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It’s been a full year since Jimmy Fallon ascended the throne to take over the NBC powerhouse and longest running talk show in television history. What more inspiration was needed to celebrate? To recognize the accomplishment, ice cream co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield served up the aptly named “The Tonight DOUGH” to the Fallon faithful who were in the audience to witness the very first episode of season two. The concoction is caramel and chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls & gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough & peanut butter cookie dough. If the flavor becomes half as popular as the unflappable Fallon, who was recently dubbed “entertainer of the year,” it may give Ben & Jerry’s other classic combinations a run for their money.

Though the local food movement has become bigger than ever in restaurants, Vermont establishments often have a hard time sourcing local food in the winter, especially vegetables. This past fall, Sugarbush Resort’s Timbers Restaurant in Warren looked to solve that by purchasing 1800 pounds of produce from Gaylord Farm, located down the road in Waitsfield, Vermont.

“What’s great about working for a resort is that we have the resources and the storage area to make a purchase of this size,” said Timbers General Manager Bruce Hyde. “Vermont winters don’t usually allow for much local produce, but this way we can continue to provide it year-round.”

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Cheat sheets, glossaries and power supply pie charts cover the table in the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee as first-year committee members decipher H.40, a bill requiring electric utilities to cut carbon emissions in Vermont. “If you have your glossary, bring it out,” chairman of the committee Representative Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, told his fellow legislators as they dove into the complicated renewable energy bill three weeks ago.

On Wednesday February 4th, National Bank of Middlebury, together with customers and community members, celebrated Caroline R. Carpenter the 11th president. She is the first female president of the bank since incorporation in 1831.

Rep. Peter Welch announced on Tuesday bipartisan legislation that would make it more affordable for Vermonters to install wood heating systems in their homes or businesses. The Biomass Thermal Utilization(BTU) Act would expand the existing renewable energy tax credit to include wood, or “biomass thermal,” heating systems. Welch made the announcement at National Life Group’s Montpelier campus. The company installed a wood heating system in 2010 that has reduced its carbon footprint by 45 percent and heating costs by 50 percent.

Welch was joined by representatives from Vermont's biomass industry and energy conservation leaders.

by John McClaughry The 2015 legislature, and of course, Governor Peter Shumlin, are hard at work contriving yet another way to make Vermonters pay more for their electricity. The vehicle is H.40, spearheaded by Representative Tony Klein and just now emerging from the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. It’s the bill to – finally – impose upon Vermont electric utilities a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

Why are they doing this? To achieve the state’s renewable energy goal of 90% renewable-sourced energy by 2050.

Where did that goal come from? It was proclaimed by Governor Shumlin in 2011. It became the centerpiece of his Comprehensive Energy Plan that same year, and has been implicitly accepted by the Legislature.

Did any legislator ever vote on the record to impose this challenging goal? No, but a majority of the Legislature is intent on driving up electricity prices to reach it.

PC Construction was recently awarded a $20 million project by the Brunswick, ME, Sewer District to upgrade its almost 50-year-old wastewater treatment facility. Decades of water and wastewater plant construction and renovation experience, including similar Maine-based projects in Sanford and Vassalboro, make PC Construction uniquely qualified for the project.

The project is the first wastewater treatment facility in Maine to utilize the construction management at-risk process, which allowed Brunswick Sewer District to select the best construction management team based on their qualifications. CM at-risk – PC Construction’s primary construction delivery method – encourages collaboration and transparency while maintaining a guaranteed maximum price.

Champlain Elementary School, CP Smith Elementary School, JJ Flynn Elementary School and The Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes have been named Vermont ENERGY STAR schools. This achievement signifies that each school's efficiency is in the top 25% of schools in the Country and that it meets stringent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for healthy ventilation, year-round comfort and lighting quality.

These schools will be recognized at a public award ceremony in Montpelier on February 20 along with 20 other Vermont schools that have achieved ENERGY STAR designation this year. The ceremony will celebrate the continued success of Project Green School, an initiative that aims to put all Vermont schools on the path toward ENERGY STAR designation by 2020.

Secretary of State Jim Condos has announced the completion of Beta testing and the official public release of the Corporations Division’s new Online Business Service Center, www.vtsosonline.com.

“Most of our business community’s registration and filing functions can now be completed online and in real-time; making it easier to start and maintain your business in Vermont than ever before. New business formations have gone from as much as 3 weeks to less than 30 minutes to obtain, and over 99 percent of our businesses now file their annual reports online.” Condos stated.

The City of Burlington Clerk/Treasurer’s Office has announced that the City’s audited annual financial statements, or Audit Report, for fiscal year 2014 and the accompanying Management Letter are available to City residents on the City’s website, where they were posted on February 10. The Audit Report and Management Letter also will be available for review as part of the City’s Annual Report, copies of which will be located at City Hall, Fletcher Free Library, and the Department of Public Works Pine Street facility beginning Thursday afternoon, February 19. Additionally, the City’s Annual Report will be available on Town Meeting Day at all City polling places.

The FY14 audit was approved by the City Council at its February 9 meeting and includes the City’s first positive General Fund unassigned fund balance since 2009.

Vermont author and activist Bill McKibben spoke Monday at Green Mountain College's Ackley Auditorium, touching on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project and the cold temperatures and snow plaguing New England this winter. His talk "Imagining World Communities" addressed ways in which humans are reassessing traditional approaches to providing food, energy, transportation and governance in response to rapid environmental and economic changes.

McKibben said warmer air around the globe causes more moisture to be held in the atmosphere. When storms occur, this added moisture can fuel heavier precipitation in the form of rain or snow. "What we're seeing this winter is entirely consistent with what climate scientists expect to see," McKibben said.

The University of Vermont is ranked number 7 among medium-sized schools in the Peace Corps’ 2015 rankings of the top volunteer-producing colleges and universities across the country. The ranking recognizes the highest volunteer-producing colleges and universities in the US for small, medium, large and graduate institutions.

UVM currently has 25 alumni serving in Botswana, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. They work in sectors including agriculture, education, environment, health and youth development.

UVM alumnus Jed Glosenger, '12, a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama. UVM photo