Current News

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas on Wednesday officially welcomed AirBoss Defense to the state at the company’s new Milton plant, where the manufacturer will produce gloves to protect troops and first responders from chemical, nuclear, or biological hazards.
“This is a great day for not only both AirBoss and Vermont, but for the men and women who will use this safety equipment,” Douglas said. “They get state of the art protection; the company gets increased production capacity nearer a key market, and Vermont reaps the benefit of good jobs.”
Earl Laurie, Divisional President for AirBoss-Defense, said the company expected to have as many as 30 new workers on the job by month’s end in the combination manufacturing and distribution center located at the Catamount Industrial park in Milton, just north of Burlington, Vermont.

Weekly unemployment claims fell last week, continuing a downward trend since a spike at the end of 2009. They are now well below levels from a year ago. For the week of February 13, 2010, there were 821 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, a decrease of 126 from the week before. Altogether 14,658 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 168 from a week ago and 2,383 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4997 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 48 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 3,552 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 74 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/.

US Representative Peter Welch on Wednesday announced a $150,000 federal grant for an innovative job-training program offered by the Community College of Vermont.
Alongside recent graduates and teachers at CCV’s Montpelier site, Welch touted the Career Readiness Certificate Program as an effective means of equipping Vermonters with vital entry-level skills, while also supporting Vermont employers in need of a quality workforce.
The federal appropriation Welch secured will help CCV increase the number of students it can serve through the program and expand it to sites around the state.

WCAX-TV, Vermont Business Magazine and WDEV Radio Vermont are teaming up to cover politics. Three of the state’s leading news organizations announced this week they will team up to cover the 2010 election. This innovative three-way partnership will take the pulse of the public through television, print and radio.
The partnership will include polling, debates and special programming right up until Election Day on November 2nd.
“We will be asking the candidates where they stand on the critical issues of our time. The public deserves a hard look at the candidates and that is what we will be doing,” said VBM publisher John Boutin.
“For the first time, broadcast radio, broadcast television and in-depth print, new media and online news are coming together to deliver relevant coverage to the citizens of the Green Mountain State.” said WDEV President Ken Squier. “We can’t wait.”

US Senator Patrick Leahy and members of the Putney Historical Society, Preservation Trust of Vermont and Vermont Housing and Conservation Board met at the site of the Putney General Store Wednesday morning to announce that a new $60,000 federal grant will ensure that construction on the new General Store can begin this year.
None of us here could have imagined that instead of touring a new and improved Putney General Store today we would be standing in front of a vacant lot, said Leahy. But the fact that we are still here is a testament to the Putney community and another example of how in a time of crisis Vermonters pull together.

Eight states will join with the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) to use the world’s best instructional systems and examinations to dramatically increase the number of students who leave high school ready to succeed in college. Students who show they are ready to do college level work will be able to get their diploma and enroll in college as early as the end of their sophomore year in high school.
In today’s announcement from Washington, NCEE President Marc Tucker announced that Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont will work with NCEE through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the performance of high school students in these eight states by adopting powerful instructional systems that actually set the international standards.

Vermont Yankee engineers and technicians have identified a likely source of a tritium leak at the Vernon nuclear power station, according to a statement from Yankee released last night. As noted by Yankee on Saturday, workers were successful in inserting a conduit into the Advanced Off Gas pipe tunnel from the AOG Building side of the tunnel. This allowed an inspection of the tunnel using a boroscope. The inspection found standing water in the tunnel. The water was tested and found to contain tritium in a concentration of 2,400,000 pCi/L. A level of 200,000 pCi/L is considered by the EPA as the maximum safe level in drinking water. On Sunday, workers shut off flow from a drain line associated with one of the plant s hydrogen recombiner units and began moving the standing water out of the tunnel to be processed through the normal radiological waste treatment systems. The drain line appears to be a likely source for the water found in the tunnel, according to Yankee.

Fletcher Allen reported a net operating income of approximately $96,000 for the first quarter of the 2010 Fiscal year. The first quarter covers the period beginning October 1st and ending December 31, 2010. The organization also finished its 2009 fiscal year approximately $1.2 million above budget. The fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. The net operating income for the first quarter was approximately $4.6 million below the budgeted amount of $4.7 million, and $3.9 million below the first quarter of FY 2009.
Total operating revenues for the first quarter were $210.2 million, approximately $10.9 million below budget. The organization s operating expenses for the quarter were $210.1 million, $6.3 million below budget, resulting in the net operating gain of $96,000 and a slightly positive operating margin for the first quarter. By comparison, the organization had an operating margin of 2.0 % in the first quarter of FY 2009.

Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie today issued the following statement concerning a call for the State Senate to hold an accelerated vote on Vermont Yankee relicensing before town meeting day:
“As I have stated before, safety must be our number one priority regarding Vermont Yankee. Period.

Focus Acquisition Partners is pleased to announce that CEPS, Inc. of West Lebanon, NH has completed its acquisition of Johnson Precision, Inc. (JPI). CEPS is a global provider of highly engineered plastic injection-molded components and sub-assemblies. JPI, based in Amherst, NH, is one of New England’s leading full service and vertically integrated custom mold manufacturing, machining and injection-molding companies.
Focus Acquisition Partners consulted with CEPS on the transaction, which closed on January 22, 2010. Terms were not disclosed.
The combination of CEPS and JPI will offer new and existing customers ongoing gold-star service and quality, together with expanded custom and value-added injection molding solutions. Jim Umland, CEPS’ CEO, will lead the combined companies, which provide highly engineered manufacturing services to a wide range of industries. About the transaction, Umland said:

The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) has been selected as a recipient of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation s Catalyst for Change awards, which recognize existing examples of personalized, student-centered learning experiences across New England. Twelve schools and education organizations have received a one-time grant of $50,000.
This grant is the single most important step to building a statewide foundation for the VermontFutures program, says VYCC President, Thomas Hark. It is a program which significantly reduces the dropout rate, doubles the credit completion rates, and helps those enrolled to make great strides when taking personal responsibility for their own education.

Comcast and Vermont Public Television (VPT) today announced a new partnership that will make PBS programming available to local residents at their convenience through the company’s signature On Demand service. Comcast Digital Cable customers throughout Vermont and New Hampshire’s Upper Valley can now view national PBS shows and episodes of popular PBS series in both standard and high definition at no additional cost anytime they want, with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind.
“We’re delighted to add another option for today’s viewers who are looking for programs anytime, anywhere, anyhow,” said John King, President of Vermont Public Television. “While our traditional broadcast service is still the way most people see us, we’re now on multiple platforms, including the Internet, and, through our partnership with Comcast, we can also provide our viewers with convenient access to our content On Demand.”