Current News

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.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The House Judiciary Committee passed a greatly revised version of a Senate bill late Monday that is meant to streamline the judicial review process for involuntary treatment and medication of psychiatric patients. The bill, S287, is focused on a small number of patients who the state determines should be treated for mental illness — and in some cases medicated — against their will. Vermont had 52 involuntarily committed patients at four psychiatric facilities in January. There are more awaiting beds in emergency departments across the state.

Only 14 of those had symptoms severe enough for clinicians to petition the court for them to be medicated against their will, according to figures from the Department of Mental Health.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Senator Dick Sears, D-Bennington, will travel to Washington, DC, on Tuesday to moderate a discussion on the impact of heroin and opiate addiction on the criminal justice system. The discussion about addiction treatment, alternatives to incarceration and recidivism rates is part of a forum sponsored by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, according to a press release from the senator and the council. Vermont has seen an increase in use of heroin and opiates in recent years, according to state data.

“Coming from a state like Vermont, there are unique challenges that rural communities face when it comes to these issues,” Sears said in a statement.

Sears, who is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the state’s experiences and successes with addiction has been “well-documented.”

by Kate Robinson vtdigger.org The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has stepped up enforcement of fair labor laws affecting agricultural operations. In the past two years, several farms have faced heavy fines for “inadvertent violations.” Vermont farmers face penalties for wage and hour violations most often when they diversify and employ domestic or foreign “seasonal” workers in handling or producing value-added products or sell products from other suppliers. Anything, in fact, that the law regards as “non-agricultural” labor.

Historically, the government has been “more intent on whether [foreign workers] are legal or not,” according to Roger Albee, the former secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture under Gov. Jim Douglas. Now regulators appear to be more focused on fair wages, and Albee says that shift may signal a change in government policy.