Current News

Comcast today announced it will include up to six months of complimentary service for any new family nationwide that has not yet applied for Internet Essentials and is approved for the program between August 4 and September 20, 2014. The Internet Essentials program has connected more than 600 low-income families in Vermont to the Internet since 2011. The telecom company also announced an amnesty program for certain low-income families who could qualify for Internet Essentials, but have a past due balance. Customers who have an outstanding bill that is more than one year old are now eligible for the program. Comcast will offer amnesty for that debt for the purpose of connecting to Internet Essentials, so long as the customer meets all the other eligibility criteria. Nationwide, Internet Essentials has connected more than 350,000 families, or about 1.4 million low-income Americans, to the Internet. The program is available in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

The University of Vermont has successfully completed negotiations on a two-year contract with the Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Union No. 597. The union represents full-time and regular part-time police officers, service officers, and dispatchers employed by the university. Terms of the new contract include across-the-board wage increases of 2 percent for the fiscal year that began on July 1 and 2.5 percent for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2015. In addition, the new contract includes a 20-percent increase in the employee share of the cost of health insurance premiums in Fiscal Year 2015, but no additional cost share increase in Fiscal Year 2016.

Edson Hill Manor, a historic Stowe inn, listed by Vermont Country Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, was recently sold for $1.85 million. The transaction represents the highest Stowe real estate sale for both Lamoille County and the town of Stowe for the year to-date. The property is currently operated as an inn and restaurant with extensive grounds, which include the main inn building, four cottages, swimming and fishing ponds, a horse barn paddocks, and a network of trails. The new buyers plan to keep Edson Hill Manor as a full-service luxury inn and restaurant, while adding some of their own personal touches.

Vermont Business Magazine Non-current mortgages for June in Vermont are up one-tenth from May and down nearly 19 percent from a year ago to 7.2 percent of all mortgages. Non-current includes foreclosures (2.4 percent, same as May) and delinquent (4.8 percent, up one-tenth). The Data and Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services has released its latest Mortgage Monitor Report, looking at data as of the end of June 2014. Nationally, delinquencies were 5.7 percent, foreclosures were 1.9 percent and non-current overall was 7.6 percent, up one-tenth from May and down 21.0 percent from last year.

The Champlain College Single Parents Program has received a $1 million gift from Bob and Christine Stiller through the Stiller Family Foundation to specifically offset childcare costs for single parent students. The gift to Champlain was announced at the Board of Trustees Dinner honoring retiring President David F Finney. The gift will be made to the College over the next four years. Incoming President Donald J Laackman said, “this gift from the Stillers is a wonderful honor for Dave Finney and yet another demonstration of the generosity of the Stiller family to our students and the College.” Champlain’s Single Parents Program is one of the College’s longest-standing programs, and “it is only one of 11 such programs across the country,” said Carol Moran-Brown, “offering single parents a support system covering students academically, financially, and personally.”

Contracts with unions representing approximately 1,700 of FairPoint’s 2,550 northern New England employees expired at midnight on August 2, according to a statement released Sunday by FairPoint. With no strike as yet called by the unions, for now work will continue under most terms of the expired contracts. The unions said that they could still strike at any moment and have put forward proposals that would save the company $180 million, while FairPoint maintains the unions have not addressed the key benefit changes that it needs.

“To date, the unions have rejected company proposals on most of the core issues in these negotiations,” said FairPoint spokeswoman Ange Amores Beaudry. “There has been little or no movement on pensions, retiree medical for active employees or subcontracting, issues which are key to reaching new contracts.”

Vermont Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott is serving on the leadership committee of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA). The NLGA is a professional association enabling regional and nationwide policy discussion and progress at the state level. “Through NLGA’s bipartisan nature, the priorities of lieutenant governors and their states and territories are united – not divided,” said NLGA Director Julia Hurst. Scott is serving as the Eastern Region-At-Large Republican of the NLGA Executive Committee. “The lieutenant governor was nominated to this position by a bipartisan group of his peers,” said Hurst. “His unanimous election among officials of both parties from every region of the country speaks to the high regard he is held in among his peers.”

Grafton Village Cheese, a business of the nonprofit Windham Foundation in Grafton, Vt, was awarded five ribbons at the 31st annual American Cheese Society (ACS) Awards on July 31 in Sacramento, Calif. Two days prior to ACS, the company took home seven awards and two trophies at the International Cheese Awards (ICA) in England, including the trophy for Best USA Cheese. Grafton Village Cheese produces handmade aged cheddar and specialty cheese using milk from small family farms, with the proceeds supporting the charitable efforts of the Windham Foundation.

ACS Awards for Grafton Cheese

· First for Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar in the Cheddar Wrapped in Cloth, Linen, Aged Over 12 Months

· First for Shepsog in the American Originals Original Recipe / Open Category

· Second for Bull Hill in the Open Washed Rind Cheeses category

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Department of Public Service is recommending that state regulators order Vermont Gas to pay a $35,000 fine for the delayed announcement of a 40 percent cost increase to the company’s pipeline extension. The Public Service Board approved Vermont Gas’ 41-mile natural gas pipeline extension through Addison County in December. The company announced this month that the cost of the pipeline is now estimated at $121 million, $35 million more than expected when regulators approved the project. The department said the company should have known about market forces that would increase the cost of the pipeline well before it notified state regulators.

“The utility is obligated to pay attention to the costs in the industry,” Public Service Commissioner Chris Recchia said.

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont but held at a relatively low level. In early June, claims fell to 400, as filings have spiked and then fallen for most of the year. For the week of July 26, 2014, there were 430 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 26 from the previous week's total, and 33 fewer than they were a year ago. Claims have been generally lower than were at the same time last year. The summer typically produces fewer claims.

On Wednesday, August 6 at 11 am, Woodchuck Hard Cider will hold a formal ribbon cutting ceremony at the site of its new state-of-the-art cidery. The $34 million dollar cidery has been under construction for the last 15 months. It represents Woodchuck’s commitment to Vermont and keeping the state at the forefront of the rapidly growing national hard cider movement. Woodchuck Hard Cider introduced the US to craft cider from a two car garage in Proctorsville, Vermont, and 23 years later, craft cider has caught on and Woodchuck continues its leadership role in the craft cider industry.

The Senate on Thursday tonight approved and sent to President Barack Obama a bill to improve access to health care for veterans and reform the Department of Veterans Affairs. Crafted by the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairmen – Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Jeff Miller (R-Florida) – the $16.3 billion bill passed the Senate by a vote of 91-3. The House of Representatives voted 420-5 on Wednesday to approve the same measure.

There is a Veterans Administration hospital in White River Junction.