Current News
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The University of Vermont will celebrate its 213th commencement on Sunday, May 18. With pleasant weather forecasted for Sunday, the main ceremony will take place outdoors on the University Green. Graduates and guests are urged to dress appropriately for the weather and wear appropriate footwear as the green will be wet. Tickets are not required. Note street closings, starting Friday, below.
University Green by Sally McCay.
Faculty and graduates dressed in academic regalia are requested to assemble on the Chittenden-Buckham-Wills Green at 7:45 a.m. for the academic procession, which will begin at 8:20 a.m.
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org The fiscal year 2015 state budget reflects a sluggish economic recovery and several pressing budgetary concerns, lawmakers say. The $5.5 billion price tag is about 4.1 percent more than the current year, which ends June 30. Governor Peter Shumlin’s recommended budget included $14 million from a tax that would have been levied on every health insurance claim; lawmakers rejected that proposal and trimmed new taxes on a handful of products and services to $5.79 million.
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Energtek Inc. (OTC: EGTK), a leader in hi-tech natural gas solutions and Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) technology, has announced that its subsidiary in the USA, Energtek North Country Inc (NCI), has purchased land in Swanton, Vermont, for construction of its regional distribution facilities. Energtek is the second company on the same stretch of I-89 to build a natural gas "filling station" to serve customers who are off the pipeline. NG Advantage operates a compressed natural gas facility in Milton. It began operations in March 2013. The gas is then trucked to customers or a second access point.
"We are happy to announce that Energtek NCI has purchased land from the town of Swanton, Vermont," said CEO Energtek NCI Dr Timothy Nulty.
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Comcast Business has announced that its full portfolio of Ethernet services are now available across 17 communities in Rutland County. This builds on the company’s 2013 expansion of these services across Chittenden County and marks the next step in its focus on the state by bringing access to a fiber network that provides speeds up to 10 Gigabits-per second (Gbps). These Ethernet services are designed specifically for businesses, schools, hospitals and other companies requiring more bandwidth, looking to network multiple locations together, or planning to connect their offices to a third-party data center.
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Beginning May 15, Sprint customers in Vermont will be able to use their mobile phones to send a text message to 9-1-1 for emergency help.
“The addition of Sprint as a text-to-911 provider is beneficial for all of our residents and especially important for those with speech or hearing impairments. Sprint is a preferred provider for many who are not able to make a voice call to 9-1-1, and we are excited to be able to offer this service to that community,” said David Tucker, Executive Director of the Enhanced 9-1-1 Board.
The Vermont 9-1-1 Board has been engaged in the process of establishing text to 9-1-1 service since early in 2012. An earlier trial with Sprint was successful, but the trial ended last year while Sprint worked on enabling the service across its nationwide network. The addition of Sprint is the latest step towards a goal of achieving text-to-911 services across the state.
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Verizon Wireless recently expanded fourth generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network coverage in Bristol, Vermont. 4G LTE empowers Verizon Wireless customers with compatible devices to surf the Web, post status updates and photos, and download files wirelessly at speeds up to 10 times faster than customers on 3G networks.
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org The nearly-all-in-one “economic development bill” passed after the House and Senate overcame differences about workers’ compensation. The Senate pushed for more generous reforms to injured workers, while the House wanted a more gradual approach to changes, such as lengthening the period of notice before benefits are discontinued.
The rift nearly spiked the bill, but lawmakers, administration officials, and stakeholders from the business and labor communities got together one last time Saturday morning to find common ground. They agreed to a little more leeway before discontinuance.
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Vermont lawmakers passed H695 last week, the first single-use battery product stewardship law in the United States. Vermont will be the first state to require single-use battery manufacturers to develop a program for collecting and recycling batteries at their end of life. The program will go into effect on January 1, 2016.
While some municipal governments and private organizations in the United States are already voluntarily collecting and recycling single-use batteries, their efforts have been fragmented and costly. Municipalities in particular have had to carry the burden of collecting batteries without the funds to offset their costs.
To address this issue in Vermont, the bill, introduced by Representative Tony Klein (D-East Montpelier), requires manufacturers to finance collecting and recycling single-use batteries and encourages consumers to recycle through public education and outreach programs.
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US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will travel to Vermont today to see first-hand how Vermont is helping to lead the nation in transforming our energy system from fossil fuels to sustainable energy, the Vermont congressional delegation announced. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Rep Peter Welch (D-Vermont) will join Moniz at an energy summit in Middlebury to discuss energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate change. Moniz also will visit energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives in Rutland County.
Energy Summit
Who: Congressional delegation, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and state leaders
What: Panel discussion followed by Q & A
When: 10 a.m., Friday, May 16
Where: McCullough Student Center; Middlebury College; 14 Old Chapel Road; Middlebury, Vt.
Press Conference
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by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The New England region is expected to have the resources needed to meet consumer demand for electricity this summer, according to ISO New England Inc, the operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity markets. ISO also reported that wholesale electric prices in New England jumped 45 percent, or $2.7 billion in 2013, mostly because of the rising cost (ie, demand) of natural gas. This led to a windfall for Entergy Vermont Yankee, which made over $100 million in the first quarter of this year, and ultimately to Green Mountain Power customer, as GMP got $17.8 million in revenue sharing from VY. Vermont Yankee is closing by the end of this year.
2014 summer forecast
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org Grassroots campaigns that pitted public health advocates against industries opposed to new regulation were winners in the Vermont Legislature’s biennium that ended Saturday. Garnering national headlines, the governor signed the nation’s first GMO labeling initiative and the regulation of toxic chemicals in children’s products has support in his administration. The new law requires food manufacturers to label products containing genetically engineered ingredients sold in the state starting July 1, 2016.
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FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating fiber optic networks in Upstate New York and Northern New England, including Vermont, with connectivity to Canada, has announced that it has expanded its network capabilities to support 100 Gbps connectivity at any of its on-net locations.
This network expansion comes in response to increased customer demand for high bandwidth connections in Tier 2 and Tier 3 metro markets. This capability was accomplished in part due to the support provided by LightRiver Technologies, an integrator of multi-vendor transport networks, and leverages Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform equipped with third generation WaveLogic Coherent Optics.