Current News

Governor Peter Shumlin announced today that the state has requested an Individual Disaster Declaration for three additional counties in Vermont: Franklin, Lamoille and Orleans. If approved, residents and business owners in those counties will be eligible to apply for federal assistance for everything from repair work to temporary rent payments resulting from damage created by Tropical Storm Irene.
‘Our recent assessment of these counties found that damage to homes and businesses meets the threshold for federal assistance,’ Gov. Shumlin said. ‘We hope FEMA will move quickly to approve this declaration request so we can begin getting help to home and business owners in these counties.’

Vermont Public Radio raised more than $628,000 to benefit the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund during a special one-day fundraiser on Tuesday, September 13. Over 4,600 listeners donated to help affected communities rebuild and recover from the impact of Tropical Storm Irene and the subsequent flooding.
"We are simply amazed and very touched at the tremendous generosity of our listeners," said VPR President Robin Turnau. ‘We know that our listeners are community-minded, but this outpouring of support went beyond anything we imagined.’
More than 150 volunteers helped answer phones during the 16-hour effort, which rang steadily throughout the day. Donations also flowed in through VPR’s website as listeners and fans spread the word through social media.

Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education Center in St Johnsbury, Vermont, has received $708,930, as the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) today announced $9.7 million in awards to 14 new grantees to increase diversity in the health professions workforce through the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP). The funds will help develop an educational pipeline to enhance the academic performance of economically and educationally disadvantaged students, and prepare them for careers in the health professions.
"These awards will play a key role in addressing health care disparities and increasing the diversity of the health professions," said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N. "They will give students from disadvantaged backgrounds the support they need to enter the health professions, and help ensure the make-up of the health workforce better reflects our diverse population."

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Vermont has received national coverage recently, both of its devastating flood damage from Tropical Storm Irene, and of the inspiring community efforts to help with the clean up. Now a group of actors, musicians, designers, and stage managers are showing their love for Weston by holding a star-studded New York benefit on Monday, September 26, 2011.

There were 1,076 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week. While this is a decrease of 103 from the week before, this is still a very high level of claims as a result of the economic impact of tropical storm Irene. Two weeks previous saw a seasonal low of fewer than 500 claims. Altogether 6,800 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 69 from a week ago and 578 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 1,458 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 12 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 735 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 4 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/.

The state of Vermont will get $2,246,844 as the US Department of Labor today announced awards totaling $191.5 million to 40 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for unemployment insurance program integrity and technology infrastructure systems. The grants are intended to accelerate actions to reduce UI improper payment rates; provide an opportunity for modernizing UI tax and benefits systems; and enable the design of technology-based tools to prevent, detect and recover improper UI payments.

"I was pleased to join Vice President Biden today in announcing efforts to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "We owe it to the American people, especially those who rely on unemployment insurance as a safety net, to be responsible stewards. This funding will help ensure state UI programs have integrity and run efficiently."

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded Vermont more than $393 thousand in grants to help public and assisted housing residents find employment; connect with needed services; and help the elderly and people with disabilities maintain independent living. The funding also allows the grantees to retain or hire ‘service coordinators’ or case workers to work directly with these HUD-assisted families to connect them to the supportive services that meet their individual needs.
See chart below for Vermont entities receiving funding.

VERMONT PH-FSS, ROSS-SC and MHSC GRANTS

Recipient Name

Funding Amount: PH-FSS

Funding Amount: ROSS-SC

Funding Amount: MHSC

Brattleboro Housing Authority

$69,000

Burlington Housing Authority

$222,000

Rutland Housing Authority

$65,477

Mountaha, LLC (Saint Albans)

$37,009

SUBTOTAL

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) today opened three storm-damaged bridges along Route 12A that will provide area residents better access to both Route 100 and Interstate 89.

A short segment of Route 12A in Roxbury just north of Carrie Howe Road still remains closed as both a culvert and a bridge still need to be replaced, but the three newly opened bridges allow Roxbury residents to travel north to Northfield as well as south to Randolph along Route 12A.

‘In all three locations, we were able to repair and reopen bridges that were damaged by Tropical Storm Irene,’ said VTrans Secretary Brian Searles. ‘These repairs allow residents of not only Roxbury, but also Granville and Braintree to have access to Interstate 89, which will return their travel ability to close to normal.’

Vermont Public Television, Vermont’s statewide public television network, is making plans for a new, locally produced magazine program on air and online with the working title ‘Green Mountain Guide.’ VPT aims for an early 2012 launch of a weekly showcase for interesting people, regional culture, outdoor experiences, local history and important public issues.
Audiences will notice a few other changes to VPT’s production landscape. The call-in program ‘Public Square’ will not return this fall. While VPT plans to continue its examination and discussion of important issues, they will be handled during the magazine show or through more prominent special reports.

In recent weeks, many Vermont hurricane- and tropical storm-damaged businesses have sought emergency financing assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA). In addition, VEDA wants to make sure Vermont farmers also take full advantage of the special financing assistance.
‘On August 28th, Governor Peter Shumlin announced the immediate availability of up to $10 million in special low-interest VEDA financing for Vermont businesses and farms who suffered damage as a result of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irene,’ said VEDA Chief Executive Officer Jo Bradley. ‘While we’ve been receiving numerous applications for financing assistance from flood-damaged commercial businesses, we are concerned that Vermont farms damaged by Irene may not be completely aware of resources that are available to them,’ Bradley said.

The US Small Business Administration’s Regional Administrator for New England, Jeanne Hulit is encouraging survivors affected by Tropical Storm Irene in the State of Vermont to register for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and return completed SBA disaster loan applications to get the help they need.
The SBA’s low-interest disaster loan program is the primary source of federal funds for long-term recovery for uninsured damages caused by a declared disaster. ‘We are coordinating recovery efforts with our SBA Resource Partners along with federal, state and local stakeholders in the declared disaster area to ensure affected survivors receive proper assistance from the SBA. Taking time to complete and return the loan application package to the SBA is an important part of the recovery process,’ Hulit said.

Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, continues to climb in the college rankings, advancing to 13th place overall in the latest ranking in the 2012 "America's Best Colleges," released Tuesday by US News & World Report.
Earlier this year, Champlain was included in The Princeton Review's "376 Best Colleges 2012" edition and was named one of the Top 10 places to study game design by GamePro magazine.