Doppler on Wheels (DOW) returns to the Lyndon State College campus for a three-week stint beginning January 29. It’s rare for the DOW to make a return trip to a campus; this is the third visit in five years. The DOW, containing a state-of-the-art weather radar system, will be used as an experiential learning tool by the students and faculty in the college’s Atmospheric Sciences (ATM) department. Students in the Remote Sensing class will receive hands-on training in the theory, interpretation, and collection of Doppler radar data including how weather radar works, how to collect good data, and how to find the ideal site for measuring precipitation.

by Deb Markowitz, Secretary, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources This past month, Governor Shumlin opened the legislative session with an unprecedented focus on the environment. Understanding that global climate change threatens our way of life, the Governor announced new initiatives aimed at continuing to expand our renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors; creating jobs, saving Vermonters money and doing our part to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. He also talked at length about our Clean Water Initiative and Lake Champlain restoration plan.

Gaz Métro inc (GMi) has announced it has entered into a first supplemental agreement to the credit agreement it entered into onMarch 2, 2012 with its bank syndicate providing for an increase of the initial revolving credit facility amount committed by the lenders from $600 million to $800 million and an extension of the maturity date to March 2, 2020. The First Supplemental Agreement is guaranteed by Gaz Métro Limited Partnership (Gaz Métro). Besides the $200 million increase in the size of the facility and the extended maturity, the terms of the original credit agreement remain unchanged by the First Supplemental Agreement. The credit facility is also secured by collateral security backed by the assets of GMi and Gaz Métro.

Gaz Metro is the parent company of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems.

Vermont Business Magazine The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel assigned to review the State of Vermont petition regarding the preservation of the Emergency Response Data System (ERDS) at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant has denied the petition in a 2-1 decision. (The ASLB is a quasi-judicial arm of the NRC that handles hearing requests and petitions and conducts hearings.) The ASLB panel states in the decision that ERDS, which provides a direct electronic data link from plants to the NRC and allows the agency to monitor critical plant parameters during an emergency, is only required for plants with operating reactors under existing regulations. Vermont Yankee went off-line in December. There is a dissenting opinion from one member of the three-member panel. The state has 25 days to appeal the decision.

A Winooski soap company is expanding its manufactring into a second plant in Essex. When Twincraft Skincare opened its doors in 1978 the company formulated and manufactured bar soap. Now widely recognized as one of the most innovative and progressive contract manufacturers of prestige and specialty bar soap for the past 40 years, Twincraft continues to manufacture over 37 million bars of soap annually in the Winooski facility. In 2014, with support and encouragement from customers, Twincraft Soap became Twincraft Skincare and began presenting customers with a huge array of product options including an extensive variety of rinse-off cleansing and leave-on skincare products.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger today highlighted more than $3.3 million worth of projects under way or completed in the past 13 months that make necessary repairs and energy efficiency improvements to city assets, and also announced $375,000 in additional sidewalk improvements funding for this spring. These projects, along with previously announced Penny for Parks projects, represent important steps in a long-term effort to responsibly maintain the City’s many physical assets. In the weeks ahead, the Administration will release a draft 10-year capital plan – the first ever systemic effort to guide, coordinate, and keep affordable the City’s investments over the next decade.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has introduced far-reaching legislation to rebuild America’s crumbling network of roads, bridges and transit systems and other infrastructure projects. The five-year plan would invest $1 trillion and create or maintain at least 13 million jobs, said Sanders, the Senate Budget Committee ranking member. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), the ranking member of the appropriations committee, and it is backed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the AFL-CIO and others.

“For too many years, we’ve underfunded our nation’s physical infrastructure. We have to change that and that’s what the Rebuild America Act is all about. We must modernize our infrastructure and create millions of new jobs that will put people back to work and help the economy,” Sanders said.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Gun Owners of Vermont President Ed Cutler thinks there are already too many gun laws in Vermont, and he strongly opposes background check legislation introduced in the Senate last week. The overarching issue for Cutler and many gun rights’ proponents, who gathered at the Statehouse on Tuesday wearing blaze orange clothing, is that they view any new gun law as a step toward criminalizing lawful gun ownership.

Vermont has among the most liberal gun laws in the country, according to the Law Center for Prevention of Gun Violence. The state does not require a permit for carrying a concealed gun, and does not impose a waiting period for purchases, limit the number of guns that can be bought at one time, require the reporting of mental health commitments, or require dealers to obtain a state license.

The City of South Burlington is seeking public input in defining what the next two City Center projects will look and feel like: Garden Street and City Center/Dumont Park. Garden Street will connect from the new Pier 1 store off of Dorset Street to Midas Drive south of Al’s French Frys. The City purchased Dumont Park in 1975 and has long planned to turn it into a natural area park serving City Center and adjoining neighborhoods. The public is asked to provide comments by February 5, 2015.

Actor, director and writer Alan Alda will give a lecture titled Helping the Public Get Beyond a Blind Date with Science at the University of Vermont on Monday, February 2 at 4 pm in the Grand Maple Ballroom in the Davis Center. The lecture, part of the Dan and Carole Burack President’s Distinguished Lecture Series, is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Doors will open at 3:15. Alda, a longtime science advocate with extensive experience training scientists in communications, won the National Science Board’s Public Service Award in 2006 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Scientific American in 2013 for helping advance public understanding of science.

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers with its innovative Keurig brewing technology, today announced it will webcast the formal proceedings of its 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 10 am ET. The meeting will be webcast live and archived via a link from the events portion of the Investor Relations section of the Company's website: http://investor.keuriggreenmountain.com/events.cfm.

About Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.

by Public Assets Institute The number of jobs declined in December, but Vermont still ended 2014 with more private sector jobs and more non-farm payroll jobs than it had at the start of the year. Private employers reported 255,400 jobs in December, an increase of 1,600 over January. The total number of jobs, both private and public, was up 900 from the beginning of the year, to 310,200.