Current News

During its third quarter (May through July), the TD Charitable Foundation gave a total of $498,326 to non-profit organizations that provide affordable housing, financial literacy, education and environmental programs throughout New England. The grant recipients included two Vermont organizations.

· Aroostook Mental Health Services Inc. (Caribou, ME) – Aroostook Teen Leadership Camp

· Ruth's Reusable Resources (Portland, ME ) – Office Chop Shop Program

· WinterKids Education Foundation (Portland, ME) – WinterKids: Move, Learn, Explore!

· Mercy Connections, Inc. (Burlington, VT) – Women's Small Business Program Expansion Initiative

· Center Vermont adult Basic Education, Inc. (Barre, VT) – Functional Literacy Program

· Harbor Homes. (Nashua, NH ) – Permanent Housing for the homeless

· Girls At Work, Inc. (Goffstown, NH) – Afterschool Carpentry Workshop Program

Three local nonprofit housing developers were joined by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin Wednesday morning to celebrate the opening of Harrington Village and the Wright House in Shelburne’s village center. Scores of community members, representatives of funder agencies and new residents of the housing joined in the celebration. The three nonprofits – Champlain Housing Trust, Housing Vermont and Cathedral Square –collaborated to build a mixed-income, mixed-generation neighborhood of 78 new homes including 42 family apartments and 36 senior apartments. A second partnership with between Champlain Housing Trust and Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will result in four affordable homes for sale in two duplexes currently under construction. Residents of the apartments started moving in this July, with full occupancy expected within weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine It took 17 and a half hours, traveling at only 100 miles an hour, with required stops every few hundred miles to refuel, but Vermont Tech got its plane. VTC's Professional Pilot Technology Program, in partnership with the Vermont Flight Academy, has received a Twin Seabee amphibious aircraft that was recently donated by a southern California couple. The donation of this aircraft has made Vermont Tech the first college in the US to offer training in multi-engine seaplanes, in addition to single-engine seaplanes. The Twin Seabee is the sixth airplane donated to the program, making up about 30 percent of the fleet. The new plane, which is an amphibious aircraft that operates on both land and water, was unveiled at the Burlington International Airport on Wednesday.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin declared at his campaign launch Monday night that he has put Vermont on a “progressive path” through a “bold” leadership style and investments in job creation, renewable energy, early childhood education and opiate addiction treatment. Shumlin touted the new GMO labeling law and his single payer health care reform plan as signature Vermont initiatives.

“This election, I am going to be asking Vermonters to continue to say yes to progress and to continue to make bold choices that will lift incomes for middle class Vermonters and keep Vermont moving up,” Shumlin said.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Wednesday announced that the US Department of Justice is awarding a $1.8 million grant to the Vermont-based National Center for Campus Public Safety to expand services and launch new initiatives related to safety on university and college campuses across the country. The funding is in addition to an earlier DOJ grant of $2.3 million that Leahy announced last year for the center, which is based in Burlington, and is partnered with the University of Vermont.

Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, was the lead author and sponsor of the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The legislation included new requirements for colleges and universities to prevent sexual assault and expand resources for students who become victims.

Interested citizens, including several small business owners, gathered in Brookfield, Braintree and Randolph in July, August, and September as ECFiber, based in Roylaton, began holding a series of informational meetings. Their purpose was to discuss new developments regarding broadband expansion. On June 30 the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) announced that it will be building 51 miles of open-access dark fiber optic routes to connect its Business Broadband Improvement Districts (BBIDs) in the ECFiber towns of Braintree, Brookfield, North Randolph, Pomfret and Sharon. As the anchor tenant on this new VTA infrastructure, ECFiber will be able to offer connections to businesses and residences along the VTA routes. The VTA BBID fiber optic project must include a $200,000 contribution from ECFiber, an amount that needs to be raised by September 30, 2014.

Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives approved by a voice vote legislation authored by Representative Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Rep. Peter Welch to address the growing problem of Lyme disease. The incidence of this debilitating disease has increased dramatically in recent years in Vermont and across the Northeast region. The Vector-Borne Disease Research Accountability and Transparency Act (HR 4701) would bring together federal health agencies, physicians and patient advocates to establish a working group to better coordinate the federal government’s response to this disease. It also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a strategic plan that includes concrete benchmarks for progress.

Twenty Vermont businesses will benefit from a $169,000 restitution agreement between the State of Vermont and Merchant Processing Solutions, LLC, a Los Angeles-based credit card processing company doing business as Payment Systems, according to Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell. Payment Systems has agreed to enter into a consumer protection settlement that will require it to make restitution as well as pay $100,000 to the State of Vermont. The settlement resolves the Attorney General’s claims that Payment Systems misrepresented the cost of its services and failed to provide legally-required notices of the local merchants’ right to cancel their contracts with the company. According to Attorney General William Sorrell, “The settlement shows how important it is to ensure that Vermont businesses are protected from unfair and deceptive conduct.”

In a new white paper, Superior Technical Ceramics, based in St Albans, has outlined how Ceria Stabilized Zirconia (CSZ) is more resistant to low-temperature degradation than Yttria-stabilized Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal (YTZP) and Magnesia Stabilized Zirconia (MSZ). The key factor in favor that separates CSZ from other Zirconias is that there are no oxygen vacancies to make the tetragonal phase vulnerable in moist environments. No oxygen defects form in CSZ because the Tetravalent Cerium substitute the Zr4+ ions directly.

"We're always looking for ways to make our parts more versatile and more durable, and more of a value to our customers" notes STC Sales Manager, Simon Doran. "Materials like CSZ allow us to meet engineering challenges across a wide variety of industries that other materials simply cannot match."

The white paper goes on to highlight the properties, specifications, and applications of CSZ.

Canus, North America's leader in fresh goat's milk skin care products based in Waterbury, has announced new retail partnerships for the company's Nature by Canus line. Starting in fall 2014, Nature by Canus products will be available at Foodtown, MOM's Organic Market, Buehler's Fresh Foods, The Fresh Market, and select Whole Foods locations.

Governor Peter Shumlin, Senate Pro-Tempore John Campbell and House Speaker Shap Smith announced today the appointment of six members to the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. Governor Shumlin appointed Kate O’Connor of Brattleboro to a four-year term, and Martin Langeveld of Vernon to a three-year term. John Campbell appointed James P (Jim) Matteau of Westminster to a four-year term, and James M (Jim) Tonkovich of Wilder to a three-year term. Shap Smith appointed David L Deen of Putney to a four-year term and Derrik Jordan, also of Putney, to a three-year term. The Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in Vernon is expected to shut down by the end of this year. The decommissioning of the plant could take decades to complete. A recent NRC ruling (see link below) stated that spent nuclear fuel can be stored on-site for the foreseeable future.

The Vermont Lake Monsters and Oakland Athletics have extended their Player Development Contract for the next two years through 2016, the two teams announced today.

The signing of the two-year agreeement assures that the Lake Monsters will continue as Oakland's short-season Single-A New York-Penn League affiliate for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Vermont has been an affiliate of the Athletics since 2011 and just finished its 2014 season with a 33-43 record.

"We are excited to continue our relationship with the Oakland Athletics", said Vermont Lake Monsters Vice President Kyle Bostwick. "Our working partnership has been incredible since day one and we are excited to be able to continue to see our guys develop and contribute at the Major League level with Oakland."