Current News

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The Green Mountain Care Board ruled Tuesday that a New Hampshire urgent care company does not need further review of its plans to operate centers in Vermont. The New London, NH, company ClearChoiceMD had requested that the board make a determination whether its plan to open five centers in Vermont would trigger the certificate of need process.

by Holary Niles vtdigger.org The Senate passed its version of a fiscal year 2015 spending bill Tuesday. The chamber’s final debate produced some amendments, but no substantive changes to the $5.5 billion legislation. The General Fund budget is $1.4 billion; the Education Fund is $1.5 billion and almost $2 billion in federal funds also go into the total. H885 was immediately sent to the House for consideration. Any changes in the chambers’ versions will have to be worked out in a committee of conference.

Read budget overview story.

VERMONT ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT FUND

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org A major telecommunications bill passed the Vermont Senate on Tuesday. It was sent immediately to the House to review the many changes made in recent weeks by the Senate Finance Committee. H.297 would fold the Vermont Telecommunications Authority into the Agency of Administration. The entity was established by the state in 2007 to help provide “last mile” households with broadband Internet service and to improve cellphone service in rural areas.

Read a rundown of the Senate bill.

Sovernet Communications announced today that Fletcher Allen Health Care has chosen Sovernet’s fiber network for its latest data transport needs. Sovernet has built a 300 megabits per second (Mbps) wide area network (WAN) connection between Fletcher Allen and its Berlin affiliate, Central Vermont Medical Center. The link is being used to securely transport medical images and data between the two entities to streamline care and reduce duplication of efforts to care for their shared patients.

Ledyard Financial Group, Inc (ticker symbol LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank, today reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2014. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, was $938,305 or $0.93 per share compared to $759,079 or $0.75 per share for the same period in 2013, an increase of $179,226 or 23.61%.

Total revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, was $5,455,967 compared to $5,067,133 for the same period in 2013, for an increase of $388,835 or 7.7%. Net interest income for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, was $3,148,548 compared to $2,798,985 for the same period in 2013, for an increase of $346,563 or 12.49%. The increase in revenue for the first three months when compared to the prior year is due to an increase in lending activity and an increase in revenue from Ledyard Financial Advisors. The steepening yield curve and increase in lending provides for a more favorable revenue outlook.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB) reported that core earnings per share increased by 5% to $0.42 in the first quarter of 2014 compared to $0.40 in the previous quarter due to strong balance sheet growth. Core earnings per share decreased from $0.54 in the first quarter of 2013 due primarily to lower income on real estate related loans resulting from interest rate related market shifts in 2013.

Dealer.com, based in Burlington, a Dealertrack Technologies Solution (Nasdaq:TRAK), announced the addition of e-Dealer Solutions and CallSource to its Certified Provider Program. As part of the program, e-Dealer's and CallSource's trusted technologies are seamlessly integrated into the Dealer.com solution, providing dealers and OEMs with advanced analytics and training to help retailers convert more leads into sales. Customers have easy access to these new technologies through the Dealer.com ControlCenter.

Mace Security International Inc, formerly based in Bennington, (OTCPINK: MACE) has announced audited financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013 and unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Fourth quarter and year end audited results were delayed due to the Company’s decision to save significant audit fees by having the audit commence in mid March.

Financial Results, Fourth Quarter Ended December 31, 2013 and 2012

Net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 totaled $2,099, as compared to prior year fourth quarter revenues of $2,146, a decrease of approximately $47 or 2.2%. The decrease is mainly attributed to a $40 decrease in shipments of TG Guard product.

by Tom Brown vtdigger.org More often than not, bills run into trouble in the Vermont Legislature for being too broad, but one measure is headed for the scrap heap this session for perhaps being too narrow. A proposal to ban the use of hand-held cellphones while driving is all but dead in the Senate after it failed to emerge from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Sears, D-Bennington, conducts a hearing about firearm storage. Photo by Laura Krantz/VTDigger

Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced the successful negotiation of the contract between the Burlington Police Officers’ Association (BPOA) and the City, the first union contract negotiated by the Weinberger Administration. Last night, the City Council ratified a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the BPOA and the City that is retroactive to the start of fiscal year 2014.

“We are fortunate to have a dedicated and hard-working police force whose members focus every day on making our community an even better, safer place in which to live,” said Mayor Weinberger. “I am pleased that after nearly a year of hard work, we were able to successfully reach a negotiated contract settlement with the Burlington Police Officers’ Association. I also am pleased that, in a time of much concern about rising property taxes, the agreement limits cost-of-living adjustments to 1.3%.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) chairs the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, the Appropriations Committee panel that oversees the State Department’s budget as well as foreign aid programs. In his role as chairman, Leahy has put a hold on the Administration’s April 25 request to obligate $650 million in military assistance for Egypt that was provided under the Fiscal Year 2014 Appropriations bill enacted early this year. Leahy has worked on writing current and previous congressional conditions on aid to the Egyptian Government.

Leahy announced his hold Tuesday on the Senate Floor.

"Mr. President, on another matter, events in Egypt continue to concern people of goodwill, in this country and across the globe, who have shared the Egyptian people’s yearning for greater freedom under the rule of law.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Senators on Monday approved a proposal for a bureaucratic shuffle that has alarmed some state health officials. The Senate OK’d a budget amendment that would transfer oversight of the state office that runs substance abuse programs from the Health Department to the Department of Vermont Health Access, which manages the state’s publicly funded health insurance programs. The switch of the program away from the Health Department is not final because the budget has not passed in final form. The Secretary of Human Services, whose agency oversees both departments, opposes the proposal, as does the health commissioner.