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Vermonters united to end senior hunger at the 2nd annual CVAA Bowl-a-Thon to Strike out Senior Hunger and Abuse. Twenty-two teams raised nearly $16,000 for CVAA's Meals on Wheels and Case Management programs.Tag Team Bowlers won for the high scoring team and Amy Lavery of Chipmunks Gone Wild won a trip for two to Orlando,Floridaand tickets to Walt Disney World. Team Second String Dwarves was recognized as the team that raised the most pledges to end senior hunger,they raised over $2200.

The theme at this year's bowl-a-thon was Disney and many teams decked out in costumes of their favorite characters.The Arbors of Wonderland won for best costume in their tribute to Alice in Wonderland. Some of the other crowd favorites were the Arbor Puppies, the Striking Beauties, the Comcast team's Snow White and Home Instead Senior Care's Winnie the Pooh tribute.

The employee interviews, company rankings and profiles for the 2012 Best Places to Work in Vermont awards.
LINK TO PHOTOS

2012 Winners
Small/Medium Companies
1. Resource Systems Group Inc. â ¢ 2. Instrumart â ¢ 3. Fuse â ¢ 4. Heritage Aviation â ¢ 5. Hickok & Boardman Financial Planning & Group Benefits, Inc. â ¢ 6. ASIC North, Inc. â ¢ 7. Wells River Savings Bank â ¢ 8. Wild Apple Graphics â ¢ 9. Liquid Measurement Systems, Inc. â ¢ 10. Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLPâ ¢ 11. Seventh Generation â ¢ 12. Farm & Wilderness Foundation â ¢ 13. Sonnax Industries, Inc.
Large Companies
1. Edward Jones â ¢ 2. BioTek Instruments, Inc. â ¢ 3. Entergy Vermont Yankee â ¢ 4. King Arthur Flour
â ¢ 5. Merchants Bank â ¢ 6. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. â ¢ 7. Vermont Energy Investment Corporation â ¢ 8. Comcast Cable â ¢ 9. Country Home Products

1. Resource Systems Group Inc.
Small/Medium Companies

This spring the Vermont Agency of Administration and the Green Mountain Care Board are seeking input from the public on the benefits to be included in the design of a single payer system for Vermont. To that end, there will be a public hearing and a series of listening sessions held over the next few months. Under Act 48 of 2011, the Shumlin Administration will recommend benefits to be included in the design of Green Mountain Care, the single payer system, as part of the financing plans to be considered by the Legislature in 2013. Approval of the Green Mountain Care Board also is required for the benefit recommendations.

Weekly unemployment claims in Vermont increased last week after a steady decrease in March. For the week there were 1,289 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont last week. This is an increase of 415 claims from the week before and is 453 higher than last year's total.
"It is typical in spring to see a temporary rise in initial unemployment claims as ski areas go offline prior to ramping up for summer activities,"Economic & Labor Market Information ChiefMathew Barewicz said. "Unfortunately, this was not a typical winter. This has resulted in several ski areas shutting down winter operations early and many within the same week - instead of staggered over the month of April."

Campaign for Vermont Founding Partner Marc Sherman of Hyde Park, along with Partners William Sayre of Bristol and Sean Walsh of Fairfield joined other Vermont business leaders this week in expressing their concerns about Vermont's economic future, before a joint legislative hearing of the Senate Economic Development and House Commerce committees. Founding Partner and State Representative Heidi Scheuermann of Stowe is a member of the House Commerce Committee.
More than 100 individuals representing businesses from across Vermont participated in "Employer Day" sponsored by the Vermont Coalition of Employment and Prosperity in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 4, 2012.
Testifying before the joint committee hearing, Marc Sherman, owner of Stowe Mercantile, expressed concerns about the cost and choices being proposed in Vermontâ s Health Care Exchange.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.orgHouse Speaker Shap Smith said on Thursday he will not run for attorney general.The announcement comes after weeks of speculation about whether he would seek the stateâ s top legal job.

The US Census has revealed its results from the 2010 census, which shows that Vermont has a population of626,431, of which 95.3 percent are white (Asian is second at 1.3 percent), there are more women than men, and there are 2.34 persons per household. Compared to the rest of tthe nation, Vermont is older; has a much smaller percent of non-whites; is of about the average income, but with a lower poverty rate; homeownership and home prices are higher, even though fewer people live there; has a higher high school and college graduation rate; retail sales per capita in Vermont is a lot higher than the US average; Vermont is more rural, yet people have a shorter commute to work.
Vermont

Want more?Browse data sets for Vermont

People QuickFacts
Vermont
USA

Population, 2011 estimate
626,431
311,591,917

Population, 2010
625,741
308,745,538

Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010
2.80%
9.70%

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.org In a tense meeting, members of the Vermont Senate peppered Department of Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller with questions about a proposal that would allow the stateâ s two largest utilities to invest $21 million in ratepayer money for weatherization rather than cut checks for their customers.

Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce revealed the rankings of the Best Places to Work in Vermont at a special awards ceremonyon Thursday, April 5th.The ceremony was held at the Main Street Landing Film House on Burlingtonâ s waterfront. Governor Peter Shumlin was there to congratulate the winners and Lt Governor Phil Scott presented the awards along with John Boutin, Publisher, Vermont Business Magazine and Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Over two hundred fifty people were in attendance.
Photo: Resource Systems Group accepts their award. By Nino Abbott.
LINK TO PHOTOS

LINK TO COMPANY PROFILES

Ranking of the 2012 Best Places to Work in Vermont winners:

Small/Medium Size Companies
(15-149 employees)

1

Resource Systems Group Inc.

2

Instrumart

3

Fuse

4

Heritage Aviation

5

by Jack HoffmanPublic Assets InstituteThe fiscal 2013 budget adopted by the Vermont House last month would increase state spending by about 6 percent over the current budget year. That may sound like a lot, compared to inflation, say. But Vermontâ s General Fund budget was cut by 6.6 percent in fiscal 20121â so the proposed increase isnâ t enough to make up for lost ground, let alone cover inflation or any increased need for services.
Focusing on a one-year percentage increase highlights an important flaw in Vermontâ s budget process: No one can say whether 6 percent is too much, too little, or just enough, because Montpelier presents Vermonters with no vision of what the budget is meant to achieveâ other than to keep state government running.
The â purpose’section of the Houseâ s Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal 2013 states:

Governor Peter Shumlin was joined today by firefighters, store owners, ski area representatives and others in celebrating the sale of the 25,000th â I Am Vermont Strong’license plate, marking the half-way mark in a campaign to sell enough plates to raise $1 million for the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund. Money from the license plate sales is earmarked for Vermont families impacted by flooding in 2011, as well as the Vermont Foodbank. The Governor reminded Vermonters that the need for assistance following the devastating spring floods and Tropical Storm Irene remains strong.
â I am urging people to continue to support their neighbors who suffered damage to their homes during last yearâ s storms by buying a VTStrong license plate,’Gov. Shumlin said. â These plates reflect the spirit that makes Vermont strong and the funds are critical in helping Vermonters recover from the devastation of the May and August flooding.â

Three dozen businesses have signed onto a letter asking state and utility leaders to support the Fair Haven Energy Center project. The proposed Energy Center is a 29.5 MW woody biomass power plant that will produce baseload power for 34,000 homes. It would be combined with a pellet production plant that would produce 110,000 tons of wood pellets each year. In addition, plans call for the plant to offer a heat source for a large scale greenhouse or other local food production center.