Current News

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets (VAAFM) is working with farmers to help prepare for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). FSMA is the most sweeping reform of our nation’s food safety laws in more than 70 years, and was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. FSMA aims to ensure the US food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.

Today, the Agency is announcing the launch of the Vermont Produce Safety Survey & Interactive FSMA Resource, to help farmers determine how they may be impacted by FDA’s Produce Safety Rule.

EPA is making grant money available for New England communities to reduce environmental risks, protect and improve human health and improve the quality of life. EPA New England’s Healthy Communities Grant Program is currently accepting initial proposals for projects that will benefit one or more New England communities. EPA plans to award a total of approximately 10-15 cooperative agreements, each up to a maximum of $25,000, with the exception of projects identifying the Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Target Program Area which may request up to a maximum of $200,000.

Eligible applicants include state and local governments, public nonprofit institutions or organizations, private nonprofit institutions or organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions or organizations, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, K-12 schools or school districts; and non-profit organizations (e.g. grassroots and/or community-based organizations).

The southern Vermont town of Manchester has increased its emergency response systems with Sovernet Communication’s state-of-the-art fiber network. Town officials credit the recent data network upgrade for directly strengthening the town’s police department and Emergency Management Office responsiveness and, in addition, enabling a number of municipal online initiatives.

Manchester Town Manager, John O’Keefe, praised the town’s decision to connect several town services and departments to Sovernet’s fiber network. O’Keefe, who also serves as the town’s Emergency Management Director said, “We are particularly benefiting from the super-fast Sovernet fiber at the police department. Importantly, this also serves our emergency operations center, which is not only responsible for coordinating and planning responses to all of our local emergencies, it’s the only EOC in southern Vermont and is used by both the state police and the state emergency management people.”

Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) has received eight applications from candidates seeking one of four open positions on the Board of Directors. As a part of VEC’s annual meeting, an election of the membership is held each year to elect directors for open positions on the Board and to address other key issues. Below are the seats that are up for election and the slate of candidates. Each of these seats carries a four-year term.

District 1 Director Candidates
Don Worth, Island Pond

District 1 Towns:

Averill, Averys Gore, Barton, Bloomfield, Brighton, Brownington, Brunswick, Canaan, Charleston, Ferdinand, Guildhall, Holland, Lemington, Lewis, Lyndon, Maidstone, Morgan, Newark, Norton, Sheffield, Sutton, Warners Grant, Warren Gore, Westmore, Wheelock

District 6 Director Candidates
Molly Lambert, Swanton

John Youland, Montgomery Center

Burlington-based Local Motion and the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition are joining forces. Interest in walking and biking is surging, and, statewide, Vermont is surpassing national trends for the number of people who choose to walk to work, and keeping pace with national trends for biking to work. Commute data is one of the few comparable measures from state to state, but as you know so well, it is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the many reasons and ways in which we enjoy walking and biking whenever we can.

Emily Boedecker, Executive Director of Local Motion and Grant Orenstein, Vermont Bike Ped Coalition Board Chair sign the merger agreement.

Utah again garnered the top spot for states with the best economic outlook, followed by North Dakota, Indiana, North Carolina and Arizona, according to the newest edition of Rich States, Poor States released Wednesday by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Vermont once again finished 49th, just ahead of New York. In the "performance" aspect of the report, Vermont finished 38th, down two spots. The report is authored by Reagan-era economist Dr Arthur B Laffer.

With much of the ranking predicated on tax policy, Vermont has predictably finished near or at the bottom. In the eights years of the study, Vermont has not finished higher than 49th and has been 50th twice. While ranking low for all the income and propety tax questions, Vermont was 7th best in sales tax and 5th in debt service.

See data tables below.

Governor Peter Shumlin has appointed St Albans City Manager Dominic Cloud as a member of the Natural Resources Board (NRB) and has appointed environmental advocate Elizabeth Courtney as an alternate member of the NRB. The NRB administers Vermont’s landmark land use law, Act 250. The five member panel meets monthly to address issues related to Act 250 rules, discuss policy issues, and hear requests to reconsider jurisdictional decisions. Cloud replaces Elizabeth Wilkel, whose term expired, as a member of the NRB. Courtney fills an open alternate position vacated by Patricia Moulton when she was appointed Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Alternate board members serve when needed to avoid scheduling issues or conflict of interests.

At the Queen City Brewery in Burlington this morning, Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced his support for bipartisan legislation to provide tax relief to Vermont's growing small brewery industry. Welch was joined by Kurt Staudter, Executive Director of the Vermont Brewers Association; Paul Hale, co-founder of Queen City Brewery; John Kimmich, co-owner of the Alchemist brewery; Matt Cohen, brewmaster of Fiddlehead Brewing; and Tommy Noonan, manager of Vermont Pub and Brewery.

“Vermont is quickly gaining a reputation for brewing some of the best and most sought after beers in the world,” said Welch. “Our brewers exemplify Vermont’s entrepreneurial culture but taking a brewery from concept to the first pour is a daunting challenge. The Small BREW Act will give these passionate and committed small business owners a financial boost that will help them achieve their dream while creating good local jobs.”

Vermont Gas Systems CEO Don Rendall today announced that former VNRC executive director Ned Farquhar has joined the company as Vice President for Communications and Government. Rendall has said the Vermont Gas team will use energy efficiency, energy innovation, and conversion to natural gas to support Vermont’s transition to a lower-emitting, more affordable, and largely renewable energy portfolio.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Tropical Storm Irene cost the owners of the Alchemist $650,000 when it washed out the pub and brewery in Waterbury in 2011. The maker of the popular Heady Topper beer was forced to lay off 15 employees to help pay the bills. “More extreme weather is on its way due to climate change. Across the globe, businesses, homes and infrastructure is at risk,” Jen Kimmich, co-owner of the brewery, told a packed House Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Wednesday during a discussion on a carbon pollution tax.

Kimmich and about 200 other Vermont businesses want lawmakers to put a price on carbon pollution as a way to control human-caused climate change. She said she is willing to pay a small tax to help spur emission reductions and allow her business to survive over the long term.

The Vermont Department of Health is notifying Vermonters about a voluntary recall of Sabra Dipping Co, LLC Classic Hummus due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

There have been no reports of illness related to the product, which is sold in Vermont.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in pregnant women, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems. Healthy children and adults can also become infected withListeria, but they rarely become seriously ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seven vehicle fleets around the region have been selected as Northern Stars of New England by the New England Clean Cities Coalitions for their efforts in cutting carbon emissions, reducing the use of petroleum, and promoting and utilizing alternative fuels to power their vehicles. The fleets selected include the City of Boston Massachusetts, the City of Nashua New Hampshire, Oakhurst Dairy in Maine and New Hampshire, the University of Vermont, the Greater Portland Transit District (METRO) in Portland, Maine, Newport Biodiesel in Newport, Rhode Island, and Malloy Energy in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Each fleet demonstrated a deep commitment to the goals of the Clean Cities program through use of alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicle purchasing, and petroleum reduction practices.