Current News

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) announced today that staff will begin the shift from an exclusive focus on emergency response to working with municipalities, businesses and homeowners to maximize the long- term effectiveness of the state’s flood recovery work.
‘The first phase of the disaster response primarily involved emergency river work that would enable Vermonters to get back to their homes and businesses,’ said Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz. ‘The work of opening up travel routes remains critical to public health and safety and our economy,’ stressed Markowitz, ‘so we are still involved in emergency efforts to allow these repairs, but now is the time to prepare for the floods that will come with melting snow and spring rains.’

Casella Waste Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ: CWST) announced today that it extended the expiration date of its offer to exchange up to $200,000,000 of new 7.75% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2019 (the "new notes") that have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 for an equal amount of outstanding unregistered 7.75% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2019 (the "old notes"). As a result of the extension, the exchange offer is now scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 3, 2011, unless further extended.
The exchange offer was originally set to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 29, 2011. As of this date, tenders of approximately $196,965,000 aggregate principal amount, or 98.5%, of the old notes have been received pursuant to the exchange offer. Except for the extension of the expiration date, all of the other terms of the exchange offer remain as set forth in the exchange offer prospectus, dated August 30, 2011.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) announced Thursday evening that bridge #9 on Route 9, in the Town of Bennington, just past Barney Road heading east, has been closed to one lane of traffic after bridge inspectors determined there was scouring of one of the supporting piers.
VTrans has been conducting additional rounds of bridge inspections after debris has been removed and some of these inspections are revealing additional damage to the bridges. ‘The bridge inspector advised that we close the bridge to one lane due to the scouring that they found, so we are closing the east lane of the bridge until repairs can be made,’ said Rich Tetreault, VTrans Chief Engineer. ‘We are inspecting bridges throughout the affected areas as necessary to ensure the safety of the traveling public, which may mean multiple inspections on the same bridge as conditions change,’ continued Tetreault.

The Dover, Vermont Select Board approved a motion on Tuesday to spend $100,000 in a marketing campaign aimed at promoting tourism in the Mount Snow Valley to combat negative impressions post-Tropical Storm Irene. With primary and most secondary roads now open, local businesses are eager to welcome patrons for the traditionally lucrative fall foliage season and beyond.
The motion was brought about following collaboration between members of the Dover Economic Development Committee, Dover Select Board and Mount Snow in which a marketing plan was presented to the Select Board featuring data that included demographics, reach, advertising mediums and costs.

Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) is pleased to announce that the Joint Commission has recognized NMC as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures in the area of pneumonia care. NMC is the only hospital in Vermont to earn the ‘Top Performer’ designation. For the first time, the Joint Commission’s 2011 annual report on quality and safety, Improving America’s Hospitals, lists hospitals and critical access hospitals that are top performers in using evidence-based care processes closely linked to positive patient outcomes.
‘Our staff works very hard to incorporate evidence-based practice, based on sound scientific evidence for the best patient outcomes,’ says Celeste Kane Stebbins, RN, Med/Surg/ICU Nurse Manager at Northwestern Medical Center. ‘We are thrilled to be recognized for our work in this area.’

Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and Ron Shems, Chair of the Vermont Natural Resources Board, are holding public hearings in October on improving Vermont’s environmental and land use permitting processes. The purpose of the hearings is to hear from Vermonters about what works and what needs improvement in the ANR, Act 250 and municipal permitting and appeals processes. ‘It is important to hear from the public,’ said ANR Secretary Markowitz, ‘so we can address real issues people are experiencing in our environmental permitting process.’ Public input is sought on the following questions:

The Vermont Community Foundation and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture have announced that the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund has awarded over $300,000 in the first grant round to farmers affected by Tropical Storm Irene. The grants came two weeks after application guidelines were posted and four weeks after the fund was established to address the critical needs of Vermont farms that sustained damage from Irene.
According to the Agency of Agriculture, over 400 farms have reported damages and a rough estimate of farmland impacted by Irene exceeds 15,000 acres; a conservative estimate of crop losses and crop land damage needing repair exceeds $10 million dollars.

With cooler temperatures are forecast for the weekend, near-peak color is expected to emerge in the Northeast Kingdom and the higher elevations of the Stowe-Morrisville area of Lamoille County.
State foresters say most areas of northeastern and north central Vermont are showing vibrant fall colors that are near, or in some higher elevations, at peak. Elsewhere, expect various stages of color across the state, including the mountain and river valleys where the foliage change ranges from early to mid-stage.
‘The foliage is nearing peak in the mountains of Richford, Montgomery and Enosburg. The valley is starting to show some very nice color (just getting to mid-stage color) and it makes a nice drive through the valley and into the Mountains,’ says Nancy Patch, Franklin-Grand Isle County Forester. The lower elevations along Lake Champlain remain predominantly green.

The chief executives of Vermont’s leading businesses appear poised to maintain their growth plans through early 2012, echoing results from the previous survey. The survey was completed between September 8 and September 22 and released today by Vermont Business Roundtable Chair Steve Voigt, CEO, King Arthur Flour and President Lisa Ventriss.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, employees of Sonnax Industries of Bellows Falls, Vt. were looking for ways to help. Like many others in Vermont and New Hampshire, they had been directly affected by this tragedy or had friends and neighbors who were. Sonnax President & CEO Tommy Harmon issued the following challenge to employees: donate money for the Red Cross of Vermont and New Hampshire and the Vermont Food Bank, and the company would match employees’ contributions, dollar for dollar, up to $5,000. In addition, Harmon and Sonnax board member Rick Fritz would personally match contributions, creating $4 of disaster relief for every dollar pledged by Sonnax employees.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has announced two US Army contracts ‘ one for $6.5 million and the other for $2.8 million ‘ to buy wireless sensors from Applied Research Associates (ARA), which has a manufacturing plant in Randolph, Vermont.
ARA won the competitive contract for producing their Expendable Unattended Ground Sensors, which are placed in the ground and used to protect troops. These small devices, the size of a hockey puck, are equipped with long-life batteries and antennae, and are used, among other ways, for perimeter monitoring at remote Army bases. The sensors can detect footsteps and vehicle traffic, even in windy or rainy conditions. They are called ‘expendable’ because they cost far less than other sensors on the market.

This week, NorthCountry Federal Credit Union presented a donation of $2,500 to the Champlain Housing Trust in recognition of adding its 500th home to its permanently affordable homeownership program. The donation was authorized by NorthCountry’s Board of Directors and recommended by the staff, who has worked closely with the Housing Trust over the years to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to low and moderate income Vermonters.
‘This donation is such a generous one, and we’re so pleased that our friends at NorthCountry appreciate our efforts,’ said Brenda Torpy, CHT’s CEO. ‘For the credit union to step forward like this unsolicited and make a gift recognizing our lasting impact in the community, it just means so much to us.’