Current News

The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) is seeking members for its general Advisory Committee. The GMCB is charged under Act 48 of 2011 with advancing Vermont’s health reform efforts by implementing state policies that:
· contain the rate of growth in health care costs;
· assure that Vermont has an adequate supply of health care practitioners to meet the state’s needs;
· encourage efficiency and quality in our health care delivery system, and;
· encourage Vermonters to be and stay healthy.

With energy costs rising and winter approaching, a bipartisan group of US Senators led by Jack Reed (D-RI), Olympia J Snowe (R-ME), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are keeping the heat on Congress to restore funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is the main federal program that helps low-income families and seniors on fixed-incomes with their energy bills, providing vital assistance during the cold winter and hot summer months.

by Kevin Kelley. The Burlington Free Press has no plans to scale back its publication schedule despite offering readers a Thursday-Sunday subscription package, publisher James Fogler says.
‘Other papers may do that, but it’s not going to happen in Burlington, Vermont,’ Fogler declared.
‘Part of our strategy to grow readership is to focus on key days of the week,’ he said in December 2 telephone interview. The paper attracts fewer readers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday than it does on the other days of the week, he noted. ‘Our goal is to increase readership on the days that are already key.’
Fogler also expressed confidence that the paper will retain many of those readers who subscribe on a seven-days-a-week basis. ‘They’re loyal. They’ll stay with us,’ he said.
A full week subscription to the paper costs $15 a month. The Thursday-Sunday delivery package is priced at $10 a month.

The Vermont Superior Court, Washington Unit, issued a decision on Wednesday ordering that Green Mountain Future (’GMF’), an advocacy organization primarily funded by the Democratic Governors Association, pay a civil penalty of $10,000 in the State’s campaign finance law enforcement action against it. The Court had previously found that GMF spent over half-a-million dollars in September and October 2010 on political advertisements attacking candidate Brian Dubie in the gubernatorial race, but failed to register with the Secretary of State’s Office, did not file required disclosure reports, and omitted proper identification
information from its advertisements. The law authorizes penalties of up to $10,000 for violations of Vermont’s campaign finance laws.

There were 1,361 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, the second time in three weeks claims have spiked over 1,000 and now exceed the post Tropical Irene spike. This is an increase of 246 from the week before. Last summer's historically low claims came to an abrupt end with the storm. The numbers then dropped signifcantly in the following weeks, but in the last several weeks there has been mostly an increase in the number of new claims. The latest numbers are more than double the initial claims observed in July and August.

A draft report has been released on extending passenger rail service from the capital region of New York into southwestern Vermont. Several proposals on what could cost up to $200 million are outlined in a report that will be described in public meetings in New York and Vermont on December 14 and 15.
The most elaborate of the proposals (see cost chart and maps below) has a full loop that would extend service all the way from Albany to Rutland and going through North Bennington on the way up and Saratoga Springs on the way back down. Other options include a simple up and back with terminus in alternatively Manchester or Rutland, in what would essentially be a parallel service to the existing Ethan Allen Express. Alternatively, the Ethan Allen could simply be moved from a predominantly New York service to a predominantly Vermont service. Of course, the first proposal in the report is to do nothing.

Seattle law firm Hagens Berman is investigating Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR - News) following the filing of a class-action lawsuit.
Green Mountain's shares slumped almost 25 percent after analyst David Einhorn warned on Oct. 17 that the company's business model was weaker than most thought and that its accounting was suspect. Then, on Nov. 9, 2011 , GMCR announced disappointing earnings results and skyrocketing inventory. On this news, GMCR's shares plummeted an additional 40 percent, from a close of $67.02 on Nov. 9 to a close of $40.89 on November 10 .

Vermont Business Magazine will publish the 25th anniversary edition of its Vermont 100+ list of the state’s largest Vermont-based companies in its January 2012 issue. VBM includes all companies with corporate headquarters here, including subsidiaries, with $3 million or more in revenues.
All the companies ranked are also then broken out into industry sub-categories. They are also ranked into the fastest growing over 5, 10, 20 and 25 years. The list is used for the 5X5X5 growth awards next September, which VBM does in conjunction with KeyBank Vermont. The 5X5X5 honors the five fastest growing companies over the last five years in five different industry sectors.
A list of last year’s ranking, with National Life once again leading the list, is below. Any company wishing to be included who has not already received a survey letter may print out and return the attached form. The deadline to return the form is December 12, 2011.
The Vermont 100+ 2010

Fletcher Allen reported an operating income of $18.6 million for the first three quarters of the 2011 fiscal year. This includes an operating income of approximately $9.6 million for the third quarter. The third quarter covers the period beginning April 1 and ending June 30. This result reflects our spending significantly less on expenses than budgeted, while the trend of declining patient care revenues year-to-date continued to remain below budget.
Third Quarter Results

While Vermont still has the second fewest bad mortgages (delinquent plus foreclosed) east of the Mississippi, Vermont was one of only a handful of states that saw an increase in bad mortgages between October 2010 and October 2011, this is in contrast to the Unites States as a whole, which has seen a drop in non-current housing loans of 7.5 percent over the last year. Meanwhile, Vermont's number has increased 5.7 percent. Vermont is one of only seven states to see an increase in bad mortgages.

Central Vermont Medical Center is pleased to announce that it has made a significant commitment to environmental sustainability by joining Practice Greenhealth, a membership organization for institutions and businesses in the health care field who are engaged in reducing their environmental footprints.
Practice Greenhealth provides practical guidance, training, consultation, and business solutions to help its members in their efforts to implement environmentally responsible practices. More than 1000 healthcare providers have joined Practice Greenhealth since 2008, indicating the growing commitment among the healthcare community to reduce its environmental impact.

Thanking the student body at Montpelier Middle School for doing their part to support local businesses this holiday season, Governor Peter Shumlin, small business owners and others today urged Vermonters to support local retailers and employers this holiday season.
‘It’s always important to shop locally and do business with locally-owned companies, but especially critical this year in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene,’ the governor said. ‘Supporting our neighbors, keeping our dollars in our communities and strengthening the state’s economy have never mattered more.’