Current News

Philadelphia’s independent bike shops are about to experience a new kind of traveling salesperson. Terry Bicycles’ CEO, Liz Robert (formerly CEO of The Vermont Teddy Bear Company) is trading in her business suit for bike shorts and embarking on a pedaling excursion. Robert is loading her backpack with samples and sales catalogs and riding from bike shop to shop in metro locations around the country, selling the Terry line of cycling gear and testing Google Bike Maps as well as the developing bike infrastructure of our cities and towns.

Apple specialist Small Dog Electronics recycled an estimated 30 tons of e-Waste at its annual recycling event in South Burlington on Saturday, September 24.

More than 400 vehicles filled with old TVs, computers and electronic peripherals lined up at Ben & Jerry’s corporate office on Saturday to recycle old electronics for free. All of the electronics collected will be safely and responsibly recycled by WeRecycle! in their two processing plants in Connecticut and New York. The recycling event is part of Small Dog’s commitment to having a net positive impact on the environment by recycling a greater volume of electronic equipment than they sell.

Vermont is in line to receive up to $3.1 million over the next five years as part of one of the country’s largest investments ever in promoting good health, the Vermont congressional delegation announced today.
Vermont will be a leader in the new national initiative that also will limit spending by avoiding costly, chronic diseases in the first place, according to U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
The Vermont delegation had urged U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to include Vermont in the first round of grants.
Dr. Harry Chen, the Vermont health commissioner, welcomed the grant. The state will use the first year’s installment of $621,760 to help decrease disparities in health care for poor people and minorities. The department plans to focus on reducing tobacco use and promoting exercise and healthy diets.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) today announced that by the end of October it will open seven temporary bridges that will provide the public access over brooks and rivers where Tropical Storm Irene damaged permanent structures, rendering them unusable for public travel.
The first two of these temporary bridges is scheduled to open this weekend, and once in use will provide the public unhindered travel along both Route 100A in Plymouth and Route 100 in Pittsfield. Opening the bridge in Pittsfield is significant as it will allow the public to travel freely along Route 100 between Stockbridge and Killington for the first time since the storm struck on August 28.

Among the variety of new construction and improvements at Vermont’s resorts, one theme unifies. These snow-centric businesses listen to their guests and year after year, strive to create the best possible experience for their extended family of skiers and riders.
Here is the latest update from the Vermont Ski Areas Association, Ski Vermont:
BOLTON VALLEY RESORT

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products was awarded an $8.6 million contract option by the U.S. Army for the load, assemble and pack of the M231 and M232A1 Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS). General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
The option modifies an existing contract awarded in December 2008. The MACS provides propelling charges with combustible cartridge cases for 155mm artillery. The charges are compatible with new and existing howitzer systems and offer enhanced precision with a reduction in weight and volume.
Production work will be performed at General Dynamics' facility in Camden, Ark., which has approximately 300 employees. Program support will occur at the company's Williston, Vt., facility, which has a workforce of approximately 400 employees. Work will be completed by September 2013.

For his work to understand how to build better robots, Joshua Bongard, a researcher at the University of Vermont, has received the highest award given by the US government to young scientists.
UVM roboticist Josh Bongard will go to Washington D.C. to meet President Obama and receive the government's highest award for young scientists. (Photo: Sally McCay)
On September 26, President Barack Obama announced Bongard as one of 94 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; he will be honored at a White House ceremony in October.
Bongard is only the second researcher in UVM history to receive the PECASE award, which provides $500,000 in research funds over several years.
Inspired by evolution

Penley Corporation, based in West Paris, Maine, has agreed to settle claims by Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell that the company violated the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by misrepresenting the availability of local composting options for its Full Circle line of ‘compostable’ cutlery. The settlement requires Penley to pay $10,000 to the State of Vermont in penalties and costs, and another $10,000 to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA Vermont) to support its Harvest Health Coupon Program.
Commenting on the settlement, Attorney General Sorrell said that Vermonters care about responsible disposal, including the compostability, of consumer products, and need to be able to rely on sellers’ claims about how those products may be disposed of. ‘If most Vermonters can’t compost an item in the state, then advertising the item as ‘compostable’ is deceptive,’ he said.

The US Small Business Administration is providing $30 million in grants to states, territories, and the District of Columbia, to help increase exporting by small businesses during the next 12 months. The grants were authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, under the State Trade and Export Promotion Program (STEP). Vermont has been allocated $363,768.
The STEP program, launched in March, aligns with President Obama’s National Export Initiative. The President’s initiative calls for doubling U.S. exports in five years ‘ and in so doing, supporting two million jobs. The program provides federal government funding for 65 to75 percent of program costs, with states supplying the remainder.

Tong Chen, a middle and high school Chinese teacher at Leland & Gray Union High School in Townsend, was named by Commissioner Armando Vilaseca as the 2012 Vermont Teacher of the Year at a ceremony held today at the school.
Also honored were:

Alternate Jeff Johnson, a physical education teacher at Mt Anthony Union Middle and High School in Bennington.
Finalists Mark Weikert, a physical education teacher at Flood Brook Union School in Londonderry; and Glenda Allen, a literacy and math teacher at Barre Town Elementary School in Barre Town.

Increasingly, scientific research depends upon huge pools of data ‘ like gene sequences or weather models ‘ shared between scientists at numerous institutions. And this sharing depends upon fast fiber-optic networks and other so-called cyber-infrastructure ‘ far faster than a conventional internet hook-up.
In Vermont, that information pipeline has been not been as big as necessary or entirely missing in places.
But that’s changing.
The Vermont Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VT EPSCoR) at the University of Vermont has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation for the next two years to connect the Vermont State Colleges (VSC) and the University of Vermont with high-speed fiber optic cables and other information-sharing technologies.

Foliage is nearing peak color on the mountainsides of the Northeast Kingdom and at higher elevations down the spine of the Green Mountains.
Vibrant foliage continues to develop around Vermont, and most areas of the state will be displaying ever more colorful foliage throughout the week. ‘The mountains in Richford and Montgomery are at mid-stage to near peak, and the lower elevations are in the early to mid stages of color,’ reports Nancy Patch, a forester in Franklin County, near the Canadian border.
Likewise, foliage is nearing peak color in the Northeast Kingdom and on some of the higher elevations of the Green Mountains well into central Vermont. Look for bright color between Jay Peak and St. Johnsbury, Stowe and Montpelier, then south to Killington.
The lower hillsides in central Vermont are generally at mid-stage with a 30 to 50 percent change. Bright, scarlet maples highlight the emerging, quilt-like mix of yellow, orange and burgundy.