Current News

Secretary of State Jim Condos announces updated fee structures for licenses in four of the 45 professions the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) oversees. Each year, OPR reviews the costs of each program and adjusts its fees accordingly.
Licensing fees for Nursing Home Administrators and the Psychologists will see significant reductions. Chris Winters is the Director of the Office of Professional Regulation, the division of the Secretary of State’s office supporting the regulatory programs for 45 professions and 55,000 licensees. According to Winters, ‘If our budget analysis reveals that our revenue from licensing fees is more than the costs of our public protection efforts, we lower the fees. This year, we are able to reduce fees for two professions.’

Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE: CV) announced in a statement Monday evening that the CVPS Board of Directors has authorized discussions with Gaz Métro Limited Partnership regarding Gaz Metro's unsolicited acquisition proposal. GazMetro is the owner of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems.
On May 30, 2011, CVPS announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Fortis Inc. (TSX: FTS) providing for the acquisition of all of the outstanding common shares of CVPS by Fortis for $35.10 per share in cash, including approximately $230 million in debt, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $700 million. CVPS continues to be bound by the terms of that agreement.

The Saint Michael's College Board of Trustees announced the re-appointment of President John J. Neuhauser for an additional three-year term. The announcement was made at the college s trustee meeting June 10, by board Chairman Joseph P. Garrity, retired director of 4Kids Entertainment, New York City, current partner of Prospect Capital Partners and director for Wireless Telecom Group.
We have been most fortunate to have the leadership of President Jack Neuhauser for the past four years, Garrity said. Despite the most difficult global economic period in over a generation, significant progress was made in advancing Saint Michael's.
Pointing out President Neuhauser s successful leadership, Chairman Garrity said, We successfully completed our 10 year re-accreditation, a new strategic plan was developed and approved, our faculty passed a major curriculum revision, and this past year applications to Saint Michael's were up over 30 percent.

MBF Bioscience announced the release of AutoSpine, a
ground-breaking tool for automated detection and quantification of dendritic
spines. Using high-quality dendritic tracings obtained with Neurolucida or
AutoNeuron, AutoSpine identifies and counts the spines along the traced
dendrites.
AutoSpine provides researchers with numerous quantitative analyses, including:
number of spines, spine density, spines by branch order, spine head volume &
diameter, distance from spine head to dendrite surface, distance from soma
along a branch, and Sholl analysis.
MBF President Jack Glaser says For the first time, researchers have access to
fast, accurate, automated quantification of dendritic spines. We expect this will be
a powerful tool for researchers investigating anatomical aspects of important
neurological diseases.
AutoSpine integrates seamlessly with Neurolucida and AutoNeuron to create a

Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL), an academic leader in world language instruction, today announced that its prestigious Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) summer immersion program is now fully accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC). With this accreditation in place, MMLA is now able to grant high school course credit for its 2011 language sessions.
To be eligible to receive course credit, students entering grades 9-12 must successfully fulfill the course completion criteria and meet language proficiency requirements. Credit will be issued through Middlebury Interactive Languages, fully accredited by NWAC. NWAC works under a reciprocity agreement with the other accreditation institutions across the country. A transcript granting the credit will be issued following the summer program; those wishing to apply MMLA credits to high school graduation should confirm that their institution's credit transfer policy will accommodate this.

V/T Commercial Real Estate of Burlington announces the sale of the former Suss MicroTec building located in Waterbury Center Vermont, to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
The property, owned by Suss Hunger Mountain, Inc., consists of 57 acres of land, a 35,000 square foot commercial building, and 6 residential town house units.

Suss MicroTec will be vacating in August. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters purchased the entire property and plans to use the commercial building for research and development.
Bill Kiendl and Ave Cook of V/T Commercial represented the Seller, Suss Hunger Mountain Inc.

US Senator Bernie Sanders today asked the Federal Communications Commission to let Vermont regulate basic cable television rates which increased in the state last year by an average of almost 10 percent.
Sanders asked the FCC to reconsider a determination that satellite providers, such as DirectTV Inc. and DISH Network, provide ‘effective competition’ to cable. Recognizing that satellite and cable are not genuine competitors could clear the way for the state to regulate so-called basic cable and force Comcast to justify rate increases.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has issued a traffic alert to motorists that blasting at the Route 2 Checkered House Bridge over the Winooski River in Richmond will continue into Wednesday, May 25. This will again require temporary road closings, including Interstate 89, for brief periods. Two blasts a day will occur ‘ at 11 am and 3 pm.
The blasting is related to preparation for construction of the temporary detour that will be installed so that traffic can be maintained while the bridge is widened.
During the blast, no traffic will be allowed into the blast zone. Flaggers will stop traffic from entering the zone. The State Police will manage a rolling roadblock on the highway. It is anticipated that traffic stoppages will last a maximum of 10 minutes during this period.
The following roads will be affected:
â ¢ Route 2
â ¢ Johnnie Brook Road
â ¢ Kenyon Road

Neagley & Chase Construction Co., a local authorized Ceco Building Systems builder in South Burlington, Vt., was recognized for achieving $2 million in cumulative sales in 2008 at the recent Ceco 2011 National Business Meeting in Tampa, Fla.
With a meeting theme of ‘Steel Strong,’ Ceco builders from across the nation heard from Ceco parent company NCI leaders, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Dobbins and NCI Building Division President Brad Robeson.
Ceco Building Systems, a leading division of NCI Building Systems, designs and fabricates attractive, energy-efficient, ‘function-oriented’ metal buildings. Ceco is well-known for its ‘nonstandard is standard’ design philosophy, allowing each project to be designed and manufactured to meet specific space and function requirements. For more information visit www.cecobuildings.com.

Central Vermont Medical Center is proud to announce that the long-awaited in-house MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is now open for business.
The new state of the art unit is a 1.5 Tesla GE Optima scanner. It has a wider aperture (70cm vs 50 cm) than most scanners. This is specifically designed to allow larger patients and patients who suffer from claustrophobia to feel more comfortable during their procedures (500lbs. weight limit).
CVMC will offer scheduled appointments from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday with staff on call after these hours and on weekends.
We look forward to providing exceptional service to all of our patients, stated Judy Tarr, CVMC president and CEO. I was one of the Diagnostic Imaging Department s first patients to use the new machine. I can tell you that the experience is vastly improved for patients who suffer from claustrophobia.

Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell announced today that it has reached a power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy Resources LLC, owner of the Seabrook, NH, nuclear power plant. The 23-year agreement is a fixed-price contract that adjusts with an inflation mechanism to protect customers from future power price swings.

The State of Vermont filed its opposition papers to Entergy's motion for preliminary injunction in Entergy versus Shumlin in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont in Brattleboro, Vermont. Entergy has sought in a previous court filings in April in Burlington to stop the state of Vermont in intervening in the re-licensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon or taking action that would close the facility.
In part, Vermont's argument states:
"Since 2005, ENVY (Entergy Vermont Yankee) has known that it needed approval from both the Vermont Public Service Board and the Vermont
Legislature to operate after March 21, 2012. Yet now, as March 2012 approaches, ENVY claims
an urgent need for this Court to enjoin all State authority over whether the plant will continue to
operate beyond March 21, 2012’authority ENVY has agreed to all along.