Fresh from a two-day jaunt to Montreal, Governor Peter Shumlin announced to the press on Wednesday that he hopes to see the construction of a high speed passenger rail line that links Montreal to New York in the near future. In addition, he is looking to solve the state’s long-term energy needs through an enhanced power agreement with Hydro-Quebec and the extension of a natural gas line from Chittenden County to Rutland.

Forest biomass could replace as much as one quarter of the liquid fossil fuel now being used for industrial and commercial heating in the Northeastern United States. That's according to a new report released today by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
But the report also has sharp caveats: The potential for forest biomass varies widely within the region, and forest resources must be carefully managed to protect the other important services and goods they provide. Under the right circumstances, however, the report found that forest biomass can provide a domestic energy resource, create local jobs, and provide incentives to forest owners.

The Vermont Family Business Initiative (VFBI) and the Coaching Center of Vermont have announced a partnership this week to assist Vermont family and privately owned businesses with transition, succession, and financial planning issues. The Coaching Center of Vermont joins Gallagher, Flynn and Company, and hmc2 Agency as current partners of the VFBI. The VFBI works with business owners and their successors to identify challenging transitional issues and develop strategies for successful business transition and strategic growth.

Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today that his office has charged Williston-based home improvement contractor Donald Bevins with three counts of failing to maintain workers’ compensation insurance and two counts of violating a Vermont Department of Labor Stop Work Order.
According to documents on file with the Court, Bevins failed to secure workers’ compensation for two of his employees performing roof repairs in Richmond, Vermont and another employee performing roof repairs in Essex, Vermont. In addition, Bevins continued to perform home repairs in Essex and Essex Junction Vermont after the Department of Labor ordered him to stop working immediately.
Bevins pled not guilty to all counts and was released pending trial on the condition that he, any company he has an ownership interest in, or anyone working at his direction or request, not perform any home repair.

In a December 20, 2010, article titled ‘America’s Best And Worst Banks,’ Forbes.com ranked NBT Bancorp as the eleventh-best bank in the nation. NBT Bancorp was one of only three institutions from the Northeast to make the top 12.
Forbes ranked the 100 largest banks, thrifts and holding companies on data provided by Charlottesville, Va.-based SNL Financial. Eight measures of financial health were used to gauge asset quality, capital adequacy and profitability. Those measures included: return on average equity; net interest margin; nonperforming loans (NPLs) as a percentage of loans; nonperforming assets as percentage of assets; reserves as a percentage of NPLs; two capital ratios (Tier 1 and risk-based); and leverage ratio. Forbes ranked the financial institutions on each measure and averaged the individual rankings to make its determination.

Senator Patrick Leahy announced Thursday that more than 30 government agencies and prime contractors will be available to meet with Vermont’s small businesses during a contract matchmaker event next Thursday, February 24th, at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington. The event will also feature Governor Peter Shumlin, U.S. Small Business Administration New England Regional Administrator Jeanne Hulit, and U.S. General Services Administration Regional Administrator Robert Zarnetske.

Governor Peter Shumlin today signed the state’s Budget Adjustment Bill, a milestone for progress in the legislative session. The governor noted that this is the earliest date any governor had signed this legislation in at least a decade, and complimented the leadership in the House and the Senate for moving swiftly to affordably address the needs of Vermonters.

Larry Reilly, former president of distribution companies at New England Electric System and executive vice president at National Grid, will be the next president and chief executive officer of Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE: CV).
Reilly told Vermont Business Magazine that some of the first issues he will face are with the renewal, or not, of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon; the set up the SmartGrid system; and the ongoing upgrade to infrastructure, particularly the transmission system, which will be costly.
Reily will begin that effort March 1. Bob Young, who as president led Central Vermont Public Service through a cultural, service and environmental transformation, announced his planned retirement in July 2010 effective May 3, 2011. Reilly will begin as president and CEO on March 1 and will report to Young, who has been named executive chairman of the company, until May to allow for an orderly transition.

The Lake Champlain Bridge Community, the grassroots organization entrusted to create, plan and lead the public festivities that will celebrate the replacement and re-opening of the Lake Champlain Bridge, is pleased to unveil the logo design that will be used to promote the event.
The Lake Champlain Bridge Community solicited Vermont- and New York-based professional and student graphic artists to submit prospective designs, pro bono. The selected design was created by Linus Biederman, a junior in the Design & Illustration Program at the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury, Vt. Linus is a Middlebury resident and the son of William Biederman and Gloria van den Berg. He is also an active member of the Middlebury Union High School varsity boy's lacrosse team.

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. announces public disciplinary actions against the following individuals' right to use the CFP® certification marks, effective immediately.
Public disciplinary actions taken by CFP Board, in order of increasing severity, include letters of admonition, suspensions and permanent revocations. The basis for each decision can be found in a Disciplinary Action Report below and on CFP Board's Web site. Consumers may check on any planner's disciplinary history and certification status with CFP Board at www.CFP.net/search .