Current News

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense office, has selected two employers from Vermont as semifinalists for the 2014 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

The Freedom Award is the DoD’s highest honor for employers that provide extraordinary support to their Guard and Reserve employees. The Vermont employers named semifinalists are GE Aviation - Rutland, North Clarendon; and Lamoille Valley Ford, Inc., Hardwick. For a complete list of Freedom Award semifinalists from each state, visit www.freedomaward.mil and select the Media Tab in the Press Releases section.

Patients treated at the Vermont Cystic Fibrosis Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care and the University of Vermont are exceeding targets for lung function, nutrition and other key measures according to a national study that places the Center in the top ranks of 110 certified programs nationwide.

Major strengths of both the pediatric and adult programs at Fletcher Allen include following best practices for the number of visits and the amount and type of testing, achieving excellent outcomes in nutrition and lung function, and screening for complications such as CF-related diabetes. Highlights of the report include:

In advance of Wednesday night’s Burlington School Board Finance Committee Meeting, the School Board provides this FY15 budget process progress report in an effort to keep Burlingtonians well-informed of the Board’s efforts to prepare a new FY15 budget for a June 3 vote. The district is sorting out a recurring deficit issue exacerbated by a few years of underestimated expenses and a payroll tax issue that will likely result in penalties to be determined by the IRS.

Overview
On Town Meeting Day this past March 4, Burlington voters rejected the School District’s proposed $66.8 million FY15 budget. In the process of crafting a new budget, the School District has encountered two issues that it is working to address: remedying newly-identified budget deficits, and an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) payroll tax question.

Coming off an all-night flood watch across the state that closed bridges and roadways, Governor Peter Shumlin today thanked Vermont’s state and local emergency and transportation crews for another difficult shift protecting Vermonters from a powerful weather event.

In addition, the governor warned that while flood waters are receding today in most regions, the water level on Lake Champlain will continue to rise in the coming days and weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine At approximately 5:30 Tuesday evening, Vermont State Police received a report of an occupied truck stuck in rising flood waters on Longley Bridge Road in Montgomery. Members of the Vermont State Police, Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Enosburg Rescue, and area fire departments responded to the scene. During their response units found direct routes to the stuck vehicle were impassible due to flood waters and/or heavy mud on back roads. This drastically increased response times as alternative routes were sought. At one point a responding ambulance and fire truck were stuck in heavy mud on Longley Bridge Road.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org A new legislative proposal would freeze the funding for the Shumlin administration’s transition to a universal health care program if officials don’t present lawmakers with public financing details by February 2015. Governor Shumlin wants the universal program to go live on January 1, 2017. But fiscal year 2017 begins on July 1, 2016, and lawmakers want to have enough time to develop and pass a funding scheme, which could profoundly alter the tax code.

The RE/MAX of New England March Monthly Housing Report shows pending home sales are up on average 26.5 percent over March 2013. Inventory in every state except Vermont shows a decrease year-over-year. Overall home sales show an increase of 31.5 percent month-over-month, an expected trend as the busy spring market arrives. Vermont showed a decrease in total transactions, down -3.5 percent, while median price stayed level at $195,000 year-over-year. Pending sales were up 16.5 percent year-over-year.

According to the Mountain Market Briefing released each month by Denver-based DestiMetrics, increased occupancy and revenue remained the trend for mountain destinations across the country though results varied among participating resorts, in large part due to different weather patterns experienced by the three major regions covered in the monthly report.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Vermont moved a step closer to requiring that manufacturers label products containing genetically modified organisms sold in the state.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 26-2 to give preliminary approval on the GMO labeling bill, H.112. The bill would go into effect July 1, 2016. It still needs final approval from the Senate and then must be reconciled with a slightly different House version.

The scientific community is divided on whether GMOs are harmful to human health, but Vermont lawmakers say the bill is about consumers’ “right to know” what is in their food.

“It’s simply about information for consumers to make a decision,” said Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, the bill’s lead sponsor. “Some consumers may think genetic engineering is the best thing since sliced bread.”

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Key members of the state Senate want to raise the bar for broadband Internet speeds in Vermont, and they’re looking to change the administration’s lineup to make it happen.

A proposal in the Senate Finance Committee would fold the quasi-public Vermont Telecommunications Authority into the Agency of Administration.

As a counterpoint to the Senate Finance Committee’s broadband discussion, Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, reads from a 1905 article from Richmond arguing that electricity is not a necessity, but a luxury. Photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger

The committee is also pushing for minimum Internet access speeds of 100 Mbps to every address by 2024. The current minimum standard is 0.768 Mbps for downloads and 0.2 Mbps for upload speed.

Lisa Ventriss, President of Vermont Business Roundtable (VBR) and Jeffrey Carr, President, Economic & Policy Resources (EPR), on Tuesday announced the 1st Quarter results of their joint initiative, the VBR-EPR Business Conditions Survey. The survey, which is conducted quarterly, is the next generation of the Roundtable’s economic outlook surveys that began in 2004, and provides a more meaningful and predictive index going forward. The new economic indicator, constructed as a Diffusion Index, is designed to follow economic sentiments of Roundtable members over time, and serve as a tool for analyzing and presenting insight into the Vermont economic outlook, as a leading economic indicator.

Vermont Business Magazine Driven in large part by the City of Burlington's partial settlement with CitiBank over the repayment of Burlington Telecom debt and by the city's overall economic health, a major credit rating service has improved the city's rating from "negative" to "stable." Moody’s Investors Service published a Ratings Report Monday, in which Moody’s improved Burlington’s credit rating outlook to “stable” – revising the City’s rating to “Baa3 stable” from “Baa3 negative.”

In its rating rationale, Moody’s shared the following: