Current News

Technology pay in the United States saw another year of hikes with technology professionals earning $89,450 on average annually, up 2 percent from 2013, according to Dice’s annual salary survey. More than half (61 percent) of technology professionals earned higher salaries in 2014, most frequently citing a merit raise as the reason for the increase. Another 25 percent say they received higher wages due to changing employers within the year. Vermont stood at $87,484 and has regained all the ground lost during the Great Recession.

Attorney General William H Sorrell, the Department of Public Service, the Agency of Natural Resources, and the Department of Health filed Comments today with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding Entergy’s proposed plans for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility. Those concerns include whether Entergy has done enough work to determine what contamination currently exists at the plant, and whether Entergy will have enough money to fund all of the needed work.

SEE EXHIBITS

SEE COMMENTS

The Orvis Company, Inc ofManchester, VT ( www.orvis.com) has announced the four recipients of its annual Customer Matching Grant program. Targeted to raise $360,000 or more, these grants are the cornerstone of Orvis' annual commitment of 5 percent of its pre-tax profits to protecting nature. In total, Orvis will raise and contribute more than $1 million to conservation initiatives in 2015.

As the incidence of texting and Web use grows, so does the incidence of wireless network problems, with the year-over-year increase driven primarily by issues with data services, including phone and mobile broadband Web, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study — Volume 1 released today.

In the Northeast region, which covers the following states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, Verizon scored higher than every other wireless competitor with an overall PP100 score of 11, while the Northeast average was 13.

On February 20, 2015, Judge Thomas Durkin of the Vermont Superior Court Environmental Division issued an order approving a settlement agreement between the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), Jay Peak Resort, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation. This agreement will continue to improve water quality and protect streams adjacent to the fast-growing, four-season ski resort in northern Vermont.

“We have been concerned that for years these streams have failed to meet Vermont’s Water Quality Standards while land development has continued to discharge additional sediment pollution,” said Kim Greenwood, VNRC’s water program director and staff scientist. “It was a good investment of time and energy for VNRC to work with Jay Peak and the Department to figure out a good model for cleaning up water in Vermont,” said Greenwood.

Fifteen watershed improvement projects were chosen to receive funding from Vermont's 2015 Watershed Grant Program, according to an announcement from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Forty-four applications were received, requesting a total of $387,744. The 2015 available funding totaled $100,000 and the size of the individual grants to be awarded ranged from $3,500 to $14,000.

A watershed grant helped to fund this dam removal in 2014 on the Wells River in Groton, restoring free-flowing conditions and enabling upstream movement of fish. Photo by Rod Wentworth

The 2015 projects cover a range of water quality and aquatic habitat projects, including these examples in three categories:

Implementation

Vermont Business Magazine Uncertainty continued in February over Vermont’s revenues, as refunding activity skewed, for better or worse, results for the vital Personal Income Tax and for the Corporate Tax. Meanwhile, consumption taxes were disappointing in what is an important tourism month.

Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson today released the preliminary February fiscal year (FY) 2015 revenue results for the General, Transportation, and Education Funds. The revenue targets are based on the Consensus Revenue Forecast adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 20, 2015.

Preliminary General Fund (GF) revenues totaled $71.25 million for February 2015, +$8.22 million or +13.05 percent above the monthly target. Year-to-date, GF receipts are $868.59 million, +$6.95 million or +0.81 percent above the cumulative target. The results are +$34.95 million or +4.19 percent above the year-to-date results of the prior fiscal year (FY 2014).

Merchants Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, today announced that its 2015 Annual Meeting will be held onThursday, May 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Stockholders of record of the Company's Common Stock as of the close of business on March 30, 2015 are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held at The Essex Resort and Spa, 70 Essex Way, Essex Junction, Vermont 05452.

Public Service Department Commissioner Chris Recchia announced that the newly revised Vermont Residential and Commercial Building Energy Codes are in effect as of March 1, 2015. The Vermont Residential Building Energy Code, officially called the “Residential Building Energy Standards” (RBES), was initially adopted by the Vermont legislature in May 1997. The Vermont Commercial Building Energy Standards (CBES), was initially adopted in 2006. The legislation provides for regular review and updates to the provisions in the Code by the Public Service Department (PSD). The 2015 Residential and Commercial Building Energy Codes are based on Vermont amendments to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code and are a minimum standard of energy efficiency that applies to all alterations and renovations for existing buildings, as well as new construction.

Dynapower Company, the global leader in energy storage inverters based in South Burlington, announced that it has completed installation of its market-leading MPS-100 inverter as part of an integrated micro-grid system at Black & Veatch's World Headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. The renewable-energy-plus-storage micro-grid consists of 50 kilowatts (kW) of rooftop solar panels, two 65 kW natural gas micro-turbines, and a 100 kWh battery connected to the Dynapower MPS-100 kW energy storage inverter.

The system is designed for "behind-the-meter" (customer-sited) use, including both grid-connected and standalone operation (islanding) of a portion of the facility. The system also includes a self-guided computer touch screen in the World Headquarters that highlights the micro-grid's real-time performance for demonstration and educational purposes.

Vermont’s biggest harbinger of spring – maple sugar season – kicks off in March and continues through April with fairs, festivals, and family fun. As the largest producer of maple syrup in the US, Vermont knows how to celebrate the sweet stuff.

Depending on the festival, you may find a scavenger hunt, carnival, sleigh ride, or sugaring demonstration. Many will feature special treats such as maple cotton candy, maple kettle corn, or sugar-on-snow (served the traditional way with pickles and doughnuts). The granddaddy of them all is the Vermont Maple Festival in St. Albans April 24^th-26^th, but maple fests can be found throughout the state this spring:

Sugarbush Resort will receive a Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness award at the 2015 Worksite Wellness conference at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in Burlington, VT on March 25, 2015.

The resort is receiving the award thanks to its safety and wellness initiatives over the last year including offering tobacco cessation on site twice a year, creating a tobacco free environment, providing discounted or free membership for employees to the on-site Health and Racquet Club, and creating flexible work schedules to enable employee participation in wellness activities.

The initiatives have contributed to a decrease in lost time due to injury or illness, as well as increased participation of workplace contests, outings and activity attendance.