Current News

Vermont Business Magazine New weekly unemployment claims in Vermont fell by over 300 claims last week after a steep spike the week before. Claims had been very low during the summer, trending under 500, but have been high since early October. Levels this year had been running consistently lower than those of last year, but are now nearly the same. For the week of Deember 6, 2014, there were 1,070 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 358 from the previous week's total, and 5 more than they were a year ago.

According to Mathew Barewicz, Economic & Labor Market Information Chief at the Vermont Department of Labor, the cause of the recent increase was predominately the result of "a seasonal transition."

Two Central Vermont projects have received design excellence awards from the Vermont Chapter of American Institute of Architects. The projects, designed by gbA (Gossens Bachman Architects) of Montpelier, were awarded at AIAVT's annual meeting at the Statehouse on December 4, 2014. The first was award for the Capstone Community Action office. This community development corporation provides a number of programs and services for low to moderate income Vermonters. The non-profit consolidated its services that had been scattered throughout Vermont. The new 23,650-square-foot facility (12,350 new; 11,300 renovated) located in Barre, was designed to promote collaboration and interaction and had many sustainable features. The General Contractor, EF Wall & Associates, Inc. also received the AGCVT Best Builders Award for this project in 2013.

In the wake of recent data breaches, shoppers should be on high alert while purchasing their presents this holiday season.

“While millions of credit and debit card transactions are conducted safely every day, it’s important that consumers are aware of the potential for holiday scams,” said David Silverman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank.

Union Bank offers the following tips to help consumers keep their information safe whether shopping in the store or online:

· Monitor your account. Use online and mobile banking to keep an eye on your transactions, especially during the holidays. If you don’t use these electronic tools, at least diligently review your bank statement. Either way, notify the bank right away if there’s any fraudulent activity.

America’s surging trade deficit with China has cost more than 3.2 million U.S. jobs, 8,200 alone in Vermont. This ranks them as ninth in the nation. The overwhelming majority of jobs lost are manufacturing, according to a study released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Every congressional district but one has lost net job opportunities since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the study found.

“This report leaves no doubt, if there ever was any, that the nation’s staggering trade deficit with China continues to be the single biggest impediment to a true jobs recovery, especially in regions with heavy concentrations of high-tech manufacturing,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a national leader in efforts to increase affordable housing, welcomed a move today that could free up hundreds of millions of dollars to expand affordable rental housing nationwide.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ended its temporary suspension of contributions to funds designed to allow more renters to find the homes they need at prices they can afford. The agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ordered those companies to begin to make payments to affordable housing funds next year. The money will go into a fund to provided dedicated revenue for low-income housing. States and local agencies then could apply for the money and use it to finance very-low-income rental housing construction or rehabilitation projects.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, state emergency officials and representatives from the utility companies urged Vermonters to use caution in the wake of the latest winter storm, which has left tens of thousands of Vermonters without power across the state. While utility crews are working nonstop, the Governor warned that some Vermonters may be without power into the weekend due to the second round of heavy snowfall overnight.

“We’re urging Vermonters to continue using caution and doing what they do best in times like these: Looking out for one another, checking in on their neighbors and making sure everyone is ok,” the Governor said. “The second round of snow last night has increased power outages statewide, and while crews are working as fast as possible to get the lights turned on, it’s going to take some time. We’re keeping a close eye on the situation and the state will provide any assistance necessary to help Vermonters affected by this storm.”

The Senate today advanced a Department of Defense bill that would authorize $560 billion for the military. The vote was 85-14. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted “no” and issued the following statement:

“I am voting no because I have very serious concerns about our nation's bloated military budget and the misplaced national priorities this bill reflects.

“At a time when our national debt is more than $18 trillion and we spend nearly as much on defense as the rest of the world combined, the time is long overdue to end the waste and financial mismanagement that have plagued the Pentagon for years.

“The situation is so absurd that the military is unable to even account for how it spends all of its money. The non-partisan watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, said ‘serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense made its financial statements un-auditable.’

Last Night’s Heavy Snow Caused Significant Additional Damage Statewide

Colchester, VT – An army of Green Mountain Power crews and hundreds of contract crews continue to make progress through the night tonight and into this morning restoring power to tens of thousands of Vermonters. As the first light breaks on the Green Mountain State, Vermonters are getting their first full glimpse of the storm’s impact on our state. Last night’s second round of snow caused significant additional damage statewide lengthening outages times and making it difficult for GMP experts to predict when the power will be back on. GMP would like to once again extend its sincere appreciation to the public for their patience and understanding as we work, around the clock to get the lights, and heat back on.

FairPoint Communications is aware of an Internet outage affecting customers in Vermont and New Hampshire. We are working as quickly as we safely can to make repairs. We will provide an update when we have more information. “We experienced a hardware issue during routine maintenance earlier this morning that caused an Internet outage for customers in Vermont and parts of New Hampshire. If your modem does not automatically re-boot, customers should be able to access the network by re-booting their modem.”

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Now that the winter weather is here, Vermont Gas wants to help Vermonters keep the cold out and keep cash in their pockets by offering free energy audits for homes and businesses. Non-gas customers in the existing service areas and anyone along the Phase I pipeline route are eligible for the free energy audit.

Ormond Mongeon, a Vermont Gas customer, owns several rental properties in Franklin and Chittenden Counties. He and his business partners participated in a Vermont Gas Energy Audit in 2009 at their St. Albans property. So far, they have seen a savings of $1,000 per year. Thursday, Vermont Gas auditors will survey their Winooski property.

"This program is almost too good to be true. All I had to do was make a phone call, and within a few minutes my property was found eligible for the program,” said Mongeon. “I would encourage all homeowners and landlords to see if they qualify for the program. It is a win, win, win proposition."

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR) and Caribou Coffee announced that the companies have renewed their partnership with a 10-year agreement for the manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and sale of Caribou Coffee in Keurig^® pack formats for Keurig^® consumer and commercial hot brewing systems. As a part of the agreement, the companies will begin offering Caribou Coffee in carafe formats for the Keurig^® 2.0 brewing system andKeurig^® Bolt^® carafe brewing system.

"Today's announcement recognizes the tremendous success of the strategic partnership between Keurig and Caribou Coffee," said John Whoriskey, president, U.S. sales and marketing at Keurig. "Caribou Coffee has been an important part of the Keurig family of brands, and we're excited to continue our relationship and bring Keurig users the Caribou Coffee they love in carafe formats at home or in the office."

FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating in Upstate New York and Northern New England, announced today that the University of Vermont(UVM) will expand its relationship with FirstLight to include a 10 Gbps connectivity upgrade.