Current News

Each year, more than 75,000 visitors enjoy the natural resources and recreational opportunities offered at Vermont’s 863-acre Waterbury Reservoir. Little River State Park, Waterbury Center State Park and the surrounding forest land offer visitors access to boating, swimming, paddling, fishing, camping and hiking.

“Waterbury Reservoir is one of the most popular lakes in our state park system,” said Susan Bulmer, Northeast Parks Regional Manager for Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (VDFPR). “As stewards of state land and the parks, our department is responsible for conserving and managing the natural resources within our parks while providing a safe recreational experience for visitors.”

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the state last week calling on the Shumlin administration to come up with money to implement the Lake Champlain cleanup plan. “Turning a good plan into reality hinges on getting more staff and more money for the core work of this plan,” the letter read. “Vermont will need to commit state resources to get the programs up and running.”

In order to comply with the Clean Water Act, Vermont must reduce phosphorus loading into Lake Champlain by 36 percent, the feds say. The state is working with the EPA to draft a new Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan to set phosphorus pollution targets by late summer.

Phosphorus from agricultural and stormwater runoff has been linked to frequent toxic algae blooms in parts of Vermont’s largest lake.

Seven initiatives -- including two lecture series and five projects -- have been selected by UVM’s Clean Energy Fund (CEF) Committee for 2014-2015. The CEF is designed to advance clean and renewable energy on campus through research, education and infrastructure. The fund is supported by a self-imposed student fee of $10 per student per semester, generating about $225,000 per year. This year’s initiatives, approved for funding by the vice president of finance, total $152,844.

At the Alchemist Cannery today in Waterbury, Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) unveiled a two-prong bipartisan effort to block a proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule that would likely end the longstanding practice of Vermont brewers providing nutritious and cost effective spent grain to farmers to feed their livestock. The spent grain would otherwise be dumped in landfills or composted at a significant cost to brewers.

The proposed rule would impose burdensome new requirements on brewers, including onerous record keeping, testing, and process requirements. For example, it would require brewers to undertake the costly process of drying and and prepackaging spent grain before it could be delivered to farmers.

As a part of the continued effort to tackle opiate abuse in Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin, in partnership with the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) and the United Ways of Vermont, announced today the Governor’s Community Forum on Opiate Addiction, to be held at the State House on Monday, June 16. The purpose of the forum will be to bring together leaders from different sectors of the community and share community-based solutions to tackle opiate addiction.

“I proposed this Forum in my State of the State Address to lawmakers in January, and we are now prepared to bring Vermonters from across the spectrum to the State House to hear about ways communities are pulling together to improve prevention and treatment, as well as law enforcement, to tackle this threat,” the governor said.

Governor Peter Shumlin today signed into law legislation protecting the identities of ‘whistleblowers,’ those who step forward to report suspected violations of law, waste, fraud or abuse of authority by public officials or employees. The legislation was proposed by State Auditor of Accounts Doug Hoffer, who was concerned that under current law he could be legally compelled to disclose the identities of whistleblowers if requested. He sought the legislative change to protect the confidentiality of people who come to his office with concerns about potential mismanagement or worse in their agencies or by government contractors.

“We take the protection of whistleblowers very seriously. Nevertheless, the possibility of public identification could have a chilling effect on reports of fraud or misconduct,” Shumlin said. “I want to hear about any problems in state government, and this change ensures that employees will feel more comfortable coming forward with that information.”

WCAX reporter Ali Freeman will become WCAX-TV’s new weekday morning co-anchor. Freeman, a graduate of U-32 High School and Clemson University, will join Steve Bottari and meteorologist Gary Sadowsky at the end of May. Freeman is the former Rutland Bureau Chief. Her most recent assignment was covering the region as a reporter out of the WCAX newsroom in South Burlington.

Nearly half of KeyCorp’s (NYSE: KEY) employees will participate in Neighbors Make the Difference Day, the company’s 24th annual day of volunteer community service, on Wednesday, May 14. Employees will spend the afternoon volunteering for a wide array of community service projects in 12 states, building on the bank’s promise to help clients and communities thrive. While two-thirds of Key’s branches will close at noon for the event, ATMs, online banking, and mobile banking will remain accessible to customers.

Burlington: Key employees will volunteer for various jobs at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelter, Committee on Temporary Shelter, Community Health Center and Vermont Youth Conservation Corp.

Essex: Key employees will be painting, installation shelves and making general space improvements at the Essex Teen Center.

Vermont Public Service Department Commissioner Christopher Recchia will appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Wednesday at 10 am, to testify at a hearing on stakeholder perspectives about nuclear power plant decommissioning.

Vermont Business Magazine Following a successful second quarter report last week, Keurig Green Mountain (NYSE:GMCR) shares rose again on Tuesday after an SEC filing indicated that Coca-Cola had increased its ownership of the Waterbury-based company to 16 percent. Investors had pushed GMCR shares higher based on the expectation that Coke would take a larger share of the company following its $1 billion buy earlier in the year and its partnership with Keurig on a home soda-making machine. The idea was that Coke would be able to compete with SodaStream, the popular at-home beverage company.

Norwich University has received a $122,232 supplemental grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of a “Scholarship for Service” program, in which student-recipients majoring in computer security and information assurance commit to work for the federal government following graduation. A five-year, $974,836 grant was awarded by the NSF two years ago, portions of which are disbursed annually. The current $122,232 grant supplements this original grant, and will support the education of one student for two years.

Norwich University entered the NSF’s Cyber Corps in 2012, which qualifies the university to receive scholarship dollars in a NSF program called “CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service.” The purpose of the program is cybersecurity education and workforce development.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce announced plans today to develop the first official State of Vermont tourism mobile app, in partnership with the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing (VDTM). The official State of Vermont tourism mobile app will be a digital marketplace, allowing the ever-increasing number of mobile consumers to connect, research and, ultimately, book a trip to Vermont via the app. The app will offer visitors an enhanced digital experience with a design and functionality that complements the VermontVacation.com Travel Planner website and the Summer and Winter vacation guide books, which are existing collaborations between the Vermont Chamber and VDTM.

The Vermont Chamber has selected Route 802, a Williston-based new media marketing firm to develop the official State of Vermont tourism mobile app.