Current News

The Mount Family Group Ltd. (MFG) headquartered in Burlington and operator of 9 Westaff offices in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York is pleased to announce the acquisition of three offices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, bringing their total to 12 offices. The seller is the Koosharem Corporation, owner of Westaff and of Select and Remedy Staffing Services.
The three offices are located in Leominster and Billerica, Mass. and Providence, RI. The Providence office has been branded as a Westaff office and the Massachusetts offices will continue to operate under the brand Select Remedy.
Karen Mount, VP of Administration of MFG, said that it was the people in those offices that impressed the Mounts the most. “After all, as a service business, the people are the principal reason for any acquisition. We met with the managers and their staffs and were so impressed that we worked to make the deal happen.”

At an event at the National Press Club, Surescripts announced today that Vermont was the most improved state in the nation and Massachusetts ranks first overall when it comes to routing prescriptions electronically. According to the results of an annual nationwide audit of electronic prescriptions routed in 2008, it was determined that prescribers in the Bay State sent more than 6.7 million prescriptions electronically, representing 20.5 percent of all eligible prescriptions in the state as compared to 2.3 percent in 2005. For this accomplishment, Massachusetts was recognized, along with 14 other states, at the fourth annual Safe-Rx Awards.
Surescripts created the Safe-Rx Awards to raise awareness of e-prescribing as a means of enhancing patient safety by providing a more secure, accurate and informed prescribing process.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce is please to announce the 2009 - 2010 Top Ten Winter Events Award recipients. The winners, in chronological order are:
CRAFT VERMONT - Fine Craft, Art, and Design - presented by Vermont Hand Crafters

The Vermont Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration has announced a major agreement with Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation (TBW) regarding its mortgage lending practices for so-called nontraditional loans made in 2006. This agreement will result in a detailed review of TBW s nontraditional loan exceptions, the adoption of the federal loan modification program to assist struggling homeowners, and the payment of $9 million to assist the states in their oversight of mortgage origination practices.
The agreement between TBW and 14 State mortgage regulators follows a coordinated multi-state examination of TBW to specifically determine compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to the origination of nontraditional mortgage loans in 2006. Concern over these practices led TBW to stop offering nontraditional mortgages in early 2007 and to make other changes to its internal control processes.

Bill Orleans, who has been promoting Vermont s tourist and travel industry for 28 years one brochure at a time has been elected Chairperson of the Vermont Travel Industry Conference.
Orleans, owner of PP&D Brochure Distribution, has attended the Conference annually since 1986, been an exhibiting sponsor since 1996, and sat on the planning committee for the last five years.
I strongly believe in this conference, and the value it provides to participants, exhibitors, and the State of Vermont. I look forward to another great year, and hope to make next year s conference highly relevant to the hundreds of business that serve Vermont s travelers , says Orleans. In these challenging economic times, coming together to share ideas and discuss crucial issues is vital to our continued success.
The new vice-chair will be Vicky Parra Tebbetts, Senior Vice President of Vermont Chamber of Commerce and Vice President of Vermont Hospitality Council.

An historic hydro-electric facility that has produced renewable energy for 81 years is getting a substantial overall starting today. Central Vermont Public Service is beginning extensive improvements to the company s Arnold Falls hydroelectric project, located on Mill Street along the Passumpsic River in Saint Johnsbury. The existing structures, similar to those originally constructed during the 19th Century for nearby mills, consist of two rock-filled, timber-crib dams with concrete abutments. Though the deteriorating timber dams will remain in place, new concrete dams will be built adjacent to them to ensure the facility s long-term future.

Today, Governor Jim Douglas will be traveling to Washington, DC, for events and meetings related to health care reform. At a press conference at the National Press Club, Governor Douglas and Governor Phil Bredesen (D-TN), co-chairs of the National Governors Association (NGA) State Alliance for eHealth, will present the 4th Annual SafeRx Awards. Surescripts created the Safe-Rx Awards to raise awareness of e-prescribing as a means of enhancing patient safety by providing a more secure, accurate and informed prescribing process.

Earlier this week at a Capitol Hill press conference, Vermont Representative Peter Welch introduced the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, a bill designed to curb deficit spending. Welch, along with other lead sponsors Majority Leader Steny Hoyet (D-MD), Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) and Representative Baron Hill (D-IN), said that the bill would reform the budgeting process and impose fiscal discipline.
The bill would restore PAYGO budgeting procedures enacted during the 1990s. Under the proposed legislation, lawmakers would have to identify funding sources for new programs, requiring them to cut spending or increase revenue in order to stay revenue-neutral.
The PAYGO bill was first announced by President Obama at a White House East Room press conference last week.
Source: Office of Peter Welch

Governor Jim Douglas announced today that the state will receive $684,544 from an auction of carbon allowances held this week by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Vermont is partnered with nine other states in the RGGI, an organization that holds quarterly carbon allowance auctions with the goal of investing the proceeds into renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy cost reduction programs. Carbon allowances represent the limited authorization for a power plant to emit one ton of CO2, as issued by a participating state and purchased through the RGGI's cap and trade program. To date, the RGGI has auctioned a total of 1.2 million carbon allowances.
The selling price for 2009 allowances was $3.23 while 2012 futures sold for $2.06.
RGGI is helping set the example for a federal cap-and-trade program, the Governor said. In Vermont, we are building a green economy and helping Vermonters save money on energy costs.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2009 was 7.3 percent, unchanged from the revised April rate and up 2.8 points from a year ago. While the job market remained stable and the unemployment rate was unchanged, monthly job growth remained sluggish. Unemployment rates for Vermont s 17 labor market areas ranged from 4.0 percent in Hartford to 10.4 percent in Rutland. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the May unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 7.1 percent, down eight-tenths of a point from April 2009 and up 2.8 points from a year ago. The May unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was statistically different form the April rate.

A maker of prefabricated homes in Brattleboro, Vermont, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, but will be sold and remain in business. Winter Manufacturing Inc, doing business as Winter Panel Corp, filed for bankruptcy June 10. According to Jeffrey Lewis, executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp, the company was forced into the action by disgruntled customers. He said the company faced lawsuits by customers dissatisfied with the product. But, Lewis said, Winter Panel is being bought by another company, World Panel, which will keep the company in Brattleboro and retain all the employees.
Winter Panel manufactures structural insulated panels, featuring a foam core, for the residential and commercial construction industry. In a Vermont Business Magazine survey earlier this year, Winter Panel reported that it had 20 employees. The bankruptcy filing said it had $8.25 million in assets and $1.3 million in liabilities.

Governor Jim Douglas today joined Franklin County farmers and watershed groups at their Rock River Field Walk as part of Vermont s fourth annual Clean Water Day.
Clean Water Day is held annually in June to celebrate the work of Vermonters to improve water quality around the state and to renew the state s commitment to the goal of clean water for all Vermonters.
The field walk highlighted the innovations and progress in agricultural practices that are currently being piloted and used on a number of farms around the county. Wayne and Nancy Fiske of Windfall Acres hosted the event. The Fiskes are leaders in farmers efforts to reduce soil erosion and phosphorus runoff from annual crop and hay land and improve agricultural practices.