Current News

John Fischer, former Director of Integrated Support for Learning, High School and Adult Division at the Vermont Department of Education and most recently Interim Deputy Commissioner, has been officially named Deputy Commissioner of Transformation and Innovation, the department announced today following his ratification by the State Board of Education.
â I am looking forward a great deal to continuing to work with Vermont schools and school leaders to advance innovation in education and 21st century learning opportunities for all our students,’said Fischer. â Education in our state has some exciting work ahead of us, and some challenges to work through, and I am grateful to be a part of it.â

Phoenix Books, locally owned and independent, is coming to Burlington as a downtown bookstore dedicated to selling new books ‘with a unique economic model for doing so. Co-owners Mike DeSanto and Renee Reiner will use a Community Sustained Enterprise model similar to that used by food businesses in Hardwick, Vermont.

DeSanto and Reiner expect to open the new location in May 2012 at 191 Bank Street (known locally as â the old Climb High spaceâ ), within sight of the Church Street Marketplace and directly across from both City Market and the public parking garage, an ideal location for a retail bookstore, the first to open since Borders closed due to bankruptcy in 2011.

Both are seasoned booksellers with industry experience dating back to 1995 ‘first as owners of the Book Rack and Childrenâ s Pages and now as owners of Phoenix Books, located in Essex, Vermont.

20 year skateboarding veteran, television star and entrepreneur,Rob Dyrdekannounced Wednesday that he has acquired DNA Distribution which includes skateboarding brands Alien Workshop, Habitat and Reflex, from Burton.
The combination of Dyrdek's brand loyalty and financial strength, with the unparalleled design and quality of DNA's skateboarding products, will enhance the brands' ability to participate more aggressively in the growing skateboard industry.
Confirming the previous purchase buzz, Dyrdek has been in discussion with Burton and DNA Distribution throughout the last year. "It's hard to put into words what an amazing opportunity this is for me, I am extremely proud to now own the company that first sponsored me 20 years ago," stated Dyrdek, President of Dyrdek Enterprises. "DNA has truly amazing brands that have incredible growth potential, and I look forward to help guiding these brands over the next 20 years."

The Green Mountain Club today launchedwww.LongTrailBound.org, an innovative outdoor education resource guide and community forum for Vermont educators.
â The Green Mountains are a fantastic outdoor classroom and a place for children to explore and learn’said Marge Fish of Londonderry, president of the Green Mountain Club. â The Long Trail Bound resource guide will help educators and youth develop a connection to the mountains and inspire students to become life-long outdoor learners and environmental stewards.â
Designed by a committee of Green Mountain Club volunteers and staff, the Long Trail Bound website will feature twenty activities to be used in the classroom, the home, or on the trail. Topics include teaching outdoor skills, fostering stewardship and sense of place, and teaching about the mountain ecosystem. Wednesdayâ s launch coincided with National Environmental Education Week.

New data released for Equal Pay Day tomorrow reveal the significant costs of Vermontâ s gender-based wage gap. Women in Vermont are paid just 84 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to a yearly gap in wages of $6,671. African American women and Latinas in Vermont are paid $10,322 and $2,303 less than all men in the state, respectively. With nearly 23,300 Vermont households headed by women, the new data show that these gaps harm both families and the state economy.
The analysis was conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families. The full report on the wage gap in Vermont, whichranks first among the 50 states, can be foundhere.

by vtdigger.org Proponents in the Legislature of a cash payment for ratepayers in a utility merger between Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service Corp. gained a small victory last week.
On the House floor Thursday, Rep. Michael Marcotte asked that a bill that has been sitting in the House Appropriations committee be returned to its original committee, the House Commerce and Economic Development committee, for further discussion. A number of lawmakers support attaching the proposal to H. 718, which deals with miscellaneous issues regarding the Department of Public Service and Public Service Board.
Four representatives who support a proposal by the AARP that the utilities give ratepayers cash as a result of a windfall-sharing mechanism that was triggered by the merger met with House Speaker Shap Smith early last week.
Rep. Cynthia Browning said it was a minor victory.

On March 23 at their Annual Meeting, the Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association (VWMA) honored David Bazis of David Bazis Designs with the 2011 VWMA Woodworker of the Year Award and David Spooner of Spooner Specialties with the 2011 Friend of the Industry Award.

Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell has joined 15 other state attorneys general in charging three of the nationâ s largest book publishers and Apple Inc with colluding to fix the sales prices of electronic books. The Statesâ antitrust case, which was filed in federal court in Austin, TX, cites the defendants for violating the States’antitrust laws and the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. The publishers named in the action are Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin.
â When companies collude to fix prices, consumers end up paying more. The evidence in this case demonstrates that these major publishing companies and Apple conspired to raise the prices of electronic books. I am working with my fellow State Attorney Generals to stop this anticompetitive practice and obtain recoveries for the affected consumersâ , said Attorney General Sorrell.

Led by students in the Saint Michael's College Green Up organization and the SMC Office of Sustainability, the college has taken steps to begin to remove bottled water from campus vending machines.
This comes during a full schedule of Earth Week activities on campus with Environmentalist Maude Barlow speaking on the Global Water Crisis on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in McCarthy Arts Center. And at the same time that Saint Michaelâ s has just been named to be in The Princeton Reviewâ s Guide to 322 Green College: 2012 Edition to be issued April 17th.
A resolution to ban the sale and distribution of bottled water on campus was presented to the SMC Student Association, the Faculty Assembly and the Presidentâ s Cabinet in March, and all three groups approved the ban, within certain limits. The limits essentially being that the college needs to provide bottled water to campus visitors in certain situations.

The US Senate today voted 74-22 to take up legislation to modernize the US Postal Service. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a group of more than two dozen senators who pressed to make the bill stronger.
â Todayâ s vote clears the first of many hurdles that we face in our effort to save rural post offices, mail processing plants and the jobs of tens of thousands of postal workers,’Sanders said. â Itâ s a step forward but we have a very long way to go.â

The Dartmouth Board of Trustees appointed Provost Carol L. Folt, PhD, as the interim president of Dartmouth, effective July 1, following the election of President Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank. President Kim will remain Dartmouthâ s president until June 30 and continue to lead Dartmouth through the conclusion of the academic year and Commencement.
Board Chair Steve Mandel â 78 said, â The Trustees congratulate President Kim on the tremendous honor of being chosen as president of the World Bank, one of the most critical institutions fighting poverty in the world. We have immense respect for Jim as a leader and human being, and are proud of his contributions at Dartmouth and in the world.â

Champlain College received the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2012 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award today. Sponsored by ACRL and YBP Library Services, the national award recognizes the staff of a college, university and community college library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution. Champlain is the 2012 recipient in the college library category.
ACRL President Joyce Ogburn, dean and University Librarian of the University of Utah, and Steve Hynman of YPB Library Services presented the award to Champlain College Library Director Janet Cottrell at the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Information Commons on the Champlain College campus.