Current News

Over $209,000 awarded to preserve local agricultural buildings

Governor Douglas will award 23 barns $209,000 in Historic Preservation Barn grants to preserve their facilities and land. The grant program was orchestrated by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and offers up to $10,000 in matching funding to owners of agricultural buildings for roof, foundation, walls, and sills repairs and maintenance. Over the past 20 years the program has provided more than 200 historic agricultural buildings with $1.3 million. Some locations to receive the funding are historic Von Trapp Dairy Farm, the Grand Isle Harman Noble Barn, and Bettys Barn in Chittenden.

President Bill Clinton singles out Bennington College at inauguration of Clinton Global Initiative University

Following its purchase of it $8.5 billion acquisition of Commerce Bank in New Jersey, announced October 2, 2007, TD Banknorth announced today (March 19, 2008) that it will change its name to TD Commerce Bank. The new entity will give customers access to over 2,000 branches when combined with its Canadian parent Toronto Dominion, making it the seventh-largest network in North America.
The bank and all its US branches will change their nameplates and logos, including in Vermont. TD would not say if it would move its corporate headquarters from Portland, ME. Nor has a decision been made on if or to what the name of the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston will be.
Following is the press release from TD Banknorth announcing the name change:
PORTLAND, MAINE and CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY (March 19, 2008) - Today, Commerce Bank and TD Banknorth announced that following the close of their transaction they will be known as TD Commerce Bank-America's Most Convenient Bank.

Barre, Vt. - (March 17, 2008) - The Central Vermont Garden Show recently welcomed electricians from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 300 into the mix.
Seven IBEW Local 300 members volunteered nearly five hours apiece March 12 to help set up tables, chairs, displays and brand new electrical mats for the event. Volunteers included Kyle Brown, John Burditt, Tiffany Copley, Randie Dayton, Steve Edwards, Katy Ramstack and Greg Tessier. Copley, Edwards, Ramstack and Tessier are all central Vermonters.
"The IBEW was proud to partner with the Garden Show, as several of our constituents reside in the Barre area," said Local 300 Marketing and Business Development Director Matt Lash, a Granite City native. "Community service dovetails with our unions unwavering commitment to social responsibility and the common good."

TD Banknorth Donates $48,000 to Vermont Charities
Burlington, VT - TD Banknorth, through the TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation, recently donated a total of $48,000 to several charitable organizations across Vermont. The funding will help strengthen Vermont communities through the support of the cultural arts, youth development programs and literacy initiatives.
"At TD Banknorth, we believe it's important to invest wisely with organizations that keep our communities strong and vital." stated Philip R. Daniels, President of TD Banknorth in Vermont. "But our commitment is more than just a financial investment. Our employees are committed to making a difference by volunteering their time to mentor a child, teach financial literacy or offer their business expertise to local non-profits. We're very proud of our employees and their commitment to the communities where they live and work."
TD Banknorth awarded grants to the following organizations:

Governor
Urges NRC to Approve Independent Safety Assessment

Montpelier, Vt.March 12, 2008 -- Governor Jim Douglas has called on the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to support a reliability and safety
assessment-commonly called an Independent Safety Assessment
(ISA)-of the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in Vernon.

In a letter to NRC Chairman Dale Klein, Governor Douglas said the
operation of Vermont Yankee is at a critical juncture and events during the
summer of last year raised questions about the reliability of the
station. Vermont Yankee had several events that included the partial
collapse of a cooling tower and a reactor scram that have each been traced to
shortcomings in the maintenance of equipment.

"These events have shaken the confidence of Vermonters and our
neighbors in New Hampshire and Massachusetts about the

New
Business Starts Slow Down in 2007
Filings with Vermont's Secretary of State's Office show
new business starts lagging in 2007

Montpelier. Secretary of State
Deb Markowitz announced March 13 that the number of new businesses registered with
her office's Corporations Division during the year 2007 have declined as
compared to prior years. As of January 1, 2008, there were
registered in Vermont 16,561 Vermont corporations, 8,848 foreign corporations
(out-of-state companies doing business in Vermont), 43,143 trade names (sole
proprietorships), and 15,641 limited liabilities companies. Of these, 9,452
were newly formed in 2007. This is somewhat less than the 9,971 new
businesses that registered in 2006.

Secretary of State Deb Markowitz
said, The slow down of newly formed business entities is a change from

TLC Nursing Associates, LLC, is pleased to announce the beginning of its third year in business. From humble beginnings, Mohamed Basha, owner/operator of TLC, has brought TLC a long way.
TLC Nursing Associates, LLC, now offers a wide variety of medical and non-medical staffing services. TLC places RNs, LPNs, LNAs and homecare associates with a wide variety of clients. Whatever the need, from post-operative homecare to per diem shift coverage, TLC will work with the client to meet their needs.
With an ever expanding demand, of a rapidly aging population, TLC looks forward to being there to provide a touch of Tender, Love, and Care for its clients.
Please contact Leon Smith for further information about TLC Nursing Associates. TLC is always looking for quality, dependable and experienced RNs, LPNs, LNAs and caregivers.
Leon Smith

TLC Nursing Associates, LLC

Montpelier -- The Vermont Department of Labor announced March 11 that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2008 was 4.2 percent, up three-tenths of a point from last month and up two-tenths of a point from a year ago. The observed seasonally adjusted monthly changes in the unemployment levels and unemployment rate are statistically significant from December values. For comparison purposes, the US seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was 4.9 percent, down one-tenth of a point from December 2007.
Unemployment rates for Vermonts 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.0 percent in Hartford to 8.6 percent in Newport. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 5.0 percent, up one and three-tenth points from December 2007.

King Street Youth Center wins national award from the USTA

The King Street Youth Center wins National Junior Tennis League Section of the Year Award from the United States Tennis Association. As part of this Award Executive Director Vicky Smith and Development Director Kelli Shonter were given scholarships to attend the Community Tennis Development Workshop in Las Vegas, NV (Feb. 21-24, 2008).
The USTA National Junior Tennis League seeks to develop the character of young people through tennis and to emphasize the ideals of Arthur Ashe by:

" Reaching out to those who may not otherwise have the opportunity to play
the sport.

" Instilling in youngsters the values of leadership and academic excellence.

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) is pleased to announce its 10-year anniversary of grant making and to highlight the accomplishments of its grantees in helping to accelerate the development of Vermonts green economy.
From 1997 to 2007, the VSJF made grants in excess of $2.7 million to 150 recipients representing over 8,000 businesseswho utilized these funds to leverage an additional $11.8 million to implement their projects, test their ideas, create and retain at least 800 jobs, and assemble the building blocks of a green economy. Our technical assistance programs have assisted 15 Peer to Peer Collaborative clients (representing 384 employees), 132 Business Coach clients and hundreds of other businesses who have sought some form of assistance over the past 10 years.

Montpelier,
VT - Secretary of
Administration Michael K. Smith Announces that General Fund, Transportation Fund
and Education Fund Revenues Exceeded Target for February.

General Fund
Secretary of Administration Michael K. Smith
today released General Fund revenue results for the month of February, the eighth
month of fiscal year 2008. General Fund
revenues totaled $64.16 million, +$5.32 million or +9.04% more than the $58.84
million consensus revenue target for the month. The resulting fiscal year-to-date General Fund
revenue total of $767.19 million is +$6.65 million or 0.87% above the recently
revised consensus forecast of $760.54 million.
We are pleased to have exceeded our General Fund forecast. However, it should be noted that some of the
above target revenue is due to the timing of certain insurance tax receipts
which were targeted for March. Excluding