Current News

Fletcher Allen Health Care today announced that on February 22 it successfully performed its first two patient implants in the Medtronic CoreValveUS Pivotal Trial.Fletcher Allen Health Care is one of 45 sites in the United States participating in an important clinical study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a new technology that enables aortic valve replacement without traditional open-heart surgery.

Many patients with severe aortic stenosis are unable to receive surgical valve therapy. For patients at high-risk for open-heart surgery, this trial will study the efficacy of a less-invasive, percutaneous treatment option. Every high risk patient who is considered for the clinical trial will be evaluated by a comprehensive Heart Team including interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.

Berkshire Bank and its charitable arms, Berkshire Bank Foundation Inc and Berkshire Bank Foundation ‘ Legacy Region, contributed $8,478to United Way organizations in the Southern Vermont through its 2012 United Way workplace campaign. The money raised includes a corporate matching donation from the Foundation of $4,239 and employee contributions of $4,239.

The matching contribution from the bank’s charitable Foundation was a new effort in 2012 to help increase employee participation in the campaign while also recognizing the tremendous work United Way does in the community. Three different United Ways received support from Berkshire Bank in Southern Vermontincluding the United Way of Bennington County, Granite United Way, and the United Way of Rutland County.

The US Small Business Administration is reminding small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private non-profit organizations of all sizes thatApril 25is the filing deadline for federal economic injury disaster loans available inAddison,Bennington,ChittendenandRutlandcounties in Vermontas a result of excessive rain, flooding and cooler than normal temperatures that occurred from March 1 through June 1, 2011.

"These counties are eligible because they are contiguous to one or more primary counties inNew York. The Small Business Administration recognizes that disasters do not usually stop at county or state lines. For that reason, counties adjacent to primary counties named in the declaration are included," saidFrank Skaggs, director of SBA's Field Operations Center East inAtlanta.

The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM) welcomes Jen Butson as its Director of Communications. Butson will work with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Commissioner of Tourism and Marketing, Megan Smith to elevate the state’s tourism brand.
‘Vermont tourism will be bolstered by this highly skilled and passionate professional,’ Commissioner Smith said. ‘As a communications expert, Butson is charged with weaving the integral components of our communities, heritage, recreation, landscape and culture into the minds of the media and the global traveling community at large.’
Upcoming communications projects will highlight the diversity of tourism assets across the state and online at VermontVacation.com. Media and industry professionals are encouraged to meet the VDTM team and learn more at the 29thannualVermont Travel Industry Conferenceat Killington Resort, April 12-13.

Washington Superior Judge Michael S. Kupersmith has fined a Texas debt settlement company and its owner/CEO $2.07 million in civil penalties and awarded full refunds to 207 Vermonters in a consumer fraud lawsuit filed by Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell. The defendants in the case are CSA-Credit Solutions of America, LLC, based in Dallas, and its founder, owner and chief executive officer, Doug Van Arsdale.

Mayor-elect Miro Weinbergertoday announced his first mayoral appointment, naming Paul R Sisson, CPA, a local financial consultant and former partner with 26 years at KPMG, as Interim Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Burlington. The appointment, which Weinberger has asked the City Council to approve at tomorrow evening’s Council meeting would be for a term of approximately three months, until June 30, 2012.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business MagazineSenator Bill Doyle, R-Washington, released today his 42nd annual, and popular, Town Meeting Day Poll results. The 14 questions were answered by 12,300 meeting-goers in March and showed that Vermonters are just about split on whether the state should keep fighting Vermont Yankee and are still against cell phone use while driving. Also, Vermonters are optimistic about the state's future.
‘I call it the people’s poll,’ Doyle said, that while not scientific it goes out to 148 towns across the state and enjoys a large sample size of voters.
‘I get a lot of comments like, ‘You’re the only one asking me these questions’,’ Doyle said.
One thing that struck him was that the Vermont Yankee opposition has changed over time.

USDA Thursday announced the first payments to farmers since April 2010 under the basic dairy safety net program, the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program. The new payments are triggered mostly by rising feed prices. The MILC Program kicks in when milk prices fall substantially below the costs of production. US Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Administrator Bruce Nelson announced the February payment rate for the MILC program is $0.3895043 per hundredweight.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq CM: FRP) says it is continuing to improve its operations. Along with expansion of broadband services, it has reduced employment by 78 through buyouts and layoffs. The location of the employment reductions were not announced.
"We're making good operational gains and we are proud of the 8.4 percent gain in broadband subscribers in 2011 ‘ the highest percentage gain among our industry peers," said FairPoint CEOPaul Sunu.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.org A bill that originally would have banned the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing passed by the Vermont House as a three-year moratorium.
Now the chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy says she wants to put the teeth back in the bill and switch it back once again to an all-out ban.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, said with all the unknowns about the process for extracting natural gas and the environmental problems that can occur, a ban made more sense than a moratorium.
‘If you put a moratorium in place, people are just waiting for the gates to open, and we don’t want that to happen,’ she said.
The practice of hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ involves injecting a pressurized mix of chemicals, sand and water into a well. The slurry essentially props up shale rock, which contains the resource, and it is released.

Chester Vermont’s 38th annual Fall Festival on the Green is looking for artisans and crafters to show and demonstrate at this year’s weekend Festival, September 22-23. High quality artists and craftspeople creating handmade work are encouraged to apply.

Applications are available on the website: www.chesterfallfestival.org. Participating Artisans, crafters, vendors and non-profit organizations will be listed on the website. A limited number of free spots are available at no cost to local non-profit organizations.

If your Chester business or organization is planning a special event for that weekend, please let the Fall Festival Committee know and we will include it in the publicity package at no cost. The committee strives to make this an all-inclusive community event.

Chester, Vermont. 3.30.2012.

An innovative virtual learning partnership between Vermont Technical College’s Respiratory Therapy Programand Vermont Interactive Technologies(formerly known as Vermont Interactive Television, and commonly referred to as VIT) will be featured at theUnited States Distance Learning Association’s(USDLA) 25th annual national conference in St. Louis in May.
‘This program has resulted in a unique and highly successful distance learning recipe that blends synchronous and asynchronous learning with just the right measurement of in-person classes, virtual classes via video, and online content,’ said Tara Lidstone, executive director of VIT, Vermont’s largest public videoconferencing network. Last year, VIT received the USDLA Best Practices award and was also recognized internationally as a Computerworld Laureate.