Current News

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility presented its annual Legislator of the Year award last month to two lawmakers responsible for shepherding the state’s historic health care law, Act 48, through the Statehouse.
Senator Claire Ayer, D-Addison, and former Representative Mark Larson, D-Burlington, received the award at VBSR’s 2011 fall conference Nov. 16th at Mount Snow in West Dover. Ayer is the chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and Larson chaired the House Health Care Committee.
‘I worked with Sen. Ayer and Rep. Larson this year while presenting VBSR’s position on health care reform,’ said Don Mayer, the chair of VBSR’s Public Policy Committee and the CEO of Small Dog Electronics. ‘These two legislators listened to Vermonters carefully as they crafted and passed this bill. We would not have the best health care law in the country if it were not for their leadership.’

Warning that ‘American democracy in endangered,’ US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unrestricted and secret campaign spending by corporations on US elections.
The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. In that controversial decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people.
‘There comes a time when an issue is so important that the only way to address it is by a constitutional amendment,’ Sanders said of the effort to override the court decision that he labeled ‘a complete undermining of democracy.’

The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, announced today that it has awarded $38,500 to several community organizations.
Vermont Foodbank
The People’s United Community Foundation has awarded $20,000 to the Vermont Foodbank.
Founded in 1986, the Vermont Foodbank works to gather and share quality food and nurture partnerships so that no one in Vermont will go hungry. The Vermont Foodbank was started in response to an increased need for emergency food assistance among low-income households in central Vermont. At that time, the Vermont Foodbank distributed food to eight food shelves in the central Vermont area. Today, there are 280 network partners statewide that receive food from the Vermont Foodbank for local distribution.

This afternoon, December 8, at 1 pm, an audible sounding will be conducted on the 37 sirens located within the Vermont Yankee 10-mile emergency planning zone.
The pole-mounted sirens are located in the Vermont towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Vernon, and in the New Hampshire towns of Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Richmond, Swanzey, and Winchester. In Massachusetts, the sirens are located in Gill, Colrain, Leyden, Bernardston and Northfield.
The three-minute siren testing is being conducted by the Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts state public safety agencies in compliance with the regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure the effectiveness of the notification system.
Residents with questions on the annual testing can contact their town’s emergency management director or Mark Gilmore at Vermont Yankee at (802) 258-4168.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) chaired a hearing Wednesday morning on a key foreign investor program that has successfully drawn millions of dollars in economic investment to Vermont’s economy. The hearing was held before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy chairs, and focused on the reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, and its impact on economic development and job creation in communities in Vermont and across the country.
Leahy invited Bill Stenger, the president and co-owner of Vermont’s Jay Peak Resort, to testify at the hearing. Among other important Vermont businesses, both Jay Peak and Sugarbush, two of Vermont’s destination ski resorts, have successfully raised capital through the Regional Center program, and have been engaged in ambitious development projects. Later this week, Stenger will be recognized by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce as the 2011 Citizen of the Year.

Sixty of Vermont’s largest commercial, industrial, municipal, and institutional energy users have joined Efficiency Vermont’s Energy Leadership Challenge, a two-year effort to reduce energy use at participating organizations by 7.5 percent.
The Energy Leadership Challenge is designed not only to reduce current energy use at some of Vermont’s largest facilities, but also for participants to commit to long-term energy planning that will result in further energy and operating cost reductions. Efficiency Vermont provides enhanced resources, both technical and financial, to help participants achieve their energy-reduction goals by June 30, 2013.

During the 2nd quarter of 2011, People’s United Bank announced that they would donate $100, to the Weatherization Assistance Programs (WAPs) offered through the State of Vermont Community Action Agencies (CAAs), for every personal checking account opened from June 7th through August 2nd. People’s United Bank announced today that $33,900 would be spread among the CAAs for use in weatherizing homes throughout Vermont, with $14,600 going to Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, Inc.

In what must come as a surprise, State Senator Randy Brock (R-Franklin) announced today that he will be a candidate for governor of the state of Vermont in 2012. The announcement of a Republican opponent to first-term Democrat Peter Shumlin had been long coming, but interest in running against the long-serving state senator from Windham County seemed to have dampened following Tropical Storm Irene and the rebuilding effort that followed. One possible opponent, former Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie, the man whom Shumlin narrowly beat a year ago, was considered a contender, but that is moot now, as Dubie has leant his support to Brock's candidacy.

The US Postal Service announced today that it rescheduled a meeting on the future of a processing plant at White River Junction, Vermont, from December 15 to January 4. The public meeting now is scheduled for 6 pm on Jan 4 at the American Legion in White River Junction.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said, ‘I am very appreciative that the Postal Service has rescheduled this very important public meeting and moved the location from New Hampshire to Vermont. To my mind, holding this meeting in the midst of the holiday season in Lebanon, N.H., would have been inconvenient for postal employees as well as other Vermonters interested in this issue.’
Sanders reiterated his opposition to Postal Service plans to slash 100,000 jobs, possibly including the loss of 245 jobs at the White River Junction facility.

The Northeast Kingdom Chamber announced today it has signed a long-term lease to move its office into the Green Mountain Mall. The chamber office will relocate to a prime spot in the center, between Radio Shack and the Union Bank, directly across from the mall entrance of JC Penney.
The move follows the chamber’s departure from the Pomerleau Building, directly above the St. Johnsbury Welcome Center, a location it had occupied since 2003. The Town of St. Johnsbury, owner of the building, indicated to the chamber in September its desire to rent the entire second floor of the structure to a single tenant and take over operations of the welcome center.
The NEK Chamber, established in St. Johnsbury in 1891, has more than 375 business members from throughout the tri-county region known as the Northeast Kingdom. Half of its membership is hospitality related, the remaining 50 percent service-related businesses.

City Sports has announced that it will open a new store in Burlington, Vermont, next summer at the former Borders bookstore location, marking the Boston-based brand's latest retail venture in New England and its first in the Green Mountain state.
Scheduled for a June 2012 opening, the City Sports Burlington store will be located at 35 Church Street, complementing the robust Church Street Marketplace with the retailer's signature offering of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment.
"Being from Boston, we've always regarded Burlington as an epicenter of an active, fitness-oriented lifestyle in New England and a community we've wanted to be a part of for quite some time," said City Sports President and CEO Jeff Connor. "The present opportunity to bring City Sports to Vermont and enhance the unique Church Street culture could not be more perfect, and we look forward to kicking off Summer 2012 with the opening of the Burlington store."

Vermont Public Television (VPT) president John King, along with state and federal officials, gathered at Bennington College’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action on Friday, December 2, 2011 to launch VPT’s two new digital transmitters serving Bennington County.
The new digital channels, 46 Pownal from Mt. Anthony and 30 Manchester from Mt. Equinox, bring new content and greater coverage to the area.