Current News

Green Mountain College announced today that it is enhancing its current commitment to assisting families paying for a GMC education by mounting an ambitious multi-year affordability plan. The plan addresses: academic merit scholarships, Make-a-Difference scholarships (a scholarship program that rewards students who engage in community service projects), and need-based grants to attract the most motivated and prepared students.
The College will implement the plan beginning this spring (January) for new students and continue with entering students in fall 2012. All of the affordability strategies being implemented are designed to assist in lowering the average debt for all graduating students.

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance filed in Washington Superior Court, with Subaru of Keene owner William Fenton. In 2010 Subaru of Keene ran radio and newspaper ads offering Vermont consumers the opportunity to buy at ‘employee prices’ and to ‘pay what the dealer pays’.
An Attorney General investigation discovered that there was no employee pricing and employees and consumers negotiated the sales price of their car with no special employee or dealer reductions. The dealer also did not disclose the dealer rebate received on car sales.
‘Dealers that falsely advertise to lure consumers mislead consumers and also steal business from dealers that follow the rules,’ said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. ‘Consumers need to question advertising and make sure they understand the true cost of a vehicle to the dealer, including dealer rebates.’

Darn Tough Vermont, domestic manufacturer of premium all-weather performance socks, is smashing growth projections set earlier this year. Last February, Darn Tough Vermont announced it was hiring more employees and increasing its knitting machine inventory by nearly 50 percent. After second-quarter assessments, the sock maker says it is investing an additional $400,000 into its hosiery mill this year, most of which will be allocated for more Italian-made seamless knitting machines, the most sophisticated seamless knitting machines available. The company also expects to continue adding jobs.

Technology Park announced today that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc has made the decision to lease additional space at the 177-acre Technology Park corporate campus in South Burlington, Vermont. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc will lease approximately 22,000 square feet of office space in an existing LEED certified Class A commercial office building at 55 Community Drive.
In addition, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. has also leased 8,632 square feet at 30 Community Drive also within Technology Park for a new data center. This 275,000 square foot building is ideally suited to hosting data center operations due to redundant power fed through an onsite substation, substantial cooling capacity, low electricity rates and a secure and strategic location. Interior tenant improvements for both spaces will be constructed by ReArch Company (www.rearchcompany.com) of South Burlington.

US Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation Thursday to make the fraudulent sale of maple syrup a felony offense. The legislation is cosponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The bill is called the Maple Agriculture Protection and Law Enforcement (MAPLE) Act.
‘Vermonters take pride in the natural products our state produces, and I have been alarmed by the growing number of individuals and businesses claiming to sell Vermont maple syrup when they are in fact selling an inferior product that is not maple syrup at all,’ said Leahy. ‘This is fraud, plain and simple, and it undermines a key part of Vermont’s economy. I know that hardworking syrup producers in Maine, New York and other states have been similarly hurt by this crime. Our bill will deter this criminal conduct.’

Randolph National Bank, the White River Valley’s Hometown Bank, recently donated $1,300 to six local towns severely damaged by flooding during Irene. The money was raised during one of the bank’s ‘Jeans Day’, in which bank staff make a small donation for the privilege of trading pinstripes for blue jeans.
On Jeans Day on September 2nd, the usual $5donation was waived in favor of a ‘free’ jeans day, with the bank encouraging those employees who could to donate whatever they wanted with the promise of matching funds from RNB. Staffers from across the bank’s network of eight offices stepped up to the challenge to collect the $1,300.
In addition to making the cash donations, bank employees gave generously with time, supplies and money to their communities and neighbors.
The funds were split between the following organizations:

Waitsfield, Vermont-based Resort Maps, creator of more than 100 hand-drawn travel maps across the United States, Canada, England, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, recently announced its acquisition of Discovery Map International of La Conner, Washington. The acquisition unites two of the leading publishers of illustrated maps in the United States. Both companies have published colorful hand-drawn free visitor maps of popular destinations for more than 25 years.

A recent fundraiser in New York City, organized by former Vermonters, brought over $12,000 for Irene relief here at home. Blue Man Group supported this ‘I VT NY’ event which was conceived by two Vermonters who are now members of the troupe--Isaac Eddy and Zea Barker. The money they raised will be shared between the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund and the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund.
The huge Brooklyn Bowl complex hosted the evening while Amanda Palmer, an eclectic and very popular rocker in the cabaret and ‘Brechtian’ vein stepped up as headliner. A showcase of Vermont products supported the cause with donations from businesses as diverse as Burton Snowboards, Sugarbush Resort, Courierware, WhistlePig Whiskey, Quaker Hill Granola, Vermont Creamery, and The Center for Cartoon Studies. The Cabot Creamery Cooperative of Vermont came aboard as a major sponsor.

Today, Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) Secretary Deb Markowitz announced that Vermont was joining a regional effort to open Vermont up to electric vehicles, through the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network (Network). The Network is a product of the Transportation and Climate Initiative of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast States (TCI). TCI is a partnership of the region's state energy, environmental and transportation agencies working to address transportation-related emissions, and energy security.

Vermont ranked fifth in a national survey of energy efficiency, as Massachusetts supplanted perennial leader California and New York State finished third. A sour US economy, tight state budgets, and a failure by Congress to adopt a comprehensive energy strategy have not slowed the growing momentum among US states toward increased energy efficiency, according to the fifth edition of the annual ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) during a National Press Club news conference.

Governor Shumlin will be among several dignitaries to cut the ribbon at the First Wind, 40 megawatt Sheffield Wind project in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom on Wednesday October 26 at 11 am. The Sheffield project is Vermont’s first utility-scale wind energy project. The project will generate enough power for more than 14,000 Vermont homes, or nearly half of the homes in the Northeast Kingdom. The power generated by the project will be sold to Burlington Electric Department (BED), the Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc (VEC) and the Washington Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WEC) under power purchase agreements.
Later on the same day in nearby East Burke, Burke Mountain Ski Area will celebrate its new wind turbine, manufactured by Barre-based Northern Power Systems. The Northwind 100 turbine at Burke is expected to produce close to 20 percent of the ski resort's power needs. Governor Shumlin is slated to speak at both ribbon cutting events.

Republican mayoral candidate Kurt Wright dropped the first bomb shell of the Burlington mayoral race yesterday with his suggestion that the city should sell the Burlington Electric Department. Wright explained that the sale would help pay for mounting debt in the city’s largest city, in particular a looming $50 million shortfall in the pension fun, a $17 million budget deficit and the on-going mess with Burlington Telecom, which along with being a financial failure to date is dragging the city’s, BED’s and Burlington International Airport’s credit rating down with it.
Wright, a state representative and former chairman of the City Council, emphasized that this would not be a ‘fire sale.’ He said BED is a valuable city asset. If the city could not get a reasonable price, then it should not be sold. He said the utility could fetch more than $100 million net of debt and go a long way toward restory the city's financial situation.