Current News

Hunters are enthusiastic about Vermont’s upcoming October 4-26 and December 6-14 split archery deer hunting season, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. “Deer are moving about and being seen more now with cooler weather to stimulate activity,” said Cedric Sanborn at R&L Archery in Barre. “Several hunters who have put out trail cameras are patterning deer activity and getting photos of nice bucks.”

“This year is very different because, unlike last year, there are very few apples in the woods and a lot of deer are feeding out in fields,” he added. “Hunters will do well to set up stands along deer trails leading into those fields.”

A hunter may take up to three deer in Vermont’s two-part archery season with three archery licenses. No more than one of the deer taken during archery season may be a legal buck. No antlerless deer may be taken in Wildlife Management Unit (WMUs) D2, E1 or E2, where antlerless deer hunting is prohibited in 2014.

Vermont Smoke and Cure, maker of “damn fine” bacon, ham and award winning RealSticks in Hinesburg, is teaming with AllEarth Renewables of Williston to source local renewable solar to power the company’s electrical needs. Nearly half of Vermont Smoke and Cure’s electric demand is now being supplied by solar projects with future plans for solar to fulfill all of the meat plant’s electrical load. A 156-killowattsolar orchard in Essex and an 88-killowatt solar orchard in Marshfield will produce approximately 366,000-kilowatt hours annually of emissions-free solar electricity for the Vermont company.Both projects utilize Vermont-made solar trackers.

Leaders from the Vermont State House, Administration and Quebec Province will address attendees at Renewable Energy 2014, a two-day conference and expo in Burlington, VT focusing on the state and region’s most pressing energy challenges.

Conference attendees will have a unique opportunity for direct, one-on-one question-and-answer, discussion and debate. Join Representative Ellis, Senator Bray and Deputy Commissioner Springer for a sneak preview of what may come to Vermont in January 2015. Items up for discussion include a Renewable Portfolio Standard, placing a price on carbon, the role of gas in Vermont, the electrification of Vermont’s transportation sector and more. Also joining the Panel is Marie-Claude Francoeur, Quebec Delegate to New England, to describe a new venture starting in January 2015 between Quebec and California, linking Quebec’s Green House Gas emissions Cap-and-Trade System to California’s carbon market.

The Northwest State Corrections Facility is fully compliant with Vermont’s Universal Recycling law nearly one year ahead of schedule. The law, adopted in 2012, establishes a phased-in timeline for recyclables and organics to be banned from Vermont’s landfill. Baseline recyclables and food scraps from the large generators (2+ tons/week) within 20 miles of a certified composting facility will be diverted starting July 1, 2015. The Northwest State Correctional Facility met compliance on September 17, 2014 and joins Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in diverting these materials.

“We applaud the impressive work of the Northwest State Correctional Facility,” said Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Markowitz. “The Facility provides a model for businesses and institutions currently navigating options for meeting the requirements of Universal Recycling. It’s wonderful to see the Department of Corrections set the example.”

Vermont Business Magazine A high-ranking Shumlin Administration official is leaving his position. The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees today announced the appointment of Jeb Spaulding as the next Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges, following the retirement of current Chancellor Tim Donovan at the end of the calendar year. Since, 2011, Spaulding has served Governor Peter Shumlin as Vermont’s Secretary of Administration. During the prior decade, he was elected five times as the Vermont State Treasurer. As a State Senator from Washington County from 1985-2001, Spaulding chaired Appropriations, Education, Joint Fiscal, and Joint Administrative Rules Committees.

US Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, announced at Vermont Law School Wednesday that the US Department of Agriculture will use $759,000 in funding to support a three-year partnership between the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at VLS and the National Agricultural Library (NAL). The USDA funding will support dissemination of agricultural and food law research and the development of legal tools related to two key sustainability issues—land tenure and gleaning.

“Vermont Law School is a leader, not just in Vermont but for the entire nation, on agricultural legal education,” said Leahy. “This new agreement will further enrich opportunities for VLS students and our state to tackle emerging agricultural legal issues and develop practical tools for farmers. From helping new farmers acquire land to increasing charitable food donations from farms, this work reflects Vermont values.”

The Brattleboro Retreat marked the opening of its redesigned Admissions Department and Medical Clinic on Tuesday with an afternoon ribbon cutting ceremony and formal dedication of a new bronze sculpture situated outside the Admissions Department entrance. The six foot tall, 350 pound bronze sculpture, entitled “A Matter of Balance,” is the creation of Vermont artist Susan Read Cronin of Manchester Center, whose mother, Signa Lynch Read, generously donated the piece to the Retreat in honor of her daughter (the artist’s sister), who died in 2013. The piece depicts an elephant atop a unicycle.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Wednesday announced $1 million in federal funding to the Vermont Department of Corrections to meet statewide goals in reducing prison recidivism rates. Vermont was one of five states to receive funding from the US Department of Justice for similar programs authorized by the Second Chance Act.

Leahy said: “Reducing recidivism rates is a fundamental step to improving safety in communities around the country. Funding for this program will help Vermont take steps toward this goal, to help make sure that offenders coming out of prison have the opportunity to turn their lives around. The Vermont Department of Corrections has done tremendous work in reducing the rate of recidivism in our state, and this grant will enable Commissioner Pallito and his team to continue to build on those successes.”

by Campaign for Vermont Vermont’s carpenters and woodworkers understand the common sense value of the saying, “measure twice, and cut once”. Sloppy preparation wastes both valuable resources and time, they know. Campaign for Vermont urges legislative leaders to “measure twice, and cut once” when it comes to education funding reform. With over $1.5 billion in taxpayers’ funds at stake as well as the education of our children, hastily and poorly crafted proposals can do more harm than good.

During the last legislative session, after numerous school budgets had been defeated, the legislature, with the support of the Secretary of Education, slapped together a school reform proposal (H.883) that essentially neutered Vermont’s local school districts in favor of larger consolidated school districts. Yet, the value of this proposal to both Vermont’s students and taxpayers remains unproven. Fortunately, that proposal did not become law.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin, the incumbent Democrat, handily bested his three rivals in a debate on Vermont Public Radio Tuesday night. Shumlin used rhetoric to sidestep tough questions and successfully deflected criticism of the bungled health care exchange website among other issues. He used the forum as a platform to reiterate rhetoric about his record. In questions and responses, the governor stayed focused on his message that his administration has kept unemployment low, created jobs and improved the state’s economic environment in the past four years.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The state’s largest private insurer will soon launch a website for small business customers that will allow members to renew their Vermont Health Connect coverage and change their information online. Vermont was the only state to mandate that businesses with 50 or fewer employees purchase health insurance through the state exchange, and it originally hoped to have them do so through the Vermont Health Connect portal. That didn’t happen in the exchange’s first year and won’t happen for the next enrollment period, either. State officials have given only a vague timeline for that functionality, suggesting that small businesses might be able to use the site by early 2015.

Don George, CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont. VTDigger file photo

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Vermont is on the right track toward developing a digital economy and has more to do, Gov. Peter Shumlin told an audience at the Statehouse on Tuesday. Shumlin gave the keynote speech at a daylong summit in Montpelier organized by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. Vermont Connected drew about 275 attendees for more than 30 sessions that covered education, community building, business and policy. In his keynote, Shumlin praised the state’s congressional delegation for securing $400 million in federal stimulus funding to build out Vermont’s broadband infrastructure, which he dubbed the biggest public-private partnership in state history.

Shumlin acknowledged and dismissed an ongoing debate about whether the broadband it has produced is fast enough.