Current News

The ceremonial sledgehammering got more enthusiastic as pieces of the red barn wall started to splinter. It was also the only thing that could keep the crowd warm as the University of Vermont began the process of upgading its educational dairy farm on a sub-zero Tuesday afternoon. UVM broke ground a new instructional barn and milking parlor at the Paul R Miller Agricultural Research Farm, Phase I of a three-phase, $10 million upgrade of the farm, located on Spear Street in Burlington, just south of the main campus. The $2.55 million, 13,176 square foot teaching barn and milking parlor will accommodate an instructional herd of 50 cows and be completed in mid-September. For reasons of student safety, both facilities have safety and fire suppression systems not commonly found in barns.

To make way for the buildings, a little used, open-stall cow barn located at the front of the complex will be deconstructed. The barn was built in the 1960s.

Today Green Mountain Power launched a new mobile app to help customers better track their energy use in real time, monitor outages and manage their account. The convenient app will allow customers to access their accounts and pay their GMP bills from their phones or other mobile devises. The app is free to download and is available for both iOS and android.

“As Vermonters, we are increasingly busy in our lives so this app is really designed to empower our customers to access their account information, see their energy use and offer a new and convenient way to monitor outages that may impact them,” said GMP spokesperson Kristin Carlson. “This is part of our energy future, putting key information at our customers’ fingertips, offering them new products and services, while we continue to deliver clean, cost-effective and reliable power.”

App features include:

The Lake Champlain Committee has identified what invasive species could be the next invaders into Lake Champlain. The spiny water flea arrived in Lake Champlain last summer, becoming the 51st invasive species in the lake. We know it won’t be the last. Recently, a group of environmental professionals discussed what species posed the greatest risk of being the next arrival. Three likely candidates were round goby, hydrilla, and VHS.

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee, coffee makers, teas and other beverages with its innovative brewing technology, announced on Wednesday its business results for the 13 weeks ended December 27, 2014, its first quarter of FY 2015. Revenue was lower than expected and shares, which had fallen slowly during the day, lost $4.89 to close at $121.20 (3.88 percent). Immediately following the report, which came just after markets closed, shares fell at a steeper rate and lost $8.18 (6.75 percent) to $113.02 by 4:30 pm. Shares continued to fall overnight and opened Thursday morning at $110 (52-week range $80.30 - $158.87).

Earlier in the day Keurig announced that one of its largest partners, Lavazza from Italy, had sold from January 26, 2015 through February 3, 2015, an aggregate of 1,991,379 shares of Common Stock of GMCR for an aggregate price of $251,205,430.70 in open market transactions on Nasdaq.

Vermont Business Magazine Bad mortgages in Vermont followed a downward trend as total non-current home loans across the country continue to plummet. There was a slight increase nationally in foreclosure starts from November, according to a national rating firm. Vermont's non-current mortgages were 6.9 percent in December 2014 (compared to 7.4 percent in November 2014), down 21.6 percent from a year ago. Foreclosures in Vermont were 4.9 percent and non-delinquencies were 2 percent (in November they were 5.3 percent and 2.1 percent of all mortgages).

The US average was 7.3 percent (7.7 percent in November), down 13.8 percent from a year ago. Vermont is in the middle of the pack in non-current loans, after first being well behind at the start of the Great Recession and then seeing bad mortgages steadily increase. The state has recently started to reduce the number of such loans at a faster rate than the national average.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Vermont could be the first state in the nation to impose a payroll tax to fund Medicaid. The 0.7 percent payroll tax proposed by Governor Peter Shumlin to close the Medicaid reimbursement gap is anomalous nationally. The tax would raise $90 million a year. It would be the biggest tax increase since Governor Jim Douglas increased the sales tax in 2006 from 5 percent to 6 percent to help shore up the Education Fund.

Lawmakers say passage of Shumlin’s payroll tax, which would introduce a new broad-based tax on all employers, is a “heavy lift.” It would be applied to the payroll for all employees who now qualify for unemployment insurance.

State payroll taxes are uncommon. Four states — California, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey — charge a payroll tax to pay for mandatory disability insurance. Oregon imposes a payroll tax to pay for public transit.

Johnson State College has received $3,000 from Union Bank to launch a new fund to support students engaged in internships at area businesses and organizations. The new Student Internship Support Fund will provide grants to students to defray costs associated with internships, such as transportation to work sites, wardrobe needs and mandatory background checks.

“This generous gift will help remove the financial barriers to internship opportunities,” says Ellen Hill, coordinator of internship programs at JSC. “Students often cannot afford to take unpaid internships, or they may have to take a paid job outside their field simply because they don’t have the funds to support their placement.”

Governor Peter Shumlin today announced that President Barack Obama has signed a major disaster declaration for Addison, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Windsor, and Washington counties. Those 10 counties suffered nearly $4 million in damages during a severe storm in December that caused widespread power outages.

The Public Assistance disaster declaration allows communities and public utilities in those counties to receive 75 percent reimbursement for storm response and recovery. Those costs include debris removal and repairs to the power grid, public roads, bridges, and other infrastructure that was damaged during the storm.

A new study from national insurance rating firm SmartAsset looked at data on wealth transfers made during estate settlements and life insurance payouts, to determine the Vermont counties with the largest annual inheritance payments. The following ranked as the top 10 counties in Vermont with the largest amount of annual inheritance. The list closely, but not exactly follows population, with Chittenden and Rutland the largest in the state. The one notable outlier in this regard is Franklin, which is the fifth largest county, but only ranks eighth on this "inheritance" list.

Top Ten Vermont Counties (US Rank Below):

On Monday, Burlington College completed the real estate transaction with Eric Farrell. The College sold 27.65 acres of land, including the cottage at 311 North Avenue, a parking lot at 85 North Avenue, and an apartment building at 9 Lakeview Terrace. The College has retained 6 acres of land and its main buildings at 351 North Avenue. The college has suffered through financial hardship and the resignation of its former president during a tumultuous 2014. Its accreditation was also in jeopardy.

The college had no immediate plans to use the land for educational purposes and the sale of this property has resulted in significant financial resources for the College. While the sale was a complex agreement that has taken many,many months, the end result puts Burlington College on much more stable financial ground.

The University of Vermont Medical Center (formerly Fletcher Allen Health Care) was one of two recipients of a humanitarian award from the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for making significant strides to reduce and eliminate preventable patient harm. The award recognizes years of sustained effort in the field. The other recipient this year was the Texas-based American Association for Respiratory Care. The award was announced at the foundation’s third annual Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit in Irvine, CA. Previous recipients include United States Senator Barbara Boxer and Jennifer Howse, Ph.D., president, March of Dimes Foundation.

by John McClaughry Finally alarmed by voter resentment at high school property taxes, the Vermont Legislature is hot on the trail of some kind of “solution.” It’s not likely to be productive unless legislators crawl out of the box that confines their thinking. One obvious (non) ”solution” is to ship more money from the General Fund to the Education Fund. The GF already sends $300 million a year to the EF. Increasing that transfer would reduce the homestead school property tax. Great!

But not so fast. The General Fund is $100 million in deficit, largely because of Medicaid expansions. This “solution” can’t happen.

Another obvious (non) “solution”: Raise new taxes for education. Governor Shumlin’s proposed new payroll tax will if enacted go toward financing government health care, not education. An increased income tax? Sales tax? The VPIRG carbon tax? The sugary beverage tax? Not a prayer.