Current News

More than 6,700 Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) members cast ballots during a special election completed on Tuesday, July 26th. Results for 3 ballot items and a director election in VEC’s District 3 were announced on Tuesday evening at a special meeting of the VEC membership which was held at VEC headquarters in Johnson. A proposed transmission line upgrade from Lowell to Jay passed with 5,340 votes in favor and 1,379 opposed; an agreement to purchase power from Hydro-Quebec passed with 5,970 votes in favor and 700 votes opposed; and a bylaw amendment allowing the board of directors to set methods allowing for the retirement of patronage capital passed with 5,572 in favor and 991 opposed.

The Goddard College Health Arts and Sciences Program and the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism (VCIH) are pleased to announce a new learning partnership. VCIH students can now apply their learning (and transfer credits at the undergraduate level) to their individualized program of study in Health Arts and Sciences. This is the only independent clinical herbalist training program in the country that can be applied towards completion of education at a regionally accredited institution.
Health Arts and Sciences is a low residency BA and MA program. Students spend eight days each semester in residency at Goddard and otherwise study from home in partnership with their academic advisor. The Health Arts and Sciences vision, founded on the principle that personal and community health are two dimensions of the same whole, helps students develop their wisdom and skills to cultivate wellbeing within a matrix of social and ecological health.

Governor Peter Shumlin and Vermont's Congressional delegation announced this evening that FEMA has approved public assistance for Washington, Orange, and Essex Counties for flood relief. This is an amendment to FEMA's earlier declaration of disaster relief for affected Vermont counties.

Just four miles from where they were designed and manufactured, 382 solar trackers composed of more than 9,000 individual panels make up Vermont’s largest solar installation -- which will be commissioned tomorrow, July 27 with the touch of an iPhone. The project is the largest solar farm of its kind in all of North America.

Thanks to a successful collaboration of public, private, and community based organizations, a safe and accessible pedestrian connection between downtown Montpelier and the National Life complex and adjacent residential neighborhood will soon become a reality. On Tuesday, July 26, 2011 the commencement of this much awaited project will be celebrated at a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony, co-hosted by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), the City of Montpelier and the National Life Group.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) announced today that construction on the Danville Village reconstruction project will resume on Wednesday, July 27th.
‘We are getting back to work on our Danville project this week,’ said Richard Tetreault, VTrans Director of Program Development. The announcement comes nearly two weeks after the Agency issued a stop work order following concerns over traffic management challenges for the project.
Beginning Wednesday, project work will begin along US Route 2 east of the village green. Limited work is also expected to take place on and around the village green.

Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today that letters have been sent to fourteen Rutland landlords requesting that all of their rental housing be brought into compliance with Vermont's lead law. The Rutland letters mark the latest effort in the Attorney General's ongoing campaign to reduce exposure to lead hazards in rental housing across the state.
"Because Vermont has one of the oldest housing stocks in the country, it is imperative that landlords take necessary steps to reduce the risks of lead exposure for their tenants," said Attorney General Sorrell. "Our hope is that by bringing this issue to the attention of these landlords, we can work together to get the properties into compliance quickly and make renting in Vermont a safer experience for everyone."

Vermont’s congressional delegation today announced that the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) will begin accepting applications for federal assistance beginning August 1st, with the goal of awarding approximately $1.25 million by September 30th.
Vermont’s delegation was influential in creating the NBRC, which directly invests federal resources for economic development and job creation in economically distressed regions of northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. In Vermont, eligible counties include Essex, Franklin, Lamoille, Orleans, Caledonia and Grand Isle.
‘We created the commission as a means of responding in practical ways to the common economic challenges throughout the border regions of the Northeast,’ Sen. Leahy, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch said. ‘The available funding will provide a vital boost to parts of our state that need it most.’

The Vermont Department of Labor today provided additional information on how to access the temporary jobs and recovery project assistance under a recent flood recovery grant from the US Department of Labor. The grant was secured with the assistance of Vermont’s congressional delegation and Governor Peter Shumlin.
Funds are available in nine Vermont counties to provide temporary employment for up to six months on projects to help public and non-profit structures and facilities clean-up, demolish, repair, renovate or reconstruct their facilities destroyed or damaged by the flooding. The qualified counties are Addison, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orleans and Washington.
While project locations must be specific to the listed counties, persons interested in the temporary employment do not need to be a resident of one of these counties in order to qualify for the employment opportunity.

Merchants Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, today announced net income of $3.63 million and $6.73 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.58 and $1.08, for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2011, respectively. This compares with net income of $4.59 million and $8.42 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.74 and $1.37, for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010, respectively.
Merchants previously announced the declaration of a dividend of $0.28 per share, payable August 18, 2011, to shareholders of record as of August 4, 2011. The return on average assets was 0.98 percent and 0.91 percent for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2011 compared to 1.29 percent and 1.19 percent for the same periods in 2010. The return on average equity was 14.20 percent and 13.38 percent for the quarter and six months end ed June 30, 2011 compared to 19.48 percent and 18.10 percent for the same periods in 2010.

Today, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, NH, joined nine other New Hampshire health facilities, including Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and New Hampshire Medicaid patients to file suit against the State of New Hampshire seeking ‘declaratory and injunctive relief’ from budgeted cuts in Medicaid reimbursements. The lawsuit was filed against Nicholas A Toumpas, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, seeking relief from dramatic new NH Medicaid reimbursement reductions.
The suit, filed today in US District Court in Concord, claims that the state is violating the Medicaid Act by not providing sufficient reimbursement to hospitals and their physicians providing care to Medicaid patients. Medicaid is a federal/state partnership and New Hampshire is not fulfilling its legal obligations under this joint program.

A Salt Lake City-based company will pay the State of Vermont $10,000 to settle claims by the Attorney General’s Office that it imported drinking glasses into Vermont from China and Indonesia that contained excessive levels of lead. Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell noted, ‘Lead is highly toxic, particularly to young children. There is no excuse for putting drinking glasses on the market that contain lead.’ The settlement is with Vandor, LLC.
Independent laboratory testing found that 9 glasses out of 15 Vandor glasses and mugs contained lead concentrations of between 14 and 81 times the state limit of 100 parts per million (ppm) of lead for children’s products as defined under Vermont law. The 9 glasses also contained the heavy metal cadmium, although at much lower levels.
The following is a description of the illustrations on the high-lead glasses and the lead concentration for each:
Gone with the Wind glass no. 1’4,831 parts per million (ppm)