Current News

Vermont home prices declined more rapidly than most states as home prices nationwide saw some relief over the last month, but continued to decline. Vermont prices fell 3.8 percent in January compared to a loss of 3.1 percent nationally.CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its January Home Price Index (HPI) report, the most timely and comprehensive source of home prices available today. The report shows national home prices, including distressed sales, declined on a year-over-year basis by 3.1 percent inJanuary 2012and by 1.0 percent compared toDecember 2011, the sixth consecutive monthly decline.
Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent inJanuary 2012compared toJanuary 2011, but that same metric posted a month-over-month gain, rising 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Efficiency Vermont and Vermont Gas Systems with a 2012 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for their outstanding contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by delivering information and services to their customers to increase energy efficiency. Award winners were selected from about 20,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program. This is the second consecutive year in which the EPA has honored the Vermont ENERGY STAR Homes program.

The Vermont Supreme Court will oral arguments in six cases starting at 9:30 am on Wednesday, March 28, in Oakes Hall in the high court’s annual session at Vermont Law School.
The court will consider the following cases:

The Vermont Software Developers Alliance {vStDA} has announced that Vermont teachers and educators have proposed 21 separate science and technology projects using the new iPad 3 in response to requests for proposals from the newly created Bentley Award.
The quality of the proposals so impressed Apple®, and their employees that their employees committed to personally contribute a $100 iTunes gift card for every $500 raised toward the $100,000 goal to fund all 21 projects. Apple® has agreed to match their employee’s generous contribution to the Bentley Award and donate 3 iPads 3 computers.
The Bentley Award honors the memory of Bentley Davis Seifer (age 12) who passed away last summer. Bentley excelled in school and had a knack for scientific and engineering ventures. Bentley is the son of Bruce Seifer, a founding member of the Software Alliance and his wife Julie A Davis.

by vtdigger.org The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation appears to be backing off from a proposal to increase a fee on the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant for thermal discharge by more than 400 percent between 2012 and 2013.
The original proposal, floated in the House Committee on Ways and Means, would lift the dollar cap on the amount the plant would have to pay to discharge heated water into the Connecticut River.
But in that committee last week David Mears, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, said the state should take a more conservative approach.
‘I’ve heard the concerns that the cost as long as it rises to five hundred thousand or so is too untethered from the actual cost of the permit program,’ Mears said.
Under the original proposal, Vermont Yankee’s fee would rise from $105,000 to $543,000.
Governor Peter Shumlin has defended the hike as a matter of fairness.

A new report commissioned by the Aerospace Industries Association asserts that Vermont could lose upwards of 2,100 jobs if automatic defense cuts are realized. Vermont has a disproportionally high number of aerospace and defense jobs. The report states that theaerospace and defense industry accounts for a billion dollars in revenues in Vermont and supports 2,852 jobs with an average wage of$71,082.

By Senator Patrick Leahy - The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been a bulwark of our open society since it was signed into law by President Johnson 45 years ago. Today, amid debates in Congress about how best to improve the nation’s security in cyberspace, we must remember that while we have an obligation to protect the government’s most sensitive information, we also have an equally compelling duty to safeguard the public’s ‘right to know’ about threats to their health and safety.
Of course government secrecy has its place. There are real and intensifying threats to critical infrastructure and other sensitive government information. But governments will always be tempted to overuse the secrecy stamp. When that happens, secrecy can come at an unacceptable price, harming citizens’ interest in safety, health and a clean environment.

by Colin Ellis, Vermont Business MagazineFor the first time in 31 years, a Democrat will be the mayor of Burlington; Montpelier rejected a local options tax, and Vermonters seem to be rejecting "corporate personhood." Results are still flowing in for a number of local issues just hours after the conclusion of Town Hall Meeting Day and Super Tuesday. With 75 percent of precincts reported already, it appears Vermont Republicans have gone with candidate Mitt Romney for their presidential primary.
Photo by Nick Rivers: Former Governor Howard Dean, left, joins Miro Weinberger, right, during Sunday's Mardi Gras celebration in Burlington.

The US Small Business Administration is reminding businesses inVermontthat working capital loans are still available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private non-profit organizations that were affected by the severe storms and flooding that occurred fromMay 26 - 27, 2011.
"Businesses that suffered economic losses as a result of the disaster and want to apply for low-interest loans from the SBA are urged to do so before theApril 9deadline," saidFrank Skaggs, director of SBA Field Operations Center East.
Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) up to$2 millionare available at 3 percent for private non-profit organizations of all sizes and 4 percent for small businesses, with terms up to 30 years. The loans are intended to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other expenses that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. To be considered for this assistance, disaster survivors need to apply by the deadline.

Over the past three years,Green Mountain Collegestudents and faculty have explored the potential of renewable energy systems and ecological design principles through the College's Renewable Energy and Ecological Design (REED) certificate program.
Beginning in the fall of 2012, undergraduates at GMC will be able to pursue a full-fledged 42-credit REED major. The new program offers depth of study in renewable energy and ecological design, while allowing students to specialize in an area of interest by selecting from courses across the curriculum, including art, business, and sustainable agriculture. The College's board of trustees voted last month to approve the major, which is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Almost 60 competitors of all ages turned out Sunday for a day of Jack Jump racing at Mount Snow Resort for the Jack Jump World Championships. Local competitor Sue Zukatis took her fifth straight World Title on the women’s side.
Zukatis and the rest of the field took on a dual slalom course located on the Charlie’s Chase trail riding their custom-made Jack Jumps; a single ski with a homemade seat attached to it and the rider uses only his or her feet and balance to navigate the race course.
The actual origins of Jack Jumping are still a mystery, but it is believed that the earliest Jack Jumpers date back to the mid-to-late 1800’s and since then they have been used primarily for recreational purposes.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.org Two months into the legislative process, the Vermont Department of Public Service weighed in this week with a proposal for the renewable portfolio standard bill that has ping-ponged back and forth in the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.
The department proposes a goal for the state of 75 percent renewable energy by 2032, including 35 percent ‘new renewable’ and 10 percent small-scale generation.
The committee has seen multiple drafts, some more stringent than others in moving Vermont toward a law that would require utilities to provide a percentage of their electricity portfolio from renewable sources.
The department’s proposal is less aggressive than the original bill introduced by Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who chairs the committee. Klein’s bill would have required each electric utility to own the ‘environmental attributes’ for 80 percent of its power by 2025.