Current News

Vermont’s recently created Shoreland Protection Act goes into effect beginning July 1. In May, the Vermont General Assembly passed shoreland protection legislation that applies to activities within 250 feet of a lake or pond’s mean water level for all lakes and ponds greater than 10 acres in surface area. The Act establishes a new state regulation for guiding shoreland development. The intent of the Shoreland Protection Act is to prevent degradation of water quality in lakes, preserve habitat and natural stability of shorelines, and maintain the economic benefits of lakes and their shorelands by defining standards in creation of buildings, driveways, and cleared areas in shorelands.

Georgia Mountain Community Wind farm (GMCW) welcomed over 560 community members atop Georgia Mountain at their Open House and Wind Turbine Tours on June 8. The four 2.5 MW turbines were steadily generating power as guests toured the project and enjoyed views of Lake Champlain and the surrounding region. Over 10 school bus loads of visitors took a guided tour to the top of Georgia Mountain to see the wind turbines operating up close and learn more about the project.

“I live right here — and I love it! Love wind, and am grateful to see it every day,” said a community member from Westford, Vermont.

The weather cooperated for the second year in a row, and visitors enjoyed hot, 80-degree temperatures and a light wind out of the West, with wind speeds averaging 5-10 miles per hour.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock will celebrate 20 years of service by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART) with a special celebration Tuesday, July 1, including an employee celebration from 3-5 pm and a public open house from 5-7 pm. Both events will take place at the DHART hangar on the campus of DHMC in Lebanon. The celebrations will feature tours of the DHART facility and helicopters, and presentations by DHART crew members. Light refreshments will be served.

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc, (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee, coffee makers, teas and other beverages with its innovative brewing technology, and Nestlé USA, a division of Nestlé, the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company, announce a multiyear agreement to bring NESTLÉ COFFEE-MATE branded coffee with creamer to K-Cup packs for the Keurig brewing system. Nestle Coffee-mate is the first brand to offer a 2 in 1 K-Cup pack for hot coffee - combining roast and ground coffee with branded creamer. The companies plan to launch the new Nestlé Coffee-mate 2 in 1 K-Cup packs in Original and French Vanilla flavors on Keurig.com (link is external) in fall 2014 and in stores in spring 2015. A reinvention of the coffee routine, Nestlé Coffee-mate 2 in 1 K-Cup packs contain a special combination of coffee and creamer for an even more convenient way to create a rich, creamy, delicious cup of coffee.

Next Stage Arts Project in Putney has been awarded a $370,000 grant from the national organization, ArtPlace America. Selected as one of 55 recipients out of nearly 1300 applicants, Next Stage was recognized as fulfilling ArtPlace’s mission “to advance the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture play an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical and economic futures." Next Stage was noted in ArtPlace’s award announcement for it’s role in helping the community emerge from “two major fires in the village center...

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Business development is all in the family for Patricia Moulton, the state’s new secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Moulton’s resume is studded with key leadership positions in both regional and statewide economic development efforts:

• executive director and director of workforce development at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.,
• deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development,
• vice-president of government affairs for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce,
• state labor commissioner, and, before that,
• chair of the state’s Natural Resources Board, which administers the land use law Act 250.

Moulton also helped her ex-husband run his jewelry business for more than two decades. And she and her father, Elbert “Al” Moulton, ran a consulting business for six years.

Green Mountain College has begun extensive renovations to The Lodge facility on Killington Road, which serves as a learning-living laboratory for students in the College’s Killington School of Resort Management.

The renovation includes nearly $400,000 worth of improvements including replacement of 17 bathrooms, installation of a sprinker system and energy efficient windows, upgrades to the building’s heating system, construction of a new multi-level deck, and creation of a large common room in the basement. Carpeting is being replaced and wood floors refinished. The project also reflects a key objective in the College’s strategic plan, which calls for “renovation of existing spaces to enhance comfort, aesthetic appeal, functionality and sustainability.”

The CareFusion Foundation today awarded $500,000 in grant funding to 11 U.S. nonprofit health care institutions as part of the Foundation's second annual Clinical Excellence Grant Program. The institutions will receive grants of up to $50,000 based on programs that develop and share best practices in improving medication safety and efficiency.

"The proper management of medications – from the physician order to the pharmacy to the nursing station to the patient bedside – is a critical issue for health care institutions nationwide," said Dr. Carlos Nunez, chief medical officer for CareFusion. "Working with these nonprofit partners to develop and share best practices for medication management will advance the field at large and help providers deliver safer, more cost-effective care."

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt., President Pro Tempore, and chairman of the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee) has long been the leading U.S. official in the movement to ban anti-personnel landmines. Leahy’s earlier law banning U.S. export of mines was a catalyst leading to the international treaty to ban the use and production of anti-personnel landmines (Ottawa Treaty). Leahy has continued to meet with successive presidents (Clinton, Bush and Obama) to press for U.S.

The White House Internship Program announced today the participants for the Summer 2014 session. The mission of the program is to make the White House accessible to future leaders around the nation and to prepare those devoted to public service for future leadership opportunities.