Current News

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (the Bank) has awarded $3.0 million in the form of grants, loans, and interest-rate subsidies through its Affordable Housing Program (AHP). These funds will be used to finance 79 units of affordable rental and ownership housing for households earning at or below 80 percent of area median income in three New England states. Of that amount, $2.6 million will be awarded as a grant or subsidy.
"This marks the twentieth consecutive year the Bank has awarded grants and subsidies under the AHP," said Edward A. Hjerpe III, the Bank's president and CEO. "The funds committed -- more than $186 million -- have led to more than 22,300 housing units for very low-, low-, and moderate-income households, and have helped stimulate economic development throughout New England."

There were 1,310 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, an increase of 67 from the week before. Altogether 11,410 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 482 from a week ago and 1,918 more than a year earlier. The Department also processed 4,525 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 144 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,503 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 141 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

Senate President Peter Shumlin announced today that thanks to the tremendous generosity of Vermonters, Operation Holiday Homecoming has been successful and we will be bringing all Vermont National Guard troops home for the holidays.
“I am pleased to report that through the fundraising efforts of Vermonters across the state we have reached our goal and raised the funds necessary to bring home our troops for the holidays,” said Senator Shumlin. “It has been wonderful to see Vermonters from diverse income levels, ages, backgrounds and political parties step up and show that they support our troops.”

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, based in Waterbury, Vermont, has made a second offer in as many days to buy Diedrich Coffee Inc in what has become a bidding war with Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. Peet's from Oakland, CA, and GMCR have made, on paper, equivalent offers of $32 per share for the Irvine, CA, coffee company. But GMCR is offering a cash deal valued at $265 million, while Peet's is offering $19.80 in cash and the rest in Peet's stock, which is trading at about $33 per share. The up and down risk for Diedrich is that the value of the deal floats in part based on the value of Peet's stock. Diedrich has informed Peet's that it believes the new GMCR offer is superior to the Peet's offer. Peet's share price has also been falling the last couple of days. Peet's had agreed in early November to buy Diedrich for $26 per share. Peet's has until November 27 to amend its offer.

WSJ On Campus, the new college resource from The Wall Street Journal and Unigo.com, will present a free, interactive webcast - Inside the Admissions Office. The webcast airs live on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. EST via http://wsj.unigo.com and select partner sites.
Inside the Admissions Office features heads of admissions from eight selective colleges and universities in an interactive discussion about the state of college admissions today. Participating heads of admissions represent Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Williams College, Wesleyan University, Bryn Mawr College, Grinnell College, Marquette University and the University of Vermont. The event will be broadcast live from Wesleyan University. Panelists will also answer questions sent in by high school students and parents around the country.

Daniel M. Fogel, president of the University of Vermont, today assumed the board chairmanship of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities during the public research university association’s 122nd Annual Meeting.
Fogel assumes the leadership role from Lee T. Todd, Jr., president of the University of Kentucky. The nation’s oldest higher education association, APLU comprises 188 universities and 27 university systems, including 76 land-grant institutions. Its members enroll more than 4.7 million students, award nearly one-million degrees annually, and conduct nearly two-thirds of all academic research, totaling more than $34 billion annually. Fogel became the 25th President of the University of Vermont in July 2002.

While US households are expected to spend an average of $390 on Christmas gifts this holiday season, down from last year's estimate of $418, New Englanders are expected to spend over $500, which is by far the most, The Conference Board reports today. The survey of Christmas gift spending intentions covers a nationally representative sample of 5,000 US households. It was conducted for The Conference Board in November by TNS, the world's largest custom research company.
"Consumers are approaching the holiday season very cautiously," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "Job losses and uncertainty about the future are making for a very frugal shopper. Retailers will need to be quite creative to entice consumers to spend, both in stores and online this holiday season, as consumers most certainly will expect major markdowns and bargains."

City Market, Onion River Co-op, downtown Burlington’s cooperative grocery store, has issued over $268,000 in Patronage Refund checks to more than 3,500 Co-op Members. Patronage Refund checks for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 were mailed on November 10. Membership at the Co-op is $15 annually and provides a variety of benefits including free water from the Reverse Osmosis water machine, discounts at area businesses, the opportunity to volunteer in and out of the Co-op for store discounts, in addition to the Patronage Refund. Co-op Members show their Member card and/or provide the name on the Member account at the cash registers with every purchase. Individual patronage checks are a refund on profit relative to member purchases when member equity is current. Patronage checks ranged from $1.03 to $946.45.

FairPoint Communications announced today it has selected Garrand and The VIA Group to help assist the company with its marketing and communications activities in northern New England. Both agencies are headquartered in Portland, Maine and were chosen because of their proven expertise and experience in marketing, advertising, and community relations and communications.
“We recognize that both Garrand and The VIA Group bring a great deal of experience that will directly benefit FairPoint. Given their local roots, they both bring a solid understanding of the people and marketplace in northern New England,” said Jim Weigert, vice president, marketing and product development for FairPoint. “This choice underscores our commitment to select top-tier vendors and demonstrates our commitment to do business with locally-based companies. We look forward to the beginning of a long and successful relationship with these agencies.”

Below is the text from State Auditor Tom Salmon’s speech at his press conference on Friday in the Cedar Creek Room at the Statehouse. He talks about transparency in government, his past financial issues, and his recent citation for driving under the influence of alcohol December 13, 2009.
Full Text:
Auditor Tom Salmon Speaks On Government Transparency and Personal Responsibility
Cedar Creek Room, The State House, 1 p.m., November 20, 2009
As Dickens wrote: “It was the best of times….it was the worst of times.” This press conference is dedicated to warrior within all of us.
Thank you all for coming……Vermonters…
Today is a day for facts, transparency and clarity. One of the main reasons is because after today, I will not be available for comments on certain issues until after December 3.
On Transparency:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) (“GMCR”), based in Waterbury, Vermont, today confirmed that it has submitted a proposal to acquire Diedrich Coffee, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX) (“Diedrich”) for $30.00 per share in cash pursuant to a cash tender offer, in a transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $247 million. Separately, today Diedrich announced that the Board of Directors of Diedrich had determined that the GMCR offer constituted a superior proposal, as defined in the existing merger agreement between Diedrich and Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEET) (“Peet’s”), to the November 2, 2009 Peet’s proposal. Diedrich also announced today that is has received a revised offer from Peet’s.

Governor Jim Douglas appointed Thomas N. Pelletier of Montpelier to be chairman of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Board of Commissioners. The change took effect upon the Governor's appointment Tuesday.
"Tom's been a highly-respected member of Vermont's lending community for more than a decade and has served on our Board since May 2008," says Executive Director Sarah Carpenter. "We welcome him as VHFA's new Board chairman."
Pelletier has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Northfield Savings Bank in Northfield since 1998. He serves as a Director of Public Television of Vermont and Norwich University Applied Research Institutes, Ltd.; and is a member of the Community Bankers Council of the American Bankers Association.
Pelletier replaces Lisa Mitiguy Randall who stepped down after nine years as Board chair. She will continue to serve on the Board for the remainder of her term.