Current News

FairPoint Communications, a leading telecommunications provider in northern New England, is working with the town of Dover to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 200 homes and businesses in East Dover for the first time.
FairPoint will be in East Dover at the Town Hall on Wednesday, December 7, from 6 to 8:30 pm, to answer questions and start signing up people for high-speed access.
Dover town officials turned to FairPoint to expand its VantagePoint services in East Dover where residents do not have high-speed Internet access.
VantagePoint services are provided over FairPoint’s IP-based network, the largest network of its kind in northern New England.

Vermont's poverty rate ranked 12th in the nation at 12.4 percent, or among a large group of second tier states, according to a US Census Bureau report issued today. New Hampshrie was best in the nation and led the usual group of mid-Atlantic and New England states with the lowest poverty rates. The Southeast and Southwest US again had the highest rates.
Between 2007 and 2010, the poverty rate for school-age children showed a statistically significant increase in about 20 percent of counties across the United States, according to US Census Bureau estimates for income and poverty in 2010 for every county and school district.
In Vermont, Grand Isle County had the loest rate (see graph); Essex and Orleans counties had the highest rates.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce was joined by four of its manufacturing members in an economic summit with China’s Consulate General on November 23.

Meeting at the Vermont Chamber office in Berlin, Consulate General delegates and Vermont Chamber members talked about their current operations in China and expanding business opportunities there.

‘These are Vermont companies with Vermont values that are growing their businesses by building a stronger partnership with China,’ said Chamber President Betsy Bishop. ‘The Vermont Chamber set up this meeting with the Consulate General so these companies can be connected to the economic and government leadership of China.’

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.

Vermont is one of the largest beneficiaries of disaster relief funding released today by the federal government. The US Department of Transportation will provide more than $215 million to states across the nation, with Vermont getting $15.4 million, to cover the costs of repairing roads and bridges damaged by a variety of natural disasters, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today.
‘Communities suffering from disasters have been hard at work restoring vital transportation links so that people can resume daily activities as soon as possible,’ said Secretary LaHood. "They did their part, and now it’s our turn to give the states the money they were promised to help pay for that work.’

On Thursday, December 8, at 1 pm, an audible sounding will be conducted on the 37 sirens located within the Vermont Yankee ten-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.

For the second year in a row, New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) has made a major donation to Burlington’s Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS). At 1 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, NEFCU executives presented a symbolic ‘giant check’ for $20,000 to Rita Markley, COTS Executive Director. COTS managers worked with NEFCU to surprise Markley with the gift. The presentation took place at COTS’s new facility at 95 North Avenue in Burlington.
In addition to helping COTS operations, the donation will be used as a challenge grant to stimulate pledges during the Annual COTS Phonathon, which begins at 5:30 pm Monday, November 28th.
NEFCU also presented COTS with 250 personal hygiene kits for use by residents.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has filed a Final Proposed Rule with the Vermont Secretary of State and the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) that repeals a 2009 rule that addressed the use of ATV’s on state land. Following a public hearing held last spring, and the review of thousands of comments, ANR has decided to proceed with the repeal of what is known as the ATV rule.
ANR Secretary Deb Markowitz said ‘I was pleased to see so many Vermonters weigh in on the issue of whether it makes sense for ATVs to ride on public land. After weighing the substance of the comments and concerns about the legality of the original rule we decided to move ahead on the repeal.’ Markowitz said, ‘We have also taken concrete steps to address the Vermont ATV Sportsmen’s Association legitimate need for limited connector trails across public land.’

Attorney General William H Sorrell announced today that Vermont will receive approximately $600,000 in damages and penalties to the Vermont Medicaid program as part of a national settlement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp regarding its illegal marketing of the drug Vioxx.
Merck marketed Vioxx for uses not approved by the FDA, misrepresented the cardiovascular safety of the drug, and made other false and misleading statements. The settlement resolves complaints filed by the federal government and a number of States after Merck voluntarily withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004, citing an increase in the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients taking Vioxx.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) today made holiday travel a little easier for some as it reopened Route 106 through Weathersfield, which had been closed since Tropical Storm Irene struck nearly three months ago.
Irene severely damaged a segment of Route 106 very close to its junction with Route 131, where the storm completely obliterated about 450 feet of the roadway. Rushing floodwaters created a creator about 90-feet high that had to be rebuilt from the bank of the Black River up to the edge of the roadway.
‘Rebuilding Route 106 through Weathersfield was a significant challenge,’ said VTrans Secretary Brian Searles. ‘Raging floodwater basically ate away a very steep roadway embankment, which had to be completely replaced. We predicted months ago that we would reopen the road by Thanksgiving, and we met that deadline with a couple of hours to spare.’

Comcast’s Vermont employees hit the grocery store aisles to make sure families in Chittenden County get the holiday meals they deserve this Thanksgiving. Comcast employees filled their carts with nearly 700 pounds of food, including over a dozen turkeys and canned and non-perishable food items, and dropped off the donation to the Chittenden County Emergency Food Shelf.
Comcast employees include (l tor r): Mark Troia, Melissa Pierce, Matt Myers, Rebecca Poquette, Jesse Ballard, Aaron Roberts, Davis Wildman, Dick Tuthill, Tuck Rainwater, Sheena Barnes, Mary Jaques, Bruce Bevins.

There were 1,115 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, the second time in three weeks claims have spiked over 1,000. This is an increase of 321 from the week before, as new claims remain at a high level in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. In looking at the table below, you will see that the 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.