Current News

Intervale Compost Products will begin accepting yard debris, food scraps, and farm material at its new location at 1042 Redmond Road in Williston bright and early Tuesday, July 12.

"The cement is dry, our bunkers are set, and we're ready for material to come our way," said Tom Moreau, general manager of the Chittenden Solid Waste District, which owns and operates Intervale Compost Products (ICP).

The facility opened July 1 of this year for sales of compost, top soil, mulches, and mixes but, until now, customers with material to drop off have been directed to do so at the Williston Drop-Off Center, located down the road from the new composting facility.

Summer hours for the new Williston location are Monday-Saturday, 8-4

ICP's old location, in Burlington's Intervale, closed on June 30 of this year.

One of four federal grants VSAC receives to help low-income Vermonters prepare for higher education has been renewed. VSAC ‘ the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation ‘ received word late last week that its federal Talent Search grant, set to expire in 2012, will be renewed for five more years. VSAC receives $443,887 a year for the program, and matches the federal dollars with its own resources.
Talent Search is part of a group of federal programs known as TRiO that help low-income students prepare for and succeed in college. VSAC has administered Talent Search in Vermont since 1969. The program identifies students in grades 6 through 12 who are motivated to continue their education but need help reaching their goals.
VSAC offers a second TRiO program, known as Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), for low-income adult learners. VSAC also applied for a new EOC grant, but hasn’t received a response yet.

For decades, Vermont has been known for growing businesses that are worldwide innovators in clean energy and environmental stewardship. The state is also an epicenter for businesses, outside of typical "green" industries, that lead the way in social and environmental best practices while remaining highly profitable. The University of Vermont Continuing Education offers the opportunity for people to learn from these experts in one of the leading places for sustainability studies through its summer institute "Sustainable Business: Practices in Support of People, Profit and Principles," a five-day summer program at its Burlington, Vermont campus, that takes place July 11-15.
Attendees learn the design, organization and management principles, and practices that have made Vermont enterprises sustainable and profitable from the very entrepreneurs and business leaders who have forged the way. More importantly, they can apply what they learn to their own careers and businesses.

On June 29, Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan stated that he would not be prosecuting public officials for any involvement in the slew of financial problems that Burlington Telecom, the city-owned communications company, is facing.
In December of 2010, an audit known as the Larkin Report was released finding that BT had borrowed $16.9 million in city funds over a six-year period that it never repaid. It also claimed that the company knowingly withheld this information from the Department of Public Service and other officials.
The report concluded that the debt BT owes to the city on top of the $33.5 million it owes to CityCapital, its commercial lender, were sufficient enough to cast serious doubt on the viability of the company. According to BT’s agreement with CitiCapital, its lender can effectively take possession of BT’s assets if it so desired, but the decision to do so hasn’t been addressed or revealed.

Beginning Monday, July 18, GAW will begin the final phase of its Morrisville Network upgrade. This effort began in the first quarter of 2011 with the upgrade of the GAW network backhaul links, the equipment that delivers the Internet to the company’s transmission equipment known as access points (AP). The final phase will include the replacement of the GAW AP equipment and customer premise equipment. The upgrades will be completed by Friday, July 22 and will enhance the services of more than 100 last-mile subscribers with speeds up to 6mbps, Digital Voice Services and HDTV. GAW will absorb the $399 installation and new customer equipment cost.
Final Phase

The Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) has named John Beling as its new Director of Public Advocacy and Consumer Affairs. Mr. Beling, who has served as Special Counsel for DPS during the past year, will head the Department’s staff of attorneys who represent ratepayers in all public service company proceedings before the Public Service Board and in all other venues where those interests are at stake, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Beling will advise the Commissioner and DPS regarding the public interest and will help guide the long-term interest of all Vermonters in reliable, environmentally sustainable, and economically sound provision of utility services. He will also oversee the Department’s Consumer Affairs division which reviews and investigates consumer complaints regarding regulated utility services.

