Current News

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.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) today announced that it is launching accessBUSINESS Manager, an all-in-one, fixed-price package of cash management products developed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. This first-to-market offering provides business owners with a combination of convenience and cash management services in a bundled package.
"We listened to our Citizens Bank and Charter One customers, who told us that, above all, they were looking for simplicity, convenience and efficiency in their cash management operations," said Prabhat Vira, Head of CFG's Global Transaction Services Americas. "We developed accessBUSINESS Manager to provide both the ease-of-use they desired and the specific cash management products they need to run their businesses better and more efficiently."

In light of the recent heavy rains and continued cool, overcast weather, gardeners and commercial growers are reminded of the threat to tomatoes, potatoes, and other solanaceous vegetables from late blight. Reminiscent of 2009, the last few days have been characterized by cool temperatures and periods of rain and drizzle, conditions suitable for the development of the disease.
The Agency of Agriculture is alerting home gardeners and commercial growers of the potential of late blight this growing season. Late blight is a plant disease that spreads rapidly from plant to plant in wet, cool weather that causes tomato and potato plants, primarily, to wilt and die.

Rejecting rate increases initially sought by health insurer MVP after departmental review, BISHCA Commissioner Steve Kimbell approved new rates but only after sending MVP back to sharpen their pencils and reduce their initial request.
Kimbell said, ‘MVP’s initial rate filings reflected’inappropriately, we believe’the inherent uncertainty of reliance on high-deductible health care plans. MVP apparently misunderstood the impact of moving so aggressively toward these unpredictable product designs. Vermont businesses and individuals are not going to bear the full cost of this miscalculation.’
MVP had submitted significant rate increases for network-based insurance products, citing unforeseen performance results from new high-deductible products.
A high deductible plan requires an insured person to pay a larger amount of his or her own money for care before insurance pays any part of medical bills. The new rates go into effect July 1, 2011.