Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Lake Sunapee Bank Group (NASDAQ: LSBG), the holding company for Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb, has announced results for the quarter ended September 30, 2015. Consolidated net income for the third quarter of 2015 was $2.1 million, or $0.25 per diluted common share, compared to $2.7 million, or $0.32 per diluted common share, for the same period in 2014, and $6.9 million, or $0.82 per diluted common share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, compared to $7.2 million, or $0.85 per diluted common share, for the same period in 2014. Lake Sunapee Bank serves customers through the central part of Vermont and in New Hampshire.

by Mike Faher vtdigger.org An important part of Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning process – moving the plant’s spent nuclear fuel into more-stable storage – could begin two years earlier than originally planned. In new filings with the Vermont Public Service Board, an Entergy executive says administrators may start to move the fuel into dry cask storage in “as early as 2017.” The company previously has said it would transfer the fuel in 2019 and 2020. The federal government might be on the hook for some of the costs.

The schedule shift apparently would give VY owner Entergy more time to undertake the slow, highly regulated transfer of thousands of radioactive spent fuel assemblies from a pool of water at the nuclear plant compound into casks on the site.

George Thomas, a senior project manager with Entergy VY, said the accelerated schedule won’t increase the cost or change the projected completion date.

Speaker of the Vermont House Shap Smith has appointed Cathy Frey of Barre to serve on the Vermont Commission on Women. Commissioner Frey is Professor of Mathematics at Norwich University and serves as Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate. She joined the Norwich faculty in 1985, and in 1991 became the very first woman promoted to Associate Professor in Mathematics, and the first woman ever tenured in the University's Mathematics Department. In 2001, she became the first woman promoted to the rank of Professor of Mathematics at Norwich. She served as the first and only female Chair of the Mathematics department from 2002-2006 and as the first and only female Dean of Mathematics and Sciences from 2006-2013.

Cathy Frey

Vermont Business Magazine Dr Robert E Simpson, Jr, president and chief executive officer of the Brattleboro Retreat, was awarded the SoVermont Leadership Award for Excellence in Economic Development 2015 at a joint meeting of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies group (SeVEDS) held on Tuesday afternoon, October 20, at the Governor Hunt House in Vernon. The annual award is given in recognition of sustained and effective efforts to mobilize leadership in the development of programs and projects, planning and designing of new and creative economic development activities, and deep commitment as a leader and advocate for economic development in Southern Vermont.

by Michael O'Connor As a registered Democrat, I admire our state's presidential candidate. But as one of the 1 million Americans who battle Parkinson's disease,^[1] I worry that Senator. Bernie Sanders' well-intentioned plan to cap prescription drug prices will have dangerous, unintended consequences. Sixty percent of Vermont adults suffer from a chronic disease like cancer or diabetes.^[2] Senator Sanders is right that "people are dying and becoming much sicker because they can't afford the medicines they need."^[3] But the blame for high drug bills rests not with pharmaceutical companies, but rather with the insurance companies who slam patients with enormous out-of-pocket expenses.

Vermont State Police The Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations for the Middlesex Barracks have concluded a lengthy investigation into the two armed robberies that occurred at the Northfield savings bank in the town of Waitsfield on 4/28/15 and 5/5/15. Investigators have identified Andrew Place (dob: 1/1/86) and James McCausland (dob:7/2/88) as being responsible for both armed robberies. Investigators learned that Place entered the bank with a handgun during both incidents while McCausland waited outside and drove the getaway vehicle.

Andrew Place, left, and James McCausland. Courtesy VSP

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) -- who have long championed the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) -- Friday announced $17 million in funds to assist Vermonters seeking help to meet their home heating needs this winter, only days after the first snowfall of the season. In a joint statement, Leahy, Sanders and Welch said: “LIHEAP is a lifeline to more than 25,000 Vermonters who need energy assistance to stay warm in the winter. Seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities, and low-income families spend a growing portion of their income heating their homes.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims in Vermont increased above 500 after its historic low of under 300 three weeks ago. For the week of October 17, there were 553 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont, an increase of 115 from the previous week's total and 13 more than they were a year ago. Generally, claims have been running below last year's totals. Total claims were generally up a little in most regions of the state. By industry, claims fell for for Construction and were up modestly for manufacturing. As has been the trend, Services led all categories with 47 percent of all claims, the same as last week.

Vermont Business Magazine Energy efficiency measures continue to flourish in states across the country, with Vermont finishing just behind Massachusetts and California. Several states—including California, Maryland, Illinois, Texas and the nation’s capital, Washington, DC—took major steps that improved their scores in the ninth annual edition of the State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, released this week by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The State Scorecard ranking of the states is issued annually with the support of the US Department of Energy. This year, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency Kathleen Hogan participated in the release of the ACEEE report.

SEE VERMONT SCORECARD BELOW

Public Assets Institute New employment numbers out for September show virtually no growth in 2015. Total employment, which includes the self-employed along with payroll employees, dropped for the second month in a row. There were 2,500 fewer Vermonters working in September than in July. Meanwhile, Vermont unemployment fell from 4.1 percent in January to 3.7 percent last month.

Discouraged and underemployed

Vermont’s official unemployment rate — U-3, to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — is back where it was before the Great Recession hit in late 2007. But the broadest unemployment indicator, U-6, is still higher than it was. U-6 includes discouraged and underemployed workers — respectively, those who’d like jobs but are not actively looking, and part-timers who would like to work more hours. In 2006 Vermont’s U-6 rate averaged 6.4 percent; in 2014, 8.8 percent.

Rising poverty

Vermont Business Magazine According to The RE/MAX INTEGRA, New England September Monthly Housing Report, year-over-year sales in Vermont increased by 9.8 percent. Pending sales were up 10 percent over September 2014. But home prices were down nearly 1 percent to $195,000, which was the only decline in New England. Despite the brisk number of sales, Vermont ranked lowest in New England. Overall, the residential market in the region remained strong through September 2015, with sales up 15 percent and pending sales up 14 percent over September 2014. New Hampshire led this growth with an impressive 20 percent increase in sales year-over-year, while average days on market in the state decreased by 12.5 percent. Vermont had the highest DOM at 165. Rhode Island was lowest at 65 DOM.

Month-over-month in New England, the market followed traditional seasonal trends with a 10.7 percent decrease in sales and slight decrease in median price.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced Thursday the roll-out of a new online voter registration system, “My Voter Page” online voter resource tool, and a new statewide voter checklist and elections management system to be used by all town and city clerks in Vermont.

“Government is strengthened when more Vermonters engage in the electoral process and vote,” said Governor Peter Shumlin. “This is just the latest effort by Secretary Condos to ensure there are no barriers to participation in our democracy. Vermont’s democracy will be a better place for it.”