Current News
by tim
Montpelier, VT - Secretary of Administration Michael K. Smith Announces that General
Fund and Transportation Fund Revenues Were Below Target and Education Fund Revenues
Were Slightly Above Target for March. All Funds May Fall Short of Existing Fiscal
Year 2008 Revenue Targets.
General Fund
Today, Secretary
of Administration Michael K. Smith released the General Fund revenue results
for the month of March, the ninth month of fiscal year 2008. General Fund
revenues totaled $68.72 million, -$7.74 million or -10.12% less than the $76.46
million consensus revenue target for the month. The resulting fiscal
year-to-date General Fund revenue total of $835.91 million is -$1.09 million or
-0.13% below the recently revised consensus forecast of $837.00 million. "The
General Fund results for the month were adversely affected by certain tax
by tim
Legionnaires' Disease Closes Cortina Inn
The Cortina Inn in Killington was closed late on Thursday, April 3 at the direction of the Vermont Department of Health. This came after laboratory tests of water samples taken on March 29 from several locations within the Inn confirmed the presence of the bacteria Legionella pneumophila in its water system.
The Health Department was notified on March 28 about a case of Legionella pneumonia, known as Legionnaires disease. This was the third confirmed case over the past six months, but the first to be strongly linked to exposure at the Inn. Legionnaires disease is treatable with antibiotics, and all three people have since recovered.
by tim
Stinehour Press Announces End of Operations
(Lunenburg, Vt.) Managing Director and CEO Warren Bingham announced Monday, April 7, 2008, that The Stinehour Press, an award-winning book design and printing firm, will be ending operations and liquidating its assets after more than 50 years of operation in northern Vermont. The company, which had several million dollars in sales last year, employed a staff of 21 highly skilled workers.
by tim
US Army Awards General Dynamics Contract for Biological Detection System Production and Support
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., has awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products a contract option, worth approximately $43 million, to produce and test Joint Biological Point Detection Systems (JBPDS). The contract terms also include field support packages and user training for the technology. This award is a modification of a 2004 contract and brings the total value to date to more than $200 million. General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
by tim
Chittenden Bank trims Vermont workforce, closes five branches
People's United Financial, which operates Chittenden Bank, is cutting 71 Vermont employees and closing five local branches in an attempt to save $57 million in company expenses, excluding severance costs.
The company will close 20 branches and 420 positions company wide throughout the New England region. Vermont branches in Bennington, Brattleboro, Arlington, West Dover, and on Bank Street in Burlington will close within a month to 90 days, leaving only two Chittenden Banks in each community. The closures will decrease Chittenden's branch count in Vermont from 52 to 47.
The layoffs included eliminating 20 vacant positions, 14 jobs through attrition, and 37 lay-offs, most of which were teller and other entry level positions. Before the cuts, a total of 1,158 employees were part of Chittenden Bank's Vermont workforce.
by tim
Terese Churchill, Master of Science, has recently joined the environmental consulting firm The Johnson Company of Montpelier, Vermont. Her practice can provide safety program implementation, mock OSHA inspections, air quality investigations, safety training, and other related services. Ms. Churchill has 20 years of experience as an occupational health and safety compliance officer for the state of Vermont, and as an environmental health and safety manager in private industry. She has worked for Ben & Jerrys, Husky Injection Molding, and Ethan Allen furniture in senior management where she reduced worker compensation costs and injury rates by establishing solid safety programs. In 2001 her work led to the Vermont Governors Award for Environmental Excellence, and in 2008 her work guided Ethan Allen into the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership program.
by tim
Douglas Kellogg has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Marketing and Sales at the Golden Eagle Resort in Stowe.
Kellogg has been at the Golden Eagle since 2004, prior to which he worked in sales at Sugarbush Resort. He is a graduate of Johnson State College with a degree in business.
by tim
Health
Status of Vermonters Report Tracks Public Health Successes & Challenges
Vermont Celebrates Public Health Week April
7-13 with Real-Life Stories, Events
Montpelier, Vt. — April, 3, 2008. Gov. Jim Douglas and Health Commissioner Sharon
Moffatt, RN, MSN today released The Health
Status of Vermonters — a report by the Vermont Department of
Health that tracks progress on key public health measures related to illness
and disease, clinical preventive services, health insurance, access to medical
care and personal health behaviors.
“Vermont
is rightfully earning its reputation as the healthiest state in the
nation,” said Gov. Douglas. “We’ve come a long way, thanks to
Vermont’s
public health leadership and workforce — and the efforts of many in
government and in our communities. However, we still face challenges as this
new report quantifies.”
by tim
Stride Creative Group, a graphic design and marketing firm in Burlington, announced the hiring of Terry Fallon as graphic designer.
Fallon has been a self-employed designer in Vermont, and was with the Chicago Tribune and KPMG in Chicago. He brings 25 years of print, web and media experience to the Stride team.
Stride Creative Group creates graphic design and marketing solutions for businesses and organizations throughout Vermont and beyond. Clients include CCTA, Darn Tough Vermont, Spruce Mortgage and WowToyz.
by tim
Gov. Douglas Urges Congress to ‘Thoroughly’ Investigate
Fuel Prices & Take Action
Montpelier,
Vt. – Governor Jim Douglas
today praised the U.S. Congress for holding hearings on skyrocketing oil
prices, but urged lawmakers to conduct a “real, thorough
investigation.”
Governor Douglas on several occasions has urged the U.S. Congress to begin
a bipartisan investigation of escalating fuel prices. The Governor and a
bipartisan group of 21 of his colleagues had called for a similar investigation
last May. The Governor most recently urged Congress to investigate oil prices
earlier this winter.
“What’s troubling to average Americans is that as the
price of fuel continues to rise, oil companies are making record-setting
profits. I’m pleased the Congress is finally looking into this issue.
by tim
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 31, 2008) FairPoint Communications, Inc. (NYSE:FRP) today closed its previously announced transaction in which FairPoint merged with Northern New England Spinco Inc. (Spinco), an entity which owned Verizon Communications landline and certain related operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. FairPoint is the surviving company in the merger.
As a result of the transaction closing, FairPoint is now the eighth largest telephone company in the United States with operations throughout the country. FairPoint remains committed to enhancing and expanding the communications networks and infrastructures that serve the company's customer base, while ensuring that it maintains an appropriate and serviceable debt level and returns value to shareholders through dividends.
by tim
"Our customers consistently tell us that providing reliable power is the
most important thing we do, and in 2007 we had fewer customer hours without
power, despite significant storms hitting our service territory," said Mary
Powell, senior vice president and chief operating officer. "Major
investments in tree-trimming and other system upgrades have had a direct
effect on improving system reliability."
An analysis of the causes of all the outages in Green Mountain Power's
system during 2007 shows that outages caused by tree branches within the
rights-of-way were at the lowest point in five years. Upgrades to the system
and a fast response to the outages meant that the total amount of time
customers were out due to tree branches within the rights-of-way was well
below previous years.
Green Mountain Power had an average of 1.38 outages per customer, with an