Current News

Shelburne Museum has been awarded a $600,000 Save America's Treasures grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The grant will be used to install a fiber optic communications system connecting the museum's exhibit buildings on the 45-acre grounds. The state-of-the-art system will improve security, enhance climate control and support educational programs, including providing Internet access to the museum’s 39 exhibition buildings.
“Shelburne Museum is honored to have been selected to receive a Save America’s Treasures grant,“ said Shelburne Museum Director Stephan Jost. “While not the most glamorous, communications infrastructure is key to positioning the museum for the future. This award will make a significant difference in terms of conservation, security and education at the museum. “
Shelburne Museum was one of 41 grant recipients nationally from a pool of 402 grant applications. The awards totaled $9.5 million.

Employees of Williston-based Hampton Direct, an international leader in the booming “As Seen on TV” Industry will decide tomorrow, December 11, how to divide the company’s $20,000 donation to local charities.
The company’s 2009 sales are on pace to more than triple 2008’s, which was the company’s banner year. To commemorate this growth, Steve Heroux, CEO of Hampton Direct, came up with a unique idea to give back to the community’s charities in which their employees reside. Last year, Heroux left the decision on how to divide year-end employee bonuses to the employees themselves.
Recently, the company announced a retail partnership with Lowe’s to carry the Twin Draft Guard product in 350 stores in the Northeast and the company purchased a building that more than triples the square footage of their previous location (20,000 square feet compared to 66,000 in the new building). The company also plans to increase its staff by 20 percent.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved legislation to establish a qualified privilege for journalists to protect their confidential sources and the public’s right to know. The bipartisan Free Flow of Information Act was first listed for Committee consideration in April, and Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has worked with the bill’s chief sponsors to move the legislation forward.
The media shield legislation was introduced by Senators Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in February. Leahy, Schumer and Specter have worked with the Obama administration and supporters of the bill to negotiate a federal shield law for reporters. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have codified or common law protections for confidential source information. The Free Flow of Information Act was approved by the Committee by a bipartisan vote of 14 to five.

Using a “buy local” approach, a new State program aims to support the growth and success of the investment management business in Vermont. The Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC) recently contracted with two Vermont-based firms to manage a portion of the roughly $2.9 billion in assets for the State pension systems. The Vermont Manager Program was adopted as a targeted effort to utilize locally provided investment management services from firms capable of offering world-class institutional management at competitive costs. Following a request for proposals, and subsequent presentations and interviews, Champlain Investment Partners of Burlington and KDP Asset Management of Montpelier were selected to each manage approximately $21 million in assets.

On Tuesday, December 15, the State Board of Education will hold its monthly meeting at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier. At 1:15 p.m. the Board will hear a presentation from the Transformation Policy Commission, charged in early 2009 with proposing key policy actions that could support transformation. The report is entitled Opportunity to Learn, as it focuses on how every student can attain 21st century skills when provided with focused and personalized opportunities for learning. The report is organized into five policy sections and addresses many specific policy actions, including new 21st century skills and revising the VT Framework, multiple ways of learning, learning outside of school, greater interdisciplinary learning, routine early college opportunities, multi-age small learning communities, learning focused on deep understanding of concepts rather than content details, proficiency based grading and graduation, true personalization.

Last night, a Senate-House conference committee approved language enabling both Maine and Vermont to conduct one-year pilot projects allowing heavier, six-axle trucks full access to the interstate highways within their borders. In September, the Senate passed Sen. Collins’ (R-Maine) provision in the Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill, but it was not part of the bill passed by the House. The Conference Committee included both the Collins amendment and a similar one by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in the final version of the legislation, which must receive final approval from both the House and Senate. The action is generally favored by business and the local communities where trucks are diverted off the interstates. Some proponents say it will reduce overall traffic fatalities. Opponents say the bigger trucks will wear down the interstates faster and could actually increase the total number fatal accidents.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) has announced that Douglas N. Daft has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors and Compensation Committee. The addition of Mr. Daft expands the Board of Directors to nine members. Mr. Daft is the former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Coca-Cola Company, Inc. He joined the Coca-Cola Company in 1969 in the Sydney, Australia office. He subsequently held various positions throughout the Asia Region, residing in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. In 1991 Daft moved to the Company’s Atlanta headquarters to assume responsibility for the Asia and Pacific region. Later the Middle East and Africa regions were added. He was appointed president and chief operating officer in December 1999 and was elected chairman, Board of Directors, and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company in February 2000. He served in those capacities until retiring in May 2004.

The large winter storm system that has wreaked havoc from the Upper Midwest to New England knocked out power to about 14,000 CVPS customers today. As of 4 pm Wednesday, 9,200 customers were without power. Bennington, Rutland and Addison counties were hardest hit, as high winds brought down trees and power lines along the western slopes of the Green Mountains.
“The storm has really tracked up the western slopes from south to north,” said Storm Manager Scott Massie. “Our crews down south saw some very high winds, and we have at least six broken poles in Bennington County that we know of right now. We’ve had reports of gusts over 60 mph in Rutland County.”
Crews worked to restore outages as they came in today, although the storm is not expected to end until later this evening. CVPS is cautiously moving crews from unaffected districts to assist restoration in the hardest hit areas.

The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) announces Copeland Furniture of Bradford, Vermont, is the recipient of the 2009 Sage Award for environmental excellence. The award program was launched to recognize environmental accomplishments within the home furnishings industry.
“A sage is someone who is widely respected for wisdom, experience and judgment,” explains AHFA CEO Andy Counts. “This award was created by AHFA and Cargill’s BiOH® polyols business unit to seek out and recognize true environmental innovators from whom others in our industry can learn.”
The competition was open to retail, manufacturing and supplier companies in both the furniture and bedding industries.

There were 1,566 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 236 from the week before. Altogether 13,459 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 1,614 from a week ago and 1,499 more than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4,447 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 156 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,772 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 246 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc

Vermont state government spent $228,874 on bottled water in 2008, according to a new report Getting States Off the Bottle released today by Corporate Accountability International. The new report also documents state spending in three other Northeastern states, where the expenditures ranged between $205,833 (Connecticut) and $527,107 (Massachusetts) a year for bottled water, or the equivalent of the funding needed to purchase 270 to 693 water fountains equipped with glass fillers.
“Public dollars spent to support the private water interests robs the public water system of available dollars, nearly $12 billion in the U.S. in 2007. Many of these dollars could instead be spent to be sure tap water is safe,” said state Rep. Jim McCullough (D-Williston).

Vermont ranks 8th in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.
Vermont currently spends $5.9 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 57.1 percent of the $10.4 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, Vermont ranked 7th, spending $6.1 million on tobacco prevention.
Other key findings for Vermont include:

Vermont this year will collect $86 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 6.9 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs.
The tobacco companies spend $27.4 million a year to market their products in Vermont. This is 5 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.