Current News

Coming off one of the strongest years in the history ofKillington Mountain School, both in terms of academic and athletic pursuits, Head of School Tao Smith recently announced the introduction of the ski academy’s new nine-month traditional academic program. The school now will provide two academic tracks for student-athletes, where individuals can choose the best academic option to complement their athletic pursuits. In September, 12 student-athletes grades nine through 12 became members of the inaugural nine-month program.

Vermont Tourism and Marketing Commissioner Megan Smith has been appointed to the Brand USA Marketing Advisory Board. She will attend the first meeting of the board this week in Washington, DC, representing Vermont and New England tourism interests.

‘Both Canada and overseas international markets have enormous opportunities for both Vermont and the New England region,’ Smith explained. ‘Our history and our brand, from skiing and maple syrup to the Trapp Family, have an amazing resonance around the world.’

It is time for Vermonters of goodwill, from Governor Shumlin to the SAGE Alliance, to inure themselves to the reality that Vermont Yankee will not be shutting down on March 21, 2012.

State Treasurer Beth Pearce announced today that Moody’s Investor Service (AAA rating), Fitch Ratings (AAA), and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service (AA+) have reaffirmed their positive ratings for State of Vermont bonds. Vermont has the highest general obligation bond ratings of all the New England states. Vermont is in an elite group of only 14 states with at least two AAA ratings. A mere eight states have three AAA ratings.
As part of a rating review for an upcoming bond sale, all three agencies maintained their previous high rating with a stable outlook. Moody’s and Fitch rated the bonds triple-A, the highest rating available to government issuers. Standard & Poor’s rated Vermont’s bonds AA+, the second highest rating. The higher the bond rating, the more creditworthy the rating agency evaluates a bond issuer to be.

The State of Vermont is awarding $57,000 in grant funding to nine communities dedicated to local historic preservation and restoration efforts. Twelve applications were awarded funding for the current fiscal year.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.orgIn a filing with the Vermont District Court in Brattleboro, Entergy Corp appealed to Judge J Garvan Murtha to ensure the state does not shut down the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant on March 21.

Just down the hill from the science center at Middlebury College, known nationally for its environmental mission and academic programs, AllEarth Renewables' 1,000thAllSun Tracker was installed this week as part of the 148kW system.

In a little over 2 years, more solar systems have been installed in Vermont using the AllSun Tracker than any other solar technology.Nearly 4.9 MW of AllSun Trackers have been installed regionally in residential and small commercial systems to-date, mostly in AllEarth’s home state of Vermont.

Now, after establishing a state-wide dealer network in Vermont, the company is establishing local installer partnerships in new solar markets.

Draker Laboratories, the industry's leading independent provider ofturnkey monitoring and asset management solutionsfor commercial and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, today announced it is entering the Japanese market through a strategic partnership with EKO Instruments Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. This partnership is an important step in Draker’s ability to serve customers in key solar PV markets around the globe. In 2011, the Japanese solar PV market was the 6th largest in the world, and is expected to grow larger as its solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) program is introduced in July of this year as part of the country’s renewable energy strategy.

Newman's Own Foundation recently announced that Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sportsis one of the nine nonprofit finalists in the third annual Newman's Own Foundation Campus Community Service Challenge. The selected nonprofits, nominated by and paired with a student group from each of the America East's nine member universities, are eligible to receive the Challenge's top grant of $25,000. In total, $80,000 will be awarded to nominated nonprofits.
"The Campus Community Service Challenge represents an opportunity for us to encourage the practice of philanthropy," said Bob Forrester, president and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation. "We are proud to support the work of these exemplary students with their community partners and to recognize their commitment to make the world a better place."

An upslope snowstorm whirled throughBolton Valleythis past weekend, beginning on Friday and not letting up until late Saturday night but not before dropping two feet of new snow on the ski area’s 70 trails. The first big snowstorm of the season provided fresh tracks and powdery tree skiing on Sunday and has laid the groundwork for mid-winter conditions for skiers and riders right into March.

‘This storm was long overdue for sure,’ said Josh Arneson, director of sales and marketing at Bolton. ‘We had a very strong Presidents’ Holiday Week. Having this storm on the back end was icing on the cake and a great way to lead into Vermont’s vacation week. We’re offering powder and packed powder conditions. For those who thought winter was over, think again. Even if it has left the valleys, it’s alive and well in the mountains.’

Vermont might now be the world's largest domicile for thecaptive insurance industry. Since the beginning of 2012, Vermont has already licensed five captives, with more applications in process.
Recent trade press has published that our gross written premium volume is projected to have outpaced Bermuda making Vermont the largest domicile in the world in terms of premium volume.For the 6th year in 2011, Vermont surpassed the 40 new captives licensed mark with 41 new captive insurance companies bringing the total number of licenses to 952, according to data released by the Vermont Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA).
Thirty were single parent captives, with six risk retention groups (RRG), three sponsored, one industrial insured, and one association. 2011’s new captive insurance licensees brings Vermont overall total to 952 with 590 active captive insurance companies.

Secretary of State Jim Condos is pleased to announce a pilot program to provide unofficial election night results for the 2012 election cycle. The results will be posted as they are received from towns on the following website:http://vtelectionresults.com
‘When fully implemented, this will provide more accurate and up to date election night results to Vermont’s public, the media, and candidates,’ said Secretary Condos.