Current News

The 2009 Hospital Report Card Comparison, now available on-line, features quality of care, pricing and financial data for Vermont hospitals. The data is on the website of Vermont’s Department of Banking, Insurance Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA). Commissioner of BISHCA Paulette Thabault said, “Putting these hospital report card measures on public view creates transparency for Vermont consumers who can now weigh this information, along with other important factors, when choosing hospital services.” Posting the data also results in better patient care and experiences for Vermonters. Said Commissioner Thabault, “Hospitals look at the comparative scores and ask, ‘How can we improve this measurement?’ They sharpen their focus on the issues, commit resources, and the improvements follow.”

It would be easy to think of Williston-based Vermont Organics Reclamation as an agricultural business, since its first phase will be to improve the processing of manure. And manure will always be a major resource for their recycling of unused plant nutrients. But the project that Tim Camisa has been conceptualizing since 2001 and actively developing with partner Mike Rooney since 2005 seeks a more comprehensive change in the way Vermont maintains and grows its economy. It s a vision that VOR has pursued through five patents, four generations of processing equipment, three grant applications involving two agencies, and the arrival of a private equity backer.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) today announced that management is scheduled to make a presentation regarding the Company on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York City.
About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) today announced that management is scheduled to make a presentation regarding the company on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at the William Blair & Company 29th Annual Growth Stock Conference in Chicago. The investor presentation is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. CDT and the event will be webcast under the Investor Services section of the company's website at www.GreenMountainCoffee.com. The webcast replay will be will be available for 30 days.
About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.

A Chittenden County Superior Court judge denied today a Vermont State Employees Association request for a restraining order against the Douglas Administration. The state workers' union sought the order against the administration to stop it from laying off more than 120 state employees, approximately 100 of whom were scheduled to begin departing state government today.
In a written statement, VSEA Director Jes Kraus said: "Our heart goes out to the hundred employees who are being, in our views, unnecessarily forced out the jobs that they work so hard at. VSEA will continue pursuing every option available to us in our efforts to avoid more senseless layoffs."

At its June 4 meeting the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees approved a resolution renaming the addition to Vermont Technical College s Morrill Hall Robert G. Clarke Hall, in honor of retiring VSC Chancellor and former VTC President Robert G. Clarke. VTC President Ty Handy recommended naming the addition to Morrill Hall on the Randolph campus Robert G. Clarke Hall in recognition of Clarke s outstanding service, and on behalf of the staff, students and faculty of Vermont Technical College.

Community College of Vermont (CCV) Provost Joyce M Judy was appointed Interim President of the College by the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees at its June 4 meeting. Judy begins her one-year interim term on July 1, succeeding Tim Donovan, who leaves CCV to become Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges system. A national search will be launched in the fall for a permanent appointment.
In announcing the appointment, Gary Moore, chair of the Board of Trustees, said, I am delighted that Joyce Judy has accepted the appointment of acting president. She has the experience and the devotion to CCV that will help her lead the institution as it continues to move forward with strong growth and sound fiscal management.

RidgeviewTel, a full-service broadband communications company, is helping rural Vermont residents map their broadband needs at the Vermont Dairy Festival in Enosburg Falls this weekend, June 5 through 7. In addition to participating in the popular parade, RidgeviewTel will have a tent in the festival's concessions area equipped with access to http://weneedbroadband.com, a dial-up friendly site where festival-goers from communities under- or unserved by broadband can map their location in a system that compiles their demand for broadband to attract service and even federal stimulus dollars.

Despite receiving funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, state fiscal conditions deteriorated for nearly every state during fiscal 2009, according to the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). The nationwide shortfall is expected to be $200 billion over the next three years.
In the biannual report released today, The Fiscal Survey of States, NGA and NASBO found the economic recession, which began in December 2007, has significantly dampened the outlook for upcoming fiscal years, with more than half of states experiencing negative budget growth in fiscal 2009 and nearly three-quarters recommending fiscal 2010 budgets with negative growth.

The Vermont Legislature returned to work Wednesday before finally adjourning the special session by passing a number of changes notably identified by Governor Douglas as problematic. While not addressing the governor’s concerns over total spending and tax levels, the Legislature did agree to others, in particular with the impending deficit in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and the timing of when the increase in the Capital Gains tax would begin. While these concessions did not prevent the governor from vetoing the state budget, they could have helped the Democratic leadership muster enough votes to override the veto Tuesday.
The state budget companion bill (H 442) included:
1. Postpone Capital Gains change to July 1, 2009The effective date of the capital gains changes were changed from January 1, 2009 to July 1, 2009. This change will be accounted for with a partial income tax rate reduction in 2009 and a full rate reduction in January 2010.

US Representative Peter Welch called on Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Thursday morning to reconsider the outsourcing of pension claims and inquiry call functions from the White River Junction VA Benefits Office. Recently, the VA has moved to centralize Veterans Benefits Administration functions to out-of-state call centers and processing centers. Rather than receiving timely and personalized service from the White River Junction office, Vermont veterans have found their inquiries and certain claims rerouted to impersonal, centralized facilities.
Welch spoke with Sec. Shinseki about the issue at a meeting of the House Military Veterans Caucus, of which Welch is a member.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, along with Jason Karlawish, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania; and Charles Sabatino, Director of the American Bar Association s Commission on Law and Aging, released the results of a study of Vermont s mobile polling pilot project.
During the 2008 general election, the Vermont Secretary of State s Office joined with the University of Pennsylvania and the American Bar Association to develop a pilot program where trained election workers brought ballots to residential care facilities prior to the election to permit eligible residents to register and vote. Residents who were unable to vote independently were offered assistance from bipartisan pairs of election workers who had been trained to work with elderly voters, and in particular, voters who have cognitive impairment.