Current News
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org
Three recently published national reports offer three different takes on the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor program: glowing, constructive and critical. The EB-5 program offers green cards to immigrants and their immediate family members who create American jobs by investing in US business. In rural areas like Vermont, or places with high unemployment, the investments cost $500,000 each. Elsewhere the cost is $1 million per investment.
Bill Stenger stands before the under-construction Stateside Hotel at Jay Peak in September. File photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger
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The towns of Cornwall and Shoreham voted against Vermont Gas Systems’ pipeline extension Monday in a nonbinding town meeting ballot – marking definitive local opposition to the second phase of the company’s proposed southern expansion though Addison County, town officials say.
Residents of Cornwall voted 126-16 and Shoreham voted 66-38 against the pipeline. The second phase of the company’s pipeline extension would connect gas lines in Middlebury to the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y., passing through the two Vermont towns and under Lake Champlain. The 26-mile extension is estimated to cost $70 million.
The vote will not alter the company’s plans, Vermont Gas’ spokesman Steve Wark said Tuesday.
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As the Vermont Legislature ponders a bill to require paid sick leaves to all employees, a new analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) finds that access to paid sick days is unequally distributed across the US population, with substantial differences by race/ethnicity, occupation, earnings, and employment status.
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Comcast Corporation Executive Vice President David L Cohen has announced the company will continue Internet Essentials indefinitely — beyond its initial three-year commitment. Internet Essentials is Comcast’s acclaimed national broadband adoption program for low-income families. The company also announced more than $1 million in grants to dozens of non-profit organizations across the country to create Internet Essentials Learning Zones. The grants are part of a multi-faceted Gold Medal Recognition Program for communities that have done the most to help close the digital divide. In addition to the grants, Internet Essentials-eligible families in the Gold Medal-recognized communities who are not currently customers can receive six months of complimentary Internet service if they apply and are approved for the program by March 18th, 2014. (See below for the list of communities.)
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would make downtown development easier and urban sprawl more difficult. The bill, H.823, is designed to encourage growth in downtown centers by exempting certain development from Act 250 review, the state’s land use and development permitting process.
Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who chairs the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, says some developers are driven outside city limits where it is faster and cheaper to move projects forward.
The Shumlin administration supports a statutory mechanism that would foster the vitality of tight-knit downtowns and discourage strip development. To that end, state officials proposed a provision that would ease the Act 250 permitting process for developers seeking to build in the state’s designated downtowns and growth centers.
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org
A draft environmental assessment for proposed development at the Newport State Airport was released in February. The Agency of Transportation will hold a public hearing on March 20 about the development and environmental impact mitigation plans.
Newport State Airport. File photo by Hilary Niles/VTDigger
In addition to the light plane manufacturing facility and possible flight school slated for the airport, key developments include:
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FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP), the largest telecommunications provider in Vermont, announced Tuesday its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2013. Revenue was down from the third quarter and for the year-to-date. The annual loss decreased in 2013 and fourth quarter 2013 showed a positive $6.1 million, compared to losses in both the third quarter and in the fourth quarter of 2012. Trading was modestly heavy during the day before the report was released with a small gain. Shares opened at $13.74 and were up $0.30 or 2.19 percent for the day. The 52-week range is $6.77 - $14.16. Trading was light after-hours.
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by Ayla Yersel The Vermont Center for Integrative Therapy (VTCIT), a South Burlington-based integrated mental health care center, is launching a few new programs in conjunction with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, including a new family support group, training programs for practitioners to better treat eating disorders, and a new subscription model that provides special benefits to members.
Founder and Director of VTCIT Bree Greenberg-Benjamin said that the practice is launching two programs to train Vermont practitioners how to treat eating disorders-- one for local healthcare professionals, and one for their own staff.
Vermont Center for Integrative Therapy. Photo courtesy of VTCIT.
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by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org A fast-acting drug that can revive someone who has overdosed on opiates will be in the vest of every state trooper in the coming weeks, Governor Peter Shumlin announced Monday at a news conference in Waterbury.In addition, officials plan to distribute that drug, naloxone, at opiate addiction treatment centers and make it available on ambulances. Eventually the state wants to allow doctors to prescribe Narcan to patients who would be able to pick it up at the pharmacy. PHOTO: R. Gil Kerlikowske, center, President Obama’s “drug czar,” visited Vermont to see how Vermont is battling drug addiction and spoke at a news conference at which the state announced its plan to equip police and others with the opiate overdose antidote naloxone. Photo by Laura Krantz/VTDigger
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New unemployment claims rose last week after decreasing for seven consecutive weeks, or every week since the end of 2013. For the week of February 22, 2014, there were 824 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 276 from the previous week's total, and 154 fewer than they were a year ago.
Source: Vermont Dept of Labor
Altogether 8,560 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 170 from a week ago and 911 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 99 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 28 fewer than the previous week.
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Related Company: Vermont Gas Systems Incby John Herrick vtdigger.org
The Vermont Public Service Board denied a motion to dismiss Vermont Gas Systems’ petition to construct Phase 2 of their natural gas pipeline extension Thursday. The motion claimed the board did not have jurisdiction over the application.
Bristol attorney James Dumont, representing the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, argued that the pipeline falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — not the board— because the pipeline would cross state lines.
Dumont said Thursday the group would not appeal the decision.
“The ruling is what it is,” he said.
Vermont Gas’ application to construct the second phase of their Addison County pipeline extension would connect Middlebury to the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, NY. The case is currently pending before the board.
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Statistic Service (NASS) released preliminary findings from the 2012 census Thursday. Conducted every five years, the ag census provides the most comprehensive data available about agriculture in Vermont and across the nation.