Current News
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BioTek Instruments, based in Winooski, will demonstrate their latest microplate-based imaging, detection and liquid handling solutions for cancer research at the AACR Annual Meeting to be held April 18-22 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Featured at BioTek’s booth #1463 will be the award-winning, second generation Cytation™ 5 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Microplate Reader. Cytation 5 is a configurable system that combines automated digital widefield microscopy with conventional multi-mode microplate reading to provide phenotypic cellular information and well-based quantitative data. This single instrument platform can process workflows that would traditionally require multiple instruments and software interfaces, and is simple to setup and operate.
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by Timothy McQuiston If you build it, they will come. That was message from Jay Peak’s Bill Stenger and his team of scientists and marketing specialists regarding the proposed AnC Bio plant in Newport. And for the first time, Stenger put a date on when it would be built. At a press conference Monday in Jay, Stenger said they would break ground on the $100 million project May 14 and be open for business in the fall of 2016.
“The ground is ready and we will commence construction on May 14. We’re very, very excited about this,” Stenger said.
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Britton Lumber Company announced today it plans to rebuild its sawmill. Since the devastating fire on March 28 that totaled its sawmill, the company has met with Town of Fairlee and State of Vermont representatives and have been assured that they will work closely with the company to help rebuild and to potentially save up to 40 jobs at Britton, as well as to support the many loggers, truckers and local businesses with whom we do business.
Britton Lumber President Robert Moses said, “We are still in the early stages of our economic analysis and conversations with regulatory authorities and with our insurance carrier are ongoing, however we thought it was important today to tell our employees and the community that it was our intent to rebuild the sawmill.”
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Early Friday, the McNeil Generating Station completed its longest continual operating stretch – 93 days – in the plant’s 30-year history. Operators took the plant offline on Friday morning in preparation for its annual spring maintenance outage.
“Our hats are off to the dedicated team at McNeil Station,” said Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. “McNeil is a key part of BED’s achievement of sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable generation.”
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Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims edged up again for the week of April 4, 2015. There were 601 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont, an increase of 33 from the previous week's total, but 230 fewer than they were a year ago.
Graph shows private employment (nonfarm, nongovernment)
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“Veni. Vidi. Signati,” Governor Peter Shumlin said Friday at the University of Vermont as he signed into law S2, a bill that gives Vermont an official Latin motto. The motto, “Stella quarta decima fulgeat,” meaning “May the fourteenth star shine bright,” is a reference to Vermont’s status as the fourteenth state to join the United States. The motto joins Vermont’s English motto, “Freedom and Unity.” The idea for an official Latin motto came from St Johnsbury Academy freshman Angela Kubicke, who attended the signing, as did the bill’s sponsor Senator Joe Benning (R-Caledonia). The Latin reference from the governor mimics Julius Caesar who said, "Veni, vidi, vici," meaning I came, I saw, I conquered; in Shumlin's case it means: I came, I saw, I signed.
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org The prospects for a payroll tax to finance Governor Peter Shumlin’s health care reform plan are fading as attention shifts to the Senate. It’s too late for the proposal to go anywhere in the House, which is trudging forward with its own, more modest health care package that could hit the floor late next week. That makes the Senate the only place for the governor to resurrect the payroll tax, but Senate Pro Tempore John Campbell, D-Windsor, said Thursday the upper chamber has little interest in the tax.
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Community Capital of Vermont, New England’s highest volume SBA micro-lender, provided loans to tradespeople, restaurant entrepreneurs, food artisans, and service providers in the first quarter of 2015. Loan amounts ranged from $2,000 to $70,000 per business, and businesses were spread among Rutland, Washington, Lamoille, and Caledonia counties.
Martin Hahn, Community Capital of Vermont executive director, noted, “Community Capital of Vermont is committed to encouraging Vermont entrepreneurs who have excellent idea and the will to succeed in business. CCVT specializes in working with borrowers who may not have access to traditional commercial loans to make their business dreams come to life.”
Among the 2015 first quarter loans were:
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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.
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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).
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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.”
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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