Current News
by og
By a vote of 375-36, the US House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon approved energy efficiency legislation authored by Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont). The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act, HR 2126, is the first significant bipartisan energy initiative approved by the House in the 113th Congress.
Representative David McKinley (R-WV) is the lead Republican cosponsor of Welch’s bill and a member, with Welch, of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill is the product of months of negotiations between Welch, McKinley, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton and Ranking Democrat Henry Waxman.
by og
by John Herrick vtdigger.org
More than a dozen towns voted to oppose any effort to pump oil from Canadian tar sands across the Northeast Kingdom at town meetings on Tuesday. The Portland-Montreal pipeline carries crude oil from South Portland, Maine, to Montreal. The company, Portland Pipe Line Corp., is considering a reversal of the flow to bring tar sands oil to ports in Maine.
Several towns along the pipeline’s right-of-way passed nonbinding resolutions Tuesday to oppose pumping tar sands through the state, joining 42 towns statewide, according to 350 Vermont, a branch of the grassroots environmental action group 350.org.
by og
As the weather warms up and sap begins to flow from the Maple trees, Donnie Richards, of Meadowbrook Maple Syrup, knows how important it is to collect as much of the sweet stuff as he can to boil into syrup.
“The sugaring season lasts about six weeks, and maximum sap flow often happens within the first two to three hours of a thaw,” Richards said, “any leaks or damage in the vacuum pipeline system we use to deliver the sap to our sugarhouse means less sap is collected.”
by og
The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law has developed an online research site for use by anyone interested in sustainable food and agriculture, the most recent step in the center’s mission to provide legal and policy support to citizens who care about how food is grown and distributed in the U.S.
by og
The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the Sarah K de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust to support facilities improvements to their Wild Bird Hospital and raptor exhibits.
VINS said in a statement: "On behalf of the staff and tustees, VINS would like to thank the Sarah K de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust for their recognition of this important program, now in its 35th year. More information about VINS' avian rehabilitation program and the Wild Bird Hospital can be found on their website, www.vinsweb.org."
by og
Public Meeting in Montpelier on Proposed Amendment to Posting Land Guidelines: The proposed rule follows recent statutory changes and seeks to make posting requirements clearer and more consistent.
Click here to view proposal...
Hunters, landowners, and anyone interested in commenting on the proposed amended rule should attend the public meeting. Attendees will be able to comment on the language for the amendment to the new posting rule and view signs that will be available for landowners' use.
by og
What happens when you ask bus drivers of the largest provider of school transportation in North America to enhance fuel efficiency by 5 percent in a year? First Student drivers respond by saving 3.2 million gallons of fuel, enough to keep approximately 1,700 yellow buses running an entire year, more than enough to serve a city the size of Chicago.
First Student rolled out its DriveSMART initiative as part of the company’s larger efforts to cut down carbon emissions while simultaneously improving safety. “SMART” stands for Safe driving, Managing speeds, Avoiding rapid acceleration and hard braking, Reducing Idling and Talking to maintenance.
by og
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Thirty-four municipalities out of 246 towns rejected school budgets on Town Meeting Day, according to the Vermont School Boards Association. Two hundred nine passed budgets, 12 have not reported results and 19 towns will hold budget votes in the next several weeks.
Typically, about a dozen or so school budgets go down each year. The last time so many budgets were defeated in Vermont was in 2003, just before the Vermont Legislature passed Act 68, a funding reform law that eliminated the spending pool from so-called “gold towns,” the state’s wealthiest communities.
by og
Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, has received a record number of applications for the Fall of 2014 - 5,571, up nearly 10 percent over last year, and about 1,000 more applications than in 2012.
The good news comes as admissions counselors at Champlain College are working to review the regular decision applications whose deadline was Feb. 1. The numbers of Early Decision I and II applications, due in mid-November and mid-January are also up over 2013 figures. All acceptances offered under Champlain's early decision program are considered binding, meaning students who apply are making Champlain their first choice. So far, nearly a third of the expected Class of 2018, some 187 early-decision students, plan to attend Champlain in the fall.
by og
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers with its Keurig brewing technology, today announced it will Webcast the formal proceedings of its 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held Thursday, March 6, 2014, at 10 am ET.
The meeting will be webcast live and archived via a link from the events portion of the Investor Relations section of the Company's website: http://investor.gmcr.com/events.cfm.
About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.
by og
Blake Hill Preserves, in Grafton, Vermont, continues to break records. Hot on the heels of an incredible win of three Good Food Awards in San Francisco, Blake Hill Preserves sets a precedent as the first-ever US producer to win gold at the 9th World’s Original Marmalade Awards held at Dalemain Mansion in England. The Orange, Lime & Ginger and Orange & Ten Year Single Malt Whisky Marmalades received Gold and the Grapefruit & Lemon Marmalade received Silver. The Awards judges held a blind taste test of over 2,000 entries to identify the world’s best marmalades and Blake Hill is one of the top medal scorers.
by og
Blessed with abundant snowfall and a strong base due to Vermont’s 80 percent snowmaking capacity, Vermont ski and snowboard resorts enjoyed a record breaking February holiday period, according to Ski Vermont. The weekend kicked off on Friday, February 14, with a Valentine’s Day storm dropping up to two feet of snow over the Green Mountains and continued for nearly 2 weeks through Presidents’ Day and staggering Northeast school vacation periods. Vermont resorts reported both strong ticket sales and lodging numbers for the entire holiday period and are seeing a continued positive effect with late season lodging reservations.