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Weekly unemployment claims in Vermont increased last week after a steady decrease in March. For the week there were 1,289 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont last week. This is an increase of 415 claims from the week before and is 453 higher than last year's total.
"It is typical in spring to see a temporary rise in initial unemployment claims as ski areas go offline prior to ramping up for summer activities,"Economic & Labor Market Information ChiefMathew Barewicz said. "Unfortunately, this was not a typical winter. This has resulted in several ski areas shutting down winter operations early and many within the same week - instead of staggered over the month of April."

Campaign for Vermont Founding Partner Marc Sherman of Hyde Park, along with Partners William Sayre of Bristol and Sean Walsh of Fairfield joined other Vermont business leaders this week in expressing their concerns about Vermont's economic future, before a joint legislative hearing of the Senate Economic Development and House Commerce committees. Founding Partner and State Representative Heidi Scheuermann of Stowe is a member of the House Commerce Committee.
More than 100 individuals representing businesses from across Vermont participated in "Employer Day" sponsored by the Vermont Coalition of Employment and Prosperity in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 4, 2012.
Testifying before the joint committee hearing, Marc Sherman, owner of Stowe Mercantile, expressed concerns about the cost and choices being proposed in Vermontâ s Health Care Exchange.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.orgHouse Speaker Shap Smith said on Thursday he will not run for attorney general.The announcement comes after weeks of speculation about whether he would seek the stateâ s top legal job.

The US Census has revealed its results from the 2010 census, which shows that Vermont has a population of626,431, of which 95.3 percent are white (Asian is second at 1.3 percent), there are more women than men, and there are 2.34 persons per household. Compared to the rest of tthe nation, Vermont is older; has a much smaller percent of non-whites; is of about the average income, but with a lower poverty rate; homeownership and home prices are higher, even though fewer people live there; has a higher high school and college graduation rate; retail sales per capita in Vermont is a lot higher than the US average; Vermont is more rural, yet people have a shorter commute to work.
Vermont

Want more?Browse data sets for Vermont

People QuickFacts
Vermont
USA

Population, 2011 estimate
626,431
311,591,917

Population, 2010
625,741
308,745,538

Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010
2.80%
9.70%

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.org In a tense meeting, members of the Vermont Senate peppered Department of Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller with questions about a proposal that would allow the stateâ s two largest utilities to invest $21 million in ratepayer money for weatherization rather than cut checks for their customers.

Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce revealed the rankings of the Best Places to Work in Vermont at a special awards ceremonyon Thursday, April 5th.The ceremony was held at the Main Street Landing Film House on Burlingtonâ s waterfront. Governor Peter Shumlin was there to congratulate the winners and Lt Governor Phil Scott presented the awards along with John Boutin, Publisher, Vermont Business Magazine and Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Over two hundred fifty people were in attendance.
Photo: Resource Systems Group accepts their award. By Nino Abbott.
LINK TO PHOTOS

LINK TO COMPANY PROFILES

Ranking of the 2012 Best Places to Work in Vermont winners:

Small/Medium Size Companies
(15-149 employees)

1

Resource Systems Group Inc.

2

Instrumart

3

Fuse

4

Heritage Aviation

5

by Jack HoffmanPublic Assets InstituteThe fiscal 2013 budget adopted by the Vermont House last month would increase state spending by about 6 percent over the current budget year. That may sound like a lot, compared to inflation, say. But Vermontâ s General Fund budget was cut by 6.6 percent in fiscal 20121â so the proposed increase isnâ t enough to make up for lost ground, let alone cover inflation or any increased need for services.
Focusing on a one-year percentage increase highlights an important flaw in Vermontâ s budget process: No one can say whether 6 percent is too much, too little, or just enough, because Montpelier presents Vermonters with no vision of what the budget is meant to achieveâ other than to keep state government running.
The â purpose’section of the Houseâ s Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal 2013 states:

Governor Peter Shumlin was joined today by firefighters, store owners, ski area representatives and others in celebrating the sale of the 25,000th â I Am Vermont Strong’license plate, marking the half-way mark in a campaign to sell enough plates to raise $1 million for the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund. Money from the license plate sales is earmarked for Vermont families impacted by flooding in 2011, as well as the Vermont Foodbank. The Governor reminded Vermonters that the need for assistance following the devastating spring floods and Tropical Storm Irene remains strong.
â I am urging people to continue to support their neighbors who suffered damage to their homes during last yearâ s storms by buying a VTStrong license plate,’Gov. Shumlin said. â These plates reflect the spirit that makes Vermont strong and the funds are critical in helping Vermonters recover from the devastation of the May and August flooding.â

Three dozen businesses have signed onto a letter asking state and utility leaders to support the Fair Haven Energy Center project. The proposed Energy Center is a 29.5 MW woody biomass power plant that will produce baseload power for 34,000 homes. It would be combined with a pellet production plant that would produce 110,000 tons of wood pellets each year. In addition, plans call for the plant to offer a heat source for a large scale greenhouse or other local food production center.

The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Administration (BISHCA) is now the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.The change was included in legislation signed yesterday by Governor Shumlin; the new name will reflect the departmentâ s evolving mission.
â Last year Act 48 moved much of BISHCAâ s oversight of health insurance and hospital budgets to the Green Mountain Care Board,’said Commissioner Steve Kimbell. â Our department is more streamlined and more focused on financial oversight, so the new name makes sense.â
The Department of Financial Regulation website will replace the BISHCA site but will continue to be accessible by searching for â BISHCA.â The phone numbers and email addresses of agency employees are unchanged.
â Weâ re going to miss our old name,’Kimbell added. â All of it.â
Source: DFR 4.4.2012

About.com today announced that Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow has been selected as the 2012 About.com Readers' Choice Award winner for Best New England Ski Resort. Now in its fifth year, the About.com Readers' Choice Awards honor the best products, features and services across more than a dozen categories, ranging from technology to hobbies to parenting and more, as selected by its readers.

"This year's Readers' Choice Awards program had a record number of nominations submitted across dozens of categories and featured hundreds of finalists," said Margot Weiss, managing editor, About.com. "We are thankful to all our readers for their participation and congratulate Okemo on their success."

The International Joint Commission (IJC) is inviting the public to comment on theInternational Missisquoi Bay Study Boardâ s final reporton phosphorus loadings to Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain.
In 2008, the Canadian and U.S. federal governments asked the International Joint Commission (IJC) to help them coordinate initiatives in both countries to reduce phosphorus loadings to Missisquoi Bay. The IJC appointed the International Missisquoi Bay Study Board to help it carry out this request. The study identified specific areas in the Vermont portion of the basin where efforts to control phosphorus runoff would be most cost effective.