Current News

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is warning Vermont businesses about a phone call or email from an out-of-state business asking the local business to donate money to support the area school by paying for an advertisement that that they will place on a full-color homework folder that will be provided to students free of charge. The out of state business is trying to collect money from local businesses far in excess of the cost of the “folders” that it may actually deliver to the school. Businesses are advised to be wary about contributing to this type of promotional scheme.

There may be more than one out- of-state business using this scheme. Some business names currently being used are “PNM”, Production Network Media, and “PMC”, Production Media Company. Previously, “American Youth Group” and “Student Relations Inc.” have used this scheme to raise money.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says the US Department of Agriculture this week is beginning to roll out two new programs in the recently enacted Farm Bill that will benefit diversified agriculture in Vermont and improve agricultural water quality in the state. Leahy, the most senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, worked to include the provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill.

NRCS Water Quality Grant:

The USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Vermont will receive a special allocation of $80,000 to improve agricultural water quality. This funding will be used to implement water quality conservation practices on farms in the Rock River Watershed in Vermont under the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). The Rock River is known to be seriously compromised by phosphorus pollution, which then quickly reaches the Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain.

At its annual meeting on May 13, the Governing Board of the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Optic Network (ECFiber) elected David Halpert, of West Windsor, to a three year term on ECFiber’s Executive Committee. He replaces Steve Willbanks, of Strafford, who had served on the Committee since ECFiber’s inception in 2008. “Since ECFiber's earliest days, Steve's common sense and two decades of Selectboard experience have helped guide us through dry spells and storms alike. All of us on the Executive Committee will miss his quiet wisdom,” said Irv Thomae, Chairman of the ECFiber Governing Board.

Ten New England educational, healthcare and other business institutions including Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont, have become members of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, a national initiative that encourages businesses, organizations and institutions to actively participate in food waste prevention, surplus food donation and food waste recycling activities.

The 10 new participants in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge from New England include:

Boston Medical Center, (Boston, Mass.)
Colby College, (Waterville, Maine)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, (Boston, Mass.)
Fairview Hospital, (Great Barrington, Mass.)
Framingham State University, (Framingham, Mass.)
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, (Buzzards Bay, Mass.)
Parkland Medical Center, (Derry, N.H.)
Stratton Mountain Resort, (Stratton Mountain, Vt.)
University of Massachusetts at Lowell, (Lowell, Mass.)
Signature Breads (Chelsea, Mass.)

Rutland Blooms is going to give a key city gateway a flowering makeover. Rutland’s West Street gateway will get a significant upgrade, with local businesses and the City of Rutland collaborating on the most dramatic Rutland Blooms project yet. Volunteers from Green Mountain Power, The Vermont Country Store, NeighborWorks of Western Vermont, Stafford Technical Center, Berkshire Bank and the Vermont Council of Urban and Community Forestry, under the supervision of city forester Dave Schneider, will plant 76 flowering crabapple trees along about 1,700 feet of city right-of-way on the south side of West Street June 11. The trees, purchased with donations from Casella’s, GMP, The Vermont Country Store and Rutland Regional Medical Center, will replace scrub brush and nuisance trees and will improve the neglected stretch, which borders a rail siding, the city’s winter snow dump and a recycling facility.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger on Thursday released a new housing strategy report that finds an “affordability crisis” caused by a lack of market-rate housing – or housing built without subsidy - over the past decade in the City’s downtown. Increased housing costs in Burlington’s downtown have risen to levels far higher than in “next tier” cities. The report suggests that, while continuing to support the great work of Burlington’s renowned affordable housing programs and partners, the City embark on a coordinated effort to support downtown living for the full spectrum of residents, including young professionals, families, empty nesters, and seniors.

Vermont Business Magazine A strong majority of Vermonters support making marijuana legal for adults, taxing it, and regulating it similarly to alcohol, according to a Castleton Polling Institute survey released Wednesday. This is nearly identical to results of a poll conducted by Vermont Business Magazine in late April.

by Representative Heidi E Scheuermann There have been many opinions about how successful the 2013-2014 legislative session was. Just prior to adjournment, Governor Peter Shumlin told the House of Representatives "we have made this biennium one of the most productive in recent memory." In other press reports, House Speaker Shap Smith called the last session, "incredibly productive."

But does this predictable self-congratulatory back-slapping tell the real story? Unfortunately, no. It belies the lack of real results in the areas most important to the working families, and overall economic vitality, of our state.

Vermont mortgages in foreclosure are down and total nonperforming mortgages have fallen substantially in the last year, as they have across the country. The March numbers are down 17 percent from last year and are down a full point from February. 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 March 2014. The data showed that, as home prices have risen over the past two years and many distressed loans have worked their way through the system, the percentage of Americans in negative equity positions on their mortgage has declined considerably. Meanwhile, those loans already in the foreclosure process have been aging substantially.

Seven high schools from all over Vermont participated in the Envirothon competition at Farm and Wilderness Camps May 13. The Envirothon is a hands-on natural resource competition that helps high school students focus on Vermont’s environmental issues related to forestry, wildlife, soils and water resources through real-world learning in a teamwork environment. This year, first place went to People’s Academy in Morrisville. Their score of 473 points earned them a trip to Heifer International Farm in Rutland, VT, where they will represent the state at the Inaugural New England Regional Gathering.

PC Construction has been awarded two major projects to bring advanced wastewater treatment technologies to the Washington, DC and the Atlanta metropolitan areas. The projects help strengthen the company’s position as one of the nation’s leading builders of wastewater treatment facilities. Both projects will lead to significant milestones for PC Construction and its clients.

Upon completion, the DC Water Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant will be the largest DEMON® facility in the world. And the construction of the Shakerag Water Reclamation Facility in Georgia positions PC Construction as one of the top membrane contractors in the country.

DC Water: Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

by John Herrick vtdigger.org One of the nation’s top renewable power suppliers said it will no longer trade Vermont’s renewable energy credits, which are also counted toward the state’s clean electricity goals. NextEra Energy announced last week that it will no longer take double-counted power in a letter to New England renewable energy credit brokers. The $15 billion North American company purchases and sells renewable energy credits (RECs).

“It is a fundamental principle of all renewable energy market sales that the environmental characteristics associated with the electric energy generated cannot be counted or claimed twice,” NextEra Energy officials wrote.