In this era of debate over the value of higher education, Saint Michael's College continues to focus on excellence in teaching and learning and on assessing how well student learning outcomes are achieved. Saint Michael’s vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Karen Talentino, is leading the assessment efforts at the college. These include a grant to support training faculty to effectively assess student learning.
Saint Michael's College President John J. Neuhauser was informed last week that the Davis Educational Foundation would award the college $214,500 over three years to support a project titled Promoting Faculty Leadership and Governance in Learning Outcomes Assessment.

FairPoint Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRP), a leading provider of communications services, today announced that it met its regulatory broadband commitment in Vermont by the June 30, 2011 deadline. With this achievement, FairPoint now offers broadband service to more than 83 percent of its customers in Maine, more than 85 percent of its customers in New Hampshire and almost 90 percent of its customers in Vermont.
In meeting its Vermont commitment, FairPoint expanded broadband access to approximately 140 communities and neighborhoods in the state. The Vermont broadband buildout, along with the continued expansion efforts in Maine and New Hampshire, clearly demonstrate FairPoint's commitment to broadband as a growth strategy. FairPoint surpassed 300,000 high-speed Internet subscribers across its 18-state footprint during the second quarter of 2011.

Quorum Health Resources (QHR), the nation’s largest hospital management company and the seventh largest healthcare consulting firm in the United States, recently announced the winners of its 2011 Excellence in Leadership awards. Jill Berry Bowen, CEO of Northwestern Medical Center accepted the award for Leadership in Quality Initiatives on behalf of the hospital.
Northwestern Medical Center has ‘taken leadership in Quality programs,’ said QHR President and CEO James L. Horrar, ‘In addition to achieving excellent quantitative results, this hospital has been an early adopter of Quality Improvement initiatives implementing; A "Quiet Culture Awareness" program in 2010; participating in a state Quality Program to reduce the number of avoidable admissions to the Emergency Room; and developing a Medical Home Model for Primary Care Services in conjunction with the state’s Blue Print for Health.’

Readers of AmericanStyle magazine, for the seventh year in a row, recommend Brattleboro as a top destination for collectors and travelers who love art galleries, museums and festivals.
In the Top 25 Small Cities & Towns category, the magazine’s readers have named Brattleboro as No. 13, up from No. 20 last year, among America’s Top 25 Arts Destinations for 2010. Burlington also was named in the category for towns with populations of 100,000 and under. Complete results of the poll may be found atwww.americanstyle.com.
Burlington, VT was ranked No. 17 and Northampton, MA was ranked 22.
According to magazine publisher Wendy Rosen of Baltimore, these towns are known for the warm welcome that they extend to art collectors and arts tourists as well as local and regional arts lovers.

Governor Peter Shumlin will urge his counterparts in the Northeast to support a meaningful carbon cap and renew their commitment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), particularly in light of the New Jersey decision to withdraw from the environmental agreement, at a meeting in Nova Scotia that gets underway on Sunday.
The governor will focus on the issue at the 35th Meeting of the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers taking place in Halifax on July 10-12. On the official agenda are meetings to discuss the economic realities facing the U.S. and Canadian region; enhancing trade between New England the Canadian provinces; maximizing the potential of each region’s energy resources; and confronting shared environmental challenges.
In addition, Shumlin will discuss efforts to bring a high-speed rail route through New England to Montreal with his counterparts.

Avatar International, an industry leader in healthcare quality improvement services recently recognized its award winning hospital partners for 2010.
Central Vermont Medical Center was presented with the Avatar 2010 Exceeding Patient Expectations award, comparing CVMC to more than 400 hospitals across the United States. Accepting the award for CVMC were Dixie Mercier, BS,RT (R,CT,MR) Director Diagnostic Imaging and Chair of the Customer Services Initiative Committee (CSI) and Kelly Holland, Quality and Patient Safety Specialist.