Current News

Sabina Haskell, a veteran Vermont communicator, will join FairPoint s Corporate Communications department February 8, 2010, as PR Manager for Vermont. The position has been vacant since November 2009, when Beth Fastiggi was promoted to VP of governmental relations for Vermont. Haskell has an extensive communications background having served as an editor at several Vermont newspapers, a communications director for a state government agency and is currently the deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Earlier in her career she was an account executive for Hill & Knowlton, Inc., a full service public relations firm.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a past president of the Vermont Press Association. Sabina will be based in Burlington.

Merchants Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, today announced net income of $12.48 million or diluted earnings per share of $2.04 for the year ended December 31, 2009. This compares with net income of $11.92 million or diluted earnings per share of $1.96 for the previous year. Merchants earned $3.80 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.62 for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to net income of $3.06 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.51 for the same quarter of the previous year. Merchants previously announced the declaration of a dividend of 28 cents per share, payable February 18, 2010, to shareholders of record as of February 4, 2010.

Vermont State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding announced today that Vermont successfully sold $52 million in general obligation bonds, in a competitive auction that marked the State’s first-ever sale of “Build America Bonds.” Yesterday’s auction resulted in both the largest number of bids received and the lowest interest cost the State has incurred on a bond sale in decades.
Build America Bonds, often referred to simply as “BABs,” were made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Unlike traditional municipal bonds, BABs are subject to federal income tax, but are still exempt from Vermont State income tax. By using BABs, the State pays a higher interest rate, but receives a 35 percent subsidy on that rate from the federal government. When this subsidy is factored in, BABs often have a lower interest rate than traditional tax-exempt bonds.

US Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) today hailed a major announcement that Vermont will receive $50 million for major rail improvements along Amtrak’s Vermonter line. The funding will help pay for construction of track, roadbed and bridge improvements along 190 miles of railroad used by Amtrak Vermonter service between St. Albans, Vt., and Springfield, Mass., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The upgrade will reduce trip times and improve reliability.
President Obama and Vice President Biden are to announce the grants Thursday in Orlando, Fla. They are part of $8 billion in high-speed-rail awards made nationwide under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More than $55 billion in applications were submitted for the $8 billion available under the recovery bill that Congress passed last year.

Weekly unemployment claims fell for the fourth consecutive week. This follows an end-of-the-year spike in new claims. It comes on the heels of a rise in the Vermont unemployment rate of 6.9 percent in December 2009, up from 6.4 percent in November. It is not clear at this point whether a drop in claims will result in a drop in the January 2010 unemployment rate, which will not be released until March. Year-to-year claims are also down. For the week of January 23, 2010, there were 1,022 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 244 from the week before. Altogether 14,835 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 217 from a week ago and 1,070 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4,932 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 74 fewer than a week ago.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., (NASDAQ: GMCR) today announced its fiscal 2010 first quarter results for the thirteen weeks ended December 26, 2009, reporting strong growth. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 were up 77 percent to $349.4 million as compared to $197.0 million reported in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

New York Governor David Paterson traveled to Crown Point, NY, today and was expected to announce that a new ferry operating at the location of the former Champlain Bridge was expected to begin operation by the end of January, in other words, by Sunday at the latest. Full, regular service is expected first thing Monday. This has been a long-time coming for those commuters using circuitous travel routes to reach destinations to and from Vermont, and for those businesses on both sides of Lake Champlain who count on those commuters. The free service will run around the clock and every day. The crossing will take about 15 minutes.

Residents in the area surrounding the Lake Champlain Bridge share family, friends and business relationships on both sides of the lake, Vermont Governor Douglas said. Establishing this new, free ferry service will allow these relationships and commerce to resume more normally.

With the help of federal stimulus funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has committed $21.7 million in specially interest rate-subsidized loans to Vermont businesses and farms for the period ending December 31, 2009. On the commercial side, the stimulus financing leveraged an additional $41.3 million in private financing to support projects totaling $55.8 million.
“In the eight months since ARRA funds were allocated to VEDA by the General Assembly during the 2009 Legislative Session, Vermont businesses and farms stepped up to the plate during a particularly difficult economy and took advantage of unprecedented low interest rates to make business investments,” said Jo Bradley, VEDA’s Chief Executive Officer. “These investments are vital to the protection and creation of Vermont jobs and the strengthening of Vermont’s economy overall.”

In a profound turnaround in policy, Governor Douglas announced late this afternoon that he will no longer urge the Legislature to vote on the Vermont Yankee relicensing this session, he is also at least temporarily pulling support for the plant's owner, Entergy, to spin off the plant into a new corporation called Enexus, and he says that top management at the plant should be replaced because he has lost trust in them. He said that Entergy must not only find and fix the tritium leak at the plant, but must be transparent in its processes.

Parents and teachers have a creative opportunity to discuss with kids the current economic climate and its personal challenges. The theme for the 2010 Be Money Wi$e Financial Literacy Poster Competition is “$mart Money Choices = A Brighter Future.” The deadline for poster submissions to the Vermont State Treasurer’s Office is February 19.
“This contest gives Vermont children a way to visually illustrate how personal financial decisions can lead to a positive future, even in the face of today’s economic challenges,” said State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding.
The 2010 National Financial Literacy Poster Competition is sponsored in Vermont by the State Treasurer’s Office, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of New Hampshire and Vermont, and the Vermont Bankers Association. The national contest is sponsored by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Vermont’s congressional delegation took their concerns over the safety of Vermont Yankee and the credibility of its management straight to the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday. Led by Senator Bernie Sanders, he and Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Peter Welch met with NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko in Sanders’ DC office. The three emerged to hold a brief conference call with reporters. Their message was unified and clear, the source of the tritium leak at the nuclear power plant in Vernon must be found, it must be fixed, and management must be held accountable for inaccurate statements related to sworn testimony concerning the plant's infrastructure.
The most blunt statement came from Leahy.
“I don’t find the company credible,” Leahy said during the late afternoon conference call. Leahy and his colleagues frequently called into question the veracity of the management team and owner of the facility, Entergy Nuclear of New Orleans.

The State of Vermont will unveil six new veteran license plates during a ceremony at 12:30 p.m. January 28th in the Cedar Creek Room at the State House. During the ceremony, Department of Motor Vehicle Commissioner Robert Ide will unveil plates honoring veterans who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War. The first recipient of a new plate will be Vermont National Guard Adjutant General, Major General Michael Dubie, who will receive a plate honoring his service in Iraq.
The new plates will be available to eligible veterans beginning February 3rd.
“There is no additional fee for the new recognition license plates, and veterans can apply to receive them at any time,” Ide said. “To be eligible, veterans must have served in the combat theater that is recognized by the plate for which they apply.”