Current News

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The House Appropriations Committee approved a $1.3 billion fiscal year 2013 General Fund budget Monday evening on a 7-4 vote along party lines.
Democrats lauded the Big Bill as a fiscally responsible plan; Republican members rejected the expenditure proposal because they said it accelerates state spending.

Weekly unemployment claims in Vermont decreased last week, while March results continued at higher levels than February. Last week there were 959 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont last week. This is a decrease of 143 from the week before and are 53 fewer than last year's total.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced this morning that the pay dispute between the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union (SVSU) and the Vermont-NEA/teachers of SVSU and 5 districts (Shaftsbury, Bennington, North Bennington, Pownal and MAU) was settled late Friday night, March 16th after the parties spent more than seven hours working to find a mutually-acceptable resolution.
At the invitation of the Vermont Department of Labor, the parties were in Montpelier to discuss a complaint that had been filed with the Department’s wage and hour division, which had received a ‘stay’ of the order from the department in order to examine additional facts. After about an hour of discussing the complaint, Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan asked the parties if they had any interest in attempting to resolve the dispute through informal mediation.

Chittenden County State's Attorney TJ Donovan announced today that he will seek the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of Vermont. Attorney General William Sorrell, also a Democrat, has not announced whether he would seek re-election. Speaker of the House Shap Smith has also been mentioned as a possible candidate. Republican state Senator Vince Illuzzi has said he is considering a run for attorney general, but has not officially announced his intentions.
"I believe it's time for a change." Donovan stated. "Vermont today faces new challenges. With these challenges comes the need for new leadership. I believe it's time for new ideas, new energy and greater engagement from the office of the Attorney General."
"We have the most progressive and innovative state legislature in the country. As Attorney General I will engage with the legislature and advocate for Vermonters' right to clean and reliable energy, affordable healthcare, and safer communities.’

Three Vermont public schools’Cabot School,Essex High School, andSouth Burlington High School’have been invited to represent their state at a regional conference on effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in the 21stcentury.

The conference,High School Redesign in Action (newenglandssc.org/conference), will take placeMarch 22’23, 2012, in Norwood, Massachusetts. It is sponsored by the New England Secondary School Consortium, a regional partnership committed to high school innovation, in collaboration with the departments of education for Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.All the selected schools have made significant progress raising student achievement, graduation rates, college-enrollment numbers, or other indicators of educational success.

Housing for low income Vermonters got a huge boost in energy efficiency in the last two years, greatly reducing the cost of energy in a sector struggling to keep housing affordable against rising energy prices. Affordable housing agencies across the State will save $450,000 a year in energy costs.

Under the 2009 federal stimulus bill, $2 million flowed into the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS), through the Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) and out to Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) to tackle their most pressing energy improvements.

DPS Commissioner Elizabeth Miller announced today that the partnership between the CEDF and VHCB for the $2 million grant had been a great success.

Black River Produce (BRP) has purchased the former Ben and Jerry’s manufacturing plant inthe North Springfield Industrial Park in North Springfield, VT. BRP plans to develop the formertown-owned facility into a centralized meat processing facility and will have space available forsmall food business production. To meet the increasing demand for Vermont grown proteins inand outside of the state, BRP will create infrastructure, provide full-time jobs, and help train thenext generation of butchers further developing Vermont’s meat industry. This facility’s increasedrefrigeration and frozen storage will allow BRP to expand their local product lines and providelarge scale refrigerated storage for local producers.

This facility will allow BRP to meet its current demand for local meat producers like Vermont
Family Farms, Boyden Farms, and PT Farms while allowing it to process cooperatively raised

The health and wellness of a company's employees is the greatest indicator of health care costs, not the actual cost of the health insurance plan itself. And regardless of the size of the company or the insurance plan, health insurance premiums cost an average of 10.1 percent of payroll. These data are according to a new survey released by the Vermont Business Roundtable.

vtdigger.org March 17, 2012Committees in the Senate and House hurried Friday to vote on bills they had been tinkering with all session.
It was crossover day: the unofficial deadline for committees of jurisdiction to vote on their bills or leave them on the shelf for the next session.
Steve Marshall, assistant secretary of the Senate, said bills that do not come out of money committees like finance or appropriations should be on next Tuesday’s notice calendar.
There are, of course, exceptions to this rule in both chambers.
Here is a rundown of some of the bills VTDigger.org has been following this session.
Senate Bill 103: A bill that would have allowed terminally ill patients to request medication to end their lives will not make it to the Senate floor unless it’s tacked on as an amendment to other legislation.

Twenty-one Vermonters and Vermont organizations have been nominated for the 2012 CVPS-Zetterstrom Environmental Award, which will be presented later this spring.
‘The third-annual award drew nominees from across Vermont, ranging from individuals who orchestrated environmental projects to well-known Vermont organizations on the front lines of resource protection,’ CVPS President and CEO Larry Reilly said.
‘The depth and breadth of the work of this year’s nominees indicates a deep commitment to Vermont’s natural resources, including habitat, wildlife and enjoyment of Vermont’s natural resources,’ said CVPS spokesman Steve Costello, who worked with the award’s namesake, Meeri Zetterstrom, to assist once-endangered ospreys. ‘I see a bit of Meeri in many of the nominees.’

vtdigger.org March 19, 2012The Shumlin administration says under state statute Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant can continue to operate after its license expires on March 21.
The Vermont Department of Public Service, in a legal filing on Friday, says a Vermont law would allow the plant to operate past that date while the re-licensing process continues.
The state also asserted in its submission to the Vermont Public Service Board that the owner of the plant, Entergy Corp., must meet its obligation to fund the Clean Energy Development Fund. It is unclear whether the Louisiana-based company would still be required to pay millions of dollars in an assortment of other taxes to the state.
Governor Peter Shumlin, meanwhile,told Vermont Public Radio on Fridayhe hopes the board, which has jurisdiction over the matter, will block a 20-year license extension for the 40-year-old plant.

The 9thannual American Cancer Society Relay For Life® NordicStyle raised $72,000 over the weekend of March 10, to support the Society’s mission of saving lives from cancer.The overnight event left 250 participants exhausted, but happy, after cross country skiing or snowshoeing through the night.

‘Through their hard work in preparing for the event, and by spending hours out in the cold for the cause, our dedicated participants certainly did their part to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays," saidBrian Fredette, event chairfor the 2012 Relay For Life NordicStyle.

The top individual fundraiser was Jane Weaver of Stowe, who collected nearly $4,000 in donations. The top fundraising team was Snowbelles, led by Victoria Gonin of Waitsfield, which raised more than $9,500.