Current News

As Americans have pumped more debt onto their credit cards than they have since the beginning of the Great Recession, Vermonters on a per borrower basis have increased their debt at the second highest level in the nation. The average Vermont debt (Q4 2014) is $5,074, up 1.3 percent. The latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report found that the credit card delinquency rate remained steady in Q4 relative to the same period in 2013, and total outstanding credit card balances increased 5 percent on a yearly basis. The increase indicates record growth, the highest yearly growth observed since 2008.

SW Cole Engineering, Inc, a geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, geo-environmental and test boring exploration services firm with offices in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, is celebrating its 35^th anniversary and has released a video which thanks their clients for helping them achieve this milestone.

The four-minute video, which can be found on the firm’s website and YouTube channel, begins with President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Chaput, PE, who explains how S.W.COLE’s clients and employees have been critical to the success of the firm.

“We’re here because of our clients, and our employees, who are entirely dedicated to the profession,” says Chaput.

The video features a number of interviews, including one with company founder Stephen W. Cole, a Bangor, Maine native who started S.W.COLE when the engineering firm for which he worked moved out of the area.

After three days of voting that concluded on Sunday, IBEW and CWA members in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have ratified tentative agreements with FairPoint Communications. According to a statement issued by the unions, the new agreements protect good jobs and ensure quality telecommunications service for New England communities.

“This is great news for our members, their families, and our communities,” said Peter McLaughlin, chair of the union bargaining committee and Business Manager of IBEW Local 2327 in Maine. “Our members remained united and committed to this fight for more than four months and today we have a fair deal that will bring them back to work and good service back to our communities.”

RELATED: FairPoint, unions reach tentative deal to end strike

by Bill Schubart Common sense names don’t work for politicians. What you or I would call “tax exemptions,” they call “tax expenditures.” Let me explain. The government needs a defined amount of money to operate. This is called the budget. The tax code is intended to raise most of that money. If certain taxable items become exempt, politicians call it a “tax expense.” We taxpayers understand is as an increase in what we’ll have to pay to meet the fixed budget. Put simply, every taxpayer pays for everyone else’s exemption.

Many things are exempt from taxation, some with good reason like libraries, cemeteries, and state colleges, but others like railroad property, fallout shelters, Vermont Yankee, ski lifts, whey processing plants, and college fraternities, perhaps less so.

by Governor Peter Shumlin Too often the news we hear focuses on the controversy over what we don’t agree on. As we work to put together a difficult budget that matches Montpelier’s appetite for spending with Vermonters ability to pay and other legislation that helps make this state a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family, there is plenty of that to go around. But this week we all – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Progressives – were able to come together on legislation to protect Vermonters from business practices that target those who can least afford it with rental schemes that can charitably be described as a rip off.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP), a leading provider of advanced communications technology in northern New England, today announced plans to open a new data center in Manchester, NH FairPoint opened its first data center in Laconia, NH, in June 2014.

FairPoint's data centers provide organizations with network connectivity and rack space in physically secure, reliable locations. Businesses can use these spaces as primary or secondary data center sites; and they can be a critical part of a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy. FairPoint's data centers are strictly controlled environments with essential power, cooling, connectivity and security features – including continuous video monitoring and keycard access at ingress points.

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) announces the call for nominations for the 2015 Terry Ehrich Award for Excellence in Socially Responsible Business. Members of the business community are encouraged to nominate an individual whose business practices show a commitment to the environment, the workplace and the community no later than Sunday, March 15.

Named for the late owner of Hemmings Motor News and founder of the First Day Foundation, the Terry Ehrich Award is given annually to a person who exemplifies Terry's dedication to the triple bottom line approach to business. Nominations will be judged on four criteria: Workplace Environment, Political Environment, Social Environment and Natural Environment.

Vermont environmentalists today commended the Vermont House in beginning to advance broad clean water legislation aimed at cutting pollution flowing into Lake Champlain and other water bodies. Today the House Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee gave final approval to H35, known as the Clean Water bill, on a 7-2 vote. Still in the early stages of passage through the Legislature, the bill has several remaining committee stops in the House. It then has to clear the Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Facing budgetary pressures totaling $188.2 million between the governor’s budget proposal and the House-approved fee bill, lawmakers will consider bringing back a cap on itemized income tax deductions that stalled in 2013. Most states tax residents based on adjusted gross income, but Vermont is among the few that tax residents based on taxable income, or the amount taxpayers report after they have claimed deductions.

The House and Senate have considered a variety of modified AGI policy changes over the past several years, based on information from the Vermont Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission research released in 2011.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims continued a trend from the beginning of the year, as numbers fell toward 500. Claims rose in the late fall and peaked around the holidays. For the week of February 14, 2015, there were 514 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 123 from the previous week's total, and 34 fewer than they were a year ago. In 2014, claims were consistently below 2013 levels on a week-to-week basis.

Graph shows private employment (nonfarm, nongovernment)

Altogether 7,968 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 94 from a week ago and 422 fewer than a year ago. The Department processed 0 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), the same as the previous week.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is recommending Burlington attorney Eric Miller to President Obama to be Vermont’s next US Attorney. Miller, 45, would be the 37th United States Attorney in Vermont’s history, managing the US Department of Justice’s US Attorney offices in Burlington and Rutland and overseeing the work of nearly 20 attorneys who represent the United States in criminal and civil investigations and litigation in Vermont.

“I have been impressed with the thoughtfulness, vision, and depth of experience that Eric Miller has demonstrated throughout his career,” Leahy said. “Eric is one of Vermont’s leading trial attorneys. He is well regarded by state and local law enforcement agencies and leaders in Vermont’s legal community. Eric is eminently qualified to be the top Federal law enforcement officer in Vermont, and I am proud to recommend him to serve as Vermont's next US Attorney.”

Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced that a memorandum of understanding (see MOU below) has been reached with the property owner and other interested parties involved in the recently acquired Burlington College land to pursue a collaborative planning process intended to take public input and explore possible site designs for the property. The parties – Vermont Land Trust, Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), property owner Eric Farrell through BC Community Housing, LLC (BCCH), and the City of Burlington – recognize that the property is an iconic piece of Burlington, and the MOU offers the opportunity for a broad public discussion about the future of the land before any formal permitting process begins.