Current News

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org State government spent more than $16.7 million on temporary employees in fiscal year 2013. The Vermont State Employees Association says too much state money is used to support long-term temporary positions.

VSEA, the state employees’ union, has made the issue of temporary employees a priority this year, and has launched an “invisible workforce” advertising campaign to draw the public’s attention to the issue.

The Shumlin administration and the VSEA have negotiated a lower number of hours per year that an employee can work as a “temp” before the position is converted to permanent status. Now the VSEA wants to obtain earned sick leave benefits for temporary employees.

Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) officials announced Thursday that they, in partnership with local fire departments, are planning to use prescribed fire to treat approximately 300 to 400 acres of the more than 400,000-acre national forest. The Forest Service says that it will use prescribed fire as a management tool to reduce heavy accumulations of brush to restore critical wildlife habitat, regenerate early successional growth, and improve overall watershed conditions on the national forest in Vermont.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill designed to improve the state’s waterways. But even the lead sponsor of H.586, Rep. David Deen, says the water quality legislation is too weak.

“Until the Legislature and the administration finally commit themselves to taking action, H.586 will remain a hollow promise,” Rep. David Deen, D-Putney, told lawmakers Wednesday. “We call on the administration to show leadership and help meet the challenges of clean water.”

The legislation creates certification and training programs designed to help farmers and towns limit wastewater runoff into the watershed. Revenue to support cleanup efforts was originally included in the bill, but the proposal never gained traction or the administration’s support.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org When Governor Peter Shumlin on Monday announced a new scheme to induce a company in dire circumstances to stay in Vermont, he left little doubt that IBM would be a prime and likely candidate for the plan. He acknowledged as much Wednesday.

“I have read the same information that you have in the press about IBM,” Shumlin responded after a press conference.

A recent Wall Street Journal article predicts the likely sale of the company’s chip-making division will include the firm’s Essex Junction plant.

With at least 4,000 on the facility’s payroll there, IBM remains the state’s largest private employer, despite a series of deep cuts to its ranks over the years and still more pending.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Principals’ Association will honor seven distinguished educational leaders at the VPA Leadership Academy awards banquet on August 5th at Killington’s Grand Hotel.

Nominated by their peers and from the public at large, each of the seven principals listed below was selected recently by a committee of the VPA Executive Council and past award winners for outstanding building and educational leadership. William Olsen, Principal of Rutland High School, Steve Cone of Riverside Middle School in Springfield and William Anton of Dover Elementary School and will also travel to Washington DC at various times during the 2014-15 school year to be honored with other distinguished principals in their category from across the country.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine selected "Dig Into Vermont's Edible Landscape" “as one of its ‘50 Tours of a Lifetime”, according to Carrie McDougall, owner ofCultural Crossroads, a Vermont-based tour company.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Vermont’s homeless population grew by 9 percent this year, according to a report released Wednesday by two anti-homelessness groups.

The 2014 Point-in-Time survey counted 1,556 homeless Vermonters the night of Jan. 28, including 227 people who said they were victims of domestic violence and 371 children.

Formerly homeless people and those who help the homeless Wednesday said the actual number of homeless people in the state is likely much higher.

Federal budget cuts slashed the number of Section 8 vouchers in Vermont and contributed to the rise in homelessness this year, said Jeanne Montross, co-chairwoman of the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness.

“We lost a lot of Section 8 vouchers due to sequestration,” Montross said.

The best walleye fishing in New England will begin soon in several Vermont rivers and lakes, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The department is reminding anglers that walleye fishing season starts in much of the state on the first Saturday in May and that regulations vary, depending on the water you are fishing.

Fisheries Biologist Brian Chipman of Jericho, on a day off, with a nice walleye he caught in 2012 on the Winooski River. Walleye fishing begins May 3 in most of Vermont. Check regulations for exceptions.

In all waters of Vermont except Lake Carmi, Chittenden Reservoir and the Connecticut River, walleye and sauger have an 18” minimum length requirement and three-fish daily limit. The open season is from Saturday, May 3 to March 15, 2015.

With the first quarter of the year over, GasBuddy looked at what took place at some 120,000 gas stations across the United States during the first quarter, as well as what is yet to come. Vermont is about 5 cents a gallon above the US average and has risen 5 cents in the last week. Prices are expected to continue to increase.

Virginia boasted the largest savings at the pump for January through March versus the same time period in 2013, at 23.7 cents per gallon. Also in the top five are Georgia (23.5c/gal lower), Mississippi (23.5c/gal), South Carolina (23.2c/gal), and Alabama (23.1c/gal). A total of 48 states saw lower gas prices this year than last during the first quarter, with the exceptions being Colorado (8.6c/gal higher), and Wyoming (14c/gal higher).

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.