Current News

The Addison County Chamber of Commerce awarded Monument Farms Dairy, located in Weybridge, Vermont, its Business of the Year award which was presented at the Chamber s Annual Meeting held on September 10th. Recipient for the Chamber s Citizen of the Year award, Buster Brush, was also named at the dinner held at the Inn at Middlebury College s Bread Loaf campus.
The Business of the Year award is given to a business located in Addison County that has shown a significant improvement in the development of their business, positively impacting the economy on a local, regional or international level. According to Andy Mayer, Chamber President, Monument Farms Dairy is a local business that Addison County can be proud of and they well-represent the local dairy community. Their milk products are outstanding and their impact on the environment is limited because they grow the corn locally, employ local workers, and produce and distribute their products locally.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (NYSE: FRP) announced today that it is in discussions with certain of the lenders under its bank credit facility regarding a permanent debt restructuring. The Company also announced that as part of those discussions, it has entered into a forbearance agreement with lenders that collectively hold more than 50 percent of the loans and commitments outstanding under the credit facility. The forbearance agreement contemplates that the Company may forgo principal and interest payments under its credit facility as well as payments under its interest rate swap agreements, totaling approximately $42.0 million, due on September 30, 2009, and is likely to fail to comply with the interest coverage ratio and leverage ratio covenants contained in the credit facility for the period ending September 30, 2009.

More than half of federal transportation spending in fiscal year (FY) 2008 was directed to programs that contain subsidies, according to Subsidyscope, an initiative of Pew's Economic Policy Group. The analysis comes from a new comprehensive online database on all spending on subsidy programs in the transportation sector. While Vermont received the lowest total amount, it ranked seventh in per capita funding, which was the highest in the Northeast.
The project collected and aggregated data from USAspending.gov and other sources and built a searchable database of federal transportation spending; users can query by grant recipient, state, government program and many other parameters. The database includes information from 2000-2008.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest not-for-profit business organization, is pleased to support the fourth annual Best Places to Work in Vermont program, dedicated to identifying and recognizing Vermont’s best employers. Businesses will not want to miss out on this great opportunity. The award is co-presented by Vermont Business Magazine.
Apply online at www.BestPlacesToWorkVT.com by November 6, 2009. All participants will be put through a two-part assessment including an employer survey and an employee survey. The data will be analyzed and used to determine who makes the list.
All participants will receive the Best Companies Group (BCG) Employee Feedback Report summarizing and detailing the results of their employee survey, including Vermont Benchmark information. Even if a company does not make the list, this report is a tremendous management tool and a great reason to participate.

The Vermont Aerospace and Aviation Association (VAAA), a division of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce will hold an Open House on Thursday, October 1, 2009 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems Facility in Vergennes. Hear from business leaders in the aerospace and aviation industry. Guest speakers will include Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, Gary Lownsdale, Plasan Carbon Composites; Tom Cooley, Plasan North America; Bill Berg, Vermont Composites, Mike Allocca, Allocca Enterprises; and Linda Rossi, Vermont Small Business Development Center.

Online advertised vacancies declined by 101,800 to 3,363,000 in September, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series (HWOL)(TM) released today. September losses partially offset the larger August gains (+169,000), leaving labor demand up by 67,000 over the past two months. Since the low point in April 2009, labor demand is up by 201,000, showing a modest upward trend following a five-month period of steep losses.
"While the trend has been modestly upward and averaged 40,000 per month over the last five months, the labor market continues to have a hard time gaining momentum," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, which has been basically flat for three straight months, also helps highlight the difficulty the labor market is facing. With a growing consensus of a weak recovery, businesses seem to be slow to boost advertising for vacant or new positions."

The state of Vermont will get over $400,000 as part of the US Department of Labor's announcement today it will provide $164.5 million to 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to make technology upgrades that will improve the operation and security of unemployment insurance systems.
"Unemployment insurance programs play a key role in supporting dislocated workers," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "I am pleased that these grants will help states improve their technology infrastructure and better serve those in need. Making sure that claims and benefits are processed and paid in a timely, consistent and secure manner is critical to providing workers with the income security needed to actively seek re-employment."

Shelburne Museum has been selected to receive the 2009 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections. The national award, presented to just two museums this year, is determined by a panel of distinguished conservation experts from across the country and is presented jointly by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic Artistic Works. The other recipient was Historic Cherry Hill in Albany, NY.
“We are honored to be recognized by our peers for our work in caring for the many and varied collections at Shelburne Museum,” said Rick Kerschner, director of preservation and conservation at Shelburne Museum. “The museum’s diverse collection coupled with the environmental challenges presented by Vermont’s climate make our work both challenging and rewarding.”

Governor Douglas today congratulated AirBoss, a manufacturer of rubber protective gear, after they were authorized for over $243,000 in Vermont Employment Growth Incentives (VEGI). AirBoss plans to locate a manufacturing facility in Milton, Vermont and create over 30 jobs over the next two years. In April, Governor Douglas and a team of local, state and federal economic development officials met with AirBoss executives to outline a package of supports and incentives. In May, the company received Initial Approval of VEGI incentives. The state also committed employee training funds through the Vermont Training Program and help from the Procurement Technical Assistance Center. And at its recent meeting, the Vermont Economic Progress Council gave final approval to a VEGI application from AirBoss Defense for incentives totaling up to $243,279.

State officials recently told Vermont Life magazine's advertising director that they were terminating her contract which still has more than two years to run. That move prompted allegations that the Douglas Administration may be retaliating against the contractor, Gerianne Smart, for her public criticisms of earlier cutbacks affecting the 63-year-old state-published quarterly.
Smart, who runs a marketing and advertising firm in Vergennes, said she doesn't know whether the state sought to punish her in response to comments she made in March at a State Legislature hearing.
I don't want to believe that people in positions of power act this way, she said in an interview.
I thought I had to speak out as a citizen because one of the treasures of our state was under siege, Smart explained. She said she was concerned about a decision to leave the posts of Vermont Life publisher and product manager unfilled.

A celebration of two new elementary schools focusing on sustainability and the arts in Burlington was highlighted today with the announcement of dual Champlain College scholarships aimed at helping graduates of the magnet schools attend college.

Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc, the non-profit organization facilitating the expanded use of health information technology in Vermont, and Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX), the leading US health information technology provider with a major facility located in South Burlington, Vermont, today announced their intention to enter into a strategic alliance.
VITL is the state-funded provider of health information technology infrastructure for Vermont's Blueprint for Health, a groundbreaking initiative of the Vermont Department of Health to build a statewide chronic care information system. Formed by a broad base of providers, payers, employers, patients, and state agencies, VITL is a multi-stakeholder nonprofit corporation largely supported by the state's Health Information Technology Fund.